“Do not let your
hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s
house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you
that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if 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. 4 And you know the way to the place where
I am going.” 5 Thomas said
to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6
Jesus said to him, “I am the
way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do
know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip
said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this
time, Philip , and you still do not
know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the
Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the
Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the
Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in
the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because
of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who
believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater
works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do
whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14
If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
Year A
Fifth Sunday after
Easter
May 14, 2017
May 18, 2014
May 22, 2011
Cross~Wind UMC
Title: Matters of
the Heart
1461; 5.9
Introducing the passage
John 14:1-14 has the theme of Jesus
as the way to the Father for those who believe in him. The issue of this
segment is what will happen to Jesus after his departure. He notes that they
have troubled hearts. They have worry, fear, anxiety, or stress. John has
portrayed a spiritual battle between spirit and flesh, light and darkness,
sight and blindness, and life and death. Jesus assures them that while dark
forces at work against him and the disciples, God will have victory. Their
destination is to be in the house of the Father of the Son. Jesus portrays an
intimate setting between God and human beings in eternity. They will not make
this home in eternity, in other words. Their Father in heaven will make it.
However, as is typical in John, Thomas, one of the disciples, shows he does
really understand. He is thinking on an earthly level, while Jesus is speaking
on a spiritual level. We have here one of many “I am” statements in John. He in
his person is the way, because he is truth (revelation or that which grounds,
sustains, and comprehends all things) and life (salvation). We also see Jesus distinguishing
between himself as the Son and his heavenly Father, pointing the way to
reflections on the Trinity. The Son is the revelation of the Father. We know
the Father because we know the Son. God is transcendent, beyond anything we can
imagine, and also known and revealed in the Son. We also read of the intimate
connection between Father, Son, and Spirit. The Son asks the Father to send the
Spirit. The Spirit is to glorify the Son. We also read of the world. He stresses
the tension between world and disciple. Although the world does not always
persecute the disciple, the disciple should always feel the tension. Yet,
followers of Jesus are to keep presenting Jesus to the world, for disciples
continue the work of Jesus in the world.
Introduction
My mind is on the heart today.
May is a month for confirmation and graduation. Many young
people wonder what they will do with their lives. For me several decades after
such graduation moments, it makes me think of what I have done with my life,
and what I will do with the rest of it. These are weighty questions, and I hope
among those we ask our young people.
May is also the month for Mother’s Day, a day when our
thoughts turn to family. Too often, we take family granted. We know we have
been selfish. We complain about our roles and tasks in the family while we have
been ungrateful for how it has benefitted our lives. All families need some
reconciliation and forgiveness. We can understand how Anna M. Jarvis
(1864-1948) gave everyone at the memorial service of her mother a carnation to
honor the mother she loved. We can also understand how her suggestion to the
nation that we honor mothers so quickly gained in popularity that Woodrow
Wilson and Congress agreed in 1914 to set aside this day in May. In fact, we
have a whole week of celebrating the family. When we think of family, I hope we
think of matters of the heart and the people who matter to us. We do not want
supermom. We do want the presence and love moms can give. Some people need
healing in the relationship with mom. At this stage of my life, I reflect not
only upon my mother, but also on the women who today have been wonderful
examples of Christian life and faith.
Have you ever said something like this? We need to get to the heart of
the matter, which is something like what the Bible means when it refers to the
heart. What are the things that matter
to you? What ought to be the core beliefs and values
that guide your life? What will you do with your life in terms of a vocation?
Most of us want our work to be something we genuinely enjoy and toward which
have some passion. What is that for me, at this stage in my life? Such
questions deal with the heart spiritually, and a good response will have a
positive influence upon your whole life.
Such spiritual questions are
weighty.
Many people are quite health conscious today. I became
somewhat that way in college, and have listened to what I thought was good
advice over the years. Eat well. Exercise regularly. Your heart is an important muscle. I guess
the point of all this is to care for the heart, and you will care for your
whole body.[1]
All of this stimulated some thinking on my part about preachers and
teachers within the Christian tradition referring to the “heart.”[2]
Application
Let us continue with the example from medicine. I think I
am in good company. Ancient Greek philosophers thought of themselves as
physicians of the soul. Doctors will tell you that physical well-being is as
simple as diet and exercise. Neglect either of those, and you are heading for
heart trouble. Spiritually, the same principles are in play.
