John 14: 1-14 May 10, 2020 “Let Not Your
Hearts Be Troubled”
Rev. Peter Hofstra
Let not
your hearts be troubled. The pandemic
has taken over life as we know it, do not let your hearts be troubled by
it. This is what Jesus is telling us
today. Why? Believe in God, believe also in Jesus. It does make sense. We are Christians. Believing in God and Jesus is kind of what
sets us apart from believers in other religions and people who don’t have a
particular faith they call their own.
Our belief in God and Jesus is what overcomes the troubles in our
hearts.
Governor
Murphy announced this week that the rest of the school year will be
virtual. That means the State of
Emergency will continue through the rest of the school year. That looks like our worship services will
continue to follow in a remote manner until the end of the school year. Jesus says “Do not let your hearts be
troubled.”
Some
states are reopening. The fear is a
renewal of the curve of infections. Who
is right and who is wrong? Some of our
leaders are saying it is going to cost more lives. People are losing their jobs. Temporary layoffs are becoming
permanent. Are we beating this thing or
inviting it back in? Jesus says “Do not
let your hearts be troubled.”
There
are line up’s at the door. We have to
wear masks. Some people don’t understand
what “six feet” means. At the same time
as we are trying to live within the rules, a lot of people kick it up a few
notches to say that this is the surrender of our liberties, not a response to a
pandemic. What kind of a political fight
is this going to be? Jesus says, “Do not
let your hearts be troubled.”
When
will it end? When will we have a
vaccine? Will we have a vaccine? Or is this how things are going to be
now? Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts
be troubled.”
The
next verses are the relief for those who have died. “In my Father’s house are many dwelling
places.” In other words, we have a place
to go when we die in this life and rise to life eternal. Jesus pushes back against any doubt. Would I have told you this if it weren’t so? You will come to be with me where I am for
eternity. Such is the promise of
Easter. And it is fantastic. It is eternity. It is God claiming God’s own.
It
takes a huge weight off the heart to know that in death, we have life. But looking back in church history, when the
Black Death threatened Europe, when tropical diseases like smallpox decimated colonial
communities, these words carried a greater urgency because the death rate was
so much more. While that trouble of the
heart is relieved by the promises of Easter, what about life that has become so
confining?
We are
a community-oriented people. When can we
get back together safely in numbers to share our faith and our prayers and our
company in the open?
My
heart is troubled because we have to rely on a virtual mode to continue
community. It is one thing to do that
for worship-that is hard enough. But
when things get truly personal? My
cousin related a story of how when her husband had chest pains, she took him to
the hospital, they took him from her at the Emergency Room, and her only option
was to go home and wait. He is fine, but
she had to wait for the phone call. I
experienced that myself. Drop your loved
one at the door and we will let you know when to come get them, or what ever
happens next.
I know
how the commercials on the television are trying to portray how personal Zoom
and Google Meet and Facetime can be, but it only goes so far.
The
middle piece of the passage is a little thicker when it comes to understanding
it. Jesus begins by telling his
disciples that this place of many mansions is where he is going. Then the questions come. Jesus says one of the best things ever “I am
the way, the truth, and the life”, but then there is a section that may be a
little harder to understand. Jesus and
the Father are one is what it comes down to.
God who is infinite, Jesus who is standing there in front of them, I can
understand their confusion. Maybe this
is why Philip says, “Show us the Father and we are cool.” He is trying to get his mind around what is
infinite.
But
then Jesus evolves the discussion back to firmer footing. He speaks of the words and then the works of
God, concluding by telling his disciples if they don’t believe because of what
has been said, believe because of the works themselves, because that is Godly
power at its most wonderful.
What
illustrations of God’s power are we talking about? Healing the man blind from birth, the
resurrection of Lazarus, those are two that have been in our sermons in our
remote worship.
And yet
the evolution of the discussion is not complete. Believe because of the works themselves. This takes us back to the beginning of the
passage when Jesus tells them to believe in God, but also to believe in Him,
and he lists those reasons. But now we
come to the conclusion. It starts when
Jesus begins this passage by telling the disciples not to let their hearts be
troubled, and now he is telling them why.
It is
because they themselves will be doing the work that Jesus has done, that God
has done through Jesus. It is because
they will be doing this work that points forward to Easter, that points to what
Jesus has done, by His death and resurrection, providing us with the gift that
will lead us to know personally, when it is our turn, that in His Father’s
house there are many mansions. Then Jesus
raises the bar. They, we, will being
doing the work Jesus did, but our works will be greater still as Jesus returns
to the Father. It is not that we are
better than Jesus, may it never be. But
the works flow from the Father to the Son, and then to us. Jesus was one, we are many.
Now, I
think we come to Jesus’ assurance that we need not let our hearts be
troubled. Because in doing greater works
than even He did, we have the opportunity to ask in his name and He will give
to us all we ask that glorifies God. So
there are a few provisos, a couple of quid pro quos…
We are
to glorify God. It has to be something
truly asked in Jesus’ name. So the
destruction of my enemy may not be what Jesus has in mind. I am not saying we cannot take it to the Lord
in prayer, there is no limitation on that.
But Jesus, as God, has a much larger perspective than we do, so a prayer
answered may not be what we assume it to be.
But I
digress. Jesus says “Let not your hearts
be troubled.” This does not mean that
Jesus is telling us to shut down our feelings.
Rather, he concludes this passage by telling us how that can
happen. He has just gone through this
long argument of the power of God and the works that it will accomplish, then
turns those works over to us, with the ability to ask Jesus for ANYTHING.
Let not
your hearts be troubled because WE have the power to do something about
it. We have the power of the name of
Jesus to back us. And we see and know
the Father in Jesus, so we have the power of the Transcendent Creator to back
us. If we can’t change it, we know the
power that created everything who can change it.
We
already know what has to be done to minimize the dangers and the consequences
of this virus. Pray for the strength to
carry on with the mission. You and I
know Jesus and Lord and Savior, we know what we have in Christ. It is our sisters and brothers that we have
the opportunity to share the love of Christ with. My heart is troubled because I am so isolated. Perhaps the relief of the troubled heart is
the active outreach to make sure our loved ones, our community, our friends and
neighbors, that they have what they need, even if it is no more than giving
someone another human to talk to.
It gets
harder to assuage a troubled heart when the circumstances of life move beyond
what we feel we can do ourselves. The
troubles of the quarantine economy, the dangers of opening up too soon to risk
more infection, the unknown quantity of time and effort it will take not only
to create a vaccine but get it effectively out into the population. But I hearken back to what Jesus says. Believe because of the works you see already
being done. It points to powers that
will do the work that is beyond us as individuals and one community to do.
An
email just came in from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, who are already at
the forefront of helping in this time, asking for resources to continue and
extend the work, because they see it getting worse with the moves to open
things up prematurely. We may not be
able to do it, but we can back an organization that can.
Quite
frankly, when it comes to the toughest issues of the day, like getting
political opponents to actually talk to one another, we are pretty much down to
the power of prayer. Focus on the
reality that we are praying to a God who created everything in seven days. Left and right in politics have nothing on
that.
The
reality is that our hearts will be troubled.
We are caring, loving human beings and it would deny our basic humanity
if our hearts did not get troubled when things happen. But there is a greater reality, a Lord of all
power whose work is our work. The greatest
resolution for a troubled heart is the ability to make a difference-and the
power of God is such that there is no situation in which, by word or by deed or
by prayer we will not make a difference.
Like the man in the bible said, believe in God, believe also in Me, our
beloved Lord Jesus Christ, who is in the Father and in whom the Father is, and
there is nothing that cannot be accomplished.
Amen.
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