John 14:23-29
Jesus answered him,
"Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we
will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does
not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the
Father who sent me." I have said these things to you while I am still with
you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace
I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world
gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You
heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I am coming to you.' If you loved
me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is
greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it
does occur, you may believe.
==================================================
Well, the time
sure flies, doesn’t it? It’s been just
over three months since my first week at Littlefield, and it has gone by so
fast. And as fast as it seems for me, some of you have expressed that it is
even more so for you because your other interns have been here for the better
part of a year. And so today is my last Sunday as an intern with you, and so I
suppose this might be called my Farewell Discourse.
That is also what this
section of Scripture is drawn from – it’s known as Jesus’ Farewell Discourse – the
four chapters in the middle of the gospel according to John where Jesus
prepares his disciples for the future. He
explains that he is going, but they will not be left alone. He gives them a
sneak preview of the arrival of the Holy Spirit who will remain with them while
he is gone. He reassures them that he will come back for them. He tells them to
love one another, and to not be afraid. And he tells them how important it is
for them to abide in God, even when God incarnate is no longer pitching his
tent on earth with them.
This is not
welcome news to the disciples, and it’s not easily understood, either. This
beloved teacher, this rabbi who has told them, “I AM the Way, the Truth, the
Life” , I AM the bread of life, I AM the light of the world, I AM the gate for
the sheep, is heading out the door, so to speak.
He tells them he
is going to the Father, to prepare a place for them, in his Father’s house where
there are many dwelling places, abiding places.
This word “abide”
shows up over and over again in the gospel according to John. The Greek word is
meno – to abide, to remain. There is
a permanence to it, a continuing and enduring nature. According to John’s gospel, Jesus
abides in God and God in him. Jesus calls us to abide in him, most directly in
the passage just after this. “I am the vine, you are the branches. Abide in me
as I abide in you.” “Remain in me as I
remain in you.”
It’s not the same
word used in the first chapter of John’s Gospel, that well-known prologue: “In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. “And
then a few verses later: “and the Word became flesh and lived, or dwelt
(depending on the translation), among us.” That word is skeno – literally, to pitch a tent. It’s temporary housing. God incarnate came to live among us for a
brief time, pitched a tent among us, to live and walk among us for a season.
The Triune God –
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, abides with us, remains with us, forever. We are adopted, and we are children of God. God’s
house is our permanent residence, our abode.
The first two
verses in our passage spell this out, although Jesus refers to this over and
over again in his Farewell Discourse. Jesus says,“if you love me, you will keep
my word, and my Father will love you and we will come to you and make our home
with you.” The word used for home in this passage is menon – from meno – to
abide, to remain. Our permanent home.
Then he continues,
and says, “Those who do not love me do not keep my words…and the word that you
hear is not my word, but is from the Father who sent me.”
In these two
verses he is telling us that his Father remains in him, just as Jesus remains,
or abides, in God. We will come to you and make our home with you. The words you hear from me are from God. Jesus
remains in God; God remains in Jesus. They will come to us and abide in us,
remain in us.
The Advocate, the
Holy Spirit, will come and remain with us, and will teach us everything. Don’t
be troubled or frightened in your hearts, Jesus says. I leave you my peace, much
more than the world’s peace. What a comfort and security these words are!
Our human
tendency, when we want something to be permanent, is to build a strong and
secure structure that will withstand the tests of time. This might be a physical structure, or it may
be a financial one, or a military one, or a structure created for our own
personal control. We remember clearly the story of the three little pigs and so
we build our houses from brick, never straw.
If we live near
water, we put our house up on stilts, or pylons strong enough to withstand whatever
amount of flooding has been calculated as probable for that area. We build up our 401k’s, to fund a secure and
comfortable, predictable future. We do extensive leadership development and
succession planning in our businesses to assure our future success.
We build and store
bombs we don’t ever intend to use, as deterrent against enemies, potential and
real. We try our best in all things to surround ourselves with complete
protection and security.
But we know, deep
down, the truth, that everything we rely upon for security and protection and
stability is as temporary as a tent.
Our homes, our
nest eggs, our corporations, our churches, the protections we build up will one
day be used up or will come tumbling down. Our nuclear families grow up,
change, move away, come apart, shift into different forms. The 30-year careers
come to an end, just like the four month internships. All these things are much more like pitching
a tent than abiding.
We truly abide in God,
and remain in God alone. And when we
abide more fully, remain totally dependent, leaning completely on the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy
Spirit over and above any of these so-called permanent structures, then we
truly are becoming disciples. We do not know where on earth this may lead. But we do know where it ultimately leads; it
leads to where Jesus has prepared a place for us, where our Lord waits at table
for us. And we know that we are part of a community of faith, and that we need
the community so that we can sustain each other along this journey.
Just as Jesus
abides in God, so do we abide with one another and with Christ. Our security is
in Christ, and only when we abide in Him, when we remain in Him, are we truly
secure forever. Not just later, but here and now. And this is security that far
exceeds the imaginary protection of the temporary structures we build.
St Augustine once
wrote a beautiful explanation of this. It not only speaks to the contrast between
temporary and permanent, but also it speaks to the musician, the singer in us
all. He wrote:
"Let us sing alleluia here on earth, while
we still live in anxiety, so that we may sing it one day in heaven in full
security...We shall have no enemies in heaven, we shall never lose a friend.
God's praises are sung both there and here, but
here they are sung in anxiety, there in security; here they are sung by those
destined to die, there, by those destined to live forever; here they are sung
in hope, there in hope's fulfillment; here, they are sung by wayfarers, there,
by those living in their own country. So then...let us sing now, not in order
to enjoy a life of leisure, but in order to lighten our labors. You should sing as wayfarers do – sing, but
continue your journey...Sing then, but keep going."
What a joy and
privilege it is to have become part of this Littlefield community. And as
temporary as it may seem, I know that together in this community we abide in
Christ. When we go out as wayfarers from this community, we abide in Christ. When
we carry God’s mission into the world every day, we abide in Christ. With
believers in every time and place, wherever we are, wherever we go, we abide in
Christ.
Thanks be to God!
Alleluia!
