Henrietta United Church of Christ

Rev. David Inglis July 5, 2009

John 14:1-12

“Towards ‘a More Christian Nation’”

Scripture: John 14:1-12

`Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father's house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4And you know the way to the place where I am going.' 5Thomas said to him, `Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?' 6Jesus said to him, `I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.'

8 Philip said to him, `Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.' 9Jesus said to him, `Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, "Show us the Father"? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

Sermon:

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

There are two very different ways to interpret that statement. We’re all familiar with the most common way. The only way to get to heaven and avoid eternal punishment in hell is to believe that Jesus is the one and only Son of God. The only way to God is the Christian way, the only ultimate truth is the Bible, and the only eternal life is that offered through the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross.

There is something about this certainty of belief that seems to spread something besides Christ’s faith, hope and love into the world. Maybe it started with Constantine, the Roman emperor who converted to Christianity about 300 years after Christ’s death. He forbade Jews to accept converts to Judaism. He decreed that any Jew found converting a Christian to Judaism by force would be burned alive.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I#Religious_policy). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I#Religious_policy).

The “Holy Roman Empire” was a grand experiment in creating a powerful Christian nation, where those who held political power supported the church, and those who led the Church in turn supported the state. It was advantageous for both the Church and the State to do whatever it took to convert pagans to the one true faith, even if it was at the point of a sword. After all, what was their human life worth, compared to their eternal soul?

This attitude went into high gear during the Crusades, which saw conquering and killing Muslims for the sake of the faith as a holy enterprise. That zealous attitude was brought right back home into their own towns during the Inquisition, in which the Church, exiled, tortured, imprisoned, and killed countless people for failing to prescribe to Christian doctrine as defined by the Church.

I thank God that our nation was founded on the principle of religious freedom. But the dream of combining the one true faith of the church with the power and authority of the state still lives in many people’s minds. That’s what propelled the rise of the “Moral Majority” in the 1980's, that used their views on abortion and gay rights as the litmus test of true believers, and developed sophisticated political strategies to take control of as much of the government as they could.

That belief that your way is the one and only true way just doesn’t seem to be the most effective way of spreading the faith, hope and love of Christ into the world. Some of us remember when some Roman Catholics were taught that their souls were in danger of going to hell if they even went inside a Protestant Church, and when some Protestants were taught that the Pope was the anti-Christ. And many of us have people in our own families who truly believe that we’re going to hell because the way we describe our faith doesn’t quite fit their template.

Is this kind of intolerance what Jesus was promoting when he said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”?

Back when the Christian faith was new, Christians heard those words very differently from how most people interpret them today.

Before Jesus, people had been taught that the way to God was through dutiful obedience to the letter of God’s law. God was to be feared, and those who disobeyed Him risked divine punishment. You had to continually show that you were more righteous than your neighbor to earn God’s favor, and you were taught to shun anyone who didn’t meet God’s standards.

Jesus showed a very different way to God. He taught and lived a way to God that wasn’t based on fearing God, but on loving God with your whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. It wasn’t based on judging your neighbor, but on loving your neighbor, whoever they are, as you love yourself. Jesus’ way to God was a way of humility, not self-righteousness, a way of compassion, not condemnation; a way of service, not being revered. Jesus’ way liberated people’s spirits from soul shrinking fear, guilt, and self righteousness, and opened them to the transforming power of love. Jesus lived this way; Jesus embodied this way; Jesus was the way to God, in his followers’ own life and experience.

In the world these people knew, the truth was always defined by the people who wielded the power. And they used “the truth” as a weapon against the powerless-the truth of their unrighteousness, the truth of their indebtedness, the truth of their having been conquered by Rome.

In the face of this, Jesus revealed and lived the deepest and most ultimate truth about who we are. God is our Abba, our heavenly Father, who knows each of us intimately and loves each of us infinitely. Even a sparrow doesn’t fall to the ground without its heavenly Father knowing it. And there is nothing in life or in death or in all creation that can separate us from his love.

Jesus invited us to come home to this profound truth like the prodigal son who repented and returned to the embrace of his father. He challenged us to tap into this truth by trusting God’s presence and providence in every aspect of our life. He showed us how to become bearers of this truth by emptying ourselves of our small human selves and letting ourselves be filled with God’s own light, which we can shine into the world.

Jesus bore witness to this truth; Jesus embodied this truth; Jesus was this ultimate truth, in his followers’ own life and experience.

In those days, people experienced life as a struggle for survival. For getting by, and maybe getting ahead by taking advantage of someone else’s weakness.

Jesus opened up a whole new way of living life in all its abundance and fullness. He said that life is far more than food and clothing--concern for our physical existence. It’s something that wells up in us to eternity, as he told the woman at the well. In order to find life, he said that we have to lose our life–let go of our own claim on our life. He said the more we give, the more we receive. And our life doesn’t have to be bound up in anxiety about its end. Life continues in the “many dwelling places” that Jesus mentioned in our reading today.

Jesus manifested the power of this life before he died and after he died. Jesus was the resurrection and the life, in his follower’s life and experience.

Jesus’ early followers didn’t seem to concern themselves too much with correct doctrine. They simply tried to follow Jesus. The Romans mockingly called Jesus followers “Christians,” which means “little Christs.”

I’d like to share a few examples of how these “little Christs” carried Jesus’ way, truth and the life into the world. These stories are from Diana Butler Bass’ new book A People’s History of Christianity (HarperOne, 2009).

Many of the early Christians faced persecution, because they refused to bow to pagan gods and the emperors who claimed divine authority over their subjects. One such persecuted Christian was Vibia Perpetua, a young mother and noblewoman who had given her life to Christ around 200 AD. She was arrested, and at first she found the experience of imprisonment in that dark dungeon terrifying. But when her nursing baby boy was allowed to join her in her cell, she was able to “thank God in all circumstances.” She wrote, “the prison became my palace, and I love being there rather than any other place.” Visions of heaven gave her a serenity and joy that dissolved all her fears of the death that awaited her–being used for entertainment by putting her in a ring with wild animals.

Perpetua’s servant Felicitas had been arrested for her faith too, and the two wanted to die together as sisters of Christ. But Felicitas was pregnant, and the Roman authorities didn’t want to kill a woman who was with child. So Perpetua persuaded the authorities to hold off on sending her into the ring until Felicitas had delivered.

After the birth of Felicitas’ baby, the two entered the ring to face the bulls with a “quick step” and a sense of joy, according to the account of the incident. Perpetua was given one final chance to renounce her allegiance to Christ. She simply replied, “You condemned us; God condemns you!”

The bulls attacked and seriously injured both women, leaving them groaning on the ground. The gladiators would have to finish the job. As the gladiators stood over Perpetua, she seized his reluctant hand and guided his sword to her throat.

It was faith-filled martyrs like Perpetua and Felicitas that made the Roman citizens wonder where these “little Christs” amazing faith and inner peace came from, and that eventually put an end to these “games” as a means of entertainment.

In those early days, the Plague of Galen broke out, and hundreds of thousands of people died in the streets. Physicians abandoned their patients and people abandoned their sick family members to leave town. but the “little Christs” weren’t afraid of death, and they knew what Jesus would have them do. They stayed behind and ministered to the sick, without any regard to the victims’ religion, class or tribe. This selflessness to all people also attracted many people to the faith.

These “little Christs” also became known for their generosity and hospitality. Many of them shared their means with each other, or gave their wealth away to the poor, or opened their homes to anyone in need of shelter. In the 300's, a famine struck Cappadocia. Many people would have starved to death, but Basil, who was the bishop there, used nearly all of his family’s fortune to set up a kind of ancient food bank so everyone would have something to eat. He also built one of the first hospitals, as well as a hospice for those people who needed shelter.

Jesus had told his followers, “Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works and give thanks to your Father in heaven.” More than anything else, it was this light that attracted people, inspired people, and that compelled people to find the way to the God of limitless love, to find the truth that sets people free, to find the life that is abundant with hope and points toward eternity. To the extent that Rome became a Christian nation in spirit and not just in name, it was because of the shining light of these”little Christs” living out Jesus’ way, truth and life.

Should we work today to make our country a more Christian nation? Oh yes! But not by trying to convert people who already have a living way to God through Judaism, Islam, or Hinduism; and not by making sure our politicians have the same religious beliefs we do. We can make this land a more Christian nation by ourselves being “little Christs” in the places where our lives meet the world’s needs. We can bring the light of hope to this land by following the way of wide-open love that connects us to God and to our neighbor; by living in the profound truth that all of us are beloved children of God; by letting God’s gift of abundant, hope-filled life be the life that we freely share with the world.

If we Christians lived true to our name as “little Christs” then truly God would “our gold refine,” and “crown our good with brotherhood and sisterhood, from sea to shining sea.”