Now I am preparing a reflection on Scripture for a small United Church congregation. The text is:
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?" (John 14:1-2, NIV version)
Among the Anishinabe, the First Nations people I lived with for eight years, there is the belief that the last words of a dying person have special significance. I think it was my friend Pearl who told me that. She told me that we are blessed when we hear the last words because they can transform our lives.
In the Gospel of John the words of John 14 are the farewell speech of Jesus. They are "last words." We should take these words into the deepest part of our being and let them change the way we feel and behave: "Do not let your hearts be troubled."
This is one of my favourite texts. I have found these words a powerful help for funerals and wake services. It often happened that I was speaking to people troubled by the death of their relative or friend, even troubled by the events of the life of the deceased. The person we were remembering may have given no evidence of belief, may have spent a portion of their life snared in addictions, may have died in some sudden and violent manner, may have damaged other people, even damaged the person who grieves their passing. The word of Jesus reaches out to heal our turmoil: "Do not let your hearts be troubled."
I remember the bruised face of the 30 year old who froze to death on the street in Toronto--
I remember standing over a coffin in a funeral home praying for an 80 year old woman when it was only me and the funeral director present --
I remember being in the back yard of a country home leading a liturgy under a blue sky for a 23 year old friend who had committed suicide --
I remember a church filled with grieving young people praying for a teenager on the reserve ... a boy who was depressed, feeling alone, got high, panicked and shot himself in the face..
Where is God in all of this? I start with the realization that I do not view from a superior height the Mystery that is the embracing, creative source. God is all-embracing Mystery beyond my comprehension. I cannot pretend that I understand God, that my mind can comprehend God's way.
Nor can I know how God views any person. I do not know how anyone was or is before God. The salvation of any one of us is shrouded in mystery, not open to view, a matter of that person's relation with the Divine.
I do take seriously what I learn about God from Jesus, "the Way, the Truth and the Life." Jesus trusts God and so I trust God, the Mystery that approaches me and us. Through Jesus I have confidence that any mercy or compassion I can show, God's mercy and compassion goes beyond, is always more than what I can conceive. I do not hide from tragic reality, do not hide my head in the sand. I am not an ostrich (thank you). Yet in the midst of tsunamis and earthquakes, wars and frustrated lives I hear the words of Jesus, "Do not let your hearts be troubled."
The words of John 14 are the farewell words of Jesus. They speak directly to our troubled lives in troubled times. We trust in Jesus and so we trust in his words and obey -- "Do not let your hearts be troubled." We are invited to walk in peace with ourselves and others.
In this Scripture of John, consolation is heaped upon consolation. First we heard "Do not let your hearts be troubled." Now we hear Jesus say that "My Father's house has many rooms." There is evidence in the New Testament that Jesus prayed in a distinctive and intimate fashion to the "Father." Jesus said, "Abba," which translates as "Daddy." Jesus tells us that "Daddy" has many rooms in his house -- and this is our home too. He has gone to prepare a place for us and so we are invited to come in.
Jesus says to us that there are "many rooms" and this says to me that God accepts us in all our diversity. I am different from you and she is different from him and yet there is room in the home of Abba for each one of us -- a room for each one of us.
This Victoria Day weekend is blooming with life under a warm sun and soft rain. We have a glimpse of the desire of the Creator God to give life, to sustain life, to fulfill life. This is desire that cannot be held back or crushed. Spring points to the desire of God to bring to life, to heal life, to transform life, to raise up all the Old Creation into a New Creation. There is good reason take Jesus' words seriously and to live by this word of consolation and command: "Do not let your hearts be troubled."
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