April 20, 2008 at Saint Mark Church in Norma, OK
Acts 6:1-7 + Psalm 33 + 1 Peter 2:4-9 + John 14:1-12
I had an interesting experience early last week. The person who manages my retirement account wanted to talk. I made and kept an appointment and the conversation focused on my retirement. How much I would need was the big question leading to some serious discussion about what to do with what I have saved as the present economy was calling for some review of the investment and saving plan. “When are you going to retire?” was a question asked. “How about the end of the week? was my response. By the end of the conversation that did not seem like a good plan and so we agreed on some changes in allocations, and I went to lunch. Most of us set goals along the way in our lives, and we spent a fair amount of time making plans to achieve those goals.
It strikes me that many of us spend a fair amount of time planning our future. Parents of young children think about college education and saving for it. Young people save money for buying their first big ticket item: often a car. There is something about the times in which we live that makes thinking about and planning about the future beyond the limits of life as we know it here a little bit old fashioned. The individualism that plagues our lifetime, the materialism and the need for instant gratification which marks this age, and the consumerism that drives our economy with all its uncertainties makes planning and thinking about what happens next once we have run the course of our lives here too much trouble to think about.
A serious study of this section of John’s Gospel in chapter ten brings all of this to mind today as we hear the apostles being forced to think about their future. They are uncomfortable because it is beginning to dawn on them that the future without the immediate companionship of Jesus is going to demand some changes in their lives and their way of thinking, not unlike the times in which we live. Things are going to change on this earth, in this country and in this church. How we face that is something we might learn from Thomas and Philip.
To begin with, fear is not appropriate for those who believe and have set their lives on the Gospel teachings of Jesus Christ. “Have no fear” Jesus says. “I am taking care of you.” But holding to this conviction is not an excuse for failing to plan and change. The disciples are thinking of other things and so they do not get the message. Jesus says he is leaving and going away. This disturbs the disciples. Their relationship is powerful, hopeful, and personal. They think he is going to some place, and they want to know where so they can follow. What unfolds from this discourse is that the focus of their faith and their hope and their lives is not a matter of place but of person. “Show us the way.” says Thomas. “I AM THE WAY” says Jesus.
It is easy to understand their initial confusion since he says: “I am going to prepare a place for you.” However, in the very next breath he says: “I will take you to myself.”
Jesus is the place.
He is going to the Father, he says, and that is where he will lead them and any who will come to him. Philip speaks up, perhaps because he is starting to get the point and he says: “Show us the Father.” and the response of Jesus says: “See me, see the Father.”
Two weeks away from our celebration of Pentecost, we are encouraged by the Church’s readings to think about the future, to look ahead, to plan and prepare. If we believe there is a future, then making plans for it ought to be more important than the plans for our retirement, since that future will last a lot longer. Preparing for their future meant making some big changes for Thomas, Philip, and their companions. We call that conversion, and the experience of the early church tells very plainly how that happened by the power of the Spirit. We too may face our future with the help of that same spirit Perhaps in the days to come anticipating our celebration of that Spirit’s coming we might make a prayer out of the plea of Thomas and of Phillip. “Show us the way.” “Show us the Father.”
Think of this Gospel with this story.
A very wealthy man died and went to heaven. He was met at the Pearly Gates by St Peter and led down golden streets to the residential section to claim his new home. They passed many mansions: huge, splendid, and with great green lawns in front. At the end of the street they stopped in front of a windowless shack built out of old leftover and used plywood panels. The rich man asked St Peter why he was getting this hovel when there were so many beautiful mansions, he could live in. St Peter replied, “I did the best with what you sent us.”