5. Sunday after Easter, 05/22/2011

Sermon on John 14:1-14, by David H. Brooks

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. ²In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴And you know the way to the place where I am going." ⁵Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" ⁶Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." ⁸Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." ⁹Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father'? ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. ¹²Very truly, I tell you, 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. 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.

I realize, once you hear the topic of this sermon, you may begin to fear that I am growing morbid. After all, last week I talked of bucket lists; today I want to point out that John's account of the events just before the Crucifixion are often called Jesus' "Farewell Discourse," because it is a type of the "famous last words" that are attributed to famous individuals just before their death. A good example is Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture: Really Achieving your Childhood Dreams, which became an Internet phenomenon and a best-selling book. Dr. Pausch, facing certain death from pancreatic cancer, gave an upbeat and stirring speech where he talked of how his childhood imagination had motivated his life and work, and then encouraged his listeners to do the same.

Now, I do not wish to be misunderstood at this point. I have watched the video of the original speech Pausch gave at Carnegie Mellon University, and I also found it inspiring and deeply moving. Certainly Dr. Pausch did his audience a better service than many powerful or famous individuals through history who spoke a last word or speech meant only to extol or themselves at the expense of others. But Jesus does something different than simply give a "farewell to friends and followers" speech.

Death, the ender of promises

The reason is that for the rest of us, death puts paid to all that we can do-it makes the promises we make conditional. I make a promise to my wife to be home for dinner-it is a conditional promise. I vow to myself to be present always for my daughter-I have no real power to ensure that the promise is kept. This is true for all of us. It was true for Dr. Pausch, whose speech was all the more poignant because what he called "the elephant in the room" stood ready to unravel all the dreams he had for the future. Any one of you could rise at this moment and stand before this gathered people and tell us what you have found that makes for the good life, what ensures integrity, joy, purpose-and finish only by saying that "I hope you find these things." None of us can ensure that the promises we make, whether to ourselves or one another, will last through the next hour, let alone through the years that are to come. Death will undo all our promises.

Jesus' promise endures

But Jesus says something entirely different. He says he will keep his promise. He makes this audacious, even brazen statement right in the face of death which looms over this evening meal and conversation. Indeed, Jesus has already entered into the turmoil and distress that marks his battle with sin, death and evil. Death showed its power at the grave of Lazarus, and Jesus wept. Sin sought to obscure the purpose for which Jesus entered the world, and Jesus called on God the Father to glorify his name. Evil sat at table with Jesus to share bread, and Jesus called out "do your work quickly." In all of these places, John reports that Jesus was troubled in spirit, agitated, disturbed, shaken. So, when Jesus tells the disciples to not be troubled, it is the very same word that tells of Jesus' own profound turmoil and anguish of spirit. Jesus tells the disciples, I will contend with those powers that assail you, shake you up, leave you distressed and confused; do not take that trouble upon yourself-trust my promise to you. Jesus encourages the disciples in his "famous last words" to turn the things that "trouble their hearts" over to him, for he is trustworthy, just as God is trustworthy, and sin, death and evil will not have the last word-Jesus will return to "take to himself" those who know him as the way to the Father.

Neither shaken nor stirred

The simple truth is that all of us here contend daily with troubles that agitate our hearts-worries and fears, anxieties and stresses that rob us of peace, hope, faith and love. Indeed, some of us take so much trouble to heart that our hearts literally get into trouble! We know, deep down, that we are limited, that our power to keep our promises-to be a good provider, a good spouse, a good parent, a good son or daughter, a good worker-how that list goes on!-depends on things that not only aren't in our control, but will never be. What is more, we compound the problem by giving what little we do have to other things-false gods-who promise us status, contentment, power, happiness, control. They never deliver, and in their wake they leave behind broken and troubled hearts.

But to chase after Jesus Christ; to walk with him, to be a follower; to do what he says means to experience him-to know him-as Way, as Truth, as Life. To let Jesus, who has burst the bonds of death, put evil and the gloom of sin to flight, and trampled Hell underfoot, direct our days and our deeds means that our promises to ourselves and one another find their proper place and their joyous fulfillment. To follow after Jesus and obey his commands means opportunities day after day to discover the gracious Father who is revealed in the words and deeds of the Only Son. To walk with Jesus and imitate him means doing even greater things than the disciples witnessed long ago. Let us follow after and learn from our Lord, so that others may read our live and see, not a last lecture, but a promise that is forever. Amen.

Rev. David H. Brooks
Cary, NC, USA
E-Mail: David.Brooks@ChristtheKingCary.org

Bemerkung:
(From The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved.)

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