A
sermon shared at First Presbyterian Church, May 14, 2017, Spring City, TN
We need to return to the last half of
the previous chapter of John to appreciate this text. Jesus has shared his last
meal, sent Judas to do his betrayal, fully revealed himself to the disciples as
God’s Son, and announced to the disciples that he faces death. In John 13:33-35, he says, “Little
children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I
said to the Jews, so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come. I
give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved
you, you also should love one another. If you have love for one another, everyone
will know that you are my disciples.”
But on behalf of the disciples Simon Peter asks, “Lord, where
are you going?” only to be told you cannot follow me now, only later.” Peter
protests, “ “Lord, why not …? I will lay
down my life for you.”
“Peter, will you lay down your life
for me? (Do you remember that Jesus asked what greater love is there than to
lay down one’s life for the friend?...) “Very truly, I tell you, soon you will deny
me three times.”
Now the disciples have followed Jesus
for three years. Imagine the surprise and fear that must have struck them to
hear, “you cannot come with me now.” Like the Hebrews in the desert, the time
for faith has come. Jesus knows their world is about collapse as the Temple
leaders drag him to trial and the Romans crucify him. He offers a promise to
his loyal first believers: “Don’t be troubled by this insane world. I face the
cold reality of my duty to God and you, to die, rise and return to the Father.
Now I offer a promise to you if you believe in me.”
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled when the
world strips all hope from you. Remember I said ‘You will follow me later. If
you believe in God, if you have faith in me, believe me when I say this.’” Can
they keep faith in this ultimate test?
These powerful words to remind them
of God’s unwavering commitment to his promises, his steadfast love for them. He
uses powerful words that echo the
words of God to the Hebrews in the desert at the foot of Mount Sinai ready
to enter the Promised Land. Deut.
1:30-32, “The Lord your God will fight for you as he did for you in Egypt
before your very eyes, and in the wilderness, where you saw how the Lord your
God carried you, just as one carries a child, all the way until you reached
this place.”
It is no coincidence Jesus recalls that time in the
desert, he is reminding them of God’s promise, “I am going to my father’s house,
the final Promised Land, I’m going home where there are many dwelling
places, otherwise I would have warned you. You are loved and safe because I am
going to prepare a place for you so that wherever I am, you will be there also. You are loved and safe because I am going to
lay down my life for you to prepare a place for you to be near me.”… “You know there
is a home.” Do they understand God is
speaking? Thomas says, “We do not know where you are going, so how can we know
the way?”
Last week I spoke of symbols. One ancient symbol signifying the teaching of
Jesus while he was on earth is “The Way”…From the earliest days Christians “The
Way” characterized the central command of Jesus. You know this command, I read it just a
few minutes ago, “you should love one another just as I have loved you.. If you
have love for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples.”
Since poor Thomas still doesn’t
get it Jesus offers one of his
most well-known sayings, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me.” We cannot avoid this
narrow gate, this most powerful demand for faith for those who hear the good
news: Believe what you have heard. Jesus said, “7If you know me, you
will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him because
you have seen (my signs) and known me.” (two options)
(These verses are controversial within the Christian
community. Is the Way the only path to this house with many rooms for listeners?
According to John, “yes.” But what of
those who have never heard? The author of a
commentary on John, p179, says, John threw these words of Jesus’ to the
community of pagans, Jews, and believers as a challenge that faith based on belief
in his word is necessary to find the Way.
Was John thinking of the uninformed people in what is now
China and Japan, Africa, Egypt, or across the oceans to the Americas? The
commentary author suggests, and I agree, that the only way to the many rooms of
God, who is the Father and Son, for those who hear and listen to the gospels is
believing the words…but those who have not heard the words are in God and the
Holy Spirit’s hands who is equal to solving that problem, not us.)
