Sunday's Sermon - a day late.
John 14:1-14
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; [1] believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? [2] 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” [3] 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 had known me, you would have known my Father also. [4] From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? 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 authority, 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, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me [5] anything in my name, I will do it.
Grace Mercy and Peace to you from God the Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text today is the Gospel lesson, especially these words, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in Christ. Let not your hearts be troubled, Jesus has given you the kingdom, he has gone ahead of you to prepare many rooms for you. If it were not so, would He have said it? It is yours here and now. What good news! What a great blessing!
But there is just one little detail isn’t there? One little thing that in our text, Thomas realizes Jesus forgot to tell us, “Lord, since we don’t exactly know where you are going, how in the world are we supposed to know how to get there?” Yes Jesus, you have given us this, but how in the world do we actually get there? How do we inherit the kingdom? How do we enter heaven? Where do we go, what do we do? How do we get there?
Like Thomas, we often wonder the same thing. And our world has come up with many answers on how to get to heaven. And so often we hear these various ways that we may get into heaven, and we believe them and trust in them to finally bring us to our eternal homes. It is not bad to want heaven. But it is so dangerous to listen to sources outside God’s own words about how we may enter heaven.
Outside of God’s word, we hear that to get into heaven we must have more good in us than we have evil in us. We must do good things, and try to stay away from the bad. In other words we are supposed to be loving, to be kind, to care for those around us more often than we curse other drivers on the road, more often than we curse our neighbor and more often than we hate those who disagree with us.
This sounds like a nice idea doesn’t it? Think of how wonderful our world would be “if we could all just get along.” All you need is love right? “Imagine, all the people living life in peace” if they would just love their neighbor. It would be a utopian society without war, and hate, and murder. “What a wonderful world.” But do you see the problem in this thinking? Do you see the weakness in this train of thought? Friends, we cannot do more good than evil, and if we think we can we misunderstand our own condition.
For each person on this planet is infected with sin. Each person is so totally evil that they cannot do good, they can’t achieve a perfect utopian society. We call this original sin, and it poisons each one of us. Because of this original sin, we no longer really want to do good, we no longer want to care for others. Yes we might in short spurts, we might say we want to help others, but if the motivation comes from within ourselves, it is steeped in sin. And if all we do is steeped in sin, we cannot do enough good to earn heaven. We cannot enter by our own means.
Think of it in this way, when you have a cold, your nose runs, you cough, you may get a fever. These are all the symptoms of the virus that infects your body. In the same way, we are all sick with sin. We show the outward symptoms of hate and disgust at our neighbors. We commit adultery, we face suffering and death, and all of these, while sin in themselves point to that great illness we have been conceived with. We are separated from God. We are apart from him, and nothing we can do will lead us back to him. Thomas is right, we do not know the way, because the way is perfection, and it is something that we in ourselves cannot achieve.
So are we lost? Are we stuck here in the midst of our sin, while Jesus taunts us with the promise of a mansion with many rooms, while we cannot even get there? No. You see, we may not get there on our own. We may not earn our way there. We can’t do it. But Jesus tells us the way to get there. He says we must come through the Way, the Truth and the Life. And the Way the Truth and the Life is not a road map that we must follow. It is a person. Jesus, in our text says, “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes through the Father except through me.”
You see there isn’t a list of things to do. There isn’t a level of good things that you have to do to be saved. It is entirely by Grace that you are saved, through Faith, through Jesus Christ alone. Jesus says in our text, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” Jesus himself will be the way, he himself will carry you into your eternal home. He will lead you into peace and comfort.
Jesus is the way because he himself has been perfect. He was born apart from sin, having not inherited it from his Father, for his Father is God the almighty. He lived a perfect life, always in perfect relationship with his Father, and always serving his neighbors. He cared for those around himself, instead of cursing, blessing. Instead of hating, loving. Instead of fighting, showing patience and kindness. All of these things and more Jesus did for you who could not do them on your own. Finally, Jesus did gave everything he had to purchase and win you from your sin. He gave up his own life on a cross. He hurt for you. He felt pain for you. He died in your place, and he poured out his life giving blood upon all in sin.
It is the perfect medicine for us sinners, the blood of Jesus. He doesn’t just treat the symptoms of our sin, he heals the cause. He sets us free, so that yes, now we may serve our neighbor. Yes, now you may love your brothers and sisters in peace, and not need to fight them any longer, for you have been healed by Jesus, the way, the truth and the life. He will lead you and carry you with himself into his Father’s heavenly kingdom. IN him, and him alone, do you have all the blessings that you could ever hope for and dream of and more.
How do you get into heaven? The Way leads you. The Truth of God’s word points you ever to the Son of God, Jesus. And in Him, you have life. It isn’t about you at all, it is all about Jesus. Amen.