I invite you for just a few moments now to reflect with me
in a practical way what a good diet and regular exercise mean spiritually.
First, let us consider the spiritual dangers of not having good diet and exercise spiritually.
The best thing you can do for your family is nourish the relationship
between husband and wife and nourish the relationship you have with Jesus.
In 1844, Kierkegaard released The
Concept of Anxiety: A Simple Psychologically Orienting Deliberation on the
Dogmatic Issue of Hereditary Sin. As he describes it, too many rush
headlong into life, continuing to rush forward, and yet, never find life. In
fact, he says, the rush of a modern life does not give one pause to reflect
upon matters related to meaning. In fact, if we are not careful, we will say
“goodnight to all meaning in life.” If this was true in the time Kierkegaard,
it is true at a greater level today.
Most of us have plenty of things about which to worry. I have
no doubt many mothers worry about their children. It seems natural to do so. Family
finances, the turmoil in the world, or the core beliefs and values that guide
your life, ought to concern us. What does God want you to do with the brief
time you have on this earth, and in particular, at this stage in your life?
The danger of not taking care of your heart spiritually is
that you will not be able to stand the test and trials of daily life. You may
lack direction and crave a sense of peace. You will look for nourishment in all
the wrong places. You will skip matters of the spirit and try being content
with whatever this world provides. Thus, you may devote yourself to the latest
politics, the latest pop psychology, the latest way to make money, or the
latest health craze.
If I could offer some advice to graduates, it would be this. Do not
rush into life, for you may pass it by. Give yourself some time to reflect upon
the things that really matter.
Is your heart troubled? Given the condition of the world, how could it
not be?
You will need proper diet and exercise.[3]
Second, far too many followers of Christ have heart trouble
stemming from the fact that their lives involve no regular consumption of
Christ.
If you are longing to know God, as we learn in this
passage, look to Jesus.
“Show us the Father,” says
Philip. “Have I been with you so long, and you still say, show us the Father.
If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. I am the way, I am truth and
life.”
God is so different from us that we must rely upon God to
show us what God is like. We call this revelation. God has “revealed,” God has
“disclosed” who God is, in Jesus. Now, if this is true, we need to spend some time
deepening our relationship with him.
I have a GPS system in my iPhone. What can it do for me?
Well, for one thing, I can plug in a destination, and it will provide me a
route to get from here to there. Now, is there something even better than a GPS
or a map? Yes, a person who has been there, who remembers, and who can guide
us. In fact, sometimes the GPS is wrong, and we had better have another way.
Now, God knows our difficulty with finding directions. Therefore, God sent
Jesus to show us the way to our destination, namely, in the intimate communion
we will have with God and each other in the eternal home God has made. Jesus is
the one who shows us the way to get there, because he is truth and life. If we
stay close to Jesus, we will reach our destination.
How do we stay close to Jesus? This passage mentions
prayer. You will need your Bible. You will need worship and you will need to
develop intentionally your faith.
Third, far too many followers of Christ have heart trouble
stemming from the fact that their lives involve no actual exercise of
their faith in Christ.[4]
"Truly,
truly," said Jesus, "whoever believes in me will also do the works
that I do; and greater works than these he will do ..." (v. 12, ESV).
Could it be that one reason your faith feels so weak is
that it never gets off the couch? Could it be that the very reason you feel so ill
equipped to face life's obstacles is that you have only
attempted to avoid them? Could it be that the very means
of strengthening your heart of faith is jumping at
opportunities that will test it?
Let the fruit of the Spirit flow through us. Look them up
in Galatians 5.
Let the spiritual gifts find development in us. Look them
up in I Corinthians 12-14.
Taking steps of reconciliation with a family member,
helping people on the fringes of society, budget and tithe, and stop making
excuses, would be good ways to exercise spiritually.[5]
Conclusion
Many things may trouble your hearts.
This world is screwed up. I would be surprised if you did not have a troubled
heart sometimes. I know I do. The dangers are there in life. Let Christ nourish
you. Our danger here is the junk food that is out there. Feed on the good,
solid food spiritually. Exercise your faith. Let the fruit of the Spirit and
spiritual gifts develop through us. Take care of your heart.
Going deeper
John 14:1-14
1
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2
In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. [As Karl Barth
stresses, the comfort and warning here is that disciples are not in their own
house, but in that of the Father of Jesus, a house that has many rooms,
including some of which they do not yet know. [6]]
If it were not so, would I have told you
that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if 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. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going." 5
Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we
know the way?" [As is typical in John, Thomas is thinking on an
earthly level, while Jesus is trying to get him to think on a spiritual level.]
6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way,
and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [John
has many such “I AM” statements: "I am the bread of life" (6:35);
"the light of the world" (8:12; 9:5); "the gate (for the
sheep)" (10:7, 9); "the good shepherd" (10:11, 14); "the
resurrection and the life" (11:25); "the (true) vine" (15:1, 5);
and in this passage, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life"
(14:6). They all express the role of Jesus in our spiritual lives, and
therefore, the health of the heart – spiritually. Karl Barth stresses that
Jesus speaks of himself as the Way itself. In John, Truth does not mean
something static, but that truth imparts itself to others. Life does not mean
self-sufficient life, but rather, the life that imparts itself and redeems from
death. He directs us to Eduard Schweizer, who says that the Johannine Jesus
describes himself as the true and proper object of all the metaphorical
conceptions he uses, include that of truth and life here. The point of Barth is
that Jesus points to his own person as the Way, which is as such the Truth and
the Life. [7]
He also says that Jesus is the Way because he is truth (revelation) and life
(salvation).[8] Pannenberg says this verse
is important support for the reciprocal self-distinction of Father, Son, and
Spirit as the concrete form of Trinitarian relations. God is infinitely above
all that is human and creaturely. Therefore, one may know God only through the
Son. Only through the Son can we as human beings know the Father. The Son is the
revelation of the Father, since the one knows the Father only through the Son. [9]
Pannenberg says that in using the word “truth,” John is identifying Christ with
the truth of God that grounds, sustains, and comprehends all things. The saying
is in keeping with the eschatological awareness that Jesus had at his coming.
Therefore, any interpretation of his person and history claiming to be a
relevant understanding of its object, has to do with the truth claim that
defines the coming of Jesus and its confirmation by the resurrection of Jesus
in which the Christian faith has its basis. He stresses that Christians live
with faith in this historical testimony to Jesus.[10] Pannenberg stresses that only the doctrine of
the Trinity could clarify the question of union and tension between
transcendence and immanence. This doctrine makes it possible to link the
transcendence of the Father in heaven with the presence of the Father in
believers through the Son and Spirit. Therefore, in virtue of the
consubstantiality and perichoresis of the three persons, the Father,
notwithstanding transcendence, Christian theology could view as present and
close to believers through the Son and Spirit, a point this passage makes
clear. Therefore, the Trinitarian life of God in the economy of salvation
proves to be the true infinity of divine omnipresence. [11]
As to the phrase in verse 9, where one who has seen the Son has seen the
Father, Luther will make the point that the Trinitarian God is revealed in
Jesus Christ. As Pannenberg interprets Luther at this point, implied here is a
connection of the Father and Son to the distinction of the hidden and the
revealed God. Yet, the point is not that the Father is the hidden God and
incarnate Son the revealed God. In the event of revelation, the hidden God is
revealed as the Father of Jesus Christ. The unity of the hidden and revealed
God is manifest in the unity of the Father and the Son. If for Luther the unity
of the hidden and revealed God will be definitively manifest only in the light
of eschatological glory, this means that the unity of the Trinitarian God is
still engaged in the process of history. The Trinitarian distinctions of the
Father, Son, and Spirit are not hidden. The divine reality discloses itself in
the event of revelation. What is hidden is the unity of the divine essence in
these distinctions. [12] Dunn makes an interesting
point when he says that John in his notion of Logos and Son has resolved a
tension within the Jewish faith, for God is transcendent and immanent. He
identified the impersonal Logs with the person of the Son, and presented Jesus
as the incarnate Logos who explains the unseeable God, the immanent Son who
makes the transcendent Father visible. Yet, in resolving the tension for the
Jewish faith, he set up a fresh tension for the Christian faith. For when the
divine power that seizes upon conscience and will, heart and mind, is
identified with or as a particular person it is bound to have an encounter with
God had been experienced as personal address, it had not been conceived in
terms of a person distinct from God. However, now in John the word of God is
identified with a particular historical person, whose pre-existence as a person
with God is asserted throughout.[13]]
7 If you know me, you will know my Father
also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."
[John 14:8-14 is part of the larger
segment of John 14:1-14, where the theme is that Jesus is the way to the
Father. Jesus is sharing his final words with his disciples. What we are going
to hear is the intimate connection between the Father, Son, and Spirit. The
Father sends the Son. We are going to hear about having faith or belief in this
relationship. After all, Christians have said from the beginning that if people
want to know God, they need to look to Jesus. We are going to hear about the
close connection between loving Jesus and keeping his commandments. In this
Gospel, though, this means the “new commandment,” that of loving each other. As
often happens in the New Testament, faith and love come close together. We also
learn that Jesus is asking the Father to send the Spirit of truth. As Jesus
goes to the Father, his followers will have the Holy Spirit living in them. The
role of the Spirit is to remind us of Jesus. The Spirit does not glorify
himself. The Spirit glorifies the Son. We are also going to hear the word
“world.” In this Gospel, that is his shortened way of referring to people who
do not believe or resist the preaching of the apostles. The point is that if
you allow the Holy Spirit to live in you, you will have to put up with a
certain strangeness in relationship to the rest of the world. The world will
not understand you and your values. At times, you will not understand why the
world does what it does. He will talk about prayer “in the name of Jesus,”
qualifying what it means to ask anything in prayer. What I want to stress,
though, is the close connection between the Father, Son, and Spirit. The works
of Jesus will continue in the works of the disciples, through the power of the
Spirit. The Spirit keeps presenting Jesus to us. We are to keep presenting
Jesus to the world, and the Spirit will help us do that.]
8
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”
[Again, Philip is not quite getting the spiritual level at which Jesus is
speaking.] 9 Jesus said to
him, [note the disappointment]“Have I
been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has
seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do
you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that
I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his
works. [He is the true Son - the Child of the Heavenly Father. He and the
Father share an essence, an access to power, and a relationship that allow the
full exercise of that power. As Barth sees it, the terms Father and Son in John
are such that the content of the one presupposes the other, and there follows
the declaration that from knowledge of the content of the one there can be
knowledge of the content of the other. In John, one is form, the other is
content.[14] He also offers the
opinion that the believer can have confidence in the providence of God because
our creator is also a gracious Father to the children of God. In this verse, we
can see that the Christian belief in providence sees the Father, and therefore
God over us, and therefore the Lord of the world process. The will that rules
the history of created being is not concealed. Word and work complement each
other. In addition to this most unique and overt naming of Christ's divine
power, John also relates unique teachings of Christ, unparalleled in the other
gospels, which make clear his plan for the disciples and for the faithful who
will come after them. Phillip's question implies the desire for a vision. Jesus' answer is that now that he is here,
Jesus is the only vision they need.[15]]
11 Believe me that I am in the
Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of
the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who
believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater
works than these, because I am going to the Father. [Verses 12-14 have the
theme of the power of belief in Jesus. The disciples can wield the same
authority, do the same actions and even greater acts, if they will only believe
that they, too, share this familial bond with God through Christ. As Dodd puts
it, Christ is “coming again” in the mighty works in the disciples. The miracles
of Jesus were signs of the revelation and salvation he brings. The works of the disciples continue this
ministry.[16]] 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for
anything, I will do it. [Pannenberg says that the Spirit makes it possible
to pray to the Father “in the name of Jesus,” to which Jesus promises a
hearing. All of this suggests that their works are, in reality, Jesus' works -
and by extension the works of God the Father. [17]]
In John 14:1-14, Jesus gives his disciples - and us -
this clear command: "Let not your
hearts be troubled" (John 14:1, ESV).
Now, to be clear, Jesus is talking about a different kind
of heart trouble: the kind that one can also classify as worry, fear, anxiety or
stress. The kind of heart trouble that can feel like a loss of hope, a lack of
faith, a panic attack or pangs of uncertainty. Most specifically, Jesus is
preparing the disciples to be without his physical presence. Their troubled
hearts are a result of the
spiritual battle John often portrays between Spirit and flesh, light and
darkness, sight and blindness, Life and Death.
Jesus wants to strengthen the faith of the disciples in light of what he
has just said about betrayal, departure, and denial. Yes, dark forces are
against Jesus and the disciples, but God will have a victory, even if in a
quite unexpected way.
