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The 5th Sunday of Easter
(A) In the Name of him who is the way, the truth, and the life - Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. How many of you ever look at tabloid newspapers while waiting in a checkout lane at the supermarket? I have never yet bought one, but sometimes I do look at the front page. As you can imagine, they can come up with some wild and crazy stuff – about aliens, Big Foot mountain creatures, a 1,000-pound woman, and so forth! When preparing for this sermon, I remembered one particular tabloid that I saw a few years ago. The headline was: "Hubble Telescope Discovers Heaven!" A picture, which looked suspiciously like the Emerald City of the old Wizard of Oz movie was printed on the tabloid, along with a quote from a supposed "NASA scientist" - "We've discovered the place where God lives!" Jesus in our gospel lesson today is also talking about heaven. But not as some celestial object of fantasy or curiosity. Heaven - also called "My Father's House" by Jesus, is really not so much a place as it is an expression of our life with God. When Jesus talks about heaven, he shows that it is not something to be discussed but rather to be experienced. It is something that fulfills all of our deepest longings and hopes. Jesus says: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 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? 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." Jesus here wants to assure his disciples and us that heaven will never run out of room. There will never be a "NO VACANCY" sign hung up on the pearly gates! There is as much room in heaven as there is love in God's heart! And yet, each person is specially cared for as if he or she were the only guest there was. Jesus says that he is preparing a place - a special place - for each and every person who trusts in him. The Church has often preached about OUR need to prepare for Jesus' coming, but it has all too often neglected to tell people that JESUS is also preparing to receive us! Lovingly, Jesus is getting things ready so that we can live with him forever. Instead of coming as a fearsome judge some day who wants to send people to hell, our Lord Jesus will be coming to take us into his nearer presence and give us far more joy and happiness than we can even conceive of right now! But how do we get to this blessed existence? Or as the disciple Thomas asks Jesus, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" In reply Jesus answers; "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." It is this reply that I wish to focus on for most of the rest of this sermon. First, Jesus says that he is the WAY. Notice that he does not say that he TELLS us the way, but that he IS the way! William Barclay in his Daily Study Bible Commentary gives an example of what this means. He says, suppose we are in a strange town and ask for directions. Suppose the person asked says: "Take the first to the right, and the second to the left. Cross the square, go past the church, take the third on the right and the road you want is the fourth on the left." Chances are that we will be lost before we get halfway there! But suppose the person we ask says: "Come. I'll take you there." In that case, Barclay says, that person to us IS the way, and we cannot miss it. That is what Jesus does for us in bringing us to His Father's House - to heaven! He does not only give advice and directions. But rather, he takes us by the hand and leads us; he strengthens us and guides us personally each and every day. He does not tell us about the way, he IS the Way! How different this is from what most people think about “religion”. “Religion” means a system of thoughts and practices for “finding God” in life and perhaps getting to heaven. But Jesus is not about “religion”. Jesus actually comes and BRINGS US to God! With our Lord Jesus, it is not us seeking God - it is rather God coming to and seeking us! Jesus is the WAY. Jesus also says that he is the TRUTH. He is not talking about his words but about his LIFE! There is a saying I once heard that "the LIFE of the pastor is the gospel of the people" - meaning that his or her ACTIONS speak much louder than any words he or she may speak from the pulpit. This certainly is true with Jesus! As gracious as Jesus’ words are (and they are gracious indeed!), his LIFE is even more gracious! By showing love for the sinners and outcasts of society, by forgiving even his enemies, and most of all by GIVING HIS LIFE for the sinners, outcasts, and enemies, Jesus shows how GREAT his love really is! And by this he shows how great GOD'S LOVE for us really is! How could anyone possibly fully comprehend the extent of God's love except for the life of Jesus Christ?! Jesus not only TELLS us about God, but he SHOWS us how much we are worth to God! That is the TRUTH! Jesus IS the truth about God! Finally, Jesus says that he is the LIFE. He is talking about that life in and with God - a communion and fellowship with God that makes life really worth living. In other words, LIFE is not only knowing about God, it is KNOWING God! Knowing that he loves us! Knowing that he cares for us! Knowing that He will always be with us, even through every pain and turmoil that we may encounter, and will bring us through. Knowing that God is bringing us through this life into the bliss of his eternal presence. This is LIFE, and it is something that all people instinctively strive for. Even if they do not believe in God or Jesus, people are constantly searching for "meaning" and "fulfillment". They are searching for that inner peace which will sustain them through both good times and bad. But they never really find it, until they come to know Jesus. But when we do come to know Jesus as our Savior and friend, we then can experience all of God’s peace and love and joy that he wants to give us day by day, month by month, and year by year throughout our earthly lives and through death and even to eternal life. That is why Jesus goes on to say; "No one comes to the Father except through me." In its essence, THIS is what our Christian faith is all about! It is about having LIFE with God. It is about knowing that God’s love for us is so deep and wide that it will never end. It is about knowing that when we die, Jesus will come and take us to our “Father’s house” where we will live with him and God forever and ever. We may not know exactly what HEAVEN - "our Father's house" - is like. We certainly do not - supermarket tabloid claims to the contrary - know where heaven IS. But we DO know that there is room for all of us! We DO know that Jesus is lovingly preparing a place for us! And we DO know that we do not have to "search" for heaven - because Jesus is THE WAY who will take us there. And by his life we know that he is THE TRUTH about how much God loves and cares for us. And through our communion with him now, he is our LIFE - and our peace and our joy. For we know that he is walking with us, and leading us to our heavenly home where we shall be with him forever! We don't need to search for "heaven"! Thanks be to Jesus, we have a taste of it right now. Thanks be to Jesus, he will take and lead us through this life and through death and give us life beyond the grave so that we will arrive safely there. And thanks be to Jesus, our reservations are guaranteed! Thanks be to Jesus! Amen! -------------------- George R. Karres, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
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