 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The Gospel of Matthew Bible Studies
The Gospel of Mark Bible Studies
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
|
Sixth Sunday of Easter Text: John 14-15-21 April 27, 2008 Just after arriving in Jerusalem, Jesus had (according to our Gospel writers) very open and honest conversations with his disciples. He told them things they did not want to hear…he told them the truth. About his betrayal at the hands of one of these disciples… he told them the truth. That he would be with them only a little while longer… he told them the truth. That he would soon be killed… He told them the truth. Even about Peter’s denial… He spoke the truth… all before it happened. Now, the disciples, who had been traveling with him, experiencing his ways of healing people… Naturally, they didn’t want to accept this. They had accepted their adopted by Jesus, having themselves adopted this new way of life. They had become a part of his flock and Jesus had even told them that they were a family. Yes, they had become accustomed to his way and his word (his guidance). Yes, this new way of life/ this newness of life which had become the most important thing… Jesus told them it was going to change. Can you imagine how the disciples must have felt? Have you ever lost someone you loved? Panic, despairing… fear… Fear… in these first disciples. How will life ever have meaning again after having found what we were looking for..? Having known and traveled with the messiah, what in this life could ever compare? What would life be like after Jesus? If you read Ch. 14 of John’s Gospel you will see that this whole chapter is Jesus’ response to his disciples’ fears about the truth he was telling them… that they would soon be on their own… without him to walk with. What would happen to disciples after there is no more Jesus to walk with? Brothers and sisters, there is a reason this Chapter is here, addressing this issue. For surely this has been pertinent to every Christian who has lived ever since. What happens to those who live as the church—not ever having experienced what these first disciples experienced? How can we continue to follow one whom we cannot see? How can we experience him? (a very contemporary question—and one people who aren’t Christian are still asking.) Like I said, the Gospel reading today is from the 14th Chapter of John—it is instruction for those of us experiencing these questions about faith – and even those of us experiencing fear about what life is throwing at us—and how does our Christian story help us? At the very beginning of the Chapter Jesus says something that informs the whole rest of the Chapter—the underlying theme… he says… “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God…, believe also in me…” Do not fear, brothers and sisters, remember, this whole experience is and always was about God—who perhaps we cannot see with our eyes, but surely God was experienced in the presence of Jesus Christ, through faith! It has always been a matter of faith. This is what the entire Gospel is about—that God was revealed/ experienced / made manifest to the disciples in their experience with Jesus Christ… because they believed in him. And this is what Jesus told them (from today’s Gospel reading): I will not leave you orphaned” No, another manifestation of God will come to you—to help you—to teach you—to comfort you. Do not fear, you think I am gone, but I am really coming to you, and I will make my presence known to you. And it is this helping Spirit of God, “The Holy Spirit” who teaches us and shows us God, every time we hear the Word of God. Even though some people don’t see him, and don’t understand what we are saying—The Holy Spirit is here, comforting us, teaching us. Giving us that same peace that the first disciples were so afraid they would be without. It begins and ends with faith, as Jesus said “Believe in God, and believe also in me.” But it is carried out with love, for Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commands.” He also said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Brothers and Sisters in Christ, if faith is a divine gift-- that receives good things from God, then love is the revelation of faith that we live. That is, the only way that faith is revealed in us, is by the love that the Christian gives continually to God and to his neighbor. One of the great teachers of the Church, and our namesake, Martin Luther, spent a lot of time on this topic. Sure he was a scholar and spoke medieval academic to the scholars, but he was also a pastor, noted for saying in a sermon, “If I encouraged you to nothing else, let it be said that I encouraged you to faith active in love.” This is the church brothers and sisters – the “communion of love.” As members of the body of Christ, the church, Christians receive continuously both Christ and each other. We receive Christ through the word and sacraments. We also bring Christ, who is present in faith, to each other. For it is through love that we are actually united to Christ, and to one another. “On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” Do you see what this means, In faith Christ has opened to us participation within the very life of God! When a Christian puts himself in the place of the neighbor and gives himself to him in love, his action is not his own work but the work of God in which the Christian takes part. Luther stresses that those who seek the benefit of others realize love and fulfill the will of God. Luther even says that through love Christians will be transformed into each other. This means that by following the rule of love we receive the misery and evil of theirs as their own and share their gifts with them. In such love, which bears the sin and evil of others, is found the meaning of Holy Communion, and in it the unity of Christians with Christ and with each other grows complete. For it is the same love that caused him to die for us in the first place. Brothers and sisters, let us love one another, because Christ first loved us. Let us tear down the walls of fear—accepting and owning each others weaknesses and sins And sharing mutually each others gifts and strengths. And in this communion of love… Christ is here also. -------------------- Pastor Joshua Magyar 418 W. Main St. Sidney, MT 59270
|
||||
