"Enfolded" - John 14: 1 - 6

A Sermon by Alex Evans, Pastor

Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA

Sunday, May 10, 2020

John 14:1-6

“ENFOLDED”

            What do you talk about AFTER dinner? 

            Maybe in these days of separation and isolation, we are just fortunate if we can think about something new to talk about during dinner that AFTER dinner – well – we just plop down in our familiar spots and return to watching our favorite shows, or getting back to reading that engaging book, or something else.

            What DO you talk about after dinner? Or, if you live alone, what do you think about AFTER dinner?

            We have a passage today that comes from John 14. It is a conversation AFTER dinner – and not just any dinner but the last dinner Jesus had with his disciples. This is the conversation after the Last Supper. We read that story on Maundy Thursday. Judas has betrayed Jesus. And during the sacred time around the table, Jesus takes a towel, wraps it around himself, pours water, and washes the disciples feet. 

            Then AFTER that same dinner, there comes more excitement. Jesus foretells of how the other disciples will betray him. He tells them to love one another. And he says that Peter will deny Jesus three times before the cock crows. All of this is in John 13.

So imagine the conversation after THAT dinner. Here it is – from John 14: “Do not let your heart 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.         

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

            Today is Mother’s Day. Many of us have mothers on our mind and in our hearts: maybe our own mothers, . . .  or the mothers with whom we share life, . . . or shared life. 

            This can be a day of deep gratitude and celebration for the love and care or our mothers, . . . . and the mothers who continue to shape life for us and our loved ones. 

This can also be a day of deep sadness too – we miss our mothers, grieve the loss of mothers related to us. 

Then too, perhaps our relationships with our mothers remains problematic; we continue to struggle with what our mothers did, . . . or did not do for us.

In these pandemic days, I have been having regular conversations – mostly after dinner - with my mother. She turned 90 in March. She continues to be healthy and in touch with her five children and many grandchildren. My mother uses her IPAD to Facetime with all of us. So after dinner is usually a good time – especially as she remains in quarantine (going on 8 weeks now) in her retirement community in NC.

After dinner – we try to share something of the day – maybe some local or national news – some lament about the situation we are in. We also try to laugh and let each other know the love we share. 

But THAT dinner – between Jesus and his disciples – in John 13 - depicted so many troubling issues. Jesus knew that “his hour had come to depart from this world.” He was going to be betrayed and denied. He would be captured, persecuted, and killed. 

            If everything is left up to us – or to the Church, or even the Church’s leaders – it does not look so great. Disciples – on their own, on our own – do not look very dependable – betraying Jesus, denying Jesus, falling away. We are all often fickle and failing. It is all very troubling! Troublesome.

            So in conversation after dinner – Jesus says – “Do not let your heart be troubled.” He affirms that troubling times come along. 

Indeed, we know about troubling times! Too much.

            After dinner – Jesus says – “do not let your heart be troubled.” 

It is interesting to note that the word HEART is singular here – not “hearts” but “heart” – singular. That is the Greek - when we would expect a plural – since Jesus is speaking in the plural to his disciples. All the other objects of the verbs in this paragraph are plural. But HEART is singular. “Do not let your HEART be troubled.”  

            A community has a kind of communal HEART – and it is not just a collection of individual hearts. A community’s HEART can either be so troubled, so agitated and anxious, OR it can be troubled but also trusting. A community’s heart can be anxious, but also looking to be not “so” troubled. This is what Jesus urges: Do not let your heart be so troubled.

He means something like this – life is difficult. Life is uncertain. We often cannot trust each other, even our familiar colleagues (Judas betrayed them, Peter denied Jesus). We cannot even trust our very selves sometimes. We fall apart. We get weak and discouraged. Jesus knows this. So he says – “do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God.” God will carry you through. In God we trust – our help and strength, a present help in times of trouble. In effect, he says, “do not give up, troubled as you are. Do not be too disheartened.”

Could we have any better words for our lives today? For life and faith in this crisis? Do not let your heart – community heart – together – be discouraged. Believe in God. Believe in Jesus. 

We stay connected. We encourage each other. We find support from one another. We pay attention to science. We listen to the experts. We do the best we can. But finally – we trust in God. We lean into God – who holds us forever. This is what Jesus is saying to discouraged and anxious disciples – then and now. Community - put your trust in God’s abiding care – give your attention to God’s light amidst your darkness. 

