April 28, 2002 - FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
John 14:1-14
Color: White
John 14:1-14
Title: “Jesus sums up his teaching.”
Jesus begins his farewell address to his disciples and to the world.
Chapter fourteen, begins Jesus’ long “farewell” discourse found only in John, spanning chapters fourteen to seventeen. Jesus begins by assuring his disciples that his physical absence, caused by his death, will not be a permanent condition. He will return to them in two ways. He will return at the unspecified end- the end of the world and the end of their own time in the world, their own death- and he will return to them soon; also unspecified, but soon to be experienced on the evening of the resurrection, in the form of his Spirit. If he does not cease to be present with and to and in them, neither do his works, the works he was originally sent to do by his Father, cease. They will continue through his disciples because he will continue through them. The key to this “continuing,” what John coins or terms “remaining,” or “abiding,” or “indwelling,” is faith, insight, not physical vision.
In verse one, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” In the Old Testament and in the Synoptics “heart,” is the place where decisions are made. In other words, “heart,” means “the will.” In John it also is seen as the seat of the emotions. On level one, this physical world, the disciples are emotionally “troubled,” because Jesus is speaking of his death and departure. The verb for “troubled,” Greek tarassein, was used to describe Jesus’ emotional state when confronted with Lazarus’ death in chapter eleven verse thirty-three, and with his own betrayal, unto death, by Judas in chapter thirteen verse twenty-one. Jesus means here, “Do not continue to be troubled,” not to not have such emotions in the first place. Emotions are not within our control, and Jesus knew that firsthand. However, when submitted to our attitudes, the will, their intensity does abate, allowing us to see more clearly. The disciples are understandably troubled by the thought of serving an absent Master, of what will happen to them when Jesus is no longer there with them, physically present. But, the trouble is about more than sentiment alone; it is part of the dualistic struggle between Jesus and the Prince of this world
Have faith in God…in me: Faith is the remedy for emotional turmoil. In Hebrew the word comes from the root ‘-m-n, “to be firm, solid.” The word “Amen,” comes from this root. Faith is participating in the very “firmness,” of God, rock solid. Thus, when in any turmoil, being swirled around, off one’s feet, in the air, the solution is to grab onto something solid, God. The emphasis in the Greek, however, falls on “also in me.” Jesus’ demand that they trust him involves more than a vote of confidence. Their conscious association with him will continue to conquer the Prince of darkness because they are in union with Jesus.
In verse two, “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?”
Jesus is referring, of course, to heaven, but using an earthly metaphor. Heaven was imagined as if it were a palace or place as the earthly Jerusalem Temple is like God’s palace. Jesus is telling his disciples that he is going back to his Father, to the realm and reality of God. He has been there before and knows that there is room aplenty for all. As Christ he came to earth to prepare humans as “dwelling places,” for the divine indwelling, now he goes to heaven to prepare “dwelling places,” for those very same humans. “Dwelling,” translates the Greek mone, a cognate of menein, “remain, abide, dwell,” the term in John for the permanent and mutual indwelling of- Father- Son- Spirit- Christian.
If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?: The disciples are to “have faith also in me,” verse one, because Jesus has been there, in eternity, and knows what he is talking about. He says so; they take him at or believe in, his word.
In verse three, “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.” Just as there are two levels of reality, level one is the earthly; level two the heavenly, so there are two dimensions or realms of divine presence-abiding-indwelling. This statement of Jesus would fit into and apply to either, but he means it here in the second level sense. Jesus is speaking of the final state of affairs when humans will live only on level two, along with him. He will later explain to his disciples that he will send his Spirit verses fifteen to seventeen, upon his resurrection, the Spirit who will abide with and within them here and now. For the present he is speaking of the future and final state of reality, his final “return,” to bring them “up,” not spatially “up,” but directionally “up,” to and with him and his Father.
In verse four, “And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Jesus is going to the Father. That is his goal. Now, he shifts focus and begins to include his followers. Their goal is the same as his and their means to it, the way, is Jesus and through Jesus.
