6 Easter, Year C
Sunday, May 5, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Acts 16:9-15
Psalm 67
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
John 14:23-29
“Those who love me will keep my
word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home
with them” (John 14:23). That’s really
what salvation is all about, isn’t it, being one with God, God making his home
with us? God’s home was with us in the
Garden of Eden, at the beginning of creation, before we turned away and
separated ourselves from God. That’s
what we’re constantly striving to get back, our unity with God, for God to make
his home with us.
So, Jesus taught his disciples
“Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will
come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23). That means loving Jesus and keeping his word
is, in itself, salvific. Love Jesus and
keep his word, and God will dwell with you.
What, then, does it mean to keep
Jesus’ word? Well, Jesus said he is the
way, the truth, and the life. So I’ll
try to paint a picture of what that looks like, for Jesus to be the way, the
truth, and the life.
Jesus taught us that if someone
offends against us, we are not to write that person off, waiting for an
apology. Rather, Jesus taught us to go
up to that person, and let him know that what he did or said hurt us. The idea
is not to reprimand the person, but to go, heart in hand, seeking to restore
the relationship. Jesus’ way is to tell
someone when they have hurt us as much for that person’s sake as for our
own. Jesus taught us to forgive as we
have been forgiven. Pursue peace, love,
and restoration. Open yourself up to be
hurt again, and let go of the hurt someone has caused even though that person
does not deserve your forgiveness.
If you’ve ever seen this in action,
it can be a beautiful thing. I’m
thinking of family and friends who have an argument or fight and then become
estranged. One of them finally bends and
decides the love they share is more important than the hurt that was caused,
recognizing that the other was likely hurting as well. Forgiveness and reconciliation follow, and
the relationship is reborn. If you have
ever experienced that, then you have experienced what it means to keep Jesus’
word and to have God make his home in people.
Another way we would keep Jesus’
word, following him as the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus taught his disciples not to store up
for themselves treasures on earth, but to store up for themselves treasures in
Heaven. Where your treasure is, Jesus
said, there your heart will be also. If
you have ever seen someone who is not well off financially, or someone who is
well off financially, but who is full of the love of friends and family, then
you have seen God’s heavenly treasures. Keeping
Jesus’ word, we measure wealth not by how much stuff we acquire, but by how
great our love is for others and how great others’ love is for us. Following Jesus as the way, the truth, and
the life, we measure success not by how
well we do in our careers, but by how well we do in our relationships. If you’ve experienced wealth and success in
your relationships, then you’ve know what it means to keep Jesus’ word and to
have God make his home in people.
Jesus taught us to serve others, to
serve both their physical needs and to tell them about his kingdom, our faith
in him as the way, the truth, and the life.
These actions are again, done out of love. Believing that we truly have something
wonderful to offer others in our belief in Jesus, we would share our faith,
offering it as something we have found to be beautiful and life-giving.
Bishop Doyle addresses this work of
proclaiming the Gospel in his book, Unabashedly
Episcopalian. He writes that as Episcopalians,
we often “don’t ask total strangers if they have accepted Jesus as their
personal lord and savior…Who are we to assume we could form another person’s
relationship with God? On God can do
that, [we may say] so let’s leave it between that person and God.” We may pray for that person, but public
proclamation of the Gospel?
While there is some truth to that,
Bishop Doyle points out that both personal prayer and public proclamation and
mission are our way of life as Jesus’ disciples. We are called to share our faith with people,
to offer to others what we have found to be beautiful and life-giving. We serve people’s physical needs along with
sharing our faith. We incarnate God’s
healing presence, serving as temples for God to those around us. We give more than lip service to this. We live it out, daily. As Christian ethicist Stanley Hauerwas wrote,
we don’t want to fall into the trap of drafting radical statements as a
substitute for being a radical people pledged to witness to the world that
God’s peace is not just some ideal but a present responsibility for us.”
By following Jesus’ teachings, by living
and believing Jesus to be the way, the truth, and the life, we enact God’s
kingdom here on earth, and God makes his home with us. Now, there have been times in the church’s
history when we have tried to bring about God’s kingdom by forced conversions,
by making people believe in Jesus. This is contrary to how Jesus lived. Keeping Jesus’ word and having God dwell with
us is not a violent act.
Jesus said, blessed are the
meek. Rather than force people to
believe in him, Jesus let people not believe in him. Rather than committing acts of violence
against those who did not believe in him, Jesus allowed himself to be
killed. Jesus’ kingdom is a kingdom of
peace, forgiveness, faith, hope, and love.
We keep Jesus’ word, by telling people about his kingdom, but by showing
them his kingdom in our daily lives. We
keep Jesus’ words by talking about him as the way, the truth, and the life, and
by living him as the way, the truth, and the life.
Keeping Jesus’ word, and following
him as the way, the truth, and the life comes from a life lived studying him,
studying his words and teachings, and following in the way he taught. As we do so, we become his kingdom, his
presence in the world around us. We
won’t always know exactly what to do, but with daily prayer and study of Jesus’
way, we will be guided.
When we are calm and at peace, to
what action do you think Jesus’ teachings lead.
Following Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life, in what direction
is Jesus leading? Which directions
leaves you feeling as though you are following him and at peace within
yourself?
Jesus’ was is the way of peace, of
reconciliation, of forgiveness and love.
Keeping Jesus’ word, we fins salvation.
We find unity with God and with each other. Keeping Jesus word, we God making his home
with us. Amen.
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