Psalm
31: 1–5, 15–16 / Acts 7: 55–60 / John 14: 1–14
This
is a homily provided for the people of St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by
Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, May 10, 2020.
This homily was not delivered as part of our Sunday morning worship, because
St. John’s is currently closed to the COVID-19 viral outbreak. Instead, it was provided via electronic
means, and in hard copy to those without email.
“THE WAY: THE TRIP AND
THE DESTINATION”
(Homily
text: John 14: 1-14)
Not too long ago, I was riding my bicycle on the
Lower Trail southwest of town, when the person I was riding with suddenly (and
quietly) said, “Stop. Look over there.” We both stopped, and there – not one
hundred feet away from us – was a bald eagle, who was perched on a branch
overlooking the river. We both stopped and watched for quite awhile while that beautiful
bird sat on that branch.
If my riding companion hadn’t been looking around,
and hadn’t notice this magnificent sight, I would have missed it completely.
For the truth is, when I ride my bicycle by myself (and even when I ride with
others), I am usually interested in completing the ride, and in reaching my
destination. Along the way, I watch the odometer to see how many miles I’ve
ridden, and how many it will be until I’ve reached my goal for the day. I watch
the path closely (especially in the warmer weather when there are likely to be
snakes out on the trail sunning themselves), but I don’t notice much else
beyond my focus on the path and my progress in finishing the ride.
I am making my way toward the goal, toward getting
the miles in for the day, the goal I’ve set for myself for that day. But
reaching the goal, continuing the journey as I pedal along the path toward the
end of the ride, is also important, I think, and it’s an aspect of my approach
to riding that I need to work on. Put another way, what I might concentrate on
a bit more is the art of enjoying and appreciating the journey.
In today’s Gospel text, Jesus tells His disciples
that He is “the way, the truth and the life”. His comments form part of what
the writer of the Fourth Gospel (John) imparts to us as part of the Lord’s
teaching, given during the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday. In a very real
sense, these chapters, thirteen through seventeen, of John’s account form what
we might call Jesus’ “Last Will and Testament”, or perhaps, His final comments
before His suffering, death, resurrection and ascension. (John has given us a wonderful gift in
recording this significant block of teaching.)
It seems that Jesus’ instructions to His disciples,
which we hear and consider this day, who were gathered at that Last Supper,
focus not only on the final destination for all who walk the walk of
faith: Eternal life with the Lord and
with the Father once this life is over. But the focus is also on the journey of
life, the walk of faith, that takes us through this life and into the next.
We would do well to look at both reference points.
To begin with, Jesus tells His disciples that He is
going away, but that He will come again, so that they may be where He is.
(Notice the use of the present tense in the verb, “is”. In John’s Gospel
account, chronological time often tends to disappear.) The Lord is speaking of
His immanent departure, His going to the Father, His going in order to prepare
a place for all those who walk the walk of faith. Jesus is, therefore, talking
about a destination, eternal life.
The other focus, on the journey of life, the walk
of faith, can be seen in Jesus’ comments about the disciples’ work, which will
be the same sorts of things that He had been doing during His earthly ministry,
but which will be “greater things than these”. That reference can refer to the
spread of the Good News, the Gospel, of what God had done in the sending of His
Son, Jesus, to show us the way to the Father. Those disciples, who would soon
become Apostles, would go out into the world, carrying this great, good news to
the farthest reaches of the world. In the process, human lives would be
changed, whole societies would change.
The work these disciples-become-Apostles is the
stuff of everyday life, in the the making of godly choices in life, in the
choosing the way of love. It is the awareness that this life isn’t all there
is, for something great, good and wonderful awaits us when this life is done:
Eternal life and presence with the Father and with the Son. The clear
implication is that what is done in this life and in this world matters a whole
lot. If this life and this world wasn’t important to God, then there would be
no need for God to intervene in a concrete way by sending Jesus to come among
us, to take up this ordinary, everyday life, that each of us leads.
The temptation for Christians might be to focus
only on the final destination, that time when this life is over and done with.
Many Christians continue to maintain such a focus today. The heresy known as
Gnosticism in the second and third centuries maintained such a focus. For the
Gnostics, this world was an illusion, and the only things that mattered were
the things of the spiritual life.
Mature Christian believing calls us to maintain a
dual focus: We are called to keep the goal of our journey in view, that time
when we will depart this life and will be with the Lord. After all, we have
this hope because the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is a real, genuine
event, a truth we can trust. For in His rising from death on Easter Sunday morning,
our Lord has proven His power over our final enemy, death.
We Christians are also called to maintain our focus
on our daily walk with God. God’s people in Old Testament times referred to
their relationship with God as a “walk” (Hebrew: halacha, coming from the Hebrew verb “to walk”). To walk
implies taking one step at a time, whether the path is level, straight and
well-surfaced, or whether it is marked with ups and downs, with muddy patches,
and with twists and turns. For there are many who also walk with us. Together,
we make the journey toward the final destination worthwhile.
AMEN.