In verse five, “Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” All this talk of departure has upset Thomas to the point of exasperation, at least on level one. The point, of course, on level two, goes much deeper. No one would know of the goal of life, if it were not for Jesus, on level one he who dies with the most toys wins. Other great religious leaders may intuit it or see it vaguely, as one might see it through the Hubbell telescope, but none would ever come near what Jesus has revealed. And no one would conclude that the way, the means, the access to that goal was a person rather than a method or a program or a discipline of personal effort.
In verse six, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The grammar here is important. The “and,” following “way,” is epexegetical –explanatory-. This means that the word that follows the “and,” explains the word that preceded. Both “the truth,” and “the life,” explains “the way.” Jesus is the earthly way to the heavenly realities of truth and life. Jesus is the channel through which the Father’s life and truth come to humans, the sacrament of God, much as he is the “gate” in chapter ten verse nine, the means of access and progress into God. Jesus is not only a moral guide, the way to truth, but also the only avenue to salvation, the way to life. The disciples follow Jesus by repeating his example of obedience, obedience even to death, which leads beyond death to true life, eternal life.
In verses seven to eleven, these verses are a commentary on verse six. They return to the notion of the Father as the goal of life and Jesus as the means to that goal.
In verse seven, “If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” This parallel runs throughout the Last Supper discourse. It shows up in “As the Father loves me, so I love you,” chapter fifteen verse nine and “As the Father sent me, so I send you” in chapter twenty verse twenty-one. Jesus parallels his union with his Father with his union with his followers. Thus, to “know,” Jesus, know him personally as opposed to merely knowing about him, is to also know God. Jesus did not study Greek metaphysics, nor did his disciples-although those ideas were “in the air”. He is being neither philosophical nor mystical in describing his union with his Father, valid as those approaches may be. He relates the union to his mission. Jesus is as Jesus does. He does his Father’s works. He is God’s agent, representative of the one who sent him. He is also God’s Son, and that deepens the legal relationship of agent or representative to a relationship of likeness of nature. That is as far as Jesus will go in explaining his union with the Father. He will leave it to later philosophers and theologians to spell out the metaphysical and mystical implications of that union.
In verse eight, “Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Philip, speaking on level one, the earthly level and with earthly vision, expresses an understandable wish- to physically see God. When Jesus’ opponents asked for this, “Show us a sign,” Jesus got angry with them. Such physical seeing does not produce faith. It only produces the need for more miracles, more proof. Here Jesus is not angry, but somewhat frustrated that he has been with his disciples so long and they do not yet, and the time is getting short, understand. The disciples have not failed completely to know Jesus, yet their questions indicate that they have a “way,” to go. Jesus knows that physical vision of God will not be “enough” for them.
In verse nine, Jesus 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’? In religious language “sight,” is a metaphor for “full knowledge,” personal knowledge, not merely intellectual. Not all who “see,” the physical Jesus “see,” into him and “see,” the Father. Only faith provides that vision. Those who do, who see Jesus, see God. The whole life of Jesus- his words and his works- have been the revelation of the Father, the expression of the Father’s presence, power, activity and will for the world and the humans in it.
In verse ten, “Do 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.” Jesus expresses this union from both perspectives because he will use it to express his personal and moral union with his disciples in the same way. He, then, is the vital link between a human and a divine uniting and indwelling and abiding and remaining. The Father on his side “does his works,” in and through Jesus. Jesus on his side reveals the Father by those works and words.
In verse eleven, “Believe 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.” If the disciples “look into” the works Jesus has done they will conclude God could only have done them. This is not a lower level of belief, only an easier route to the same belief. Jesus recognized that the works themselves, the signs, the miracles, do not produce faith on their own. But they can strengthen weak faith.
