The Choice is Ours / Based on John 14:23-29 / Delivered on May 1, 2016

The Choice is Ours

Based on John 14:23-29
Delivered on May 1, 2016
Delivered to Christian Community Home, Hudson Wisconsin

John 14:23-29
14:23 Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
 14:24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.
 14:25 "I have said these things to you while I am still with you.
 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.
 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
 14:28 You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.
 14:29 And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

Today’s is a powerful scriptural passage.  It is a reply to a question from Judas.  Here are a few “bonus” verses that come just ahead of today’s scripture. 

Verses John 14:18-22
 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
 14:19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
 14:20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
 14:21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
 14:22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

Jesus isn’t choosing to ignore some in preference to others.  The opportunity to follow him is open to all, but only those who make that choice will experience the rest of the passage.  In our passage today Jesus makes it very clear his gift is open to all who follow.  The decision to follow is ours.

I am going to take the passage out of order.  The ideas I’m grabbing from this scripture are:

Be a good receiver (of Jesus’ peace)

Be a good keeper (of Jesus word)
Be a good student (of the Holy Spirit)

Be a good receiver.
I’m going to start toward the end of the passage.  I need this scripture to be repeated often.  “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”  I often let my heart be troubled and I am often afraid.  Yet Jesus is telling us here very plainly that his gift to us is peace.  Not peace like the world gives, but his peace. There is a wisdom story of a monk who was berated by a man day after day.  When one of his students asked how he was able to put up with the treatment he said, “If a man gives you a gift and you do not accept the gift to whom does the gift belong.”  Of course an unaccepted gift does not belong to the one it was intended for but stays with the giver.  That is quite clever for negative gifts, but my heart brought that to mind because I know it is also true for positive gifts.  If Jesus gives us peace before he goes to be with the Father, and I do not feel peace, that is a sign I have a gift yet waiting to be accepted.

As I read this scripture again it causes me to question why it isn’t automatic to accept this gift of peace.  How do we set aside anxiety and fear?  By learning to trust in his word.  The “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” are his directions to you and I.  The part that calls for our trust is that those feelings will be replaced by internal peace.  I’m still working on this.  One of my watch-phrases for the year is, “let there be peace in me.”  I believe it is true that peace on earth begins with peace in each of us.

Be a good keeper.

Now back to the beginning of the passage.  What does it mean to “keep” Jesus words?  From my thoughts above I think partly it is to accept them, believe them, obey them, and trust them.  I also know it is to act on them, to keep them alive in my life.  Certainly that can be to share them as well, but “keep” feels more like an internal word.  His words have power when I keep them as my center. 

I work in a corporate setting.  When my boss has meetings that conflict now and then he will make me his delegate for a meeting.  That means he replaces his name with mine in the invite list and I am to represent his thoughts during the discussion.  In most things I know how he feels and thinks.  If it is a topic I’m not familiar with I make time to get his thoughts and goals before the meeting so I can represent him well.  We are Jesus delegate here on earth.  When we pray “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” we must remember that is through us as the keepers of his word.

A companion scripture for today was Revelation chapter 21.  It was a description of heaven.  The verse that pulls toward this thought is 23, “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the lamb.”  My spirit tells me that if we keep Jesus words, which are God’s words, inside us we will shine.  It isn’t a sun or moon thing.  It is being part of who God is.  God shines, so if I hold his words given to us through Jesus they will make me “home”.  I can be a vessel that holds God’s light.  Just like a lamp that contains oil and a wick.  If I light it – it shines.  If I fill my heart and mind with Jesus words and do them, I can shine too.

Be a good student.

Now to the center of the passage.  Jesus taught through his word and his actions for three years.  We have the opportunity to study and learn of those three years via the scriptures.  We also have a private tutor to help us directly.  “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”  The disciples needed the tutoring even though they had direct teaching.  The lessons Jesus taught put their old religious training into question.  The disciples based their lives living by the rules in the old way, but Jesus taught a path where loving God and loving each other was the heart of his message.  We might consider ourselves lucky that we don’t have all that unlearning to do.  Still for both the disciples and us we live in a world that doesn’t always support this path of love.  It is the leading of the Holy Spirit that will help us follow and ‘keep’ Jesus teaching.  It is the Holy Spirit that will remind us to accept the peace Jesus offers and rejoice in the mystery that we will be joined with him.

All of this from the question, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

Jesus answer is a reminder it is not really his intention at issue, but rather our choice.  He is not going to force those in the world to see him.  Jesus will reveal himself to those who chose to follow.  It begins with “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

Choosing to follow Jesus isn’t always easy in this world.  This passage gives importance to study of the scripture where his words are captured as a starting spot.  We can’t keep his words without knowing what they are.  It also brings out the importance of acting on what we learn.  The image that comes to mind for me is of a person that studies hard to learn CPR.  It is one thing to pass the test and have the card in your wallet.  It is quite another to be willing to jump into action to save a life with the training you’ve done.  God is asking us to impact lives, not just read words.   “Thy will be done on earth” is a promise we make back to him as we pray the prayer Jesus taught us.

The scriptures can be confusing, but we aren’t left alone to figure them out.  The Holy Spirit was sent to us to help us understand what Jesus taught.  Some of the names for the Holy Spirit are comforter, counselor, and advocate.  You and I didn’t walk the earth with Jesus, but if we are sensitive to the teaching of the Holy Spirit we are connected to his teachings.  The image of the Spirit in many faiths is a flame.  In our Methodist teachings we learn of John Wesley having an experience where his heart felt warmed after experiencing teaching on grace.  To me that was the flame of the Holy Spirit telling him he had heard truth taught that night.  That same teacher is within each of us if we have invited the spirit in.

My final thoughts are on a different sort of action.  Jesus offers a beautiful gift.  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”  We can choose to accept this gift today, or we can leave the gift unopened and continue to live in conflict and fear.  This is a gift to those who keep Jesus words with the help of the Holy Spirit.  It isn’t always easy to be a good receiver because we can let our sense of deserving get in the way.  As we ponder these scriptures today this is also a choice we can make, to let go of fear and confusion and choose peace.  May we choose well.

Amen