The message at the Wednesday night Lent service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on February 24, 2021. The Bible verses used are John 14:1-14.
It’s the last night that Jesus
will spend on earth. Before long, he will go to the Garden of
Gethsemane. He will be arrested there. He will then be tried,
beaten, and sentenced to death. The next day, he will be taken to
Golgotha, will be hung on a cross, and will die.
Jesus knows all this, of course. He’s told the
disciples about it several times. Just before our reading tonight, he
tells them again. He tells them that it’s going to be one of them who
betrays him and causes all this to happen.
With all this on his mind, it would be understandable if
Jesus’ thoughts were on himself and what he was about to go through. But
that’s not how it was. Jesus was not thinking about himself. He was
thinking about God the Father, and he was thinking about his ministry on
earth. He was thinking about the disciples, too. Jesus knew this
would be the last chance he would have to be with them. Anything he had
to tell them, he’d better tell them now. Tomorrow it would be too late.
Jesus makes a fairly long speech, at least as far as his
recorded speeches go. What we read tonight was just the start of
it. But it’s interesting, I think, that he started by giving words of
comfort and reassurance and hope to the disciples.
I don’t know if the disciples still really understood, at
this point, just what was going to happen. But they understood that Jesus
was going to leave them, and that thought made them sad. It also made
them scared. After all, Jesus was their leader. More than that, he
was the Son of God, the Messiah. Without him, where would they go?
What would they do? Who would be in charge? Who would be the one
who told them the mind of God? They had been with Jesus for three
years. The thought that he would not be there, that somehow they would
have to figure out a way to carry on without him, was a really scary thought to
them.
So Jesus tries to reassure them. He says, “Do not let
your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.”
What we usually hear in that--or at least what I usually
hear in that--is Jesus telling them to accept him as the Savior. And I
think that’s part of it, but I think there’s more than that going on
here. As I think about this, I think what Jesus is saying is, “Trust
me. Trust me that things are going to be all right. I know you
don’t think so. I know you don’t see how. But trust me. Trust
me that things are all going to work out the way they’re supposed to.
Even when it looks like they’re not, even when it seems like nothing is going
right, trust me that it is. Trust me that this is all part of the plan,
that all these things are happening because they need to happen. Trust me
that God’s glory is going to be revealed through all of this.”
And if we stopped right there, we’d already have a good
message. Trust in the Lord. Even when it seems like things are
going wrong. Even when we don’t see how they’re ever going to be
right. Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God.
Trust in Jesus. The Lord is still in control, and eventually the glory of
the Lord is still going to be revealed.
But of course, Jesus does not stop right there. He
says, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that
were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for
you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and
take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know
the way to the place where I am going.” And then, we’re told, Thomas
asks, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
And this is why I love Thomas so
much. He gets a bum rap. He’s known as “the doubter”. People look
down on him. But he’s the one, here and at other times, who’s willing to
say what everyone else is thinking. You know that the other disciples
were having just as much trouble understanding Jesus as Thomas was. But
none of them had the guts to say so. They just sat there, trying to act
like they knew what Jesus was saying.
But not Thomas. Thomas has the
courage to speak up. And he has the faith to speak up, too. Thomas
thinks, “I need to understand this, and I don’t, so I’m going to ask. I don’t
care if I look stupid. I need to know what Jesus is talking about here,
and I don’t, so I’m going to ask.”
And Jesus answers with some of the most
important words in the Bible. Not that the Bible has unimportant words,
but listen to what Jesus says here. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me.”
Jesus was going to God the Father.
He wants us to go to God the Father, too. But the only way we can get
there is through belief in Jesus. Just belief in a generic “god” won’t do
it. Just trying to be a good person won’t do it. Belief in Mother
Earth won’t do it. Belief in Allah or some other god won’t do it.
The only way to get to heaven is through belief in Jesus Christ. Period.
That’s not a popular thing to say.
We want to say that all roads lead to heaven, or that at least a lot of them
do. We want to say that everybody goes to heaven. We want to say
that, because God loves us, God would never let anyone go to hell. That’s
what we want to say. Saying that there’s only one way to go to heaven,
and that the one way is belief in Jesus Christ, just does not seem right.
But then, the truth is often not
popular. But truth is not subject to a vote. Truth does not care
about our opinions or about our feelings. Truth just is. And that’s
especially the case when it comes to God’s truth. God’s truth is not up
for a vote. God’s truth is not interested in what the polls show.
God’s truth just is. The truth that belief in Jesus is the only way to
heaven just is. Period.
Jesus continues. He says, “If you
really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him
and have seen him.” And then, in answer to a comment by Philip, Jesus
says, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”
We feel sometimes like it’s hard to really
know or understand God. And it is, sometimes. But Jesus tells us
that if we want to get to know God, if we want to understand God, the best way
to do it is just to look at him.
Think about the awesome advantage that
is. Think of how privileged we are. God would not have had to do
that for us. God could’ve been a distant, impersonal God. God
could’ve left us to guess at who He is. God could’ve left us in doubt, in
fear, doing things and just hoping and praying that those things would be what
God wanted. But God did not do that. God gave us the chance to
know. All we need to do is look at Jesus.
Want to know whether God loves you?
Look at how Jesus loved people. Want to know the kind of power God
has? Look at the power Jesus had. Want to know how God wants us to
live? Look at how Jesus said we should live. Want to know how we
should treat people? Look at how Jesus treated people. Want to know
what God thinks about marriage, about money, about giving, about all kinds of
things? Just look at what Jesus said about all those things. If we
want to get to know God and understand God, all we need to do is look to Jesus.
Our goal in this season of Lent is to
repent of our sins, ask for forgiveness, and change our lives. But it’s
not enough to desire to change, even if we really mean it. We need to
know what we’re going to change into. And because God loves us, God
showed us what we should change into. All we need to do is look to Jesus.
If we look to Jesus, if we follow Jesus,
if we live the way Jesus wants us to live, we will change our lives. It
won’t be easy. We probably won’t do it perfectly. But we can do
it. With God’s help, we can do it. With God’s love, we can do
it. With God’s power, we can do it.
Do not let your heart be troubled.
Trust in God and believe in Jesus. Know God by looking to Jesus.
Jesus shows us the way, because Jesus is the way.
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