Pastor
Steve Geiger Easter 5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John 14:1-12
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God a;
trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many
rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a
place for you. 3 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. 4 You know the way to the place where I am
going.”
5 Thomas said to him,
“Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the
way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7
If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you
do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show
us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I
have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the
Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t
you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I
say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is
doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am
in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of
the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth,
anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even
greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
1. Challenges stir us
up
2. The Lord calms us
down
In the far west, in states
like Idaho and Nevada, herds of horses roam freely across the range. Descended from animals who escaped from
owners a century ago, these horses are born free. Captivity--there could be nothing worse.
I witnessed the capture of
one of these horses on videotape. A wild
horse, dragged into a stockade. The
horse immediately charged the wood fence.
He ran into one side, and reeled from the collision. He tried another side, and reeled from the
collision. He kept smashing his body
into the wood, only to bounce painfully back into captivity.
He knew where he wanted to
go. He couldn’t get there. Frustrated.
Undoubtedly churning inside.
Mind racing. Afraid of what
might happen next. Finally,
winded. Hope? Futile.
The first words from the
Holy Spirit today describe a wild horse in a pen. Except that the churning, the frustration, the fear was not in an
animal, but in men. Jesus says to the
disciples, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.” Literally, their hearts were “stirred up.” Whipped around by
Jesus’ predictions of his upcoming suffering and death. Whipped around by the fear of how this all
might affect them. Whipped around by
Jesus’ revelation that one of their own number would pull the trigger, and
betray the Christ, and ignite the fuse that would bring death to their Lord.
Their hearts were stirred
up. They didn’t want to be in this
stockade.
Jesus, to these men stirred
inside, calmly encouraged, “Trust.” He
spoke gently of future freedom. A house
with many places to stay. Heaven. That yes, he might go away, but he was going
away to prepare a place for them.
“Think about it, guys. If I’m
going away to make a place ready for you, surely I’m coming back. Surely you’ll see me again. You guys know this. You know where I’m
going, and you know the way.”
So stirred up was Thomas
that he seems to have hardly heard what Jesus had said. Bouncing off the fence of the stockade, in
fear. Seeing only the trouble again. Words of amazing comfort, almost not
noticed.
“Jesus, you just said we
know the way to wherever you’re going.
No, we don’t. We don’t know the
way. We don’t even know where you’re
going.”
Jesus had said they did
know. Thomas, saying that he didn’t
know. Was Jesus wrong? Or in his difficult moment, was Thomas
disagreeing with what should have been so obvious? Saying things in his time of trouble, so stirred up inside, that
he wouldn’t have struggled with when times were calmer. Like a horse running straight into a fence
that will not give way . . . in panic, acting almost mindlessly.
Sinful natures can do
this—act in ways that almost don’t make sense when faced with difficult
situations. Have your children ever had
their sinful natures riled up, where frustration takes over so that they will
disagree with you no matter what you say? Will you wash the dishes?
No. Will you clean off the
table? No. Will you brush your teeth?
No. Do you have two eyes? No.
When facing tough times in
our lives, our fear and worry and frustration can make us foolish, overlooking
things that so clearly should offer us calm.
Thomas: “We don’t know where
you’re going.” Foolish?
Whether an honest
misunderstanding or the panic of sinful flesh facing challenge, could you
imagine Jesus, at this late hour, finally losing his cool? “Come on, guys. What’s the deal here?
Haven’t you been listening to me?
How can you still not understand that I am powerful and everything is
fine and you have no worries?”
What we see is Jesus being
so patient. Disciples are
struggling. Disciples are disoriented
by the upcoming suffering. Disciples
are afraid. Disciples are all stirred
up.
Focus. Disciples, look at me. I am the way.
Does trouble and challenge
stir you up inside? Disorient? Bring fear?
We too can sometimes be very
much like that wild horse, facing his trouble of being captured, in a pen now
for the first time. When trouble comes
our way, we first choose blindly to bang our heads against the fence. We know where we’d like to be: out of the
pen, out of the problem. In
frustration, we try first to bash through the walls. Often, we use ideas hatched in sinful minds. Solutions quite different from God’s
way. It may be insisting that God
follow our timeline. It may be
insisting that God solve it only the way we think best. It may be worrying and getting all scared
and losing sleep. It may be that if our
trouble was caused by the sin of someone else, we choose to resort to sin of
our own.
Like the disciples, if in
the midst of trouble God dares to say to us, “Just trust me” . . . if in the midst of all the trouble God dares
to say to us, “Please don’t worry” . . . if in the midst of all the trouble God
dares to say to us, “Maybe this problem won’t go away, but know this--whatever
happens here, I’m going to prepare a place for you in heaven, and I’ll be back
to bring you there” . . . hearing amazing comforts like those, we will dare to
say, “But that’s not the problem. I’m
lost now. I’m in trouble now. Don’t worry? Trust? You don’t
understand! I don’t know where I’m
going. I don’t know how to get
there.” We know we shouldn’t say those
things, but there are moments when it seems we can’t stop our thoughts. We’re scared. We’re stuck. We’re afraid
there’s no way out.
What’s worse, when we turn
our frustration toward God . . . what’s worse, when our frustration leads us to
feel and think and try things that go contrary to the will of God . . . what’s
worse is that like a horse, we end up only bruised and hurting. Our lack of trust in time of trouble can
leave loads of guilt that we now carry.
We have failed to trust
God. Not trusting God is saying that he
has spoken empty words. That when he
makes a promise, he cannot keep it.
That when he invites us to trust, he’s not worthy of it. That when he commands us to be calm, he
doesn’t really understand.
You maybe know what it’s
like when someone doesn’t trust you, though you know you’re speaking the
truth. I wonder how God feels. In his case, every right to be angry. We attack his good name unjustly. He has the right to erase our name justly.
What amazes us today is how
loving Jesus was to sinners. Surrounded
by supposed friends who missed his comfort and doubted his power. Then faced by Thomas, frustrated and confused
without reason. How the Savior could
have lashed out, “Enough.”
What does he do
instead? Thomas: “We don’t even know
where you’re going! How could you
expect us to know how to get there?” . Jesus?
So calmly he repeats, again, his truth.
He focuses them not on trying to be in heaven this moment--that on earth
we are owed a trouble-free life.
Rather, he focuses them on heaven, and on the step-by-step,
one-foot-after-the-other way to get there.
As you walk through life,
know this. Jesus says, “I am the way,
the truth and the life.” Focus on
me. Follow me. I am the way through.
Focus. Have you ever seen a little child all
disturbed, for whatever reason? Crying
and flailing and screaming and swinging.
Have you ever seen a parent gently but firmly hold that little child and
work to get the eyes of the child to focus on their own eyes? The fear is mindless. To look into the calm and controlled eyes of
a mother can be for a child to pause. To
listen. To hear.
Jesus invites our eyes to
look to his. Satan works hard to tempt,
“Doubt.” Satan threatens, “Be
afraid.” Satan then screams, “Guilty
and lost.”
We’re all stirred up. Jesus holds you calmly and firmly and says,
“Look at me. I am the way.” Your guilt has blocked the path to God. I have lifted away the piles of your sin as
I lived your judgment, separated from the love of God on the cross. I’ve lived the full fire and fury of divine
anger at human disobedience. I lifted
away all your sins. Reason for guilt is
gone. You’re forgiven. I am the way.
“I am the truth.” Everything’s OK, and I speak the truth. I’m not just a teddy bear, to make you feel
better but not to change anything.
Things really are OK. There’s no
need to be afraid. In me you are now
safe from danger. A stirred up
heart? Listen. You’re OK.
I will be working all things for your best. Guaranteed. For I speak
the truth.
I am the life. Opened the path to heaven. Always speaking the truth. I’m coming back to give you the next phase
in your life that will never end. A
place. In my Father’s house. Because I live, rising from a death endured
for you—because I live, you also will live.
Wrapped in grave clothes, but you, not forever. Rather, a room, and life forever. Which means that any difficult events will
remain on this side of heaven. With an
expiration date. An end. Every difficulty will end. A stirred up heart? No need.
The way, the truth, the
life. One day at the Father’s side.
It is hard to
comprehend. One day, free from all
trouble, rejoicing at the Father’s side.
It’s a bit hard to comprehend the fact that there is a heaven, that
there is a God—just to imagine his power, his love. A God that blows our minds.
One God. Yet a Father. A Son.
Also a Holy Spirit. Then, that
Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in Jesus. Truly one.
Something that blows our
minds reminds us that we are not God.
We don’t always understand. What
Jesus does for us is help us be comfortable with things we don’t understand. Then making us amazed that he gives us the
privilege of participating in things we don’t understand.
In Jesus, you are on a team
that has the promise of power and guidance and answered prayer. Not only as you are facing difficulty
personally, but as you live in a world filled with people facing difficulty yet
knowing of no way to be calm.
Jesus, after reminding his
disciples of the great things he had done while visiting our planet, told them,
“You’ll do greater things than these.”
Jesus’ promise, “Ask for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
In the middle of encouraging
them to focus on their miraculous God in the midst of earthly trauma, he also
reminds them of the miraculous power they would have the chance to share with
others in the midst of earthly trauma.
Greater things. They were going
to be doing even greater things than he as they took his name, his word, to the
world and shared the Good News of sin forgiven in Christ, news that would and
still does change for eternity the hearts of humans.
You, do great things. See Jesus as your calm in every
trouble. Share Jesus as calm for the
troubles of those who surround you.
Friends and relatives and neighbors.
They may be bouncing off of fences, scared because of sickness or loss
of a loved one or financial downturn.
Moan with them at the pain, the guilt, we bring on ourselves as we try
to find our own escapes from trouble.
Then tell of Jesus. His
forgiveness. His longing to share with
your neighbor an eternal home.
A challenge can drive a
horse crazy. Challenges stir up humans
as well. The Lord calms us down.
Trust in time of trouble.
Amen.