John 13:36 - 14:6: Going Home

[This sermon was first preached at the memorial service for Les Henry on 10 December 2011]
Going Home

John 13:36 – 14:6

Introduction

Psalm 139 ends with a plea by the writer, “Search me, God and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts.” Anxious thoughts. When confronting the graduating class of Stanford University in 2005, Steve Jobs zeroed in on the discomfort we feel about the subject of death:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.[1]

Death brings about inevitable change over which no person has control. That lack of control brings anxious thoughts. We wonder if we should have lived life better. We second-guess our many choices in life. We wonder if there is anything after death and, if so, what it looks like. I mean, after I die, am I going to wake up in IKEA? I read an article recently in the Wall Street Journal where some people are just a bit too comfortable in the “home-like” environments inside the super store. One woman was sitting in an expensive recliner, watching a movie on her phone while child jumped on the bed and another man curled up under the covers. On Wednesdays, free coffee day, up to 500 senior citizens gather together to look for friendship and even romance.[2]

Good friends, comfortable place, someone else cleaning the toilets and free coffee. But really, IKEA knows something: we instinctively long for home: a place where we belong, a place of beauty, a place where we are accepted, a place of rest from our weary life. That longing for home is something that was built into us by God. But no IKEA can fulfill what only God can give.
That restlessness is a sign that you are spiritually alive; a sort of holy discontent; a yearning for something or someplace or someone that cannot be satisfied in the here and now. Even very spriritual people feel this. The Bible, after listing some of the greatest examples of faith ever, says: 

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. – Hebrews 11:13 

We were designed for heaven. So how do we get there?

The Death of Good Intentions (13:36-38)

Well, that is the subject of one of the most spectacular failures recorded in the whole Bible. Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends, took a spiritual nose dive at one of the most critical points in Jesus’ life. Why? Why did that happen? Because he thought that his good intentions were enough to get him a spot in heaven, next to Jesus. 

During the final week of Jesus’ life, Jesus began dishing out hints that Jerusalem wasn’t going to be the party that they imagined it would be—that Jesus’ enemies were already orchestrating the events that would lead to his death. We pick up the story at the end of the book of John, chapter 13, where it says:  

Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times! - John 13:36-38

Peter was determined to stay close to Jesus, no matter what. Peter was determined to go where Jesus went, no matter what. But Jesus promised failure. This was the death of good intentions. Peter wanted to be close to God. Peter wanted to go with Jesus. And I believe he really meant it, at that moment, that he was willing to die for Jesus. But when push came to shove, he didn’t. When questioned by a few servants, he didn’t admit he even knew Jesus or even that he came from the same part of the country. No matter how good his intentions, his will power was not enough.

When it comes to being close to God, or going to heaven, our will power is not enough. Real life contradicts our good intentions. The very things we say we believe—even the standards that we set up for ourselves about how we will live our lives, not even taking into account what God thinks—we can’t do it consistently. Just like Peter.

That means we will fail. That’s why, in the very next verse, in the face of the failure of Peter, Jesus brings these words of comfort, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Why? Because the plan of God can encompass even our failures.

The Architect of Your Future (14:1-4)

Les knows the answer to a question. What is past death? What is on the other side? We don’t know. Perhaps there is nothing. Perhaps our consciousness just fades away into the darkness. Just like Jesus’ original audience, we view with skepticism anyone who claims advanced knowledge of the post-mortem. But one claimed to have personal knowledge of the place beyond death.

Jesus has the audacity to claim that he knows the answer and, even more than that, he architected the solution. He said:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. – John 14:1-3

There is a heaven. Heaven is home. Jesus draws upon the language of a first century marriage where a young man, after becoming engaged to his beloved, would set off back home where he would build the home for the future couple. But these homes were not stand-alone little bungalows. Rather it was common practice that the groom would extend the house of his father to accomodate the future married couple. And when that was complete and everything was ready, he would return to claim his bride and take her home to be with him.

That is what Jesus promises. In spite of our failures. In spite even of our betrayals. Jesus can overcome even our failures and our lies and bring us past death into eternal life.

The Way (14:5-6)

I fly a lot, often red-eye flights; often several hours. Generally I try to sleep on those flights as much as I can. Now, I have a friend who is a pilot for major airline. I travel a lot and often asked him where he was flying. One time, he asked my wife, “Why does he keep asking where I am flying? Does he want a tour of the cockpit or something?” When my wife told me this, I said, “No, I just like to know who is flying the plane.” If I’m going to sleep, I want to know that when I wake up, I’ll be in the right place. And since I can’t actually control where I’m going, I’d like to know that the pilot is someone I can trust.

