5th Sunday Of Easter
Cycle A.
10th May 2020.
John 14:1-12
Rev Tony Van Vuuren.
Today’s Gospel passage opens with Jesus saying to his disciples seated around the table, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”
Not be troubled? Well that’s hard to imagine! Jesus had just predicted that Judas would betray him and Peter would deny him. Of course the disciples were shaken up.
Jesus wanted his friends to know that even though he would no longer be with them in bodily form, he wasn’t really leaving them alone. He would be with them through the presence of the Holy Spirit. They just needed to learn to see him in a different way.
These words are still applicable today because our hearts are also troubled.
Like the disciples, we are faced with challenging changes in our lives; changes that might sometimes make us wonder if Jesus is still with us. The way of life that we are accustomed to has suddenly been disrupted.
Now is the time for us to trust and take his words to heart: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God and have faith also in me.”
Six years ago I said, in my sermon on this 5th Sunday of Easter, that there comes a time in the lives of all believers when things can get very dark, and we have to believe what we cannot prove, and accept reality, even though we cannot understand or make sense of what’s happening.
It’s easy to convince ourselves that we have a strong faith when things are going well. When a crisis arises we discover what kind of faith we have, or if we have any faith at all! By faith here I mean hope and trust in God. Of course there are those of us who believe that if God is with us and if He really loves us, then no storm will ever hit us.
So, when a storm does hit us, we experience a deep crisis of faith, and even possibly believe that God has abandoned us.
Well that storm has arrived! On some levels the world as we have known it has stopped. I recently read there are now three days in the week: yesterday, today and tomorrow. There is certainly some truth in that thought. Life in the public, religious and private sector is no longer what it was just a few months ago.
We may all feel, to one extent or another, and it’s completely understandable; troubled, frightened, confused, angry and many other emotions. We want to see what the future holds, how this will all end, but in fact none of us know the answer to that question.
What we actually need to do, and it takes time and effort, is to focus and believe in the nearness of God; believe that we are not alone, even if in isolation, and to hear the voice of God saying gently but surely: “Stay on the path, follow the way I will show you.” And what is the way? Saint John clearly quotes Jesus Christ as saying to us “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6). Nothing should be more consoling than those words!
What real faith does is assure us that God is with us in the midst of the crisis. It is not we who keep the faith; it is the faith that keeps us.
By embracing God we are in fact embracing hope. A Spanish phrase comes to mind here: “Saber Esperar.” Literally it means, “to know how to wait.” But equally correct is the translation, “to know how to hope.” Waiting and hoping are certainly intertwined in this current worldwide pandemic.
We must turn our understandable tendencies to mope and grumble into hope and action. Today’s psalmist tells us that those who hope for the Lord’s kindness will be preserved from famine. In these extraordinary hard times, many are hungry for the staples of life, truly starving, owing to chronic homelessness, loss of employment and so the list goes on. We are all enduring various kinds of other famines too, because of required restrictions for our own health and safety and that of others.
Our motivation might become sporadic, if not completely gone, and so we also occasionally succumb to being just plain listless. That’s OK, but it is not OK to stay listless!
We, too, are supposed to do greater things in our lives using the power of the Holy Spirit. In our first readings we hear that the early community had a serious problem to resolve. They prayed and led by the Holy Spirit chose to divide the tasks of ministry insuring that all were receiving proper attention.
So to for us; we need to ask where our current energy level can meet the grace of the Holy Spirit to DO something for the community at large. Praying is a great thing to do for the needs are many and the hours at 2 or 3 am seem very long to be just lying awake. A vital response to the pandemic, apart from the necessary precautions to be taken and attention for those who are afflicted, is the offering of prayer, standing before God without fear. Serving others involves a list of opportunities that will certainly outlast this pandemic.
We will outlast this pandemic. The spiritual house of which Jesus is the cornerstone and of which we are a part will outlast this pandemic. The promised place Jesus has prepared for each of us will outlast this pandemic.
His promise of his lasting presence wasn’t just a promise for rosy, blissful times, but holds especially true in times of stress and loss. Left by ourselves, our faith would crumble. Yet, if Jesus’ life has taught us anything, it is that new life can come out of pain and loss. We can and should keep choosing to live with love, especially since love is not so much a feeling as a choice freely made.
We can become people of compassion and understanding, especially to those who are in need and asking: why is this happening, why me, why my loved ones?
And so as we gather in our places of isolation listening and watching Fr Harrie celebrate the Eucharist on our behalf, we also ask Our Lady of Perpetual Succour to pray for us, now and always.