RVCC Pastor's Sermon

Sermon - April 20, 2008

“On The Way”

By Rev. Nancy Foran
John 14:1-14

Last week in church we listened to some of the most comforting verses in all of Scripture as we read and sang the 23rd Psalm in various translations. Remember how we relished the opportunity to walk beside the still waters and to rest in the grassy green pastures? It was a Sunday to breathe deeply of the Spirit and to restore our souls.

However, this week the lectionary verses do not let us off quite so easily. Instead they confront us with one of the most difficult New Testament passages to understand and reconcile in today’s world.

First of all, the verses are from the Gospel of John, which on its face is so different from the other three Gospels. Not only was it written later than the other Gospels, it was written for a completely different audience. Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote their Gospels for people who, in spite of their reverence for Jesus, still considered themselves Jewish.

In contrast, John wrote to a Gentile audience, men and women who had always been considered non-believers and therefore outside of the Jewish tradition. In addition, as we know, the Gospel writer John employed not a narrative style like Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but rather prose characterized by metaphors, symbols, and downright difficult to figure out language.

Second of all, that phrase that John attributes to Jesus – “no one comes to the Father except through me” - surely makes us moderate Christians feel a bit hesitant to consider its meaning, if not downright embarrassed. I mean, it all sounds beautiful until, as Dan Chambers writes, “you fall in love with a Jew, marry a Muslim, or are spiritually restored by the practice of Zen Buddhism. Then it is not so beautiful to read the words, "no one comes to the Father except through me."

(Certainly) then the text becomes deeply disturbing…At the very least, (it) becomes challenging to each of us in a time of interfaith dialogue and a worldwide quest for peace and understanding among people of different faiths.” And then that bit that prefaces his proclamation - “I am the way” – well, that is a pesky verse as well.

However, before we turn inward to a theologically fundamentalist or progressive camp and start finger wagging at one another about what John had in mind when he wrote these confusing verses, let’s look at the story he was narrating.

The setting is Jerusalem, and Jesus is about to embark on his death’s journey. Feet have been washed. The Last Supper has been eaten. Judas has left the scene to do his betraying. Jesus has told a disconsolate Peter that he will do his denying before the cock crows. Only Gethsemane and its aftermath remain.

In John’s Gospel, we find Jesus in the midst of the so-called “Farewell Discourses.” In these four chapters, he prepares the disciples for his immanent departure – and they are more than a little confused by this sudden and disconcerting turn of events. Locked away in their secret upper room on a side street in the Holy City, Jesus has just finished telling them something about a mansion with many rooms and going to the Father and places prepared for them.

His friends eye each other nervously. What is he talking about now? Yet, by the tone of his voice, they sense that it is serious – and they better listen and understand this time.

And so it is Thomas – Thomas the Doubter, bless his heart - who has the nerve to speak up and ask the question that is on everyone’s tongue. "Lord, we don't know where you are going, how can we know the way?" Without missing a beat, Jesus responds, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Well, the disciples were unsure what to make of that statement, and I would suggest that so are we. How many times have we ourselves asked Thomas’ question? How many times have we lamented our own situation: Where do we go now? I don’t know the way.

You see, Jesus, it is hard to know what to do because the way is often unclear. My culture tells me 50 ways from Sunday how to live – how to be expedient, efficient, rational, affluent, and popular. The world tells me how to end up on top and avoid being trampled on by others trying to do the same. God only knows that it is a dog eat dog world, and you can not escape it.

But even in the midst of all the dissonant advice, we dimly hear our heart faintly beating to a different drummer, telling us something else – that what the world says just does not seem right. Do we sense that because we are Christian? No – we sense it because we are human. It just does not ring true. And so occasionally we cry out - where do we go now? I don’t know the way.

But Jesus has an answer that he shares with his followers in the darkened upper room – “I am the way,” he says. But not - I would suggest and this is important – not “I the man Jesus am the way.”

On the face of it, such literalism would be foreign to the Gospel writer John. Remember that he is the man of metaphor and hidden meanings, always requiring us to dig deeper to discover his truth.

As Marcus Borg has postulated, might not Jesus mean – “I am the way. My life is the way.” I whose life has been about a relentless passion for justice for the downtrodden and an unending compassion for the ones who have been trampled upon am the way. I whose life has been about love for the sparrows and the lilies and all the world created by the Creator am the way. I whose life has been about living the Beatitudes, turning the other cheek, and challenging the powers-that-be am the way. I whose life has been about withholding judgment and forgiving the unforgivable am the way. I am the way. My life is the way.

