Address given at Templederry, St Mary's, Nenagh and Killodiernan on Sunday 14th May 2017, the Fifth after Easter. In St Mary's it was a joyful day of baptism for Jack Robert, son of Robert Nevin and his wife Sharon née Gloster, accompanied by a host of relatives and friends.
I wonder how Thomas and Philip felt when Jesus responded
to them the way he did in today’s Gospel reading (John 14:1-14).
Did they
say to themselves, ‘Duh – I should have known
that’? Were they embarrassed? Did they blush like school children who have
asked their teacher a silly question? Or were they happy that their words had
prompted Jesus, their friend and teacher, to speak plainly about difficult
ideas?
The
reading comes at the start of what is often called the ‘Farewell Discourse’.
This makes up the whole of chapters 14 – 17 of St John’s Gospel, describing in more
detail than anywhere else in the Bible how the 3 Persons of the Trinity relate
to each other and to those who believe.
Jesus has
just eaten his Last Supper with his disciples. He has washed their feet as if
he were a servant, as an acted parable to show them that they, like him, are
called to a ministry of service. He knows that the end game is upon him - the
forces of evil are pressing in all around. Soon he will be arrested, subjected
to a show-trial, condemned and brutally executed. He does not have much time,
but he is determined to take this last chance to prepare his disciples for what
will unfold. His words are dense with meaning.
In this
short extract Jesus teaches the disciples about the relationships between Jesus
himself and the God Jesus calls his Father, and between them both and his
disciples – not just those first disciples present at the Last Supper, but
through them us as well.
Then he goes
on to say that there are many dwelling places in his Father’s house – this is
heaven, of course, where God is. He tells the disciples that he is going there
to prepare a place for each and every one of them. And he promises that he will
return to bring them there to be with him and with God.
Theologians
have puzzled over what Jesus meant by the many dwelling places in God’s house,
but perhaps it is as simple as this: that heaven is as wide as the heart of God
and there is room for everyone there who believes in Jesus, no matter how
unworthy they might feel they are. It is a lovely comforting thought, isn’t it?
Jesus says, ‘You know the way to the place I am going’, prompting Thomas to respond, ‘We do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ I like Thomas. Thomas is always
questioning – the awkward student who asks the questions others are ashamed to
ask. He doesn’t accept anything without owning it for himself – just as he will
doubt the resurrection until he sees the wound in Jesus’s side.
So Jesus explains to
him and the other disciples, in words that echo down the centuries to us, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life’.
The way to find God, says Jesus, is by following him. Those who know him will
know God. And because they see and know Jesus, because they see and know the
truth and the life in him, they have seen and known God.
These words must have
been very shocking for the disciples, because it was an article of faith for
Jews that it was impossible to see God. When God showed his glory to Moses he
said, ‘You cannot see my face; for no one shall
see me and live’.
At this point Philip blurts out ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied’.
And Jesus gently
chides him, ‘Have I been with you all this time,
Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the
Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on
my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works’.
The truth that
the disciples have to grasp is this: because Jesus is in God and God is in
Jesus, if you have seen Jesus you have seen God. To see Jesus is to see what
God is like – and to know what God is like is to know what Jesus is like. Those first disciples were privileged to
see Jesus in the flesh and know what he was like. But we too can see and know
Jesus, through scripture, through church tradition and through our God-given
reason – and we can experience his presence in our hearts. All it takes is to
believe in him. When we do so, we see and know God too.
Jesus calls his disciples to continue
his ministry of service, as he says:
‘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 my Father.
Disciples
who believe in Jesus will not just minister as he has done, but will do greater
things, says Jesus. How can this be? How can they possibly do greater things
than God’s own Son Jesus? Well, look at it this way. In his earthly life
Jesus’s ministry was limited to the towns and countryside of Palestine. But his
first disciples built a mass movement of followers who believed in Jesus. They and
their followers brought Jesus’s ministry to the whole world. We call that mass
movement the Church. In all its wonderful diversity the Church continues
Jesus’s ministry today, and as Jesus’s disciples we are a part of it.
We are
made part of the Church by baptism. Today is a day of baptism, a joyful
occasion, a day for celebration. For many it is a day of family celebration as
Sharon and Robbie bring their son Jack Robert to be baptised in the presence of
so many of their relatives and friends, who share their joy in him. But it is
more than just a family celebration, because we are all here to welcome Jack as
a new member of the Church, a fellow disciple of Jesus. His baptism marks the
beginning of a journey with God which will last for the rest of his life. As we
renew our baptism vows in a few minutes, let us reflect on our own journey, and
let us be determined to support Jack’s parents and Godparents as they guide him
on his journey.
And Jesus promises
to answer his disciples’ prayers: ‘I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be
glorified in the Son’. But we must understand well - Jesus only promises to answer prayers
asked in his name. We cannot honestly pray in the name of Jesus for personal
revenge, for personal ambition, or for anything unworthy or un-Christian – such
prayers will not be granted. But our prayers prayed in Jesus’s name will be
answered - as God knows is best for us, not necessarily as we desire - and that
reveals God’s glory to us all.
So to finish, let us echo the words
of Jesus
Let not our hearts be troubled. Let
us believe in God and also in Jesus.
As we finish in prayer:
Everliving God,
whose Son Jesus
Christ is the way, the truth and the life:
give us grace to
love one another,
to follow in the
way of his commandments
and to share his
risen life;
who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and
for ever. Amen