In verse twelve, “Very 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. First, this refers to Jesus continuing to work through his disciples as the Father worked through Jesus. Jesus is primarily referring to works done by himself during his physical absence from earth through his Spirit living in his disciples, driving their works. “Greater,” has the meaning of “even more revelatory, since you will not ‘see,’ me either visibly doing them.” This also means “greater,” in the sense of “more extensive,” not better. The disciples will carry out and carry on the work of Jesus, which is also the Father’s work, and their words, those of the Father and Son, over the expanse of the entire planet and through the ages. It is, of course, still Jesus who is at work when they do these things. As Jesus acted on behalf of, in the name of, in the character of, his Father, so they act on Jesus’ behalf, now that he has gone to his Father.
In verses thirteen and fourteen, “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” Jesus assures his disciples he will be with them in his name, if one would think of the word nature when one sees the word name in the Bible it would convey a better understanding. “I will do whatever you ask in my nature, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my nature you ask me for anything, I will do it. By asking in Jesus nature we are doing those things Jesus commanded us to do.
Sermon
It is ironic that the Hebrew word for “faith,” is based on a root meaning “firm, solid.” Faith seems to be the least “solid,” reality in life; life lived on level one, at least. How ironic that it turns out to be so solid. If truth be told, the earth is not all that solid either. What seems to be “the earth beneath my feet,” to be so solid, is actually in a state of constant flux. Every atom in the universe really defines its “place,” in terms of its relationship to other atoms, not the “space,” it occupies. That “space,” is quite fluid and constantly moving. How ironic, that faith is like that, too, only many people think the earth, or the atoms which make it up, is more solid simply because it appears so. In the final analysis and at rock bottom, the rules of earth, of level one, are not different from the rules of level two, heavenly reality. They only appear so, because of sin and its consequences- blindness to the truth, hardhearted resistance to love and mercy, denial of justice.
Jesus is trying in his final discourse to sum up his teaching as well as to say “good-bye.” He is going away but will not remain away. He will come back in two ways: 1) provisionally, through his Spirit; and 2) permanently, through his Parousia at the end of time. In the first way he will come back to them or us. In the second way, he will bring us back with him, that where he is eternally, is where we also may be forever. In the meantime, the in-between time, he empowers us to keep both perspectives in our mind’s eye simultaneously. Throughout John, Jesus has taught that this is a progressively acquired and perfected discipline. This dual perspective enables the disciple to interpret reality, here and now, as Jesus did when he was here. It also empowers the disciple to do as Jesus did now, in the disciple’s lifetime, as he did in his.
One of the major perspectives Jesus has granted to his disciples is the vision that things that feel bad or seem bad are not necessarily so. He uses his own death and departure from them as a case in point. They will be emotionally hurt, “troubled,” but they are not to let that emotion rule them, their attitudes or behavior. Keeping faith means first to keep the right perspective and the right one is always the eternal one. So, Jesus will come back. In the meantime they are not to lose heart or vision. That is not to say that emotions of grief are not appropriate or real. Even Jesus was “troubled,” at the death of Lazarus and the tears of Mary, his friends. They are “real,” for level one, a level all humans live on and in. But, they are not the only reality. Attitudes, eternal perspectives, can override or trump feelings without denying feelings or repressing them. Jesus tells them and us that God can turn bad things, things caused by evil and human cooperation with evil, into good outcomes if we let him, cooperate with him, “see,” him present and active, “know,” him, especially through his word.
In the presence of negative emotions- grief, fear, apprehension of the future without a loved one- one can panic and forget or even deny the fuller truth. Thomas’s question about not knowing the goal and thus knowing the way to it even less is reminiscent of a child balking at a parental challenge “Why did not you do thus and so? I did not because I could not. I did not have a whatever or know how to whatever.” Thomas represents us all when we are unwilling to face the implications of being Christian. And Philip represents us all when we retreat to level one standards and challenge God to meet them to shore up our reticence, to perform a miracle and prove by our standards and to our satisfaction that what God asks of us is worth the risk and effort.