“No one comes to the Father except by me,” Jesus continues. How daunting and exclusionary that sounds - until you realize that the word that Jesus uses for Father is abba, which is like papa and is about as familiar as you can get. We are THAT close, Jesus says. God and I are THAT close. And to press the point home once and for all, he goes on to say that “the Father and I are one” and "Whoever has seen me has seen God."

Of course, by now none of this makes any sense to his followers, just as most of the time it does not make sense to us either. We like the disciples, end up, caught in a web of literalism.

But Phillip comes to their rescue (and ours), for he can not take hearing this confusing mishmash any longer. And so perhaps in an attempt to put an end to all the jumble, he demands an explanation of sorts. "Show us God, Jesus, and we will be satisfied."

Jesus’ patience must have been immense. "How long have I been with you, and you still ask such a question, Philip?” he queries. “Everything I say, everything I do discloses God." I am a window to the Almighty. Understand me, and you will understand God. Look at me, and you will look at God.

What does God look like? As Dan Chambers asks, “What does the good Samaritan look like? What does compassion look like? What does healing look like? What does acceptance of those pushed aside and shunned by society look like? What does the face of love look like?” You want to know what God is like? Look at what Jesus was like. Put another way, Jesus is the “autobiography of God” (Hoezee) – and clearly not what the disciples expected. Maybe not what we expect either.

Yet, even in our bewilderment, Jesus calls us to do the kinds of things that he did, so that we might truly be a reflection of, or be in the image of, the will of God. Over and over, miracle after miracle. What else do we need to know about the way?

The Gospel writer John tried to give us such a gift in this often deeply misunderstood passage, for these ought to be words of such hope and such promise – not words that exclude and divide. I agree with Dan Chambers when he says. “For us, as ones who follow Christ, Jesus is the way. We need no other way. In Christ we sink into the depths of God. The way of Christ is a way that leads us…deeper into the mystery of the divine. And on that way, we are not alone; and those who journey with us into the depths of God's love are not only Christians. The road to God is shared by many.

When you look into the faces of those who give themselves to be taken into God, you may well be looking into the face of a Buddhist, a Jew, or a Muslim. Each follows her or his own way. The way of love and compassion, the way of a heart open enough to embrace all people and care for the earth, the way we walk when we lean into the one who takes us into God's own being - this is a way known to countless people through countless ages.”

“In my Father’s house are many rooms.” Does it make any more sense now?

A man arrives at the gates of heaven. St. Peter asks, “Religion?”
The man says, “Methodist.”
St. Peter looks at his list and says, “Go to room 28, but be very quiet as you pass room 8.”

Another man arrives at the gates of heaven. “Religion?”
“Buddhist.”
Go to room 18, but be very quiet as you pass room 8.

A third man arrives at the gates. “Religion?”
“Jewish.”
“Go to room 11, but be very quest as you pass room 8.”

The man says, “I can understand there being different rooms for different religions, but why must I be quiet when I pass room 8?”

St. Peter says, “The Jehovah’s Witnesses are in room 8, and they think they’re the only ones here.”

I don’t think so. When Jesus said, “I am the way”, consider that he meant, well, like in Alice in Wonderland when Alice talks with the Cheshire Cat:

'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?' asked Alice.

'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.

'I don't much care where----' said Alice.

'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.

'----so long as I get somewhere,' Alice added as an explanation.

'Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, 'if you only walk enough.'

Deep down inside, whether we are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, we know there is someplace we need to be in order to be whole, and that is indeed the point of the journey we all take. We are indeed on the Way, and it is the right way because it is God’s way – and in the end, that is what matters most.

And as you go forth, walk beside, well, walk beside whoever ends up next to you - rich or poor, fundamentalist or progressive, Muslim or Jew – and, as a Christian, let this poem by W.H. Auden set your pace:

He is the Way.
Follow Him through the Land of Unlikeness;
You will see rare beasts, and have unique adventures.
He is the Truth.
Seek Him in the Kingdom of Anxiety;
You will come to a great city that has expected your return for years.
He is the Life.
Love Him in the World of the Flesh;
And at your marriage all its occasions shall dance for joy.

Sermon - April 20, 2008

“On The Way”

By Rev. Nancy Foran John 14:1-14

By Rev. Nancy Foran
John 14:1-14