Never Abandoned

Never Abandoned

John 14:15-29[1]

We live in a world that is more interconnected than ever before in history, and yet those who study our life in this world tell us that loneliness has become an epidemic. We can know what’s happening on the other side of the world instantly, and yet we have no idea what’s going on in the lives of our friends and neighbors. There is so much about the way our society functions that seems to isolate us from one another. Our superficial “connections” on social media only make matters worse. When we see the pictures our Facebook “friends” post of their “perfect” families, it can leave us feeling left out and abandoned.

One of the challenges we have with all this is that we all have expectations about how we thought our life was going to go. And when that doesn’t happen, we have a hard time letting those expectations go and finding the good things in our lives just the way they are here and now. Another challenge is that what we tell ourselves about our lives makes a huge difference in how we experience it. When we tell ourselves enough times that we’re a square peg trying to fit into a round hole and just never quite fitting in, we’re going to believe it. And what we believe about our lives tends to wind up being our “truth.” When we tell ourselves we’re left out and abandoned, we’re going to feel lonely.

This relates to our Gospel lesson for today because Jesus was preparing his disciples for the fact that very soon he was no longer going to be with them, at least in the physical sense of the word. He knew that his “hour” was at hand, and that he would be fulfilling the will of his Father that he “lay down his life” for his friends, and for us all. This whole section of John’s Gospel addresses that. From chapter to 13 to chapter 17, Jesus was preparing them for the crisis they would be facing as he went through the cross, the resurrection, and his ascension to the right hand of the Father.

Just a quick overview of their dialogues with Jesus in these chapters makes it clear that the disciples were confused by what Jesus was telling them. They expected the Messiah to come and take his place on David’s throne, not die on a cross and return to the Father who had sent him. More than that, his talk of “going” where they could not follow troubled them. We see that in Peter’s interaction with Jesus, asking why he couldn’t follow him (Jn 13:37). We see it in Thomas’ question, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, how can we know the way?” (Jn 14:5). And we see it when “some of his disciples” wondered among themselves, “What does he mean by saying to us, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me,’ … and ‘I am going to the Father’?” (Jn 16:17).

In response to their uneasiness about all of this, Jesus sought to reassure them that they would not be left to carry on alone. In the first place, he told them that “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (Jn 14:23). This probably sounds strange to our ears, because we’re used to St. Paul telling us that we’re saved by faith, not by what we do. But in John’s Gospel, true faith is defined as “loving” Jesus by “keeping his word.” It’s a matter of following Jesus’ example of loving the Father and fulfilling the Father’s will for his life. In John’s Gospel, those who respond to Jesus in faith will also follow his pattern of carrying out God’s purpose in their lives.

We shouldn’t get hung up on this and miss out on the promise here: Jesus promises his disciples that “my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (Jn 14:23). This is one of the major themes in John’s Gospel. Those who “love” Jesus will follow his example of loving obedience to the Father. They will “keep his word,” not in order to be loved, but because they have encountered the love of Christ. And Jesus promises that those who follow his example of loving God by obeying him will be enfolded into the relationship of love that Jesus and the Father share. Far from being abandoned, Jesus’ departure makes it possible for them to share the same relationship with God that Jesus did!

Jesus also promised his disciples that they would not be left abandoned because the Father would send them the Holy Spirit, who is called the “Advocate” here (Jn 14:26). I think perhaps a better translation would be “Helper” or “Encourager.” Jesus promises that the Spirit would “remind” them of all that he had taught them. Later, Jesus says that the Spirit would “guide” them into “all truth” (Jn 16:13). Again, I think the point of this is to assure the disciples that Jesus’ departure would not mean that they were abandoned and left on their own to carry on. Rather the Spirit would be right there with them, every step of the way, encouraging them and empowering them to remain faithful and true.

I believe these promises also hold a great deal of assurance for us. No matter how lonely we may feel, no matter how much we may think we are “misfits,” we are not left alone in our efforts to follow Christ and to carry out his work in our world. Just like Jesus’ first disciples, we too share in the relationship of love that Jesus and the Father have shared for all eternity. And no less than those first disciples, we too have the constant presence of the Spirit to guide us, to encourage us, and to empower us in our efforts to serve Christ. No matter how we may feel, we are never abandoned.

