Grace,
mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
The sermon
text for today was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the apostle St John, one
of the 12 who was present with Jesus at the Last Supper, from his Gospel 14:1-14,
which we read earlier. And we read:
I am the
way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Prayer: May
the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O
Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
No-one likes to fail. We don’t
want to fail in our work, in our home and family life, we don’t want to fail at
evangelism and helping to build the church. But there are many times when Jesus
allows us to fail—in fact, when he allows everything there is in the world to
fail—because he wants to show us that he is the only way to the Father. You are
not the way, the truth or the life: only Jesus is. You can’t come to the Father
through yourself, and through your own works—no-one comes to the Father
except through Jesus.
In our reading today, Jesus
comforts his disciples on the night when he was betrayed. And he
prophesies to them that they will fail. He says: You will all fall away
because of me this night. And he says to Peter: The rooster will not
crow till you have denied me three times. They will fail, they will all
fall away, because Jesus is going to make the one, true perfect sacrifice for
the sins of the whole world by himself, on his own, alone—and he will
not permit anyone else to do that work. He alone is the Messiah, and no-one
else.
But now Jesus comforts his
disciples: Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in
me. Jesus knows that in his church, among his disciples, there is always
going to be an abundance of troubled hearts. And when he gathers each of
his beloved sheep one-by-one into his arms, when they leave this earthly life,
he promises to let them experience for the first time a heart that is
completely free from any kind of sin or trouble whatsoever. This will be the perfect
peace of Jesus, the peace which passes all understanding, human understanding
and even angelic understanding.
And yet even today, Jesus comes
and rules his church—he rules the bodies and souls of each of his sheep
gathered together to hear his voice. And he rules his church through his holy
word, and through his sacraments: through baptism and the Lord’s Supper. On
that Maundy Thursday night, this is exactly what Jesus was doing: giving them
the Lord’s Supper and preaching to them—word and sacrament.
And so what kind of a word is it
that Jesus speaks? What kind of a sacrament is it that he feeds us with? Jesus
says: Let not your hearts be troubled. Jesus rules our hearts through
his word, and he calms them. He says: Be still and know that I am God. He
says: The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. He
lets us share in this perfect peace ahead of time, and his word itself has the
power for us to receive this peace: this peace is the simple forgiveness of all
our sins through Jesus’ blood. And we receive this forgiveness simply by
trusting that what Jesus says is true, and that his voice is truly the voice of
God. Jesus, my Lord and my God, you said it, I believe it: that settles
it. And so Jesus says: Believe in God; believe also in me.
And as if that word were not
enough, Jesus also wants to show us his great love to attract us and draw us in,
and give our faith something solid to hold on to. He says: In my Father’s
house are many rooms. 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, that where I am you may be also. And you
know the way to where I am going.”
What a wonderful thing it is that
Jesus himself prepares a place for each of us! What a wonderful promise it is
that he will come again and take you to himself that where he is you may be
also!
But Jesus puts a little riddle in
what he says to make his disciples think. He says: And you know the way to
where I am going.
Thomas said to him, “[Hang on a
minute!] Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know
where Jesus is going! Of course, we know where he is—He is seated at the right
hand of God the Father, and because of this, he is with each of us
always until the end of the age. He’s not with us like some kind of
stunned mullet – he actively takes an interest in us, and walks with us, and
leads us, and guides us, and feeds us. He is always leading us out into good
pasture, working all things together for good for those who love God. But we
get frustrated, and we think—Jesus, I want to know what’s going to happen in my
life so I can plan for it. I want to know how all my problems are going to be
solved in advance. I want to have my finances sorted, I want to be set up for
the future, I want to be prepared. –We get impatient. And so we come to Jesus
just like Thomas and say: Lord, we do not know where you are going. We
don’t know where you are leading us from one day to the next! How can we
know the way?
Jesus said to him, and he takes
us by the hand and says to all of us, “I am the way, and the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you
would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen
him.”
Jesus is the way.
Everything that he is doing for us is him graciously leading us to the Father.
He is taking us along his narrow road with him to the Father. And there is no
other way to the Father except him.
Jesus is the truth.
Everything he speaks to us is completely and totally true. His word is tested,
it’s 24 carat! There’s no such thing as a truth that’s only true for you, but
is not true for me. There is either the truth that Jesus speaks or there is no
truth at all.
Jesus is the life.
Everywhere Jesus leads us is a road of life, and everything that Jesus speaks
to us in his word are words of spirit and life. Every other road is a road of
death, a road of despair, a dead-end road.
Think about Jesus’ words, how
they are the way, the truth and the life. Your word is a lamp to my feet and
a light to my path. These forgiving, comforting words are our way, each
step we take is a forgiven step, each stone we put our foot down on is a
comfort for us. And his word is true—and his words give life.
