John 14.1-14
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’
Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
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I’m sure many of you spent a lot of time yesterday watching the coronation celebration of King Charles and Queen Camilla. It truly was a spectacular occasion, full of pomp and ceremony. It drew on the great traditions of the past along with ancient rites that have been passed on for centuries. It was also, full of God, and reminders that all authority and blessing on earth, ultimately come from God.
One of the reasons why I’m very happy to keep our constitutional monarchy is because it is a reminder, it’s a reminder that ultimately, we are not our own, we belong to God.
On every coin in the UK, once the new ones come into circulation anyway they will say Charles III D.G Rex F.D
Which means, Charles the Third, Dei Gratia, Rex, Fidei Defensor
Charles the third, by the grace of God, King, Defender of the Faith
This hearkens back to a time when there was that real and tangible sense God in the life of the nation. When in a real sense it was very difficult not to believe in God, as the whole ‘air of the land’ was full of him. Nowadays it's different. I remember about twenty years ago in Tony Blair’s labour government, when somebody said ‘we don’t do God’. And this is definitely the spirit of the age; we don’t do God. To many people, the coronation ceremony must have seemed like a silly anachronism, looking back to a time long since passed, where beliefs have moved on.
We live in a spiritual age. We live in an age where we long for meaning and purpose, that sense of the divine. We look, again and again to the world for fulfilment and find it lacking. And as for faith, people do have faith in ‘something’ but they don’t know what. People are ‘spiritual’ but it’s usually a personal spirituality, one formed around the needs of a person only and is basically a kind of ‘God within’ rather than ‘God somewhere out there’
The Jews two thousand years ago were looking for fulfilment as well. They weren’t atheists though, they didn’t have their own personal Spiritualities. They had faith in God, the I AM, THE LORD, the one who had brought his people out of Egypt and saved them.
But despite this in the first century they weren’t fulfilled. They were under occupation. The ruling class, the leaders, were in the pocket of the Romans. Imagine, living under an occupying regime like that; for us it is almost impossible to imagine. But we do see it at ties around the world, of peoples in a kind of exile.
But there was always the Jewish hope, that God would lead them out of exile as he had in the past, out of Egypt, out of Babylon, and out of Roman occupation. This wasn’t a physical exile as the people of God were in the promised land, but they were under pagan rulers, and did not have true freedom. They knew that the messiah the anointed one would come and bring restoration to the people. That land of their own, a land flowing with milk and honey as God always promised them all the way back in the time of the exodus.
When you’re ‘In exile’, it can be so hard to see God. When you’re doing through a difficult time, it can be impossible to see him. All you can see is what is around you, and none of it is good.
And Jesus comes along, into this context, into a context of people longing for their freedom. He promised that he brought God’s kingdom to earth and that people would see his father in heaven. He did amazing things, performed miracles, forgave sins and taught us how we should treat one another. And he said that you must love God, and your neighbour as yourself. He didn’t promise to kick out the romans, he said ‘repent of your sins.’ And he says what would, in any other context, seem like the most arrogant things that anybody could ever say. He says in our passage:
‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Somehow Jesus is more than just a man, somehow he is divine, and he point to his father in heaven.
‘Philip says, Lord just show us the Father, and we will be satisfied[.]’ You can feel the longing in his voice, the longing for satisfaction.
And Jesus replies
‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.’
At the beginning of the coronation ceremony the King was greeted thus;
‘YOUR Majesty, as children of the kingdom of God we welcome you in the name of the King of kings.’
The King replied,
‘In his name and after his example I come not to be served but to serve.’
Jesus is Lord, Jesus Christ is the King of Kings. And through him, and only through him, can we know our Father in heaven. When we see Jesus, we see the Father.
The church has been obsessed with this truth for the past two thousand years. This man Jesus who told us that, when we see him, we see God.
When we sit at the cross of Jesus, we can know this truth in our hearts. We can know in our hearts what Jesus went through for us; we can know the love of our Heavenly Father through him, through Jesus we see the father and his love for us, and what he was willing to do with us.
In Jesus, we see the father, in Jesus, we see a compassionate God, the love of the Father. A God who looks at this world, that so many would write off as not worth saving and says, ‘I will save it, I will save my people, by sending my son to them, to die for for them.
Remember that this isn’t an act of cruelty on God’s part; Jesus says ‘the father and I are one’ they are United in their mission to bring redemption to the world, they are United in their desire to bring the the forgiveness of sins. God send himself to us, he sends himself to us to save us.
I will be their Father and they will be my children. I will send myself to them, and give myself to them, because I love them.
Because the Father, loves you.
Until we see Jesus, we haven’t seen the Father. Until we see him, we cannot understand his love for us. his care and his blessing. For so long this faith stuff was just in my head, it took a long time to get to my heart. But when we gaze upon Jesus, when we sit at the foot of the cross, it moves, it moves from the head to the heart.
We don’t have to say anything, we just need to sit.
We don’t need to come with expectations, we just need to sit and allowhis mercy to wash over you, allow his love to shower you.
Allow his forgiveness to restore you.
Receive his forgiveness, receive the salvation that he offers, and live the eternal life, the life of fulfilment that only he can bring.
Amen.
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