Scripture. Prayer. A Place For You John 14:1-14 Sunday, May 22, 2011 The Rev. Sharon Snapp-Kolas, preaching Opening. Alan Carr shares this story in his book, Biblical Facts about a Place Called Heaven: A woman was diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. As she was getting her things in order, she contacted her pastor and asked him to come to her house to discuss some of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at her funeral service, what Scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. She requested to be buried with her favorite Bible. As the pastor prepared to leave, the woman suddenly remembered something else. There's one more thing, she said excitedly. What's that? said the pastor. This is important, the woman said. I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand. The pastor stood looking at the woman, not knowing quite what to say. The woman explained. In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork.' It was my favorite part of the meal because I knew something better was coming like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. So, when people see me in that casket with a fork in my hand and they ask, 'What's with the fork?' I want you to tell them: 'Keep your fork. The best is yet to come!' 1
In John 14, Jesus reassures his followers that the best is yet to come. I. Reassurances Jesus has just shared the Passover meal with his disciples. He has washed their feet in an act of servanthood. He has told them of a betrayal that Judas will soon carry out. He has predicted Peter's denial. He has told them he is leaving. But he adds this word of hope: Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. Jesus, in this passage of scripture, talks primarily about life after death. He paints a picture of the heavenly kingdom as a house with many rooms. God, our Father, keeps a room ready for each of us, in anticipation of our arrival. At the same time, when Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven, his teachings always have implications for the kingdom on earth. Jesus, who comes from heaven, lives on earth to help us see heavenly things. He does this for his disciples; he does this for us. Once we have seen the heavenly things Jesus shows to us -- once our eyes are opened we no longer see the world in the same way. We see God at work. And because we are now children of God, each with our own room in God s house, we can feel secure. We can live boldly for Christ knowing that whatever happens to us, we can never be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus. William Randolph Hearst once said to Dorothy Parker, Your short stories are too sad. Parker replied, Mr. Hearst, there are two billion people on the face of the earth, and the story of not one of them will have a happy ending. 2
It s easy to look at all the situations of evil and death in the world and to conclude that there are no happy endings. It s easy to contemplate our own deaths and to say, with the author of Ecclesiastes, Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. What s the point of living? We re all going to die anyway! Edward Inabinet tells this story of Rose Kenneday who, at age ninety-three was being interviewed by a magazine reporter: By this time, four of her nine children had died violently. Another daughter, Rosemary, was severely retarded all her life and would soon be gone. Mrs. Kennedy had outlived her husband long enough to have seen his rather profligate and unscrupulous life told and retold in the press. She is an old lady, hit by tragedies again and again. The reporter asked about all this and Rose Kennedy answered, slowly: I have always believed that God never gives a cross to bear larger than we can carry. And I have always believed that, no matter what, God wants us to be happy. He doesn't want us to be sad. Birds sing after a storm, she said, Why shouldn't we? In the presence of death, it is not easy to express joy--at least not for the world to see. But those in Christ have an inward joy just the same. I think Mickey Rivers, a one-time outfielder for the Texas Rangers, would share Rose Kennedy s perspective on life, although he expresses it a bit differently. This is what he once said to a reporter for the Dallas Morning News: Ain't no sense worrying about things you got control over, because if you got control over them, ain't no sense worrying. And there ain't no sense worrying about things you got NO control over either, because if you got no control over them, ain't no sense worrying. 3
Christians can say there is a happy ending to this earthly life because Christ has gone before us to prepare a room for us. We might even go one step further and say that for Christians there is no ending to the story. From the moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we live in eternity. Whatever happens to us, we are safe forever in the loving arms of God the God who, like a good mom or dad, has our room ready and waiting for us. II. The Way Home Of course, we must follow Jesus if we are to find our way home. The Ladies Home Journal once asked, In whom do you trust? Here are the responses: Walter Cronkite -- 40% of the vote. Pope John Paul -- 26%. Billy Graham -- 6%. And God? -- a whopping 3%! (That only adds up to 75%, by the way; don t ask me about the other 25%; I don t know. Maybe aliens from outer space?) We may have a room prepared for us in heaven. But if we don t trust in the God who is preparing it for us, we are likely to get lost on the way there. William C. Martin writes about how pastors can sometimes fall into the trap of feeling that their job is to rescue people. But only Christ can save. Perhaps, suggests Martin, the best thing ministers can do is grasp their own salvation, and share that experience with others. Writes Martin, in The Art of Pastoring: Your task is impossible. Consider the demands: Show us God. Tell us what God wants. Lead us to God. 4
