It is the Way

 Gate Pa –  5th Sunday in Easter - Year A -2023

Readings:

Psalm -                        Psalm: 31:1-5,15-16    Page 229 NZPB
First Reading -             Acts 7:55-60                           
Second Reading -       1 Peter 2:2-10            
Gospel -                       John 14:1-14  

What I want to say:
How do the words of John 14 help us see the risen Christ among us, active in our world this Easter

What I want to happen:
How might we be “We must be people of the way, being the dream and hope of God, as we participate in abundant life while here on earth together” (https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-of-easter/commentary-on-john-141-14-6)

The Sermon

1.     Introduction:

Alleluia - Christ is risen
He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
It is still Easter, and will be for a few more weeks
No longer stories about resurrection
This week’s gospel set in Jesus farewell speech in John’s gospel as they gathered for their last meal before arrest, trial, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension
And Stephen being stoned
The focus has shifted a little
It was about the story of Jesus being raised from death and the effect that had on his followers
Now more about how we experience the risen Christ amongst now, active in our world.
It was about the mystery and awesomeness of that resurrection story
-         How ever we understand that
Now an invitation for us to live resurrection lives ourselves

2.     The Way, Truth and Life?

To help us in all this we have the well-known passage from John 14.
Too often read as establishing dogma about Jesus
Rather than words of hope in the midst of that darkness
-         Darkness of those disciples gathering as the storm started to rage around them
-         Darkness of John’s small community struggling as the storm raged around them.
Too often read it on it’s own
Divorced from the story it is set in
Divorced from the whole speech it is set in
And it think we miss some of the hope and intent in Jesus’ words and how John presents them.
As I say on occasions, let’s ignore that this is the beginning of a new chapter and put these verses back in the story.
And in the story, Jesus does not stop talking. He keeps on talking.
This is John’s version of the last supper.
They know that some powerful people want Jesus dead.
This is a tense meal.
The end is coming and they are not sure what that will look like.
They are filled with uncertainty and fear.
I wonder what causes us uncertainty and fear at the moment?
…..

He meets them and washes their feet,
-         which if we are honest, really confuses them.
Then he says that one of the them will betray him, and Judas goes out into the night.
More confusion and disbelief.
When Judas was gone, Jesus tells them he is going somewhere they cannot come,
and that they are to “Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.”
Not a rule,
-          just how he is inviting them to respond to all that is about to happen.
I am leaving you. Hold on to each other. Love each other.
Peter is having none of that and says “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I’ll give up my life for you.” 
To which Jesus replies “Will you give up your life for me? I assure you that you will deny me three times before the rooster crows.
“Don’t be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me.
My Father’s house has room to spare. If that weren’t the case, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you?
When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me so that where I am you will be too.
You know the way to the place I’m going.”[1]
Or to put it another way – even though you are going to deny me there is a place for you in the heart of God
To which Thomas says, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you have really known me, you will also know the Father. From now on you know him and have seen him.”
And the conversation continues ………

3.     Well known words

So many well known words
So often read on their own
I wonder what difference it makes to hear them in the conversation they are part of.
Not as stand alone words of dogma establishing the belief system you need to get into heaven
But words of comfort to his struggling followers
I wonder what difference it makes to hear them in the context John gives them to us in.
Broken relationships.
-         Doubt.
-         Confusion.
-         Exasperation.
To which Jesus offers these are words of comfort.
Last week we heard Jesus say of himself “I am the good shepherd.”
For this grieving and confused group of people lost in all that is happening around them,
-         Jesus acts as the good shepherd, providing and protecting.
So when we read these words and the words that follow,
-         we need to remember they are words of compassion,
-         inviting those disciples and all who hear these words to trust all that they had experienced of Jesus.
Jesus is not establishing theological dogma about who is in and who is out.
He is offering reassurance that while they may feel like this is the end and what they experienced is over, it is in fact the beginning.
-         Even when all seems lost.
-         Even when Peter denies Jesus three times.
-         Even when they get it wrong,
ð even then there is a place in the heart of God for them,
Even when we get it wrong, and all seems lost
ð even then there is a place in the heart of God for us,
So I wonder in our uncertainty and fear at the moment
What these words offer us?
 

4.     Easter reading

But wait there is more
As we read these words in the Easter season we are invited to also ask
-         how do the words of John 14 help us see the risen Christ among us, active in our world this Easter
On Monday I drove to Omori for a meeting with the bishop and others
And I used google maps
Showed me the quickest way there.
Thomas was looking for that kind of way when he asked
“Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
And we often read Jesus’ response as providing that kind of way
-         through believing certain things about Jesus.
One of my favourite programs on TV is the Mandalorian
Set in the Star Wars universe
About refugees from planet Mandalor
All fighters
Often speak the line
“This is the way”
“The way” are the rules and values that shape their identity as Mandalorian.
Many commentators suggest this is what Jesus means when he says that “He is the way, the truth and the life.”
Just as the Mandalorian is living the way of Mandalor
Jesus in living the way of God
In living in the way he has Jesus has shown any who might want to see the truth of who God is
“If you have really known me, you will also know the Father. From now on you know him and have seen him.”
Or as one of the commentators puts it
The Way of Jesus in the embodiment of the dream and hope of God
When we live the way of Jesus we too live the dream and hope of God
And we will come to know the truth of God and participate in the abundant life God dreams and hopes for this world
When we live the way of Jesus we begin to experience resurrection for ourselves
New life
Through the Spirit the risen Christ is at work in us and through us
Joining others offering God’s hope
Knowing that when we have done what was ours to do we will be drawn into the heart of God
Abiding deeply in the compassion and love of God.
When we see others living the way of Jesus we see the risen Christ at work in our world

5.     Conclusion

Might want to have a conversation about
-         how these words help us see the risen Christ among us, active in our world this Easter
-         or how these words offer us in our uncertainty and fear

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[1] John 13 and 14, CEB.