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Easter 5

Reading: John 14: 1-14

24/04/05

When I prepare a sermon I often feel that God is giving me a personal message which is sometimes quite an uncomfortable experience. But this morning’s gospel starts with words that never fail to reassure me: “Do not let your hearts be troubled”. I was born a worrier; if there isn’t anything obvious to worry about then I’m worried that I’ve missed something. So when I hear Jesus say ‘don’t worry’, I’m ready to take a seat at the front and find out why not. I’m ready to nod sagely and agree in the strongest possible terms that one definitely should not worry.

So when I read through today’s gospel I wanted to know what the disciples were not to worry about, because usually when Jesus tells them, he’s telling me too. They seem to be worried about getting into heaven this time as on so many other occasions. Had they been having another conversation about who would sit on the left or right hand of Jesus, wondering who would be on the top table? So I looked back at the previous couple of verses.

There they are having a discussion about where Jesus is going and whether they can follow him. Peter says that he will certainly lay down his life for Jesus, and Jesus responds by telling him that tomorrow before the sun rises he will have denied him three times. He then goes on to tell the group of disciples not to be troubled because he’s promised them all a place in heaven. He knows that over the twenty-four hours all his disciples will be tested to the limit and will all let him down and let themselves down. And yet, he tells them, there is still plenty of room in heaven for all of you.

So it’s with this good news in mind that Jesus can tell his disciples not to be troubled. He also asks them to trust him that it’s true. He asks them to believe that he is going to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house, and that he will come back to lead them there. He’s never lied to them before, everything they’ve been through in the last three years or so has lead them to believe they can trust him. He’s healed the sick, raised the dead, and walked on water – all things that they could see. He’d also sent them out to do the same things in his name at various times. They had a lot of experience on which to base their trust. And yet it’s a difficult thing to understand when it’s the one thing you can’t see until you get there.

And there’s Thomas, expressing the doubts of generations of people after him, denying he knows where Jesus is going, never mind knowing the way to get there. And in answer, Jesus makes one of his ‘I am’ statements: I am the way, and the truth and the life.

They, and we, gain access to the Father through him, that we can know the Father by knowing his son, Jesus. We can know the character of God by knowing Jesus’s character, and we can know the way to God by following the way that Jesus went and doing the things that Jesus did.

Jesus’s first attempt at an explanation seems to cause more confusion, and leads to more questions from the disciples. Can you show us the Father? ‘But I already have!’ says Jesus. ‘You’ve seen me, so you’ve seen my Father!’

He asks them to believe him again (he is not just telling the truth, he is the truth), and he tells them that the words they’ve heard from him are not just things he’s made up, but are the words that God speaks through him – the things he has done are things that God has done through him – and by attending to those things we can know God the Father through his Son. He explains that even if they can’t believe his words, they can believe the things they’ve seen him do, and the things they’ve been involved with themselves. These words of explanation are also for us, we can know that he is the same yesterday, today and forever, we can be sure that we can trust Jesus’s words and his actions to reveal God to us now.

He is the life. He is in the Father and the Father in him. He is already living in the state of eternal life which will simply continue when he has been through his human death on the cross. And this way of life is something he wants us to aspire to. Eternal life is about life before death, to quote the Christian Aid adverts. Jesus tells his disciples, and us, that those who have faith in him will not only do the things he has done, but even greater things.

Jesus continues that anything that his disciples ask in his name will be done, for the glory of his Father. All of Jesus’ work was aimed at bringing glory to his father, and this is the work he is commissioning his disciples, and us, to continue. He is not talking about self-gratifying prayers, or prayers that are especially to our advantage, although many of those prayers might in our view also glorify God. He is talking about things that bring the kingdom of God closer to completion, things that build his church, and build up his family. These things might be miraculous or might be practical, but we have to pray in him. As Jesus said of his own work, “the words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.”

Jesus is telling his disciples these things shortly before his arrest, to prepare them for the coming events. He knew that they would not be able to stand up for him as they wanted to, and even that they didn’t understand everything he had told them about the kingdom of heaven. And yet he wanted to let them know that the apparent failures they would experience are not the end of the story, they are even part of the plan because he can tell Peter exactly what form his failure will take. And yet again, he wanted to give them hope for the time ahead, that they were still acceptable to God and would do great things in furthering his Father’s kingdom. In fact, their weakness would make it even more apparent that God was doing great things through them.

In our human fallibility we will fall short of the glory of God, but we can take heart from the experience of the first disciples. We know that God's glory can be revealed in the way we live, in spite of our weakness, and that knowledge should help us to live more boldly and encourage us to pray more boldly. I say this with my heart in my mouth, as I know that I will be ministering as part of the prayer team today and that I may be held to account for my preaching. But I shouldn’t be worried should I? Whatever my weaknesses or mistakes, God can still do the work he intends to do through me and I hope that any blundering or fumbling on my part will give me compassion for others. Whatever our strengths or weaknesses, God can still do great things through us and with us. We all have a place in God’s plan and in his heart and in his home.