May 10, 2020 – John 14:1-14
John 14:1-14
A Place and a Mission
5th Sunday of Easter – May 10, 2020
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Just before our reading begins, Jesus has finished his last supper with his disciples
He has washed their feet.
He has given them a new commandment – to simply love one another.
And now he tells his friends that he is about to leave them.
The disciples are anxious and afraid.
It is like a rug is being pulled out from under them.
How will they manage without him?
How will the world-changing movement he started continue?
How will God’s dream come true when he is gone?
“You know the way,” Jesus simply tells them.
But Thomas says in response, “We don’t.”
Jesus says, “I am the way – the way to the Father. If you know me, you know my Father.”
Philip says, “Show us the Father.”
Jesus, exasperated, says,
“How can you say that? Didn’t I just say that whoever has seen me has seen the Father?
Trust that – and put your trust in me.
For whoever trusts in me and follows me in the way will carry on doing
exactly the same things I have been doing: healing, feeding, forgiving, loving.
And, in fact – and there is no doubt about this – will do even greater things than I have done.”
That is a lot to take in!
As usual in John’s Gospel, Jesus says so much that it is very difficult to unpack all of it.
So, I would like to focus on two things.
The first thing has to do with the first part of the reading,
where Jesus speaks of the disciples having a place.
For those people John was writing to in the late first century,
having a place was of great importance.
A large part of John’s audience was likely comprised of Jews who had been thrown out of
their synagogue for believing Jesus was the Messiah.
Apparently they no longer had no place there.
So where was their place? Where was their home? Where was their solid ground?
Jesus assures them they have a place – a certain place in God’s house.
“In my Father’s house are many dwelling places,” he tells them.
I like the older translations that says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions,”
as if the house of God’s love were so big it could encompass entire mansions within it.
Jesus’ language is trying to express the expansiveness of God’s love.
God has room for you, no matter who you are or how much or how little money you make.
God has room for you, no matter what you’ve done or how you feel.
God has a place for you – and you have a role in God’s mission to love, bless, heal,
feed and set free this whole world and every person in it.
God’s love is roomy.
Focus on Jesus – and you will find your place in God’s house.
This is very reassuring to us in our present circumstances.
Our world has changed.
It has changed more in the last few months than in several generations.
The rug is being pulled out from our feet.
Where is the solid ground? There is so much we don’t know.
The future is uncertain, personally, financially, and societally.
Like those first disciples, we are anxious and afraid.
But also like them, Jesus invites us to find solid ground by focussing on him.
Focus on him, and we will find our place in the universe, in God’s great scheme,
in God’s love for this world and every person in it.
We will find our place – we will find our true home.
God’s love is roomy.
The second thing to focus on is where Jesus speaks further of the disciples having a mission.
This is certainly one of the more astonishing things Jesus says –
and as we know Jesus says a lot of astonishing things!
Jesus says, “You will do greater things than I have.”
You will notice he emphasizes the great truth of this by using the words, “Very truly” and
again halfway through by saying, “In fact.”
In Jesus’ mind there is no doubt that when we find our place in God’s love
we will do greater works than he did.
We often don’t believe it – but Jesus does.
Of course, within hours of Jesus saying this, Judas will betray him,
Peter will deny him, and most of the rest of the disciples will abandon him.
But what Jesus is saying is that there is more to us than our behaviour sometimes indicates.
There is more to us than our failures.
There is more to us than our fears.
There is more to us than our addictions and our illnesses.
There is more to us than our circumstances.
There is a deeper truth about us.
The image the world has of us, the image our circumstances force on us,
the image we have of ourselves is not the whole truth about who we are.
Our true image is something else.
Scripture insists that we are made in the image of a loving, generous, merciful God.
And scripture also insists that Jesus is the very image of this invisible God.
Therefore what we are meant to look like – our true image – is Jesus,
The exact image of the living God, in whose image we are made.
These days, our circumstances in the midst this pandemic seem to be dictating who we are and
our place in the world, which is still mostly sheltering in place, cut off physically from
the people and things we love.
Cut off from routines and activities.
Cut off from work and in many cases cut off from our wages.
Cut off from corporate worship.
This is, truthfully, very disorienting and anxiety-inducing.
Yet, Jesus says, Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust in me.
I am the way. You have a place. You will do even greater things than me – that is a promise.
You are more – way more – than present circumstances indicate.
You were made for loving, blessing, healing, feeding, and forgiving.
This is not the end. Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have a place in God’s loving, roomy house.
And you have a place in God’s mission.
Friends, this is not the end.
We are anxious and fearful, for our world, for its people, for ourselves, for our families,
for our congregation.
But we cannot stop trusting Jesus – and we cannot stop being his loving, generous followers.
The Father is still working, says Jesus in John’s Gospel – and I too am still working.
So let’s continue to work with them.
Let’s be confident.
God did not let Jesus’ death get in the way of God’s loving mission.
And God will not let this pandemic get in the way of God’s loving mission.
Jesus has a lot of confidence in you – you will do greater things than him.
So keep giving, keep loving, keep hoping.
Remember: God’s love was present long before the universe was created and
it will be here long after we are gone.
And when we are gone, we will still have a place in God’s roomy, loving house.
For even death is not larger than God’s larger-than-anything love.
So be of good courage.Continue to hold fast to that which is good.
Render to no one evil for evil.
Strengthen the fainthearted. Support the weak. Help the afflicted.
Love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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