Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled

May 18^th, 2014             “Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled”        Rev. Heather Jepsen

John 14:1-14

          Once again this morning we are reading from the gospel of John.  Of the four gospels that appear in our Bible, John was written last, nearly a century after Jesus’ lifetime.  The other three gospels; Matthew, Mark, and Luke are written in a similar time frame and share a lot of common material.  Not so with John.  John is often out in left field, doing his own thing.  Consequently, John is often offering us a unique picture of who Jesus is.

          In the other gospels, Jesus appears to be much more human.  In Mark, the earliest gospel, Jesus is portrayed in such a human way that he often appears to be annoyed or even grumpy.  Through Matthew and Luke the image of Jesus begins to soften.  And by the time we get to the writing of John, Jesus appears much less human and much more divine.  Centuries after the lifetime of Jesus, the church will agree that Jesus lived as both fully human and fully divine.  The majority of our fully divine understanding of Jesus comes from the gospel of John.

          This morning’s reading takes place during what the other gospels will call the last supper.  Jesus has gathered with his disciples to celebrate the Passover.  In the gospel of John, this last gathering is accompanied by a great speech of Jesus’, called the farewell discourse.  Our reading is part of this farewell discourse, and Jesus is in the process of saying goodbye.  A few verses prior to this Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, where are you going?” and Jesus responds, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me.”  Jesus is preparing the disciples for separation and for change.

          Naturally, the disciples are troubled and afraid.  Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled” which is a statement as much about the head as it is about the heart.  “Don’t worry” he seems to say, “everything will be ok in the end.”  Jesus goes on to talk about this place where he is going, a place the disciples will be able to follow him to, and that they will all be together.  What has been mistranslated as mansions; is actually a description of the common living arrangements in the time that Jesus lived.  At that time, many people, generations of family and friends, as well as slaves and servants would often live together under one roof.  Just as they did during their lifetimes, Jesus promises the disciples, that after they die they will all be reunited and live together.  “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places,” many rooms, and Jesus goes ahead to prepare a space for each of them. 

          It is no wonder that this scripture passage has become a favorite at funeral services.  When we are in the valley of the shadow of death, when we are on this side of things, and fully aware that the time of death is coming, that is when we long for these words of reassurance and hope.  We long to know that not only will we be reunited with Jesus, but that we will also be reunited with our community.  As Jesus describes to the disciples, we long to be in the same kind of community that we are in now.  We long for Jesus to tell us that it will all be the same as it is now, that nothing will really change.

          Is that what really happens when we die?  Well, I can’t say, because I’ve never been.  I’ve heard stories about it from people that I know and trust.  Not big budget movies, but actual friends of mine who have had that dead on the operating table moment of reawakening and awareness.  From the stories they tell it sounds like a nice place.  But I don’t really know, because I haven’t really been.  Like most of us in here, I will never really know, until it happens to me.

          One thing I do know is that I’m not afraid, and I’m not worried about it.  There a not a lot of things in the scriptures that I am really good at, but one of them is “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”  Jesus makes it clear that wherever it is he is going that we will be together.  That we will abide with him and with those we have known in this lifetime.  I don’t need a mansion when I get there, I just need a friend. 

          Jesus tells the disciples, “You know the way to the place where I am going.”  How do we know the way?  Jesus shows us.  Jesus leads us into death; he shows us the path to walk.  We are able to go that way because Jesus went that way before us.  And as on the journey of life, Jesus promises to be alongside us on the journey of death.  That, I know is true, because I have seen that.  I have been on that road with families, and I have met Jesus there many a time.  He says, “I will come again, and take you to myself”.  I know he keeps that promise.

          All of us fear death, just as all of us fear change.  A lot was about to change for the disciples Jesus was speaking to.  In the setting where John places this story, the disciples are imagining that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah.  The Messiah was to come and sit on the throne of David, he was to come and restore Israel to power, he was to come and bring about a new kingdom and authority.  That was what God had promised.  The disciples whole idea of who Jesus was, was about to change.  Their whole idea of what the Messiah was, was about to die.  Not only are they about to face the death of their leader, they are about to face the death of their entire worldview.

          I think that as much as Jesus was speaking to them about leading them into a physical death, I think he was talking about this religious death as well.  Jesus will take this small band of followers by the hand, and lead them into a new faith understanding.  As the faith community grows and spreads, so too will their ideas change about who the Messiah is and what he came to do.  I think Jesus is with that community on that journey.  He has gone ahead of the believers and now takes them by the hand and leads them into the future. 

          Simply in reading the gospels we can see this development of ideas, we can see this place where Jesus is going.  In Mark, we have that fully human Jesus.  By the time John is written, Jesus appears almost unhuman and fully divine.  Years later the church will develop ideas about fully man and fully God, ideas about the trinity, and ideas about atonement that are only hinted at in the scriptures.  As the church grows and changes old faith ideas die, and new ones are born.  And while some of us feel threatened by this, I think it’s good.  The living Christ has gone ahead of us, and is leading us through to new understandings.  He is bringing us to himself, in the future, in the community of faith.  “Where I am going, there you will be also.”

          The whole of our human experience is one of death and resurrection.  Throughout our lives we are changing and growing.  We are in constantly new bodies, regenerating skin cells and tissue.  We are constantly learning, interpreting new ideas and facts.  We are constantly in a cycle, between sleeping and waking.  We die and rise, die and rise, die and rise, over and over again.  And the one constant in this lifetime of change is the Christ.  The one constant in this lifetime of change is Jesus.  “You know the way to the place where I am going” because I have already gone with you there.

          That’s why I am not worried about what happens to me when I die, or frankly what might happen to you.  I am not worried about death, any more than I am worried about going to sleep at night.  Jesus has gone ahead of me, Jesus has shown me the way.  I do not let my heart be troubled because I believe in God, and I believe also in Jesus.  “I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”  I believe that.

          What we believe about what happens when we die is very personal.  It is something that is unique to each of us.  I wish I could give you my confidence, my lack of worry or fear, but I can’t give you that any more than I can give you my personal faith.  I can only do what I do every week, stand up here and preach the word as I see it, tell the story that God placed on my heart to tell.  Preaching a sermon about death is hard, it is a real challenge, but sometimes I think it better to face a difficult subject head on, rather than trying to avoid the topic. 

          The one thing that is true for all of us, the one thing we all have in common, is that we will die.  The message of our God to us as we consider our own deaths is this . . . “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”  Amen.