Acts 15:1-2, 22-29, Revelations 21:10-14, 22-23, John 14:1-29, Psalm 67
May 26, 2019
Larry Campbell
John 14:1 – 29
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing to You, our Rock and our Redeemer.
Today’s gospel passage (John 14:1-29) is just a part of a much longer record of the last message Jesus gave to his disciples before his crucifixion. In fact, with bible scholars it’s become known as the “Farewell Discourse”. Today’s reading begins “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.”
The reason Jesus started his farewell with this phrase was because of the drama of chapter 13. Jesus had just revealed Judas as his betrayer, and Peter was told that he would deny Jesus before the night was through. In fact, Jesus later said that all of the disciples were going to scatter in fear. But... “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.”
There are three very honest questions asked by very confused disciples that we’re going to look at today.
1. we don’t know where you are going, how do we know the way?
2. why don’t you show us the Father? That would be enough for us.
3. why are you going to reveal yourself to us but not to the world?
Let’s begin.
Just after Jesus said, “You know the place where I am going” (vs4) Thomas was the one who asked,
“Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” (vs5)
And Jesus made his very famous and, I think, often misunderstood claim,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (vs6)
The question, or problem, that many today have with this statement is,
“in this world that we now know is full of faith and goodness among people around the world who don’t know Jesus, can we say Jesus is the ONLY way?”
“what did Jesus mean when he said he was the only way?”
I’m going to suggest two possible things to consider as we continue to wrestle with these concerns.
One possibility is that Jesus was looking ahead to his resurrection when, according to our Christian tradition, death was defeated. The implication is that because of what Jesus did, in dying and rising from the grave, the whole world is now free from death, and free of the fear of separation from God.
Paul says,
“God [is the One] who reconciled us (or received us into full relationship) to God through Christ… God was, in Christ, reconciling the world to God’s self not counting their trespasses against them, and God has given to us that message of good news.” (II Corinthians 5:18,19)
That message is this; everyone puts all kinds of blocks and barriers up between ourselves and God. We are convinced that somehow God needs to be appeased. It was this misunderstanding of the love of God that separated us from a relationship with God in the first place. Now, God is hoping to convince us that separation no longer exists.
And remember Paul also tells us,
“it was God’s good pleasure for all the fullness (of God) to dwell in [Christ] and through the blood of the cross of [Christ] to reconcile all things to (God’s self), having made peace...through [Christ]; whether things on earth or things in heaven.” (Colossians 1:19,20)
Not just all people have been received into full relationship with God, but all of creation and the whole cosmos!
Another answer to these questions could be in the way we understand the words being used by Jesus here. What he may be saying in this statement is,
“all the things I have taught you about how to live; to love, forgive, care for the poor, the stranger, and the prisoner...all the stories I have told you about the Kingdom of heaven...this is the path that leads to God. Everything you have seen in me is the truth about who God is. The life I have – full and vital and genuine – is the life I give to you.”
The inference here is that all who live in the way Jesus taught, even if they don’t know Jesus, and have only heard the Spirit speak, are on the path to God, and, I believe, the Spirit of God is with them.
Food for thought, anyway.
After Jesus said this about the path to God, he said,
“if you had known Me, you would have known my Father also; from now on you do know Him, and have seen Him.”
It was Philip this time who said,
“Lord, just show us the Father and that would be enough for us.”
I think Jesus was dumbfounded at this, and he replied,
“How long have we been together and you still don’t know me?” (vs8)
I think there are times, again, and again when Jesus could say the same thing to me. He continued,
“If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen God. Everything I say, and everything I do comes from God. If you can’t believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, at least believe because of all the things you’ve seen me do.” (vs 9-11)
Jesus then promised to send the Holy Spirit as a helper so that God would be with them, and by extension, us, forever. He continued,
“that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Her or know Her, but you know Her because She abides with you and will be in you.” (vs17)
You will notice, of course, that I’m using the feminine pronoun for the Holy Spirit. The word used for ‘spirit’ in Hebrew was the feminine ruah. The word ruah became the word pneuma, which is neuter, when it was translated to the Greek. The Latin translators totally went patriarchal on us, translating ruah to the masculine spiritus.
Since the forth century, church leaders have acknowledged that any words we use to describe God, or to help us understand God more fully, can only be metaphor at best. Any and all metaphors are woefully inadequate to contain the idea of God. So we use ‘father’, ‘wisdom’, ‘water’, ‘rock’, ‘breath’, ‘mother hen’, ‘fire’, ‘strong foundation’, ‘shepherd’, ‘bread’, ‘love’… I think we can use anything that will help us to get a picture of who God is, and help us in our relationship with God as parent, guide, friend, or protector.
And so it is with the Holy Spirit.
Brad Jersak, a new writer, theologian and pastor on the scene these days says, “I always think of the Holy Spirit as feminine. I call her Grace.”
After Jesus talked about the presence of the Holy Spirit, one of the disciples, Judas by name (not the infamous one), asked another interesting question.
“Lord, what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” (22)
We need to remember that what followed was a response to that question. “why are you revealing yourself to us and not to the world?”
Jesus’ answer was this;
“If anyone has put their trust in Me, they will do the things I have talked about. And the way my Father and I show our love for that person is by coming to them and setting up house with them. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, who has been sent in my name, will teach you all things, and will bring to your memory all that I have said to you.” (23-26)
This is not about Jesus choosing not to reveal himself to the world. This is about the world having a different set of values to people of faith. This is about the world having a different focus than do people of faith. Jesus promise to those who love him is that He will come to them.
The thing that will reveal Jesus to the world, as Noelle taught us last week, is our prime directive. In chapter 13 Jesus said,
“By this will all know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (13:35)
Then Jesus said,
“Peace;” and by that he meant a sense of being loved, a sense of safety, and wholeness; “Peace I leave you. My peace I give to you...not the kind of peace the world gives.
(not simply a negotiated cease fire, not the false security that comes from wealth or power).” (vs 27)
And then he ended as he started,
“Do not let your heart be troubled, don’t let your heart be fearful.” (vs 27)
Jesus has promised to come to us. We are about to partake in what the church has called the Eucharist, or the Lord’s supper. During this Eucharistic ritual we say words to this effect,
“if you are weary, if you are hungry, if you have failed Jesus, whether you are joyful or heartbroken, if you have faith, or if you have none, come to this table; Jesus will meet you here.”