April 19-20, 2008
John 14:1-14 "Jesus Christ Alive: the Way, the Truth and the Life"
Pr. Tom Schoenherr

In the musical, "Music Man", one of my
favorite songs is "Trouble." "O we got trouble, right here in River City, with
a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for Pool. O we got trouble, right
here, how are we going to keep the young ones back in school." According to the
song, playing pool after school was the devil’s workshop and it was the sign of
trouble with a capital T.

In John 13:21 it says that Jesus is
troubled with a capital T as he thinks of Judas being the one to betray him,
leading to his suffering and death. By the end of Chapter 13, Jesus is telling
the disciples that he will be leaving them for a while, and before he leaves he
gives them a new commandment that they love one another as he has loved them.
Peter asks, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answers him saying, "Where I am
going, you cannot follow me now...", and then he tells Peter that later on he
will deny that he even knew Jesus.

Then Jesus says to Peter and the
disciples, "Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in
me." Jesus is troubled and distressed over his upcoming suffering. The
disciples are troubled at the thought of Jesus leaving and they don’t
understand the suffering and death fully. We get troubled with a capital T when
we think of ways in which we have hurt other people by what we have said or
done; when we hear the word "cancer" being attributed to us or to our loved
ones; when we feel like we are failures at work or school; or when our jobs are
lost because of the economy; or when we consider the continued high cost of
living. There are lots of things that make us troubled.

But there is even greater trouble if we
thought that we could trust God to care for us, but now we think that maybe God
really doesn’t care. If God cared, good things would happen, but they aren’t
happening. Jesus tells us that to know God is caring for us is to first know
and trust Jesus. But if Jesus dies, he can’t be that almighty god we are
looking for who will make everything right, right now. With the disciple
Philip, we say, "Show us God."

But in one way, being shown God is part
of our problem, because to see God is also to see ourselves more clearly. To
look upon God is to see our own self-centeredness revealed in the light of the
God who is the giver of all life. To look upon God is to show our lack of love
for all people, including our enemies, revealed in the light of the Jesus
Christ who loved and forgave even those who nailed him to the cross. To look
upon God is to see how we want to be in charge of our own lives, revealing that
we do not believe or trust in God or Jesus. Death is all there is for those who
have been with Jesus a long time, but we still don’t believe Jesus or follow
him. Believe me; we have Trouble with a capital T.

This past week, I had a visit in my
office from Alexa Spoerle and her mother, Thao. I have a cross-shaped plaque on
my office wall where the words of John 3:16 are printed. Alexa was reading the
words, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that all those
who believe in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." After she read
it, we noticed that all of the t’s in the passage are crosses. It made me think
that our capital T troubles are crossed with the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus
takes our self-centeredness, our unloving spirits, our lack of believing and
trusting in God, and he suffers the consequence that we deserve. He takes the
cross and dies for you and me, but he did not remain in the grave. Jesus Christ
rose from the dead, and because of Jesus Christ our T’s are crossed and we have
a place with God forever. Our sin is forgiven. Instead of death, we have an
eternal relationship with God. As we see Jesus, we see that grace and mercy of
God.

"Don’t let your hearts be troubled.
Believe in God, believe also in me." As we come to the Lord’s Table, we open
our hands and our mouths to receive God’s grace and mercy for us in the
presence of Jesus Christ, in bread and wine or grape juice, the Body and Blood
of Christ. Our capital T’s are crossed; God is delighted with you and me, and
we are sent to share that mercy and healing, even with people with whom we
disagree.

I remember that our family flew to
Florida one time when our children were much younger. It was after Christmas,
and we, along with others, were carrying wrapped packages on the plane. When we
had passed the gate and were walking to get onto the plane, I asked our
daughter, Amy, as she was bouncing along, "Where are we going?" Without missing
a bounce, she said, "Grandma and Grandpa’s"! She didn’t say Largo, or Florida,
but "Grandma and Grandpa’s!" As far as she was concerned she was going to see
people, not a place.

This passage is often used at funerals,
and well it should be. Jesus’ message to us is that we are in a relationship
with God that will never end. We don’t know exactly what the place may be like,
but we know the person we are with, Jesus Christ, and wherever we are, we are
always with him. As we know Jesus Christ, we also know God the Father. Jesus
Christ is the Way, the Truth about God, and the Life that crosses our T’s and
gives us love to share.

As long as we are on this earth, we will have trouble; capital T trouble. That is
our nature. The powers of our sinful selves, self-centeredness, and lack of
love that troubled Jesus also trouble us. But in the face of other troubles
like the violence of our society, the oppression of the poor and the ways in
which those that have seek to take more and more away from others, and the ways
in which our eath is not being cared for, God empowers us to be troubled for
good reasons. These don’t need to destroy our faith. In the face of trouble,
Jesus is the Way, the way of new life with God. Jesus is the Truth that God
continues to pursue us with his goodness and mercy. Jesus is the Life with God
that promises that we will rise from death and we have a life with God that is now and eternally.

This is the Good News we have to share
with people who are troubled, not to condemn them because they may not believe
in Jesus, but to share the hope and love that God has given us in Jesus Christ,
who has been revealed to us as the Way, the Truth and the Life; the one who
crosses our T’s. Amen.