Think about Holy Baptism, how it
is the way, the truth and the life. We put on Christ through baptism, and we
walk with him. Our baptism is a truthful, reliable work of Jesus. And baptism
gives us life, it is a washing of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit.
Think about the Lord’s Supper,
how it is the way, the truth and the life. It is a strength and food and
refreshment to pilgrims on their way to heaven. It is the true body and blood
of Christ. And it is life—it is completely for you, and for the forgiveness of
sins. And where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and
salvation.
And Jesus says to us: If you
had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him
and have seen him. Jesus teaches us here that you can’t know the Father by
yourself. You can’t come on your own way, with your own half-baked truth, and
with your own sinful life. No—the Father won’t accept that. He will only accept
absolute perfection, a perfect way, perfect truth and a perfect life—he will
only accept his Son. So Jesus says: If you had known me, you would have
known my Father also. Come with me, and get to know me, learn my word,
learn my cross, my death, my resurrection, and I will take you with me to visit
my Father and we will live with him together. From now on you do know him
and have seen him.
Now, there’s always this burning
desire for us to want to side-track Jesus and get to the Father some other way.
But if we want to ignore Jesus and his work, the only thing we can replace him
with is ourselves and our own works: and they are simply not good enough.
So we read that Philip said to
him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Philip wants
Jesus to get out of the way, and just get on with it and show them the Father.
Jesus said to him, “Have I been
with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? 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? Jesus says: I can’t get out of
the way of the Father, because I am the way. I am in complete unity with the
Father, even though I am a human being just like you. You can look at me with
your own eyes, and touch me with your own hands. Whoever has seen me has
seen the Father.
Jesus says: The words that I
say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me
does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or
else believe on account of the works themselves. Jesus wants to teach
Philip that the words he speaks are exactly the same words that the Father
speaks. The works that Jesus does, to forgive sins, heal the sick, raise the
dead, are the same works that the Father does. Jesus says: The life that I
create is the same life that the Father creates.
But here, right at the end of our
reading, Jesus says something quite amazing about us. He says: Truly,
truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do;
and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified
in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Listen to those words. Whoever
believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these
will he do, because I am going to the Father. Remember right before the
reading, Jesus prophesied that his disciples would fail him, and that they
would all fall away from him. And yet, now, he promises that they will do
greater works than him.
How many times have I failed in
my work as a pastor, as a husband, as a father, as a son, as a brother! How
many times have you failed in your work, in your homes, as fathers, sons,
mothers, daughters, brothers, sisters, friends!
And yet, through each of our
vocations, Jesus gives us such wonderful special work to do, work that is so
blessed by him, that he even calls it greater than his work. And the greatest
work is to speak and listen to his words. When we speak the words of Jesus, all
we are doing is reading something out of a book; and when we hear the words of
Jesus, we are simply sitting doing nothing.
So how is this greater than all
the works of Jesus? Because when Jesus did his works of healing, of raising the
dead, of opening eyes of the blind, these miracles were miracles in the body
for this life. But when we speak and hear the word of God, these same miracles
occur in our hearts and souls, where the miracles are greater.
But also, what we hear in this
life now, the words of Jesus which we hear now even in this church today, are
the words by which Jesus will raise our bodies from the dead. Today when we
speak God’s word, we are getting this final, perfect miracle started, when we
will enter into the presence of the Father together with our Saviour Jesus, and
be completely healed, completely forgiven, completely purified and made
completely perfect. As it says in Psalm 103: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your
diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast
love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like
the eagle’s.
Can you imagine this kind of a
miracle being performed in our souls and bodies? And yet this is exactly the
kind of miracle that Jesus performs in us each time we come to hear his word,
and receive his sacraments. We say: The body of our Lord Jesus Christ and
his holy precious blood strengthen and preserve you in body and soul until life
eternal.
And this miracle we perform
today. Jesus allows us to perform it and share in it, as St Paul says, not
that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but
our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new
covenant…But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing
power belongs to God and not to us.
You see—your work, your life, as
an ordinary person, my work as an ordinary pastor, wherever God has put us,
with our ordinary jobs, and our ordinary tasks, are completely transformed from
failure into something completely new and living, they are transformed and
transfigured into a new life, not because of us, but because these things are
done together with Jesus, with the blessing of his word, who is the way, and
the truth, and the life. And Jesus says: No-one comes to the Father
except through me. But what a joy it is to move day by day closer to the
Father through him and with him and in him! Jesus says: Whatever you ask in
my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask
me anything in my name, I will do it.
And with that sort of
encouragement on our way, and with that kind of solid truth, let not our
hearts be troubled. As Jesus says: Believe in God; believe also in me.
Amen.
Lord Jesus, we believe, help our
unbelief. Lead us in your way to the Father, Lord Jesus. Speak your truth from
the Father, Lord Jesus. Pour out upon us your life from the Father, Lord Jesus.
Amen.
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