November 15, 2015 Our Apparent God Parent
John 14:1-14
Preface to the Word
Just a week ago Saturday, a wonderful celebration of Katie Farley’s life and faith was held in this sanctuary. And, as typically happens in most memorial services I conduct, a passage of scripture from John 14 was read. We’re going to hear a portion of it read again today.
But before we hear it, I need to say a few things to try to set the context for the words, which won’t be easy! The short time frame of a sermon doesn’t really allow for an adequate explanation of how the fourth gospel in our New Testament, The Gospel According to John, differs from the three gospels that come before it. Matthew. Mark, and Luke all follow a similar outline of the Jesus story and share a lot of material in common – sometimes word for word. This is why they are called the “Synoptic Gospels” – synoptic means “seen together.” But when you get to John, you quickly realize that this gospel takes a very different approach to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
For example, the verses chapter 14 about to be read to us report a conversation Jesus is having with his disciples during a meal before his crucifixion. But unlike the other three gospels, it’s not the Passover meal and Jesus doesn’t institute the Lord’s Supper. Rather, he washes the disciples’ feet! In this way John is emphasizing his point that “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” was actually crucified on Preparation Day, the day before the Passover, when lambs for the Passover meal were sacrificed.
Why is John’s story so radically different?
The Cliff Notes summary of John tries to explain it this way…
Written by a Christian named John, the contents of the book indicate quite clearly that the author was not the John who was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, for it contains no direct personal references of the type that one would expect from an intimate associate of Jesus. On the contrary, it presents an interpretation of Jesus that reflects ideas and situations that prevailed in the Christian community toward the end of the first century of the Christian era, a time when Christianity was under attack from several different quarters, including Jews, Romans, skeptics, and others making charges against it. The author of the Gospel of John was evidently aware of these attacks and knew that some of the accounts given in earlier gospels were interpreted in a manner that seemed to support these charges. Because he believed so firmly in the new Christian movement, he wanted to write a gospel that set forth its essential truth in the best possible manner. His hope was that he might write one that was not only true but that offered a presentation of the Christian faith that would overcome the objections of its critics and gain the respect of the educated and cultured people of his day. This objective helps us to understand many of the unique characteristics of John's gospel, especially the ones that sharply contrast the Synoptic Gospels. It explains the omission in the Gospel of John of many items found in the earlier accounts, and it also explains, at least in part, the different attitude about Jews, the allegorical interpretations of certain miracle stories, the absence of apocalypticism with reference to the second coming, the subordinate role of John the Baptist, and a new concept of the Messiah.
In the Gospel of John, the central theme is the divine Logos; the “word” that was with God and that was God. This Logos became flesh and dwelt among us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. John says nothing of a supernatural birth. He regards Jesus as a human being who possessed actual flesh and blood, the same as other people. But the most significant thing about Jesus is that the divine Logos was present in him and all of the marvelous things he accomplished were by virtue of the power of God. This is how John understands the relationship between the divine and the human. Because God was present in Jesus, it’s appropriate to refer to him as the Son of God. And he is an example of what can happen in the life of anyone in whom the power of God dwells. It was John who wrote, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (1:12)
In today’s reading we will hear Jesus say, “I assure you that whoever believes in me will do the works that I do. They will do even greater works than these because I am going to the Father.” (14.12)
In the chapter right on the heels of the one we’ll hear from today, Jesus explains his relation to God the Father by using the metaphor of the vine and the branches. He shows in what sense it is true that the Son and the Father are one in spirit and in purpose without either of them losing their personal identities. The Father works through the Son for the redemption of the world, but the task must be continued after the earthly career of the Son has ended. So Jesus speaks of going to the Father in order that the Comforter or Spirit of God may be present in the hearts and minds of believers and thus continue the work that Jesus did while dwelling among them.
You see, this is John's version of the second coming! John, no less than the Synoptic Gospel writers, believes that someday the forces of evil in this world will be overcome and God's reign of righteousness will finally be established. But instead of being brought about by a sudden catastrophic event that will destroy the nations of the world and at which time Jesus will return to earth in power and great glory, John sees the return of Jesus whenever and wherever the Spirit of God enters into the lives of human beings. He believes that the function of the Christian church is to follow the guidance and direction of this spirit until the whole world has been transformed into a kingdom of God.
Let’s hear the reading from John 14…
Scripture Reading: John 14:1-14
Sermon I.
A. I’m not exactly sure what year it was, 1976 I think. Jan and I were living in Denver at the time and decided to use our eastward location as an excuse to drive back to my birthplace, a little wide spot in the road just outside of Terre Haute, Indiana. I had not been back there since we moved to California in 1959. When my folks learned of our plans, they insisted that we look up some old friends of theirs. Jan and I really didn’t want to, but after getting there trying to find my old home out in the country, we had to get directions so we ended up on these people’s doorstep.
I can’t even remember their names. All I can recall is that the wife was at home snapping green beans with her daughter and the husband was gone somewhere. She greeted us at the door and when I introduced myself as Jack and Shirley Harkness’ son, she nearly went ballistic! She couldn’t believe it.
