John 14:1-32
For anyone who has studied the Bible,
I think the Gospel of John is always a challenge. The Jesus who
speaks in this gospel doesn't sound anything like the one who speaks
in the other three. And when he does speak, sometimes he's very hard
to understand. And sometimes when we think we understand him, it
doesn't sound as though what he is saying is consistent with our
experience. So how do we deal with a passage like the one which
we've just read? Because Jesus says three things which people have
argued over for centuries. First he says, “In my father's house
there are many dwelling places; if there were not, would I have told
you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” Most of the time
we think Jesus is talking about heaven; and some people point to this
passage as evidence that there will be lots of variety in heaven –
Catholics here, Methodists there – we'll all have different clouds
to sit on.
But the only other time Jesus refers
to his Father's house in the gospel of John is when he drives the
money changers out of the temple. And when asked to explain his
actions, he says, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will
raise it up” and the author goes on to say that he was speaking
about his body. So Jesus may not be talking about heaven here; he
may be talking about the fact that in the olden days God dwelt in the
Jerusalem temple, but in the New dispensation, he will dwell in Jesus
and in the temple made up of Jesus' followers who are members of his
body. Jesus is going to prepare a place for you and I in this new
temple, this new reality, which already exists, which we are already
part of – and it's clear that the work is still going on; Jesus is
still preparing a place for you and I. Not a place to dwell in, but
part of the building itself. And this work began with his
resurrection from the dead.
The second hard saying is when Jesus
tells Thomas “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to
the Father except through me”. Doesn't that seem a little
arrogant? What about all those good people who belong to other
religions, or even have no religion at all? And if what Jesus is
saying is literally true, then you and I will have a lot to explain
when he asks us why we didn't try harder to convert our friends and
neighbors, who are now excluded forever from heaven. Or perhaps we
will be like the theologian Karl Rahner, who put forth the theory of
the anonymous Christian – the idea that people striving to lead
good lives but who did not know of Christ were in some way united to
his body anyway.
But maybe Jesus is telling Thomas
something different, something in keeping with the next part of the
gospel where he tells Philip, “If you have seen me, you have seen
the Father.” And remember that he did tell Thomas “You know the
way”. Because the way to the Father is not what you know, but how
you live. Jesus is saying that if you want to find the way to the
Father, then do what Jesus does, live as he lived. You take a stance
in the world of acceptance, of turning the other cheek, of answering
the needs of the people you meet along the way. You put God first,
your neighbor second, and yourself third, just as Jesus did. The
words on your lips must be the words of Jesus, “Not my will but
yours be done”. When we look at Jesus, we see what kind of God we
have – because if we see him, we see the Father.
Finally, the last hard saying is “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.” I don't know about you, but there have
been a lot of times I wished I could work a miracle – I've prayed
over and over that God would intervene – in my life, in someone
else's life – and I haven't seen it happen, at least in a clear and
unequivocal way. But again, Jesus is probably not talking about
miracles. He is predicting that his followers will surpass any works
that he did. And we can see evidence of that. Jesus fed a huge
crowd; his followers are always feeding the hungry, thousands of
times over that huge crowd. Jesus loved to teach; all over the
world, his followers set up schools and universities to teach in his
name. Jesus loved to heal, and in most parts of the world, even in
Muslim countries, you can find hospitals set up and run by the
followers of Jesus. Jesus is doing all these things through his
followers, because he is with the Father, and we see what the Father
is like when we see Jesus.
So that gets us back to the beginning
of this passage, when Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be
troubled...” The apostles know that something is going to happen.
Jesus has been predicting his death, sometimes in veiled terms and
sometimes directly; and here they are and he is saying goodbye to
them. Why does he have to leave? Why does he have to die? And what
about you and I who have never had the joy of accompanying him as he
walked the roads of Galilee two thousand years ago? But Jesus is
saying that it's time we took over; it's time we became the temple of
God on earth. It's time we look to Jesus' life to inform our own
lives. And it's time we see that we do more to do the works that he
did, by our own gifts of time, talent, and treasure.
There is a story about a young man who
graduated from agricultural school. His teacher asked him, “Are
you going home to take over the family farm?” The young man
answered, “Not yet, my grandfather hasn't let my father take over
yet.” This gospel passage from John tells us that indeed Jesus is
letting us take over. We are the temple in which the Father dwells.
Are we up to the task?
