God’s grace, peace
and mercy be with you. My sermon today is House, Way, and Ask, and my
focus is our Gospel (John 14:1-14). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist
wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the
Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear
your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our
hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity.
Amen.
House. The word
itself can have many meanings. A house serves as a living-quarters for people
or animals. If you have enough money, you may build a guest house for visitors.
If you have committed some great or grievous error, you may find yourself in
the dog house. Yankee Stadium is affectionately known as The House that Ruth
Built. A friend of mine owns a house in which he stores his horse-drawn
carriages. Royal families, such as The House of David includes the generations
of his extensive family. House can refer to government, a business (movie
house, fish house), wine or something free (on the house). Hundreds of movies,
shows, books and songs contain the word house.
House appears over
2,000 times in the Old Testament, and over 300 times in the New. Jesus used the
word when instructing his disciples (Lk 10:7), telling a story (Lk 6:48), or
cleansing the temple of thieves (Lk 19:46). Twice Jesus spoke the phrase, “my
Father’s house”. The first time was when he was found in the Jerusalem Temple
by an exasperated and relieved Mary and Joseph. His response to their question
was “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my
Father’s house?” (Lk 2:49). The second was when he expelled the
merchants from the Temple, commanding them, “Do not make my Father’s
house a house of trade” (Jn 2:16). Obviously, his Father’s house is a
heavenly dwelling in which there are many rooms where the disciples will dwell
in peace after the struggles of life.
Jews would have
easily understood their house as heaven which has room enough for all of us.
They understood that heaven was the resting place for the holy and just, but
not the wicked. They also knew their history that in the Exodus from Egypt, God
went before the Israelites to seek out a place for them to pitch their tents and
to show them which way to go (Dt 1:33), and not to fear their enemies (Dt
1:29).
The message that
Christ has gone before the disciples to prepare a place for them as well as the
early Church and us today is that through our own death and resurrection, that
is Baptism, Christians have a place reserved for them in their Father’s house.
St. Paul reminds us of this in his words, “For we know that if the tent
that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor 5:1).
The fact that
Jesus was going ahead of his followers and that he assured them of this was
lost on his enemies as well as Thomas, a disciple who could not originally
grasp what his Master said. That leads to my second point, Way.
Those of you who
were here for Good Friday may recall that I spoke of the importance in John’s
Gospel of Jesus’ “I Am” statements. Verses 6-11 explain how Jesus
is the Way to the Father. He is the Way because he is the Truth or revelation
of the Father so that when people know him, they know the Father and when they
see him, they see the Father. He is the Way because he is the Life – since he
lives in the Father and the Father lives in him. He is the channel through
which the Father’s life comes to you and me.[1] Jesus Christ is the only
way to the Father.
Now, if you are
like me, you must wonder where Jesus got these concepts. I can tell you that
being married to a Star Wars addict, Jesus did not get this from watching The
Mandalorian, who regularly states, “This is the Way.” Jesus got it
from reading the Psalms, particularly 86:11, which reads, “Teach me your
way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.” And
Proverbs, where we read, “The wise man’s way leads upward to life that he
may avoid Sheol below” (15:24). The way of life and the way of death
are contrasted in Jeremiah when God says, “Behold, I set before you the
way of life and the way of death” (21:8).
While we could
spend an inordinate amount of time researching and discussing Old Testament
themes and the use of “the Way” by John the Baptist and the application of “the
Way” to the followers of Jesus.[2] What it means here is that
Jesus Christ is the only road of salvation because he is the Truth. Jesus is
the only revelation of the Father who is the goal of our journey. No one has
ever seen the Father except Jesus; and he tells us what he saw in the Father’s
presence. Through faith in him and through Baptism, he makes us children of God
whom we can call Father.[3] If Jesus is the Way in the
sense that he is the Truth and enables us to know our goal, he is also the Way
in the sense that he is the Life. Life comes through the Truth.[4]
That brings me to
my third point, Ask. Aside from serving God as a pastor, I made a good living
working as a development director for several nonprofit organizations raising
money for a variety of educational and social service needs. As a development
director, I was always asking people to invest in a cause. At times I asked and
the answer was no. Other times I asked and the answer was double-yes. We
experienced such a response recently for needed items in this church. There is
one other word that I spoke as a development director, and I will get to that
in a moment.
First, when I
asked people to support a cause, did I have in mind Jesus’ promise? No. Did
Jesus literally mean “anything” when you ask him to do something? No. True
faith leads to understanding. So, how are we to understand what Jesus meant
when he said, “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”?
The “Ask” is a
continuation of what we read in verse 10-11, about the unity of God the Father
and God the Son. Thus, there is no doubt that a Christian’s requests will be
granted. Do you believe that? Your requests will be granted because of the
unity of the Persons of the Trinity and our unity with this Triune God, our
Triune God. That being the case, should our requests be petty? No. Don’t
complain because you did not get what you wanted when you prayed for financial
windfalls or a fitter physique, for a team victory or an election day upset.
Lots of saints live in poverty and with disabilities, Ernie Banks never won a
World Series and many people with integrity never won an election. Our requests
should be pertinent to our Christian living and the continuation of the work by
which Jesus glorified his Father. So, when you ask God for something keep in
mind Jesus’ words to his Father, “I glorified you on earth, having
accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (Jn 17:4).[5]
Looking at what
was ahead for them – passion, death, crucifixion and everlasting life – what
did the first disciples request? What was Stephen’s request as he looked up to
heaven? What was Paul’s request as he sat chained in prison waiting for his
death sentence? Knowing that our heavenly home is guaranteed, and that when we
pass through the realm of death, we are protected from Satan through our faith
in our Savior because we are baptized believers … Knowing that Jesus is the
only way to our heavenly home, what are our requests?
I could answer you
glibly, and I am sure if I handed each of you the mic, you could quickly answer
that question, but let’s not make a list of what we will ask from God. Instead,
go home and pray with your spouse and family, or gather with friends and fellow
worshippers, or alone – and ask God one question: “How can we better glorify
you, Father, and continue the work Jesus gave us to accomplish?”
I am asking you to
first ask God what is best for us as a congregation. As you pray about that ask,
look past material stuff we need and seek how we should live together as God’s
people. How should we worship? How should we share with others what God is
doing for our congregation right now? How should we tithe? How should we
support the District, the Synod or a seminarian or missionary in addition to
paying our bills? Should we get a Lutheran Comfort Dog? (Oh wait, we already
have one.) After that, we can talk about what God revealed to us in prayer.
The other thing I
learned to be successful as a development director is that you always, always
have to say thanks. We thank our Triune God for creating us, for redeeming us,
and for sanctifying us. I say thanks to you for your prayers, thoughts and
actions as a congregation since I have been your pastor. As I was completing
this sermon, I came across this prayer: Through your Son, you taught us,
Father, not to be fearful of tomorrow but to commit our lives to your care. Do
not withhold your Spirit from us but help us find a life of peace after these
days of trouble. As you ask God for guidance, may the peace of God that
surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment