Easter 6 – 1 May 2016 – Year C

Easter 6 – 1 May 2016 – Year C

Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for our meditation is written in the 14^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 23 – 29:

23 Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25 ‘All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

28 ‘You heard me say, “I am going away and I am coming back to you.” If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe’. 

In a campaign speech, the famous British statesman Winston Churchill poked fun at the jargon creeping into government. "There is a lovely one about houses and homes," Churchill said. "In the future they are to be called accommodation units. I don't know how we are going to sing the old song ‘Home Sweet Home’. It would go like this, "Accommodation Unit, sweet, Accommodation Unit, there’s no place like our Accommodation Unit."

While the statesman was having a bit of fun, there is a certain truth in what he said - there are a lot of homes that are merely accommodation units.

We read and hear stories of children who have a home that is sheer hell. For them, home is a place of sorrow, insecurity, hurt, pain and abuse. For some, home is the place where they suffer to the point of death.

Home! What is a home? – Ideally …. A home is a place of joy, security, comfort and love.
For a child, home is a safe place; it’s the place where they grow and learn; it’s where they are loved and in return give love. Home is the place we like to be; the place we like to come ‘home’ to. It’s our resting place after a hard day. Home is the place where we live.

How does this relate to our text – Well, Jesus and his disciples are sharing together a meal on the day before Good Friday. Jesus tells them that he will soon go away.
In John 13: 33, they ask him if they can go with him, but Jesus replies, "You cannot go where I am going" - "But we will be left alone," the disciples replied.
"When I go, you will not be left alone". And then Jesus goes on to tell the disciples; "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

These words give all faithful followers of Jesus a wonderful promise. This special home that Jesus is referring to here, provides us with everything we need —everything necessary to be happy and secure, to receive comfort and love.

At this point, it is clear Jesus isn’t only talking about being safe and secure in our heavenly home after our death. He is especially talking about the here and now. – John 14 is very much a “Preparation Text” His disciples were afraid of what would happen to them during their life in this world; and their fears were very real. Jesus wanted to prepare His disciples and us for the time He would no longer be physically on earth. You see His disciples sensed then what we now know to be true; and that is that being a disciple after Jesus left was not going to be easy. They were living in a world that was hostile to the grace and love of God. All of them would face every kind of hardship and suffering imaginable as they went about telling others about Jesus, their Saviour. Almost all them would face death at the hands of the enemies of Christ.

Imagine the fear and confusion that filled their hearts when Jesus was arrested, sentenced and crucified. Jesus knew all this and now reassures them that they can be secure and safe at home with the Father and the Son; to give them heart and to warm their spirits.

Home with God is the place of shelter and protection; being nurtured and comforted. Home with God is being able to retreat from the day’s problems and worries; being loved in spite of all our weaknesses. The picture of being at home with God would have been particularly encouraging and strengthening for the disciples when they were anxious and stressed about how they would face so much hostility in the world.

Friends, Jesus is also saying to us, "We will come and make our home with you". He is making us a very wonderful promise. He is promising to be present with us; to live with us and provide for our needs, as we journey through this life. As we live in this world, He is dwelling with us; we are able to enjoy His closeness in the same way that He is close to the Father. We get an idea of just how close Jesus is to us when He describes His relationship with the Father. In fact, in John 10:30, he says, "The Father and I are one."  Now that’s close – very close. It says something about how close Jesus is with us.
In John 10:14,15, Jesus tells us, "As the Father knows me and I know the Father, in the same way I know my sheep and they know me." - Again that tells us something of the intimate way Jesus knows and cares for each and every one of us – He knows us by name – He knows our very nature – He knows our every weakness and failing – If that worries you and makes your feel ashamed and unworthy, then listen again to Jesus response to us - today we hear Jesus say to us, "We will come and make our home with you". – Friends, that is a promise that if we open our heart to His grace, the fullness of our great Triune God will make His home there.

You know, there is nothing new here; the notion that God makes his home with us is no modern day revelation. The Old Testament is full of pictures describing God as our dwelling place (our home), or God’s people living in the house of the Lord. Psalm 27 says, "One thing that I ask of the Lord, … that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. For in the day of trouble, he will keep me safe in his dwelling" (v 4,5).
And Psalm 90, "Lord you have been our dwelling place (our home) through all generations" (v1).

In the midst of our limited, chaotic, challenging lives, in a world where the evil one would have us feeling permanently insecure, Jesus is our one sure source of true security. It can be said that He gives us small portions of eternity right now, as we journey through this life. This happens whenever He gives us the physical as well as the spiritual strength to meet the challenges that confront us. He gives us rest when we are weary of life so that we can experience the freshness and newness of another day. He is our centre of retreat when the world’s pain, problems and demands are closing in on us. In an often hostile, dangerous world, His hospitality is so wonderful and inviting. What a marvellous promise that Jesus and the Father have made their home with us!

Jesus then adds to this picture of the security of home by saying that the Father will send a Helper, a Counsellor, namely the Holy Spirit to teach us to know and understand what Jesus has said; he will nurture our faith and trust; and he will help us remember that we belong to God; we are members of His household and so are protected and cared for. Then he goes on, ²⁷Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Christ's peace is a settled state of the heart, which is not affected by the outward circumstances, and which outward conflicts cannot destroy. The peace that Christ gives comes from knowing that whatever may happen, you and I have a Saviour who will never forsake us. Even in the face of our worst sin, he will not forsake us. He died for us. Even when our life is in danger, we are at peace, because He has conquered death and He will never leave us.

Philosophers often describe peace as the absence of conflict, fear, trouble and suffering. For the Baptised Christian, peace is more than the absence of something. Peace, true peace, is the presence of someone – and that someone is Jesus. He has come to make His home with us and that brings true peace into our lives. His love, forgiveness, protection, help, comfort – brings the peace we so much need in our troubled life. Peace is knowing that Jesus will stand by us and, to use the words of St Paul, that “There is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39.)

All this builds up to a wonderful picture of being at home – home with God; secure and safe, nurtured and cared for. We do not have to be paralysed by our fears and troubles. God makes a home within our lives—a home of love, security, joy, peace, confidence and hope.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this word from Jesus today is truly a great one, especially when we are being harassed and feel helpless in the face of life’s difficulties. But there is a danger that in this warm cosy state that we become complacent in our faith! Our Biblical command as written in Matthew 28 is to ‘Preach, Teach and Baptise’ and to share that same peace and love to others. He gives us security in his home so that we can make a difference in the world and in the church, and in the lives of others. Inactivity or apathy is the greatest danger that faces the Christian church today, It significantly contributes to the decline in numbers of practicing Christians, and changes this country from one where Christian values are the norm to where they are now just another marginalised choice.

May our prayer be "Lord, forgive us for our cosiness and apathy, and stimulate us that Your will be done on earth". We have a Saviour who has died for us, who gave his life to forgive us, who has claimed us as members of his own family in baptism, and given us incomprehensible peace; but this peace can only be complete in us if it flows through us to our brothers and sisters in Christ

The celebrated Dominican Monk, Damasus Winzen, who had suffered a great deal in his life, and subsequently died in 1971, wrote just before his death, "When I look back upon the 70 years of my life, I see quite clearly that I owe my present inner happiness, my peace, and my joy essentially to one fact: I am certain that I am infinitely loved by God.”

May we, like this man, know and share the peace and presence of God in our lives. Let us reassure and be reassured by the words of Jesus, "Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid. … My Father loves you, and we will come to you and make our home with you."  Amen.

The peace and love of our great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen