rewind (part 3)

rewind  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  35:01
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By looking back at the cross, we see Jesus reveal who God is; by seeing and knowing who God is, we see Jesus reveal something about who we are

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It is week four of Lent, and we are still working our way backwards through the gospel of John. We have looked at the scene in which Pilate reluctantly condemns Jesus to be executed. We have looked at the scene in which Jesus surrounds the faith of his disciples with his own divinity. And today we back up to the beginning of John 14, in which Jesus shares with his disciples that he not only will be returning to the heavenly Father, but is also now the way for others to know the Father.
Let’s be reminded that this is all part of John’s gospel in which Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for what is coming—the cross and the resurrection. They don’t see it or understand it yet. For us today, this is hindsight. The cross and resurrection have already happened. But it is worth us spending some time to back up and try to imagine as best we can how the disciples where receiving and processing these interactions with Jesus. It is worth us spending some time on that because these stories in scripture provide a window into our own journey of faith as well. The questions of the disciples in these passages might just as well be our questions still today. Let’s read these words and consider how they are words for us too.
John 14:1–14 (NIV)
John 14:1–14 NIV
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that 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 know me, you will 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 I do not speak on my own authority. 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 works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
We should begin with a reminder about how to read the Bible correctly. When Jesus talks in this passage about the Father’s house which has many rooms, and that Jesus is going to prepare a place for his followers, this is metaphorical language. Jesus is speaking with images, not necessarily literal descriptions. It might help us to understand the meaning of the Father’s house if we back up to consider what houses were like during the time of John’s gospel. The disciples most certainly did not hear or understand these words to mean anything like what we consider houses to be in our time. We think of houses as individual or family dwellings in which the well-off enjoy such luxuries as walk-in closets, and every person gets their own bedroom. Maybe we think of it like apartments where everyone get’s their own kitchen and perhaps a private deck or patio. The disciples would not have imagined anything like this in the description Jesus is giving about the Father’s house.
houses in Israel were typically one-room dwellings — additional rooms would be used for storing extra provisions
Houses in Israel were typically one-room dwellings. Families ate, slept, and resided all together in this one space. The more affluent of society had dwellings in which the entrance of the house brought you into an open-air courtyard with several rooms surrounding it. These additional rooms were not necessarily a benefit which gave each inhabitant their own private space, but often additional rooms would be for keeping provisions. There was not any such thing as the kitchen pantry which would be stocked up on a weekly basis by an Aldis run. Items such as grain, olive oil, and wine could be stored up without spoiling. Additional rooms in the house could be used to hold the provisions of these bountiful harvest.
a place in which all the provisions they would ever need are already abundantly present, and will never run out
the hospitality of the heavenly Father is eternally boundless
This, then, is what I think the disciples heard in the words of Jesus about a house with many rooms being prepared for them. It is a place in which all the provisions they would ever need are already abundantly present, and will never run out. In this middle-eastern culture where hospitality is an expected virtue, Jesus is saying the hospitality of the heavenly Father is eternally boundless. It is no wonder that Philip responds to Jesus in verse 8 by saying, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” It is not necessarily a literal physical building that is being referred to as the Father’s house. Rather, it is a reference to the eternally boundless provision of the Father’s blessing to enfold and nurture and support his people forever. To be with the Father is to be in that. To see the Father is to see that.
the disciples do not understand the place where Jesus is going
Now comes the moment of disconnect for the disciples. That all sounds awesome; just show us the way to get there. And Jesus says, you already know the way to the place where I am going. But very obviously in the response we see in the story, the disciples do not understand the place where Jesus is going and they do not understand the way to the eternal boundless provision of the heavenly Father. It’s Thomas who gives voice to this question in verse 5.
John 14:5 (NIV)
John 14:5 NIV
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
And the answer given by Jesus in verse 6 is one of those famous “I am” sayings of Jesus in the gospel of John.
John 14:6–7 (NIV)
John 14:6–7 NIV
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 know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
the incarnate Son of God best reveals to us who God is
It is the incarnate Son of God who best reveals to us who God is—the inseparable unity of love between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The way to see this truth, and the way to experience this life is through Jesus. Look also at how Jesus claims exclusive connection to this. Jesus is not just one of the ways to see the Father—as though other possibilities exist. Jesus says that he is the only way we come to the Father.
the disciples are not stuck in a moment of indecision about which religion is right and what ones are wrong
I have heard and read others who interpret this saying of Jesus as biblical evidence that universal pluralism is false. Because of these words of Jesus, we cannot say that other religions of the world all get you to the same place. Jesus is the only way; Jesus is the only truth; Jesus is the only life. I would not doubt any of that for a moment. At the same time, I am not sure Jesus meant these words of his to be a hammer that knocks down all the other false religions of the world. That doesn’t even remotely fit the context of what is happening in John’s gospel right here. The disciples are not stuck in a moment of indecision about which religion is right and what ones are wrong. Jesus is not giving an apologetic defense of orthodox Christianity. He is responding to a group of people who are still stuck trying to find their own way to the heavenly Father—and they are still lost trying to find that way.
they are stuck trying to find their way to God in themselves — leaning on their own merit to be part of God’s covenant family
The disciples are not stuck trying to find their way to God in other religions. They are stuck trying to find their way to God in themselves. These disciples were believers in Jesus and followers of Jesus, yet they were still leaning on their own merit to be part of God’s covenant family. And because of this, their confusion of being able to see their way to the Father’s house is evident. Here is where we see a connecting point between the world of the disciples and our world today. Even for those of us who believe in Jesus, even for those of us who follow Jesus, the gospel passage here still points out to us the ways in which we keep trying to lean on our own merits.
In the world of the disciples it was their Jewish heritage that gave them merit. They had access to the heavenly Father because they were born into a Hebrew family; and by being descendants of Abraham, God’s covenant includes them just because of who they are. They follow the Jewish rituals and cultural habits and customs. And this is what gives them the merit to be within the covenant of God.
how do I claim merit into the covenant of God? - I go to church - I give an offering - I pray and do devotions - I live by moral and ethical standards
Most of us—maybe all of us—do not come from Jewish heritage. But are there other ways in which we claim a merit of our own into the covenant of God? I show up to church. I give a generous offering. I try to live by moral and ethical standards. I strive to be a godly person. I try to take time every week to do my devotions and to pray to God. Jesus reminds us yet today with these same words; none of those things are the way to be included in God’s covenant. Being a good moral person is not the way. Being religious is not the way. Having the right habits and customs is not the way. None of those things can ever get you to the Father.
the cross of Jesus is the only way into the covenant of God
The cross of Jesus is the only way. The only way you can ever get to the heavenly Father is for Jesus to be the one who comes to you and brings you there—and the way Jesus does this is through the cross. We are reminded again today that the only way we can ever be Christian or call ourselves Christian is to have the identity of our faith be completely centered on the cross of Jesus. Jesus is the only way to the Father. Absolutely everything about your faith needs to be centered upon that truth. Because Jesus explains that when you and I see the identity of our faith centered upon Jesus, when we see Jesus revealed like that, then we see the Father being revealed in the Son as well. Jesus says we can know the Father because we know the Son.
we see God revealed to us in the life and actions of Jesus
The way Jesus engaged other people shows us something about who God is. The way Jesus reached out and embraced marginalized outcasts shows us something about who God is. The way Jesus displays mercy and compassion for the oppressed shows us something about who God is. The way Jesus chooses to act in grace shows us something about who God is. The way Jesus gave everything he could—even to the extent of taking our sin to the cross—shows us something about who God is. We see God revealed to us in the life and actions of Jesus.
when you see Jesus for who he is by what he has done, you are able to better see who you are because of what Jesus has done for you
That tells us something about who we are too. Seeing God through the life and actions of Jesus allows us to better see who it is that we are as people loved and redeemed by God. Your identity as a Christian is not about checking all the right religious boxes and going to church and doing devotions and all that stuff; your identity as a Christian mean you are a person who is redeemed by God because of the cross. Or on the other side of that, you are not the person who fails to check all the right religious boxes and feels as though you have nothing of value to offer—that’s not who you are; you are a person who is redeemed by God because of the cross—that is who you are. When you see Jesus for who he is by what he has done, you are able to better see who you are because of what Jesus has done for you. We do not need to be people who look back to our own accomplishments or failures in order to determine who we are; we are people who look back to the cross in order to determine who we are.
But more than being able to look back and see who we are in Jesus, this passage then closes with a nod towards looking ahead at what we are yet becoming in Jesus. Look again at verse 12.
John 14:12 (NIV)
John 14:12 NIV
12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
seeing God revealed in the life and actions of Jesus gives us a roadmap to see who it is that God has redeemed us to become
Because God has redeemed you by his grace, you are freed to express works of grace into the lives of others. Because God has forgiven you, you are free to extend forgiveness into the lives of others. Because God is merciful to you, you are free to pour mercy into the lives of others. Seeing God revealed in the life and actions of Jesus gives us a roadmap to see who it is that God has redeemed us to become.
key word: believe — wholeheartedly embrace the grace of God given at the cross as the very center of my life right now
the works of Jesus now being expressed through the actions of those who follow him
The key word in this passage that identifies action for us is the word believe. It is the command given in verse 1. It shows up again in verse 11. And we see in verse 12 that belief in Jesus turns into action—the works of Jesus now being expressed through the actions of those who follow him. Jesus intentionally directed the believing faith of his disciples forward to the cross. And today Jesus intentionally directs our believing faith to look back at the cross. This is where our faith is rooted; it is where our belief is rooted; it is where our life in Christ is rooted.
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