Christian Hope

John 14

[Jesus said] "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In 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? And 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. And you know the way to the place where I am going."

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through 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."

In these words from John 14 we have one summation of Christian faith and hope.  These words are the beginning of what is called the Farewell Discourse of Jesus.  They are words uttered at a most difficult time.  Jesus and his disciples can sense that the end and culmination of Jesus’ ministry is at hand.  And indeed it is, for in the scene following this extended discourse of Jesus, he is betrayed, then tried, beaten, and crucified.  So they are words offered at the time of the end of Jesus’ life.  They are also words I shared with Jim just a few days before his death.  Words that he lived by and words that will sustain us in life and in death.

            Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.”  This is not a command of Jesus, but an invitation.  Many, perhaps most persons believe in God.  Jesus here invites us to share his vision for a God of love and justice, a God above us but also with us in a most personal and intimate way.

            Jesus continues, “In my father’s house are many mansions, and I go to prepare a place for you.”  This is the heart of Christian hope, that beyond the mysteries of life and death, there is eternal life with God and with our most intimate of family and friends.  So intimate that we speak of homes and rooms, preparations and life together.

            At this point Thomas, doubting Thomas we often call him, interrupts to ask, “What do you mean?  How can we know the way to go?”  Thomas is one of the characters in the Bible we can count on to voice our doubts and concerns and our yearnings for truth.  And here he voices the kinds of questions we bring with us on the day of death:  what is life all about?  Is death to be feared?  How do we face death?

            Jesus’ reply is at once controversial and simple:  “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  These words often separate Christians from non Christians in an unhealthy way, sounding like a Christian demand of our way or the highway. I don’t think that is Jesus’ agenda at all.  It is rather a second invitation to go with the first one in which he invites faith.  Here he invites us to find everlasting communion with God through him and with him.  I think this may also be John’s version of the kind of invitation Jesus offers in Matthew, where he says, “Come to me all of you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”  In our grief and sadness, as we struggle with life’s difficulties, Jesus says, “You don’t have to go it alone.  I will share your burdens, I will help you carry you load. Only turn to me and trust in me.”

            And then Jesus concludes with powerful and provocative words:  “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.”   Jesus offers peace, but no kind of ordinary peace. Not just a cessation of hostilities. Not just an absence of war. Not just a peace in our times. Not just calm and quiet.  But a peace that is lasting. A peace for our individual inner and hurting hearts. And a peace for the whole world.  Peace for this time and peace for all time.  A divinely given peace that reaches down from God and draws us up into God. A peace for all generations and a peace to all generations.  The peace of living in communion with God and our neighbors.  Such a peace is nothing less than God’s kingdom on earth and God’s everlasting kingdom. A peace that goes beyond all human understanding, but a peace that will carry us through life’s darkest days and fill us with joy in life’s brightest moments.

            This is the faith and hope and peace of God which is for each you this day.

            Friends:  do not let your hearts be troubled.  Through Jesus Christ we have the way, the truth, the life, the hope and the peace for this day and the days to come.  AMEN.

R. Charles Grant

Bon Air Presbyterian Church

Richmond, VA

February 16, 2008