"Dealing with the Familiar in New Ways"
Sermon Presented April 20, 2008
John 14:1-14
On the 30th of May, I leave for Spain with my grandson Nathaniel. This is his high school graduation gift, but I'll bet I'm looking forward to the trip more than he. This trip requires careful planning. We both needed to renew our passports. The tour, airline tickets, and transportation to and from O'Hare had to be arranged. Planning what to take for two weeks is a challenge, and I need to make sure Nathaniel has a two weeks' supply of clean underwear! Stopping the newspaper and mail delivery; arranging for Lawrence to preach for three Sundays and take care of any emergencies in the congregation; finding someone to water my plants; packing and shopping for necessities are all on my agenda.
If I knew that I would not be returning, I would prepare differently by giving instructions to my children and grandchildren, telling them I loved them and then saying good-bye. I would visit or call those closest to me and give them my love. I would speak to this congregation. As a precaution, I did update my will!
Jesus knows that he will soon die, and he wants to make sure his followers are prepared for his departure. Our text is part of what is called his Farewell Address, and these words are most familiar. My guess is that you hear them at most Christian funeral services you attend. These are words of comfort to those who are grieving the death of a loved one. You probably believe you know everything you need to know about these words and after you hear me read them, may decide to sit back and put your mind on automatic pilot. However, stay awake because this morning I want us to look at familiar words in a new way. I want to challenge you to consider anew these final instructions given by Jesus to his disciples.
Last Wednesday night was the orientation of a new series on looking at our faith and theology in new ways. One of the comments made by those who put the materials together is that this series will provide the laity with some of the materials pastors receive in seminary and don't share. Someone in our group asked: "Why don't ministers share this material?" and my response was: "because they know these ideas are different than what people learned in Sunday school as children, and they don't want to lose congregational members or get fired because of the radical newness of the material." Sometimes ministers forget that by trying to be safe, we fail to address questions that are on the minds of our parishioners. We fail to help you arrive at a mature faith.
This morning I am going to present a new way to look at our text. Because I have always believed that this is a thinking congregation, I want you to think about what I say - not necessarily accept it. Also note that I won't be able to cover the entire text this morning. I am reading from John 14:1-14.
Here Jesus offers final instructions to his disciples, and John presents them as instructions to his post-resurrection church. Jesus isn't concerned about what will happen to him, but what will happen to his followers. Thus, he wants to soften the blow by offering three promises. First, he tells them they will have a permanent place with him. Death won't sever their relationship! Second, he says that he is the way to God; and third, he says they will have help in the meantime.
Let's remember that the context of this teaching is Jesus' imminent death and the challenge of discipleship in his absence. How can his followers live without his physical presence? This is a pressing issue for John's readers more than half a century later. They assert Jesus' presence by telling stories and remembering his promises. John reminds them that knowledge of Jesus is knowledge of God - the presence of Jesus is the presence of God.
When John writes this gospel, he understands eternal life as present as well as future. He is less concerned about what life after death will look like and more concerned with the quality of life in relation to Christ and others. He's more concerned about life in the present!
Because we live in a pluralist society, I want us to look at a statement that I'm sure you have thought about many times: Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to God except through me." This statement is a back-up to "Rapture" theology and the basis for the "Left Behind" fiction series. The belief of this theology is that Jesus will come again and when he comes, all Christians will be taken to heaven and all non-Christians will be left to suffer the consequences. Let's look at this more carefully.
The first thing we need to realize is that Jesus is speaking of his death when he speaks of leaving. He's not speaking of ascending to heaven, but of dying. Jesus tells the disciples that they will all be together again - and we can understand this as God's mystical in-dwelling presence in the believer. John's Gospel is a mystical writing and it is difficult to pin down locations or chronologies in this Gospel. The promise Jesus gives his followers is that they will be with God!
The New Interpreter's Bible suggests that we look at this statement in its first century context. The author reminds us that this isn't the sweeping claim of a major world religion, but it is the conviction of a small religious minority in the ancient Mediterranean world. Christians are now in conflict with Judaism - the faith that most were born into. Now they have to carve a new home for themselves outside of their birth faith. This Fourth Gospel isn't concerned with the fate of Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists - or with the superiority or inferiority of Judaism and Christianity. These words are the confessional celebration of a particular faith community, convinced of the truth and life it has received in the incarnation of Jesus. This gospel is concerned with the clarification and celebration of what it means to believe in Jesus. (Luke-John, p. 744)
The text isn't concerned with all religious experience and traditions. We aren't to celebrate our inclusion at the expense of others, but to challenge contemporary believers to wrestle with what a distinctive and faithful Christian identity looks like in this pluralistic world. How do we live as Easter people? I believe that we live as Easter people by continuing to love Jesus by doing his works - by keeping his commandments - by loving God and people.
In our post-modern world, it is most difficult to hold an exclusivist understanding of salvation. We know people of other faiths. Most of us aren't as concerned about who is saved as we are about what salvation actually is. Who is the historical Jesus of Nazareth and who is the Christ of faith in relationship to God? How am I living into my salvation? How can God become more real to me through Jesus?
It may be that we have been guilty of emphasizing the wrong things in this text. Do we care more about what's in it for us than we do about what we can do? Do we search for positive proof instead of trusting what we have already seen? Are we more concerned about what our room in heaven will look like instead of enjoying Christ's presence with us each day? Do we focus more on who's in and who's out, rather than following the path of the One who is the Way?
If we believe that God is present in creation - in the daily miracles of human love and compassion - in the hopes and dreams of all who seek God - can we then "see" God? Maybe this is as good as it gets - for us and for the original disciples who were listening to these words from Jesus' own mouth. Maybe Jesus - "God with us" - God's presence on a daily basis is what we most want and need.
When I was a child, I was told that Catholics and Jews surely wouldn't make it into heaven. (I had never known a Hindu, Muslim or even one who claimed to be an atheist, so the extent of my gospel of exclusion was limited to Catholics and Jews.) I believed that I must witness to Jesus by forcing my understanding of the plan of salvation on everyone - whether they wanted to hear it or not. I have come a long way since then. However, with each new understanding I need to look at my faith and my theology in new ways, so that my faith doesn't suffer. This takes time and energy!
You've probably seen the bumper sticker proclaiming "One Way" with an index finger pointing upward. The message of this sign eliminates all who believe differently about the gospel - all Jews, all Muslims and all people from around the world who have different ideas about the way to God. Are all other approaches to God eliminated by John's Gospel in the weight of the statement: "I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to God except through me"?
I believe that we must be faithful to our understanding of the way to God through Jesus, and that we must share it with those who will listen. We are Christians who have found God through Jesus, and for that we are grateful! But I believe we must also have a greater trust in the province of God's mysterious way of self-disclosure to people around the globe. John calls Christians to go to God through Jesus and to bring knowledge of Jesus to any who wants to hear of him.
Jesus is the way to bridge-building, to forgiveness, and to reconciliation. Jesus is the way to find love and offer love to others. We have only one life to live, so let's live it as Jesus would have us to live. You see, our home is with God, and really, that's all that matters!