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[1] © 2022 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm Ph. D. on 5/22/2022 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

Giving Ourselves Away

 Giving Ourselves Away

John 13:31-35[1]

We have a strange relationship with the word “love.” We can love our families, our friends, our children and our grandchildren. But we can also “love” a movie, or a book, or a favorite outfit. We can love God, but we can also love pulled pork, or chocolate, or cherry pie, or sports. I find the many ways we use the word “love” almost comical, to be quite honest with you. At times, it seems like love means everything to us, and at times it seems like love means nothing to us.

In our gospel lesson, Jesus told the Apostles that the defining mark of their life as his disciples was to be their love for one another. Because of our widely varied use of the word, I’m not sure we have a clear idea of what that love really entails. Our definitions of love often fall far short of the kind of love Jesus had in mind. He told them, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (Jn 13:34). When he said that, I believe he had in mind a very specific kind of love. In fact, he demonstrated that love for them earlier when he washed their feet. It was a kind of love that was so different from what they expected that Peter insisted, “You will never wash my feet” (Jn 13:8).

I think we can all appreciate the difficulty Peter must have had with the idea of Jesus washing his feet. In the first place, it’s a very personal thing to have someone wash your feet! But more to the point, in that time and place, washing feet was a task that you normally did for yourself, or one that a slave did for you. It certainly was not something you would expect from your teacher, your mentor, and the one you believed to be the Messiah! That kind of thing went way beyond the bounds of what Jesus’ disciples would have considered an appropriate expression of love.  

Even at this, we might still be able to get over the menial nature of washing someone’s feet—or the modern-day equivalent. But so that we can see the true quality of love that Jesus expected us to show one another, we have to remember the situation. He had just washed the feet of 12 men, one of whom was about to betray him. Another of them, Peter, would publicly deny even knowing Jesus. And the rest of them would abandon him and run for their lives when the crucial moment came. 

Jesus knew all of this ahead of time, and yet there Jesus was, washing their feet, doing for them all what none of them would even consider doing for each other. In fact, when Peter objected, Jesus said, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me” (Jn 13:8). Peter misunderstood this as well. I think what Jesus was trying to impress on him and on the rest of the disciples is that this quality of humble, self-sacrificing love is what defines God’s very character. It is the quality of love that God shared with Jesus. It is the quality of love that Jesus had shared with his disciples. And it is the quality of love that Jesus commands us all to share with one another.

This self-sacrificing love is what Jesus said would be the defining mark of those who claim to follow him. It’s not just a warm, fuzzy feeling we get when we sing familiar songs together, like “They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love.” It’s the willingness to humble ourselves to do for one another what we would not normally do. It’s the decision to give ourselves away for the sake of one another. It’s the commitment that our lives are to be lived not just for ourselves, but for the benefit of others. 

I can tell you by experience that this kind of love is incredibly difficult to put into practice. It’s a matter of serving others, whether we feel like it or not. It’s a matter of giving ourselves away —and perhaps what we hold dear in this life—for the sake of others. It’s the ultimate “tough love.” The love that Jesus modeled for us is a love that is willing to do whatever it takes to meet the needs of others. It’s a love that leads us to make sacrifices for others, even when it is unconventional, or inconvenient, or even uncomfortable.

This is a day when we’re supposed to be telling graduates to go out and “reach for the stars.” And we all want them to do that. But I believe one of the most important ways we can make a difference in our world is by practicing this kind of love. Our world is divided by race, divided by class, divided by politics, divided by whole outlooks on life. All these divisions contradict what Jesus said should define our lives, that we love one another (Jn 13:35). Because we come from different perspectives and backgrounds, the kind of love Jesus commanded us to show one another is always going to be difficult. It takes all that we have to give. But in a world that feels increasingly lacking in love, it seems to me that giving ourselves away for one another is one of the most important ways we can make a difference in this world.

