Following Jesus

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

May 14, 2017

5 Easter A

          In our youth confirmation class this spring, we looked at a variety of difficult scripture passages.  We looked at a passage from Isaiah that challenges the mistaken idea that, in the Hebrew Scriptures, God is angry and all about punishment.  We looked at the passage from Acts in which Ananias and Sapphira kept back some of the proceeds from the sale of their property and were struck dead.  We asked questions of Scripture, using the image Episcopal priest and well known preacher Barbara Brown Taylor describes as “looking for the splinter” in the passage, and we learned to use some of the same skills we use to look at other pieces of literature to address those splinters.

          Had I been thinking ahead, the class would have worked on the passage from John that we heard this morning. Then they could have written this sermon!  Today’s gospel lesson has several splinters.   Our youth would have wondered what Jesus meant when he says “No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Does that mean that our friends and loved ones of other faiths, or no faith, are destined for hell?  And what about Jesus claim that “If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”  I guarantee you that our youth would not take that promise lightly.

          As with most passages of Scripture, knowing the context of the passage is helpful.  In the passage just before our gospel reading, Jesus has washed the disciples’ feet, and told the disciples that they should do likewise for each other, serving each other as Jesus has served them.  Having one’s feet washed is a humbling experience in which one person becomes vulnerable to another.  Jesus is describing how the disciples are to be in community with each other.  Then, Jesus tells the disciples that one of them will betray him.  Next, Jesus tells the disciples that he is with them only a little longer, and where he is going, the disciples cannot come.  Then Jesus tells Peter that before day break, he will have denied Jesus three times.

          So, this morning, the scene with the disciples and Jesus is quite somber.  The disciples were likely sad, confused, and feeling rather hopeless.  Jesus is encouraging the remaining 11 disciples when he says  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”  Jesus promises his followers that he is going to prepare a place for them, and will come back and get them.  Jesus is not abandoning them.  In fact, Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life so that they know the path to the Father.

          Taken out of context, this passage makes it sound like only those who follow Jesus have access to God.  However, a few chapters earlier in John’s gospel, Jesus said “I am the good shepherd.  I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.  And I lay down my life for the sheep.  I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.  I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.  So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”  Jesus will bring his other sheep into the fold.  Meanwhile, Jesus’ disciples are called to witness to the world through their love for each other, so there is healthy, loving fold waiting for the other sheep.  What this passage, and much of John’s gospel insists, is that Jesus’ followers love each other with the same love Jesus has for them.  That love will spill out into love for others so that the world experiences God’s love. 

          At the end of the passage, Jesus tells the disciples that they will do even greater works than he has, and that if they ask for anything in his name, he will do it.  This is after Jesus has changed water into wine, fed thousands of people with a bit of bread and fish, raised Lazarus from the dead, walked on water, and healed many people of their infirmities.  Really?  Jesus thinks we can do that?

          If we read further, Jesus will tell the disciples that he will not leave them orphaned.  He will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to be with them forever.  While having the Holy Spirit available to do whatever we like would be lovely some days, Jesus is not promising us that.  This is not God as Santa Claus.  But Jesus is promising us that the Holy Spirit will give us what we need so that we are able to show God’s love to the world at all times and in all circumstances.  Jesus is giving his sad, confused, discouraged disciples their mission.  They will have the ability to carry on his work in the world, demonstrating the power of God’s love to even more people than Jesus did.

          At the end of the day, this gospel is neither about who is in and who is out, nor about a promise that we, too, can raise the dead to life.  The reading from 1 Peter says “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”   Jesus is telling us how we are to be that chosen race and royal priesthood and proclaim God’s mighty acts.  We are to proclaim the mighty acts of God by word and example, demonstrating the love of God at all times and in all places, like Jesus did.  We are to follow Jesus by making ourselves present to the Holy Spirit so we can make God’s love known in whatever situation we find ourselves.   When Bishop Williams lays hands on those being confirmed or received today, he will not be conferring special power, righteous judgement, or exceptional privilege upon those who kneel before him.  He will be confirming their commitment to following Jesus, which is about humility, servant hood, and reflecting God’s love.  In other words, following Jesus is about following Jesus.

                                                                             Amen.