If you think you can do these things, you are already deceived. But you CAN find your own soul and perhaps show others how to do that. To their surprise they will satisfy their demands on their own. Ultimately, each of us must find our own way home, in the sense that our personal relationship with Jesus is our personal relationship with Jesus. No one else can establish that relationship for us. We are responsible for our own walk with God. No one can walk our walk for us. At the same time, as we gather together in Bible studies and prayer circles and Sunday morning worship services and fellowship events, we encourage one another. We remind one another that we have found the Way. We can tell others about the Way, the Truth and the Life. We can make the introductions. Jesus is the One who brings them home. John H. Pavelko, in Avoiding a Troubled Heart, writes: Karl Barth was lecturing to a group of students at Princeton. One student asked the German theologian, Sir, don t you think that God has revealed himself in other religions and not only in Christianity? Barth s answer stunned the crowd. With a modest thunder he answered, No, God has not revealed himself in any religion, including Christianity. He has revealed himself in his Son. The way home to the Father, and to the room he has prepared for us, is through Jesus his Son. And you don t need a passport. Keith Wagner writes, in Passport to Peace: A friend of mine was married recently and for his honeymoon he took his new wife on a cruise to the Caribbean. One of their stops was Cozemel, Mexico. It is one of the most 5
popular ports-of-call for cruise ships and a popular vacation spot if you want to relax in the sun and get away from it all. You need either a passport or proof of your US citizenship to go there. If you re going to travel to exotic places you have to have the proper paperwork. Peaceful surroundings are not possible without red tape. Nor are they free. Many people believe they need a passport to heaven. As long as they belong to the right groups, observe the right practices, believe the rights things, they are guaranteed a room in God s great mansion. Jesus told his followers that there is only one way to heaven. It is not with a passport, it was through him. He said, I am the way the only way to God is through me. III. This Life and the Next We can get a glimpse of eternity in this life; we can see it in a mirror, dimly. Through a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ, we can glimpse the kingdom of heaven on earth. By seeking after Him, through a desire to know Him better each day, we can live this life filled with the joy of the next. Truth be told, we are living in eternity today, if we would open our eyes and see. You re heard the cliché, Today is the first day of the rest of your life. The idea is to make a new start today; forget the past. The rest of your life lies before you. Make the most of it. For Christians, we believe that today is the first day of the rest of your eternal life. In Jesus, we are promised life eternal. We are promised rooms in the heavenly mansion. How might our lives be changed if we were to live in eternity? How might our lives be changed if we were to live with the full awareness that our eternal life has already begun? 6
John Buchanan quotes theologian Karl Rahner: When we are true to our conscience, God s kingdom comes to us just where we are, living quite ordinarily, carrying on patiently. Rahner says that it is often more difficult to live ordinary life with its sometimes dull, tedious days than to live one heroic moment, which often makes us run the danger of pride. Living in eternity does not mean every day will be filled with thrills and excitement. Sometimes we struggle with boredom. Sometimes we struggle with despair. Through it all, what sustains us is the knowledge that there s a place for us in God s house. We Christians have a glimpse of that place prepared for us. We trust in God s ability to provide a place in eternity for us. Look for signs of the kingdom of heaven on earth. Watch for evidence of God s eternity in your life, today. There s a place for you in God s house, here and now. The poet Theodore Roethke writes, Running from God s the longest race of all. If we were aware of living in eternity, maybe we would stop running, knowing it is futile. No matter how far we run, no matter how cleverly we try to hide, God is there. So we might as well stop running, turn and repent of our sins, and receive the grace of God s forgiveness. Then, life is wide open to us. We have the assurance of God s presence and purpose. We have the freedom of boundless time. We live in eternity. God is never through with us. We may choose to turn our backs on God; but God continues to seek after us. There is life, filled with eternal purpose, to be lived every day. Closing. Scott Grant says it well in his book, Home With Our Father: 7
A few years back I spent two months overseas. Experiencing a different culture was exhilarating at first but then became somewhat demanding. I began to yearn for home. After a long flight across the Atlantic, I landed in New York. Bleary-eyed after the 13-hour flight, I passed through customs and held out my passport for the agent. He took a quick glance, noticed how long I'd been gone, handed my passport back to me and said, Welcome home. There was nothing special in his voice. He had probably said the same words hundreds of times already that day. But something about those words awakened me out of my comatose state. I experienced a strong emotional reaction that caught me by surprise. Home. I was home. In John 14:1-14, Jesus tells us about home. Home is not so much a place as it is a Person. Home is with the Father (14:1-3). Home is with the Father, not only at the end of life, but today and every day. I close with this prayer as found in Dean Lueking s From Ashes to Holy Wind. Lueking writes: A century ago John Henry Newman wrote an evening prayer which expresses well the whole spirit in which we see the present in the light of that place which Christ has prepared for us: Support us, O Lord, all the long day of this troubled life until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, when the busy fever of life is hushed, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy grant us a safe lodging, a holy rest, and peace at the last, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 8