We were welcomed in warmly and as we sat there catching up with all the news, the husband came home. I can still remember it as he walked into the room and she told him that they had company. But she insisted that he guesse who we were! We sat there on the couch like some kind of display and he was supposed to look closely at me and figure out who I was. It was funny, really. He hemmed and hawed, and finally she said to him while pointing at me, “Look at him. Who does he remind you of? Come on. It’s so obvious. This is Jack Harkness’ boy, Scott, and his wife, Jan. Isn’t he the spittin’ image of Jack?”
There are a lot of ways I’m the spittin’ image of Jack Harkness. It becomes more apparent the older I get. Jan has reminded me more than once that I’m starting to look more and more like my old man (and don’t think that it’s always meant as a compliment)! There’s a lot of Jack Harkness in me, even in ways I don’t always like or understand. Not only his genes, but his strong personality played a big part in shaping who I am today. And though he has been dead for over 30 years, he still makes himself known in me and in my siblings.
B. In this passage today from John’s Gospel, the gospel writer uses this conversation between Jesus and his disciples as a way to share his own belief in and experience of Christ. It’s a passage often used at funerals and memorial services because of the promise Jesus gives to “go and prepare a place” for us. It’s a passage that has also created a lot of controversy over the years because of that one line where Jesus says, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” It’s too bad, really. Here John wants to express the singular joy of his experience of knowing God through Jesus Christ and we turn his witness into what has sometimes been brutal dogma.
C. Philip said to Jesus, “Show us the Father; that will be enough for us.” Jesus replies, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus is telling his followers, “If you want to know my Father, look at me. God’s spiritual DNA permeates who I am and comes to life through my words and actions. If you know me, you will know God, also. Trust me.”
D. I’ve been walking with Jesus for over 60 years now, and the older I get, the more I’m learning to trust this promise. My expanding experience of God, which flows from time with Christ and Christ’s people, convinces me of the truth of what John wrote in this passage.
And this essentially is what I have to share with others about God. In my experience, Jesus is the way to God. There are some interesting conversations we could have about the other world religions as ways to God. But I don’t see that as the main point here. Like John, all I can personally talk about with integrity and sincerity and experience is how I am getting to know God by getting to know Jesus.
II.
A. But I’m seeing something else in this passage today; something that gets passed over way too quickly, I think. Not only does Jesus say, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” He goes on to say that whatever God accomplishes in him, God will also accomplish in those who put their trust in him.
B. Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of scripture, The Message, captures Jesus’ comments with these words:
“The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it.”
C. Not only did God’s spiritual DNA become flesh in Jesus. God’s spiritual DNA becomes flesh in us – transplanted into the hearts, the minds and the lives of those who get to know Jesus and learn to trust his power, presence and counsel completely. Listen to what John is saying… This stuff isn’t only about Jesus and his special relationship with God. This is about you and me also having a special relationship with God, and how we can know that this relationship is deepening and true when God does things with us and through us something like the way God did things with and through Jesus.
D. Here’s the thing: God’s spiritual DNA takes hold in our lives when we are in relationship with Christ. It’s John’s Gospel, after all, that talks about a person being “born again,” or “born from above.” What are these phrases about other than attempts to describe an experience; the experience of being given new life, a new relationship with God, a new way of looking at the world, and a new value system with a new set of priorities?
According to John’s Gospel, our faith in Jesus gives us the power to become the children of God, “born from above.” And what is given birth in us, like any new living thing, is only going to grow if it is fed and attended to.
III.
A. Our church exists to encourage and support this relationship with God – “mid-wifing” it as it were, holding it up as supremely important, and knowing that God will do tremendous things through those in whom God’s Spirit is born. We follow Jesus’ lead.
B. When Jesus gathered disciples around him he had a definite plan in mind. The first part of the plan was that the disciples would “be with him.” They would walk with him, they would learn his ways by seeing him at work, they would listen to his words, they would lift up their confusion to his clarity, they would absorb his spirit, they would begin to see God’s agenda, and they would be strengthened by their fellowship.
The second part of the plan is that he would “send them out” to do the kind of work that he himself was doing, in his way, in his spirit. They would return to learn more and be encouraged, and then would be sent out again to do the ministry of Jesus. That was the plan.
C. The Risen Christ still works that plan. He calls people to walk with him, to be in a living relationship with him, to know God through him. He wants to breath his spirit into our hearts and souls, transplant God’s DNA into our lives. He wants us to spend time by his side in prayer and understand him by studying the scripture.
As God speaks to our open hearts and we are “transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:2) we find ourselves wanting to be a part of what God wants to bless. And we know what that is by looking at and listening to Jesus. Because God was in Christ, he had compassion on the multitudes, he was the friend of publicans and sinners, he came to give service rather than receive it, he sought and saved the least, the last and the lost.
“To see me, is to see the Father,” he told Philip. It was apparent whose son Jesus was!
D. “The person who trusts me,” he said, “will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it.” Like a sponge, we soak up God and become saturated with God’s Spirit. The only way to absorb more is to be squeezed out, to share what we’ve been given, to act out what we’ve learned, to give the love and the grace we have received. Jesus doesn’t just gather us around the campfire for some good times and great stories. He sends us out with the good news, to bring God to others and others to God.