Early missionaries in Asia and Africa discovered
that people were innately primed to believe this liberating Good News upon
hearing it. (I’ll add the citation later.) Perhaps everyone who hopes for a
future better than the one to which the world gives them has an internal longing
for an intangible, untouchable greatness, beyond all that exists, that connects
them to the Way... “The Way of Jesus is a universal liberation. Come all you
who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
Even ancient Asian philosophy knew that emptiness that
Jesus fills. Before 400 BCE, the Chinese teacher Lao-tzu wrote a book called Tao Te Ching. Tao
means “The Way,” the essential, unnamable power behind
the universe. It’s first words are: “The Way that can be walked by feet is not
the enduring and unchanging way. The name that can be named is not the enduring
and unchanging name. Having no name, this power is the Originator of heaven and
earth; (if conceived as) having a name, it is the Mother of all things. “Even though we often do not desire to seek
it, we always feel its deep mystery; and if desire to seek it is always within
us, all that we can see is its outer fringe.” 1,000 years later, John Calvin calls
that part of the human essence the Knowledge of God, the first key. The Holy
Spirit reveals Jesus Christ is the final key.
Jesus assured and demanded faith of his
disciples on the basis of “seeing and believing” and hearing, “if you know
me, you know the Father, you know and have seen him,” but poor Philip asks for proof, “Lord,
show us and we will be satisfied.”
What is Jesus thinking when Philip
asks? Is he angry ready to say, “If I have told you once, I have told you a
thousand times…?” No, Jesus tenderly but
directly asks, “Philip, have
I been with you all this time, and you still do not know who I am? All this
time you have heard me say whoever has seen me has seen the Father and, yet
now, you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the
Father and the Father is in me? It isn’t me who is talking to you; but the
Father within me.”
Unlike us who only have his words, the
disciples were fortunate to have three choices (v11), “Believe my words that I am in the
Father and the Father is in me,” or “If my words are not good enough, believe
me because of the works themselves,” otherwise do not believe and remain in
the darkness that the world offers you.
Jesus emphasized believing his words not
his Signs, because soon the disciples will shoulder the great responsibility
for the future when belief comes only by hearing the words and feeling the Holy
Spirit. He is preparing his disciples.
The whole passage turns on his example
of love. The disciples shall demonstrate his Way by loving each other. The passage poses a question, “What demonstrates
the words of Jesus in the world today, what causes people to believe?” All we have are his words recorded by the
apostles, and the actions of believers. Every Christian walking the Way testifies
to the work of Jesus in the world today, communicating the power and message
across two thousand years to those who see and hear. WE don’t do it whwen we
fight.
Now, you may say, “Henry, that is all
idealism. We can’t possibly achieve it.”
I
disagree because every congregation has folks who persist in sharing mutual love
between Christians even in the midst of strife. Even in the community of John had
cynics and misguided gatekeepers. Just
read the 15 short verses of 3
John. Here are the key verses: v1 To the elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I
love in truth. v3 I was
overjoyed when some of the friends visited me and testified to your
faithfulness to the truth (way), namely how you walk in the truth.
v5 Beloved, you do
faithfully whatever you do for the friends, even though they are strangers
to you. v9 I have
written something to the church; but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself
first, does not acknowledge our authority. v10 So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing in spreading false
charges against us. And not content with those charges, he refuses to welcome
the friends, and even prevents those who want to do so and expels them from the
church. v11 Beloved, do not
imitate what is evil but imitate what is good. Whoever does good is from God;
whoever does evil has not seen God. v15 Peace to you…Greet the friends there, each by name.” …Do
you see, one person can make the difference with a greeting or a snub.
Yes, Jesus makes the reason quite clear why
one the two choices is more desirable. “The one who believes in
me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than
these, because I am going to the Father to intercede on your behalf. 13I
will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the
Son. 14If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. In 13:17, Jesus said, “If you
know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”
I do not know about you, but I hope to keep two things before me the rest
of my days, first, always to strive to act towards people as “the elder to the
beloved Gaius” who testified
to his faithfulness to the truth by faithfully loving the friends, even though
they are strangers, AND second, to wait for my room key for one of those many
rooms in God’s house.
AMEN.
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