Text: John 14:1-14
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. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
It is a joy to celebrate the blessings that come to us through our mothers and a blessed mother’s day to all. Many of you joy in the mother’s you still have and some, I’m sure long for the mother’s they once had. Some were blessed with godly step mothers and others had mothers that missed the mark of what good mothering should be.
As a pastor, I’ve done a number of funerals; some for mothers, and some fathers and uncles and dear friends. Funerals are a place of grief. Death is not something any of us wants to think about or deal with but it can come unexpectedly, as it did with my own mother.
For us death is who we are. We are born dead in trespass and sin. The wages of sin is death. On Ash Wednesday as the ashes are placed upon our forehead in the sign of the cross we hear these words: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
Death at times pretends to be comforting. You may hear at a funeral, “He’s in a better place.” Or, “Well, she’s not suffering anymore.”
I assume it is how we who remain deal with the loss of a loved one. But the reality is that death is not a good thing. It is the consequence for we who are born in sin.
It is what awaits you are me. It is with that in mind that I remember some of our dear Peace loving mother's who have gone to be with the Lord: Hilda Klein, Joan Kitzman, Lucille Schreiner, Betty Gedeon, Betty Buchannan, Carlene Constable, Marge Goit, Dorothy Blackerby, Eleanor Young, Maude Lewis, Frieda Fleaner, and Sandy Krueger.
In our gospel today Jesus said to his disciples:
14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; 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? 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.
This text is often used at funerals. It is for comfort and hope. Death is real but so is Christ’s rescue.
What also is interesting is the context of the hope that Jesus gives here in the beginning of chapter 14 with the last line of verse that he says in Chapter 13 where he turns to St. Peter and says,
“I tell you the truth, [truly, truly] before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”
Not only then but now as well. We disown the savior daily and not just three times.
It is daily, it is willful, and it is often, day in and day out until we die.
It is in that context that Christ’s - Let not your hearts be troubled - is truly good news and why it is so important that it be shared at times of great grief and suffering. Peter was standing tall … thinking he knew all:
When Jesus washed the disciples feet Peter asked:
“Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”
Then Peter said:
“You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have [no part of] me.”
[He tells them] 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. He tells them to love one another, to serve one another, to care for one another … because where he is going they cannot come.
Not in their own strength at least.
And Peter in his own strength says: Lord, why can’t I follow you? I’ll lay down my life for you. But in reality that’s you and that’s me. We think we can stand. In the midst of trial, in the midst of temptation, in the midst of sin … we fall … denying the Lord and the rooster crows that reality in our own lives.
In our Confirmation rite, this is made clear when the confirmands are asked:
“Do you intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully?”
“Do you intend to live according to the word of God, and in faith, word, and deed to remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death?”
And finally:
“Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?”
To all of this they answer, “I do.”
In a sense saying like St. Peter: I’ll lay down my life for you!
But, the confirmands add to their “I do.” These words: “By the grace of God.”
That is what Peter missed. His strength and our strength, as it is connected to faith, life, and eternal life … is in God’s hands and by his grace.
As I wrestle with so many who no longer connected to church or regularly hear God’s word I’m remind myself of the old pastor’s proverb:
Jesus is God and I am not!
In chapter 13 Peter is confused and asks Jesus, “Lord where are you going?”
Thomas in chapter 14 asks:
5 … “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
To this Jesus answers:
6 … “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
It is really good news to hear that God has washed you and me and we have been made partakers of eternal life. It is God who through the means he has provided of Word and Sacrament will keep them and us in the one true faith.
14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; 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? 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.
That is good news for pastors ... for you dear members and for ... our mothers as well! Blessed Mother’s Day to all!
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
It is a joy to celebrate the blessings that come to us through our mothers and a blessed mother’s day to all. Many of you joy in the mother’s you still have and some, I’m sure long for the mother’s they once had. Some were blessed with godly step mothers and others had mothers that missed the mark of what good mothering should be.
As a pastor, I’ve done a number of funerals; some for mothers, and some fathers and uncles and dear friends. Funerals are a place of grief. Death is not something any of us wants to think about or deal with but it can come unexpectedly, as it did with my own mother.
For us death is who we are. We are born dead in trespass and sin. The wages of sin is death. On Ash Wednesday as the ashes are placed upon our forehead in the sign of the cross we hear these words: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
Death at times pretends to be comforting. You may hear at a funeral, “He’s in a better place.” Or, “Well, she’s not suffering anymore.”
I assume it is how we who remain deal with the loss of a loved one. But the reality is that death is not a good thing. It is the consequence for we who are born in sin.
It is what awaits you are me. It is with that in mind that I remember some of our dear Peace loving mother's who have gone to be with the Lord: Hilda Klein, Joan Kitzman, Lucille Schreiner, Betty Gedeon, Betty Buchannan, Carlene Constable, Marge Goit, Dorothy Blackerby, Eleanor Young, Maude Lewis, Frieda Fleaner, and Sandy Krueger.
In our gospel today Jesus said to his disciples:
14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; 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? 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.
This text is often used at funerals. It is for comfort and hope. Death is real but so is Christ’s rescue.
What also is interesting is the context of the hope that Jesus gives here in the beginning of chapter 14 with the last line of verse that he says in Chapter 13 where he turns to St. Peter and says,
“I tell you the truth, [truly, truly] before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”
Not only then but now as well. We disown the savior daily and not just three times.
It is daily, it is willful, and it is often, day in and day out until we die.
It is in that context that Christ’s - Let not your hearts be troubled - is truly good news and why it is so important that it be shared at times of great grief and suffering. Peter was standing tall … thinking he knew all:
When Jesus washed the disciples feet Peter asked:
“Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”
Then Peter said:
“You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have [no part of] me.”
[He tells them] 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. He tells them to love one another, to serve one another, to care for one another … because where he is going they cannot come.
Not in their own strength at least.
And Peter in his own strength says: Lord, why can’t I follow you? I’ll lay down my life for you. But in reality that’s you and that’s me. We think we can stand. In the midst of trial, in the midst of temptation, in the midst of sin … we fall … denying the Lord and the rooster crows that reality in our own lives.
In our Confirmation rite, this is made clear when the confirmands are asked:
“Do you intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully?”
“Do you intend to live according to the word of God, and in faith, word, and deed to remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death?”
And finally:
“Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?”
To all of this they answer, “I do.”
In a sense saying like St. Peter: I’ll lay down my life for you!
But, the confirmands add to their “I do.” These words: “By the grace of God.”
That is what Peter missed. His strength and our strength, as it is connected to faith, life, and eternal life … is in God’s hands and by his grace.
As I wrestle with so many who no longer connected to church or regularly hear God’s word I’m remind myself of the old pastor’s proverb:
Jesus is God and I am not!
In chapter 13 Peter is confused and asks Jesus, “Lord where are you going?”
Thomas in chapter 14 asks:
5 … “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
To this Jesus answers:
6 … “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
It is really good news to hear that God has washed you and me and we have been made partakers of eternal life. It is God who through the means he has provided of Word and Sacrament will keep them and us in the one true faith.
14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; 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? 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.
That is good news for pastors ... for you dear members and for ... our mothers as well! Blessed Mother’s Day to all!
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
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