John 14:1-14 for Sunday, April 20, 2008

Translation:

(1)Do not let your heart be troubled.  Believe in God and also believe in me. (2)In my father's house there are many rooms, and if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  (3)And if I go and I prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will take you to myself, so that where I am you maybe also. (4)And you know the way where I am going. (5)Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going.  How are we able to know the way?" (6)Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the father if not through me. (7)If you know me, you will know my father.  And from now on, you know him and have seen him." (8)And Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the father and it will satisfy us."  (9) Jesus said to him, "All this time with you and you have not known me, Philip?  The one who has seen me has seen the father.  How can you say 'Show us the father'?  (10)Do you not believe that I am in the father and the father is in me?  The words which I said to you I do not speak myself, but the father who dwells in me does his works. (11)Believe me, that I am in the father and the father in me.  But if not, on account of these works, believe.  (12)Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in me, the work which I do also he will do and he will do greater [works] than these, because I am going to the father.  (13)And whatever you may ask in my name I will do, in order that the father may be glorified in the Son.  (14)If you ask anything in my name, I will do [it].

Jesus never speaks simply, does he?

I think if there is one word that we can choose as the most important word in this section of scripture, it might be "believe."  By my count, this word crops up five times in these fourteen short verses.  That's quite a lot.  

Jesus is speaking in some very ethereal terms here about "going to the father" and "I am in the father and the father is in me" and the "father's house."  It is pretty clear that Thomas and Philip do not know what Jesus means by all this, and I think it is safe to say that 2,000 years later, we are in no better position to definitively say what Jesus means.  Some have said that the "father's house" is heaven, which would be a typical Jewish interpretation of this kind of language.  But, in the Gospel of John many times Jesus uses metaphors of location to describe relationships.  Perhaps the "father's house" and "preparing a room" are all metaphors for close, intimate relationship with God.  Similarly, it is difficult for us to imagine that Jesus could be "in the father" or that the father could be in Jesus.  It just seems physically impossible.  This is probably also a metaphor for the close relationship between Jesus and God.   

Jesus tells Thomas "I am the way and the truth and the life."  This, coupled with last week's scripture about Jesus as the gate seems to mean that Jesus is the access to and embodiment of life with God.  

None of these words and metaphors are probably any clearer now than they were before you came to this blog.  But, I think Jesus knew that this was difficult to understand even as he spoke these words.  He simply kept telling the disciples "believe."  Somehow, I think that nothing Jesus could say would make any of this any clearer.  We do not have language or appropriate earthly conventions to conceive of exactly what Jesus meant.  Our task is to simply believe.  Grammatically speaking, Jesus commands (use of the imperative) belief.  Jesus does not use the imperative in other senses (except in the first verse, "do not let your heart be troubled").  The rest will come with spiritual maturity.  For now, just believe.

This is true for so much of our lives.  When we are faced with enormous life decisions, or the uncertainty of the future the only thing we can really do is rely on God and believe.  This week at Trinity, we will all be participating in a survey administered by your Visioning Team.  The Visioning Team has been meeting regularly to talk and pray together about where God may be leading Trinity as a faith community.  This survey is one way the Visioning Team wants to engage the congregation at large in this process.  We also want you to be engaged by your prayers, presence, gifts and talents.  

Even as we try to discern God's vision for Trinity together, it is hard for us to see too far into the future.  Thankfully we are not asked to do much more than believe.  As we walk this road together, may our faith always guide us.