You can almost imagine Jesus pleading with each of us, urging us so lovingly – “Take your eyes off yourselves and your scary situation. God is real. God is at work. Our life, our problems, our whole world is held by God, forever. Trust me.” 

Then, Jesus says, “in my Father’s house are many dwelling places.”

We often read these words at funerals and imagine – in the face of death – that God goes and prepares a real place for us. That might be helpful – but it might not. 

Here is what Jesus seems to mean: our real home – before we were born and long after our life ends – is with God: our dwelling place. God makes a home for us. It is not about rooms, or a mansion. It is about life ENFOLDED into God. God gives us a place to dwell always and forever. That never changes – no matter what happens. So when we feel troubled – we need to be reminded of this again. Jesus is reminding us – our home is always with God. Jesus makes a home for us with God.

This message is consistent all through Scripture – once we were no people; now we are God’s people. Once we were in darkness; now we are in the light of God. This is what shapes us, forms us. Jesus is wanting the disciples, wanting us, to be formed, ENFOLDED, in the abiding promises of God’s love. Do not be troubled. Believe. Be ENFOLDED in God’s care always.

In these crazy days, I have been reading a new book, entitled, You Are What You Love, with a subtitle “the spiritual power of habit.” The author, James Smith, makes the case that all of us as human beings are shaped by “liturgies.” That is a bit of an old, churchy word, but it has to do with the very practices, the habits, the daily endeavors, of our lives. 

Think about the daily practices, the regular endeavors of your life. And I think many of our regular practices are unsettled in these days – so his thoughts may be especially helpful - malleable. 

Generally, we may wake up – drink coffee and eat breakfast, read/listen/catch up on the news, maybe do a crossword puzzle, maybe a daily devotion. Then we may go to work, or we used to. We do jobs that belong to us – it might involve pets or children or appointments or meetings at work. We encounter people. We connect. We spend money. We make choices. Our lives are built around habits – liturgies, daily practices. We worry about our finances. We carry around fears. We strive to adjust to the things that happen. We incline toward positive thoughts or maybe negative thoughts. Everything we do has a way of forming us, shaping us. Here is the point - the things we do reflect lots about what we love and worship.

But, Jesus comes along and seeks to counter-form us, re-make us, away from all those liturgies we are immersed in. Jesus comes along and seeks to shift us from so many practices that covertly capture our loves and our longings that so easily guide us away from wholesome life. 

To be a disciple of Jesus is to become a student of the Rabbi who teaches us how to love, how to trust God in the midst of confusion and chaos – he is the way and the truth. To be with Jesus is to enroll our lives in a school of charity and justice – the way toward the kingdom of God. To believe in Jesus is to have life re-situated, re-shaped, actually ENFOLDED in God’s love and God’s way, truth, and life. (See J. Smith, You Are What You Love, p. 2, 22, 25) 

Back to those conversations with my mother – especially on Mother’s Day. The longer I live, the more I realize where I learned to be ENFOLDED in God’s love and care. It was in my home, growing up, along with my siblings, feeling the love and care of my mother. She has always been such a steady, loving, faith-filled presence and encourager – that has been my mother’s liturgy, regular practice. And I realize what a great gift that has been for my whole life. She always rooted her life in God’s care, and she has always embodied that for me, and my siblings. And even now, in the face of this pandemic, in her small little apartment, by herself, she keeps on with her habits - living the faith, maintaining calm and peace, sharing hope, smiling, loving, keeping on, through thick and thin with a grace and strength in God’s presence. My mother embodies every day, and always has, a quiet, wholesome, confidence that exudes God’s presence and care. 

Jesus says, “Do not be troubled. . . . Believe.” ENFOLDED in God’s abiding care. That is the message – for today – and always. We know it is true and good. We want to keep living into this way, truth, and life  – that is my challenge and your challenge. 

Let’s hear Jesus words in new and fresh ways today: “Do not let your heart be troubled. . . Believe.” Jesus’ way of trusting and serving reminds us that our lives are ENFOLDED into God’s life. Let’s keep growing into that and loving . . . . and serving in response to that. Thanks be to God. Alleluia. AMEN

Prayer – Holy God, we believe; help our unbelief. Cover us with your grace and Spirit that we may be enfolded in your abiding care, and shaped with daily habits that trust you and serve you, following Jesus. AMEN

Alex W. Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon during worship on Sunday, May 10, 2020. This is a rough manuscript.