5-10-20 Grace Sermon

John 14:1-12 [Easter 5 CWS A]

Pastor Ron Koehler

Grace—Tucson, AZ

May 10, 2020

The Path to Victory 1. Jesus Led the Way 2. We are Walking on the Path Dear Friends in Christ, the words before us today are these from John chapter 14: “Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that you may also be where I am. 4 You know where I am going, and you know the way.”

5 “Lord, we don’t know where you are going,” Thomas replied, “so 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 would also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

8 “Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that is enough for us.”

9 “Have I been with you so long,” Jesus answered, “and you still do not know me, Philip? The one 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 the Father is in me? The words that I am telling you I am not speaking on my own, but the Father who remains in me is doing his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. Or else believe because of the works themselves.

12 “Amen, Amen, I tell you: The one who believes in me will do the works that I am doing. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. This is the gospel of our Lord.

I would love to preach a sermon today with no reference to the coronavirus and the situation we find ourselves in. You know, just a typical sermon, as if nothing weird was going on. Some of you would also love that. But I’ve blown that already right out of the gate! Then again, others of you expect that any decent sermon today must say something about all of this. To not do so would make the preacher out-of-touch. The “right” way to approach that in preaching these days? I don’t know the way.

Then again, I can’t imagine how a president, a governor, a mayor, feels as they know with certainty that a great number of people will not be happy with whatever they decide and announce—things that affect every single person they have responsibility for. What is the right way to handle a pandemic in order to keep everyone as safe as possible? That’s a tough position to be in. How do they know the way?

Or, since it is Mother’s Day, what about moms? How many of you moms have questioned whether you have said the right things to your kids? Disciplined the right way? Given the right amount of freedom to your child along with the right amount of parental oversight? I happen to know that moms stress about these kinds of things— just like dads do. You get that baby home from the hospital and there is no instruction manual. And that’s when the question truly hits— “How do you know the way?” And the question never really goes away, even as we figure things out through the stages of life.

To not know for certain what way is the right way is a really tough thing. Thomas knew that. Phillip knew that. The rest of the Twelve were in the same boat.

You might recall that Jesus was walking the path that was bringing victory for sinners when he spoke these words to his disciples. This discussion took place in the Upper Room as Jesus prepared to give his life for a sinful world. As part of that dialogue, Jesus had shared with them that he would be going away…that one of them would betray him…that Peter would deny him. You can imagine how upsetting this must have been for them to hear. Their heads were spinning and their insides churning.

So, Jesus tried to calm them down with promises of them being with him and his Father in heaven: “Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that you may also be where I am. This was right in line with what he had previously told them—that he would rise from death and return to his Father. This would be his victory—his resurrection from death and his ascension into heaven!

But it wasn’t just his victory; this was for them too. He assured them that they were on that path of victory also, by faith in him. He guaranteed them victory, didn’t he? I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that you may also be where I am. You know where I am going, and you know the way.” Victory was theirs already because Jesus was promising it! Simple faith in Jesus and his promises meant the victory of eternal life was theirs already. They just needed to trust, stay on that path of faith, and wait. Simple.

But if you’ve heard this account before, you remember the cringe-worthy words that come next, the words that proved that Jesus’ closest friends and followers didn’t understand the beautiful and comforting thing he was telling them. Thomas spoke up— probably saying what others were thinking: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus, the ever-patient teacher—even under the tremendous stress of his impending suffering and death—gently nudged them along the path to victory: “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. If you know me, you would also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Jesus is the Way, the road, the path that a person takes to go to the Father. It is only in the Truth of Jesus that a person finds eternal Life—the truth of his life and his sacrifice and his victory over death. The only way to our Father in heaven is through Jesus. Their patient Savior reminded them that knowing him meant knowing their heavenly Father, and that when they knew and saw him, they indeed knew and saw the Father. Such comforting words!

And yet also misunderstood! “Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that is enough for us.” It may surprise us that at this point—after three years of instruction from Jesus—they still struggled to understand Jesus. He was standing there right in front of them—true God and true man—and they couldn’t see him for who he was.

And so, Jesus explained once again the relationship between himself and his Father.

Seeing Jesus was the same as seeing the Father. Hearing Jesus speak was the same as hearing the Father speak. Watching Jesus perform miracles was the same as seeing the Father do them. He and the Father are one.

Truthfully, don’t we all struggle to understand the unity of the Father and the Son…and the doctrine of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—three-in one? We actually have a lot in common with those disciples. Don’t we share the same struggles? And don’t many of us also have years of experience following Jesus, listening to him speak to us in his Word? Some of our thoughts about Jesus and the questions we have in our minds—and that we maybe we even ask out loud—betray the experience we have as Christians.

We may not always understand that the victory of eternal life is ours. If someone were to put us on the spot and ask us if we died tonight, would God take us into heaven, some of us might say, “Well, I hope so,” or “I think so.”

Answers of uncertainty like that often come because of a confusion about how the victory of eternal life is won. It is so common for us to feel like we need to do something for God. Yes, Jesus lived and died and rose for us, but we believe that we still need to live a good life in order to receive heaven. We feel we need to do something, instead of remembering Jesus words from the cross, “It is finished.”

Also, life can be pretty hard on us sometimes. We may not always feel like the winners Jesus tell us we are by faith in him. We may even question whether we really are. Will there be victory for us, a life in heaven for us when we die?

Jesus’ confused and troubled disciples needed some encouragement and so do we— because we are so very much like them. And Jesus gives it. He provides everything you and I need so that we can be positive that we are on the Path to Victory.

The path of Jesus led to his victory. He left this conversation with his disciples in the Upper Room, was betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, was crucified on Calvary, and rose from death on Sunday morning after his death. He was victorious! He followed the path set before him to pay for your sins and mine. The payment for sins— yours and everyone else’s—was made by Jesus. Eternal life in heaven was won for you by Jesus. It is all about Christ’s victory.

But this is also about your victory! Jesus says so. “Do not let your heart be troubled.

Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that you may also be where I am. You know where I am going, and you know the way.”

As we go through life in this world, we do find our share of troubles…things that bother us…our own personal stuff…people and situations that irritate us. We don’t get the things we want. We end up with troubles we didn’t ask for. I think it’s pretty safe to say that we’re all a little bothered—or a lot bothered—with all the things related to this virus. We’re tired of it all. Add it to the list of things that trouble us.

As all this is going on, Jesus looks at us and says, “Do not let your heart be troubled.” Jesus has a way of directing us away from focusing on our difficulties, our fears, our worries, our sadness—just as he did for Thomas and Philip and the others.

He urges us to focus on him, to believe in him, to trust that he is even now preparing mansions in heaven for us. The one who loved us enough to die for us is working through even our troubles to bring good to us—it’s true—but there is something even more than that. We have a Savior who tells us that despite our confusion, and how we sometimes feel, and despite the things going on, we ARE on the path to victory right now! Eternal life is ours because Jesus paid the price for it. Eternal life is ours RIGHT NOW through the One who is the Way and the Truth and the Life.

The fact is, the victorious Jesus paid with his life to remove all your sins from you.

Then he defeated death and returned to heaven, where his has prepared a place for you. He promises that he will take you to be with him there eternally. He guarantees it.

His victory is your victory! You are on that path to victory right now and one day you will realize it fully.

Jesus intends to bring comfort to your troubled heart with that message. Did it work?

Are you able to set aside the troubles and fears and focus on Jesus and his promise of heaven? I pray that we all have learned through the questions asked by Thomas and Philip and the answers given by Jesus so that our hearts are not troubled, that we believe in Jesus, and that we know with certainty that we are the path to victory. Amen.

Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.