Continuing his conversation with Peter and his other friends, Jesus said:

“You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. – John 14:4-6

Not only does Jesus set himself up as the architect of his followers’ future, he also describes himself as the pathway, the road to get there. In other places, he describes himself as the gate, or the narrow road. But here he is the way or the path. And he clearly states that he is the only path.

You might call me narrow minded. But look carefully at whether these are my words or Jesus' own.

Because some of us mistake the way to heaven as some sort of method; a ritual; a 12 step program for the eschatologically-challenged. We want it to be a method or a program so that we can control our own destiny. But that avoids the clear point that Jesus is making to his friends. The pathway is not a plan or a procedure, but it is a person. You don’t go to heaven by passing the test, but by trusting the right person.

Let me give you another example:

The other night I was at the dinner table with some work friends. Come to find out they are all golfers. So they started swapping stories, talking about caddies and courses and clubs. I am not a golfer. The best I can say, when they ask, is that my brother is a golfer and that I can fall asleep watching golf on television.

But, no matter how many friends I have who are golfers, no matter how much I watch it on television, until I get out there on the course and play the game, I am not a golfer. The title golfer comes from personal experience. The same is true of Jesus Christ. No matter how many friends I have who follow Jesus, no matter how much I watch them, unless I meet Jesus for myself and have the personal experience, I cannot consider myself a Christ-ian. And that personal relationship with the person is the path past death into eternal life.

Conclusion

In that same speech at Stanford, Steve Jobs, said:

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked.

For those of you who know Jesus: What if we lived like we will live forever? What if the things we do now could have eternal significance? Are there things you are wasting your time with, because they are so temporary? Are you the kind of person you want to live forever with? Les was known as a merciful man. Eddy told me that God taught her so much about love by watching the way that Les was caring and merciful to others. One time, they were at the doctor's office and there was a woman there with a terrible cough. Eddye told me she is a germophobe. But this woman had no way to get home so, as was his character, Les offered her a ride home and Eddye endured the germ-laden woman all the way to her home. But in watching Les, she learned about the love of Jesus, who was willing to reach out to the sick, the hurting and the dying and love them.

Or, maybe you have never taken Jesus seriously. Ok. Let me tell you: take death seriously. And if you take death seriously, you need to consider whether there is something past death, some sort of life. Maybe there is nothing after death. But will you bet your eternity on that? Maybe Jesus died for nothing, went on a futile trip to the cross for your sins. But will you take the risk? What if you’re wrong? Or maybe he went through death, paid for what you did wrong, so that he could bring you through death to the other side. That is the audacious claim of Jesus. I believe he is listening now, if you want to tell him. Tell him you have a tough time believing. Tell him you’ve done stuff that would get you kicked out of heaven. Tell him that you want to live forever. Ask him to show himself to you in such a powerful, undeniable way, that your life will be changed. Ask him to carry you past death into eternal life. That is the courageous prayer; that is the kind of prayer that God answers.

A story is told of a professor, professor Carlisle who was extremely absent-minded, always forgetting the details of life. So when the time came for his family to move to a new house, his long-suffering wife began to prepare him early. “Now honey, in three weeks, we’re going to move. And when we move, you won’t take bus A, you’ll take bus B.” Then again the next week: “Honey, in two weeks, we’re going to our new house. And when you get done from work, you won’t get on bus A, you’ll get on bus B.” Finally the big day arrived, “Honey, today is the day. Don’t get on bus A. Get on bus B.” But, of course, being unreliable in these matters, professor Carlisle finished work and promptly caught bus A. Upon reaching his old neighborhood, though, he realized his mistake, got on bus A going the other way, and caught bus B. After he got off the bus, he realized to his dismay that he didn’t know which place was his. Wandering up and down the streets, it was getting dark when he saw a little girl. “Little girl, do you know the way to the Carlisle house.” The little girl grabbed his hand and said, “Come on, daddy, I’ll take you home.”

Death is not the end. It is a change of residence. But we will never make it home by ourselves, we need someone to save us from our own lostness and guide us. Jesus is that someone.

[1] Steve Jobs, Commencement Address, Stanford University, 2005 as cited on http://www.christianpost.com/news/remarkable-thoughts-on-death-from-steve-jobs-57468 (retrieved 4 December 2011)

[2] In China, IKEA Is a Swede Place for Senior Romance, Relaxation: Free Coffee, Empty Beds Set Intimate Tone; Retailer Struggles to Police the Unruly, Laurie Burkitt, Wall Street Journal A-1,December 1, 2001, retrieved December 3, 2001, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203503204577037991554068290.html

[3] Steve Jobs, Ibid.