[1] © 2022 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm Ph.D. on 5/15/2022 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

In God's Hand

 In God’s Hand

John 10:22-30[1]

Our world doesn’t feel very safe right now. A global pandemic. Another war in Europe. Financial instability. Wildfires consuming millions of acres of land. A deep rift in our country created by anger and mistrust. It all leaves us feeling quite unsettled. More than that, it’s stressful. Any one of those situations would be stressful by itself. But we’re dealing with all of them at the same time, not to mention whatever personal crises we may be facing. That kind of stress, and the fear of sweeping changes going on right now, can leave us wondering where we can turn to find safety. I don’t know about you, but to me it feels like it’s harder to know where to find safety these days.

Many of us will of course take refuge in our faith and look to God for our safety. But that might not necessarily be true for everyone. After all, the Christian faith is known (or perhaps notorious) for the idea that God loves those who love him, but condemns those who don’t (or at least those who don’t love him the “right way”). That doesn’t sound very safe to me! And in the Presbyterian Church we follow the Reformed tradition, which was founded by John Calvin, among others. Most people who have heard of Calvin know him as the guy who said that you’re either chosen or rejected, you’re “predestined” either to blessing or punishment. Again, it doesn’t sound very “safe.”

I believe our Gospel lesson for today addresses this situation. Last year we looked at the earlier part of this chapter from John’s Gospel, where Jesus identifies himself as the “Good Shepherd” who cares for, protects, and even lays down his life for us all. Our lesson for today provides the follow up. The Jewish leaders pressed Jesus for an answer as to whether he was the Messiah. While he had told them in many ways, he hadn’t “said the magic words” they were looking for: “I am the Messiah.” So they were still searching for an answer.

Jesus answered them in the first place by telling them that the reason they didn’t believe in him already is because “you do not belong to my sheep” (Jn 10:26). If they had, they would have been able to understand and believe in him, because, as Jesus said it, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (Jn 10:27). That could sound like we’re right back on that “thin ice” of you’re either chosen or rejected. But I don’t think it’s that simple here. Even at this point, which is rather “late in the game” in John’s account of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus still tries to convince them to believe in him because of the “works” that he had done among them (Jn 10:38). That doesn’t sound like he had written them off. It doesn’t sound like their fate was “predestined.”

More than that, Jesus made one of the strongest declarations about his ability to protect those who turn to him. I’d like to quote the full context: “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand” (Jn 10:27-28). I’ve always found this statement to be a source of comfort and assurance. To me, it says that our salvation, our security, and our eternal destiny rests safely with the one who loved us enough to lay down his life for us on the cross. And no one will ever be able to “snatch” us out of his hand.

But Jesus didn’t stop there. Because he’s not the only one on whom our salvation, our security, and our eternal destiny rely. No less that God the Father, the creator of all the heavens and the earth, holds us safely and securely in his hand as well. Jesus said it this way: “My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one” (Jn 10:29-30). Again, I think the point of this is to provide us with unshakeable confidence in the comfort and assurance we have in God. Think about it: the one who holds the power to create all the heavens in their vastness and this world in all its intricate complexity, the one who holds the power to raise Jesus Christ from the grave, this is the one in whose hand our fate rests, safely and securely.

I think it’s important for us to clarify something about our faith here. The doctrine of predestination was developed by the Reformers like John Calvin to provide assurance to believers in the face of all the threats we may face in this life. Yes, Calvin himself wrestled with the implications this idea held for those who never come to faith. But he continued to hold out hope that all people would come to faith. In that context, the point of the doctrine of predestination is to affirm that God has already chosen us all in his grace and love and mercy that are beyond our understanding.

One of my college professors put it this way: when you’re approaching the gates of heaven, the inscription reads, “Let anyone who wishes come and take the water of life as a gift” (Rev 22:17). After you walk through the gates, when you look back the inscription reads, “chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4). I’ve always liked that way of looking at it. There is no pre-selected list of those who are “in” and those who are “out.” All are invited to come to faith. But the amazing thing is that all of us who have come to faith learn that God chose us in his grace even before anything existed. And that means, in the midst of all the turmoil of our lives, and even in the face of the worst this life can throw at us, we never have to worry about our ultimate destiny, because we are all safely in God’s hand. And no one and nothing can ever change that

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[1] © 2022 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm Ph. D. on 5/8/2022 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.