Loading...Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen
Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 10, 2020
Bill Rohm
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Easter/AEaster5_RCL.html
May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart be ever acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, our strength and our Redeemer.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” John 14:1
Jesus and his disciples were sitting around the table for what we now know as the Last Supper. Of course the disciples had no idea what was coming over the next 21 hours, so were understandably confused.
For me, these words from our New Testament reading for today from John’s Gospel are more meaningful and important than they’ve been at any previous time that I can recall in my life. I pray to God every day that He will keep my spiritual glass half full in spite of all the change, inconvenience and sorrow I perceive around me. I have a close friend and a close neighbor who have both recently been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. I fear a half empty glass is a sure path to worry, misery, stress, and depression.
So as I consider our situation in my meditations to begin each day, I look for things around me that are encouraging that will keep my glass half full.
Personally, we have grown closer to our neighbors, sharing trips to the grocery store and picking up mail, and exchanging meals.
We have more extended family get togethers. In the old world, we’d all get together about twice a year for a few days. In this new world, we Zoom once a week. And by the way, up until a couple of months ago, I thought zoom was what the Road Runner did when he was escaping Wily Coyote.
We have more disposable income. Fortunately, we have a stable retirement income, so don’t have to worry, as many people do, about losing our jobs and our income.
Gasoline prices are low and we aren’t buying as much, because we aren’t going anywhere. No trips to the hairdressers, movies, restaurants, and shopping malls. This gives us extra money to send to the food banks and such, as well as pay down our mortgage.
Even with these encouraging things in our lives, we are not immune to the heartache of some of our friends. It can be tempting to ask why God let’s bad things happen to good people. I would venture to say that most of us have pondered this question at some times in our lives, and the new world we live in brings this issue to the forefront of our minds.
Which brings me to the second sentence of today’s reading from John. “Believe in God, believe also in me.”
So what does this believing in God and Jesus involve? What does this require of us as members of our earthly community?
It’s no wonder we ponder this, as John’s narrative continues, we learn not even the disciples Philip and Thomas understood from the questions they were asking.
Thomas asks Jesus, “How can we know the way?” As I read this I hear what are we supposed to do?
Jesus responds, “I am the way.” I hear follow me.
Philip says, “Show us the Father and we will be satisfied.” For Philip, as with many of us, seeing is believing.
Jesus explains to them that God is in him, and following Him and His example answers the question of what is required of us. Jesus then says, in my mind with a bit of exasperation and impatience, if you don’t believe what I’m telling you, believe it because of the miracles you see me doing.
Study of the Gospels clearly tells us that following Jesus wasn’t going to be a cake walk. Throughout history many would be tortured and die for His sake. We are admonished to help the poor and less fortunate and supply their needs. Humanity would face many famines, and other calamities, such as we are experiencing today, before the end times.
But again in John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “I will go and prepare a place for you in God’s Kingdom.”
In the words of my favorite fictional character from Star Trek, Jean-Luc Picard, “Make it so. Engage!”
Amen
