The 6th Sunday of Easter - Keeping Jesus' Word

  Jesus said, "You have heard me say, 'I am going away.'" Then he added after the briefest of pauses, " . . . and I am coming to you." Jesus and his followers were experiencing a liminal moment.  The word "liminal" refers to a time of transition, a threshold between one place or state and another.  For example, our two high school seniors will leave one educational setting and pass through the threshold of another--college. Their friends, unless they will attend the same college, may experience their absence as an empty place in their lives--at least for a while until new friendships are formed.  Even then the memory of the relationship may always occupy a special place in their thoughts.  And sometimes the old friendships may be renewed as they catch up with one another when they meet again after the absence.

Liminal moments in our lives can be exciting, hopeful times, or they can be sad, scary times. Jesus recognized his leave-taking would be a difficult one for his disciples. His words, as remembered and written down by the gospel writer, attempt to provide a framework to understand the absence his disciples will experience from a sad, scary time into an exciting, hopeful time. In the Gospel of John this discourse between Jesus and his disciples occurs before his arrest and execution.  

As Jesus responds to a series of questions from the disciples, he appears to be trying to inoculate them against the distress they will feel shortly.  These questions all appear prior to the section of the gospel read today. Simon Peter begins the series of questions at the very end of chapter 13:  "Lord, where are you going?" Then Thomas asks, "Lord we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"  Then Philip chimes in, "Lord, show us the father and we shall be satisfied."  Finally, Judas (not Iscariot) asks, "How is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?"

         His disciples are pushing Jesus throughout this discourse, because they perceived he lacked clarity in explaining himself or in revealing who he is.  Today we have the advantage of 20/20 hindsight in claiming Jesus is the Messiah of God, the second person of the Trinity.  Yet, in this farewell discourse for those disciples--and even today for us--Jesus defines the most important way to show one knows who he is, that is, to love him by "keeping his word."

He explains "keeping his word" as a covenant-like relationship: keep his word and he will do these things for you.  God will make God' s home with you; the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will come to teach you all you need to know and to remind of what Jesus had taught; and the peace of God will be given to you.

So if we want to be in relationship with God, we need to figure out what "keeping his word" means.  We know, of course, that Jesus said all the law and the prophets could be summed up in the two great commandments--love God and love those whom God has made, your neighbor--even a "neighbor" who is outside your usual definition of neighbor.  And the love Jesus teaches cannot come from self-interest, but from emptying yourself of self-centeredness.  It's the love he tried to teach the rich young ruler--go “sell” all that you have that keeps you self-centered--in his case, his wealth.

This "keeping his word" cannot be done through our own strength and will.  Self-interest infects our motivation almost all--if not all-- the time.  When I made the mistake of saying that if someone had acted from purer motives a problem would not have occurred, my seminary professor corrected me saying that we always make decisions with mixed motives.

So what should we do?  How can we show our love for Jesus by keeping his word?  I believe we have two examples of “keeping Jesus' word” in the reading from Acts.  First, Paul believed he received a call from God in a vision. He traveled where he thought he was supposed to go. Then when he arrived at Philippi, he kept the Sabbath by going where he thought folks might be praying.  Paul allowed himself to be led by God to someone he might have never encountered had he stayed safely in Antioch where he had successfully delivered a well-received message from the church in Jerusalem.  Paul stepped out in trust, hoping for and expecting God's blessing on his work. 

The other example of "keeping Jesus word" was Lydia.  She had come to know God and had gone with other women to gather for prayer.  But when she heard Paul speak about Jesus something happened in her heart.  Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, described what happened as "[t]he Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly."  To be led to listen and to take good teaching to heart was how Lydia kept Jesus’ word. Then after she and her household were baptized, she gave out of her abundance—for she was a prosperous merchant, offering the hospitality of her home to Paul and Silas.  Her openness to the new teaching was a gift from God.  Her response was to give generously to the teachers God had sent.  

How then are we supposed to demonstrate our love for Jesus by keeping his word?  We could do worse than patterning ourselves after Paul and after Lydia.  In order to follow their examples we might ask ourselves these questions: How can we realize God may be opening our heart to something new?  What will our generous response be?  Where and how can we step out in trust, hoping for and believing in God's blessing on our work?  Perhaps we can discern answers for ourselves as individuals, but I hope we will be able to answer them together as a congregation. Together how can we realize that God may be opening our heart to something new?  What will our generous response be?  Together where might we step out in trust, hoping for and believing in God's blessing on our work?