Jesus reminds them that he is preparing a place for them in
the house of the Father. He portrays an intimate setting between God and human
beings in eternity. Let us look at verses 5-7. Jesus is the way because he is the truth and life, understood in light
of the mission of Jesus to humanity. Jesus is the Way because he reveals the
Father.
Thus, beyond physical death (we often read this lesson at
funerals) he refers to the kind of heart trouble that keeps you up at night
thinking about money, biting your nails when you're worried about your child or
on the phone with a friend craving advice for a crumbling marriage.
Jesus explains that
he can do the powerful acts that God can do because he and God have an intimate
relationship, essentially and substantially (vv. 9-10). He is the true Son -
the Child of the Heavenly Father.
[1] The basis of my
concern today is a few articles I came across recently. The Mayo Clinic has some
simple advice regarding a healthy heart: eat well and exercise regularly. You
need both. You cannot compensate for a bad diet by exercising more. I have
jokingly said that I like to run in order to eat the desserts I like. Well, a
health person on television this week said the body does not work that way. The
point is, you really need both.
I have come across many statistics. I will not bore
you with them. Here are a few. In 2006, 631,636
people died of heart disease. Heart disease caused 26% of deaths—more than one
in every four—in the United States.1 White people die of
heart disease at a greater rate than either African-Americans, Asians, or
Native Americans. Death rates due to the heart are highest in Mississippi and
lowest in Minnesota. Lowering cholesterol and blood pressure levels can reduce
all forms of heart issues. The greatest risk factors involve inactivity,
obesity, and high blood pressure, while smoking and high cholesterol are lower
on the list. Finally, you put yourself at more risk when you do not eat
breakfast. I have never been one regularly to skip
breakfast. A bowl of cereal or something simple is usually enough. Sometimes, I
get a treat with bacon or sausage and egg. Sometimes, I make my own buttermilk
pancakes. Who knows, I may have gotten it from my mother. The first thing Mom
would do early in the morning is have her coffee, cereal, and her cigarette.
[2] Just as we can do things
that endanger the heart physically, we can do things that endanger the heart
spiritually. It will threaten your ability to be a follower of Christ. Medicine
has been helpful in saying that proper diet and exercise will be the type of
self-care you need for a healthy physical heart. Being a follower of Jesus
addresses the heart of the matter spiritually. What I want us to focus upon is
what we can do to heed this command of Jesus: Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Let us be honest: Is it even possible, as follower of Jesus in an
extremely screwed-up world, to heed his command and have an untroubled
heart? Really?
I have come across a few bits of wisdom about worry.
I have developed a new philosophy. I only dread one day at a time.
-Charlie Brown.
As printed in a church bulletin: Don't let worry kill you - let
the church help.
Some suggestions on how to keep from worrying:
Drag your thoughts away from your troubles ... by the ears, by the heels or any other way you can manage it. -Mark Twain.
For peace of mind, resign as general manager of the universe.
-Author unknown.
These
words are some wise counsel for gaining perspective on what worries us.
[3] What I am going to suggest is that when it comes to
our spiritual lives, Jesus needs to be your personal trainer. He will guide you
in matters of diet and exercise for the health of your heart, spiritually
speaking.
[4] In addition to feeding your
heart, you will need to exercise it. This will submit your heart to test it in
an active lifestyle and stretching it to the limits. Physically, we need a
healthy lifestyle that will take our lifetimes to implement. We will need a lifetime
to allow Christ to shape our lifestyle.
[5] You may need to take the
difficult step of reconciliation with a family member.
You may need to respond to a sense or calling to be “there” for
those on the fringes of society.
You may need to conquer financial worries by setting up a budget and
tithe.
You may need to stop making excuses for where you are in life now
and take the bold steps to engage and grow your heart.
[6]
(Church Dogmatics, IV.2 [68.3] 808)
[7]
(Church Dogmatics, III.2 [44.1] 56)
[8]
(ibid., II.1 [25.1] 29)
[9]
(Systematic Theology, Volume 1, 308,
315)
[10]
(Systematic Theology, Volume 3, 155)
[11]
(Systematic Theology, 1988, Volume 1, 415)
[12]
(Systematic Theology, Volume 1, 340)
[13]
(Christology in the Making, 1980, p
250)
[14]
(Church Dogmatics, I.1 [5.4] 176)
[15]
(ibid., III.3 [48.2], 29)
[16]
(The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel,
1940, p 395)
[17]
(Systematic Theology, Volume 3, 204)
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