John 14:1-12
Fifth Sunday of Easter - 14 May 2017
Rev. John Derme
I have a couple of important questions for you. Do you know what will happen to you when you die? How can you be certain that, when you die, you will not suffer in hell, but you will be with God in heaven? Do you ever think about those questions? We all need to think about them, because none of us knows just when we will die. The right answers to these questions will comfort us when we think about death. But these questions are troubling if we do not know the way to God.
Jesus' disciples were troubled, because they didn't know what was going to happen to them, and they weren't sure they knew the way to God. It was the night before Jesus died. He had just told them that he was going away from them. They had given up everything to follow Jesus. Were they now also going to lose him? In our Gospel for today and next Sunday we focus on the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples John 14, because their hearts were troubled.
What Jesus had told them sounded like terrible news. He didn't even give them all the details about how he would be arrested later that night. Or how he would be crucified the next day. Or how, after he rose again from the dead, he would ascend into heaven. They couldn't handle those details now. But he had to prepare them for what would happen, so he told them that he was going. This news troubled their hearts.
But this wasn't bad news! It was actually good news for them. He encouraged them, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me! I am going to God the Father, but I will come back to take you there!"
Even though the disciples should have understood all this, they simply did not. One of them asked, "How can we know the way to where you are going?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me!" Another disciple said, "Just show us the Father!" Jesus answered, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. I am in him and he is in me! The words I speak are his! The things I do come from him!"
Because Jesus was leaving, he could promise them, "You who trust in me will do even greater works than I do." That is exactly what happened. After Jesus died, rose again, and ascended into heaven, he empowered his disciples to proclaim the good news that he is the way to heaven. Many more people came to faith through the words that the disciples proclaimed than ever came to faith through Jesus' own preaching. Countless people have come to believe what the disciples had a hard time understanding that night before Jesus died. Although Jesus has gone from being visibly among his disciples, he still leads people to God the Father's house up to this day. So it was good news that Jesus was visibly leaving.
Is your heart troubled like the disciples' hearts were that night? Or have you come to know the comfort that Jesus spoke to them? Actually, in our day we think that we have something even more comforting than what Jesus said. He said that he is the one and only way to the Father, but our society says that there are many ways to God. It doesn't matter what you believe, people say. Every religion is a different path to the same God. Nobody goes to hell, and everybody goes to heaven. Believing in Jesus is no different than believing in anybody or anything else. If one way to the Father is comforting, then many ways to the Father must be even more comforting, right?
As nice as that sounds, it just cannot be true. The Islamic religion says that it is the only way to heaven. The Mormon religion says that it is the only way to heaven. Most every religion in the world claims that the other religions are wrong. So when Jesus says that he is the only way to heaven, how can anybody say that all religions are actually the same? They aren't. Only one can lead to God. The rest must lead away from him.
If they are not all the same, then how can we know which one is true? We might think that we can't know which religion is true. Jesus makes us a comforting promise today, but if we doubt his Word, then we will have troubled hearts forever, because we won't know the way to God.
But we do know, because only Jesus has done what is necessary to get us to heaven. Every other religion tells you the troubling message of what you have to do to get to heaven. That's troubling, because we can't get ourselves there. Jesus, on the other hand, tells you the comforting message that he has done it all for you. Jesus was crucified because he wanted to suffer and die for your sins and earn a place for you there.
Some people find it distasteful that Jesus suffered and died for us. If he were really God, couldn't he have saved us in a more dignified way? Don't we want our Savior to be a mighty king, and not a suffering servant? But it is not undignified for someone to give his life for someone else. It is honorable when one person gives his or her life for another person. It is the most honorable thing that anybody ever did when the perfect and holy God died in the place of sinful people, including you and me. It was through suffering and death that Jesus displayed who he is.
Yet, since Jesus is a mighty king, he did not remain dead. After he died to win a home in heaven for you, Jesus rose again and ascended into heaven so that he can work in you to bring you to heaven. Now he guards and keeps us through this life and when we die he will bring us safely to the Father.
Jesus tells us what he has done to get us to heaven. He also tells us everything we need to know about heaven. He calls it his Father’s house, because God and all his blessings are there. He says it has many rooms, so there is no reason to worry that he will run out of space for us. There is plenty of room for everybody. And Jesus is getting a room ready for you. When the time comes for you to leave this life and go and live with God, your room will be all ready for you. So there is no reason to worry about what it will be like there. It will be the perfect place for you, because Jesus is getting it ready just for you!
The same Jesus who promises this says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe in me." He can make this promise because he is in the Father and the Father is in him. There is no closer relationship than the one between God the Father and God the Son. We may know some people who have close relationships, but no two people can claim to be in each other! God the Father and God the Son are distinct persons, yet they are perfectly united to one another. So since we know Jesus, we know the Father.
Because of what Jesus has said and done, you don’t have to wonder what God the Father is like. You don’t have to worry about whether he will punish or bless you. We don’t see him, but he has revealed himself to us through Jesus. We know everything we need to know about him, because of what Jesus said and did. Some people think of God the Father as the angry god and God the Son as the nice god. But actually, they are the same God. The Father is just and does punish sin. But he is also kind and compassionate, sending Jesus to suffer the punishment for our sins in our place. Through Jesus, God the Father shows us the way to heaven, he teaches us the truth about how he has gotten us there, and he gives us the eternal life that we will enjoy there.
When you think about those important end-of-life questions, you do not need to be troubled. You can be comforted, because you know the way to God. When you die, you know that you will be with him. You will not suffer in hell, but will be in heaven, because Jesus has prepared a place for you there. Do not let your hearts be troubled, because Jesus leads us to the Father.