Jesus is it. He is the way, the means, the channel, the conduit, the everything, to the goal and the goal is not a physical place or an emotional state. The goal is no less than God himself. Now, Jesus, our friend, brother, Lord and Savior, God himself in human form and flesh, wants so badly that we “fare well,” in this life that he gives us this “farewell,” message to contemplate. It is always revelatory and encouraging, but especially so when we must face death- ours and others’, face departures and leave-takings of all sorts. There are so many things as well as people which we emotionally cherish, some rightly, others wrongly, so many people and things we are attached to, even addicted to, which we must take leave of, that these words of Jesus will help us with. We, too, must say “good-bye” to level one- one “leave,” at a time.
Jesus saw his death as a permanent detachment from earthly ties, but only as a temporary departure from earthly friends and disciples.
Jesus would soon return after his death and departure and be present not only among his friends and disciples but within them through his Spirit.
The mutual indwelling of Father and Son is the model or template or paradigm for the mutual indwelling of Christ and his friends and disciples.
As Christ came to earth to prepare humans and friends and disciples as “dwelling places,” for the divine indwelling, so he goes to heaven to prepare “dwelling places,” for those same humans and friends and disciples.
Death or Departure r Detachment: From the viewpoint of level one reality, earthly vision, physical death is the looming threat hanging over every human being. Humans would like nothing more that to find out how to reverse death’s seeming finality, indeed its irreversibility and inevitability. Jesus taught that this is a wrong way to look at death. Physical death might be the end of physical life, but it is not the end of personal life. “Person,” connotes “relationships.” A person is really much more than a throbbing heart, an intact body, and a functioning brain. A person is a web of mutual relationships. Throughout our personal lives we are always leave-taking, as Jesus is here in his farewell address. We are always saying “good-bye,” to people, places and things. Every day we say “good-bye,” to the day when we go to sleep at night. It will never return and we will never see it or the events that happened within it again. But we will see the people, most of them anyway, again. Oh, we will see pretty much the same things as we saw yesterday- the geography, landscape, environment, house, furniture, clothes, etc. They will become the background for the new events of the new day. However, we know deep down that everything is departing from us. We know as we grow older, if we grow older, if we do not die on this day, that we will end up burying the last friend, end up in a strange place where nothing is familiar or evokes memories of love and laughter, in a “home,” that is not a home, at all, among “friends,” who, though not enemies, rarely if ever dwelt in the same place or loved the same people as we did- once, once upon a time. Instead of clinging to people, places and things, it is much wiser to detach, to let go. Detaching does not mean losing, just letting go. The way to do that is to keep the eternal perspective, to keep “faith.” Enlightened by that perspective we can see death on two levels. True, on level one, death is the end of physical life, life on this planet and life shared with everyone else on earth. However, on level two, death is merely a departure, a temporary departure, to become “refitted,” for eternal life where there are no more departures, detachments or deaths. Seen from that faith perspective, we can let go because we see we never really possessed in the first place. Possessing, having, owning, controlling, were all illusions permitted by first level awareness, but exposed for what they are or are not under the light of second level truth. The full perspective on death lets us live life here on earth to its fullest potential. Personal death, then, can occur long before physical death. It occurs when we deliberately sever the links between ourselves and others, when we personally disconnect from another. If we don’t do that, we live on after we physically die by virtue of the links of love which physical death cannot sever.
Mutual Indwelling: It simply cannot get any better than Jesus’ revelation of what life is, what it is for, and what it is about. Just as the Father and Son mutually indwell within each other, so also do we mutually indwell with God, thanks to Christ, the living link between God and humans. No wonder Jesus was so brave, so calm amidst storms, physical and emotional! The whole goal and point of life, a gift from God, is simply to “be with,” and to “be in.” We are not or need never be alone. Not only alone in the universe, but alone within ourselves. No wonder Jesus was so happy and brought such joy to others merely by his being there in their midst! We can be and do the same! When we realize that God created us to have a relationship with him everything changes its perspective for us, because it is an eternal relationship that our Heavenly Father claims for us. Amen.
