Thomas J Parlette
“Unafraid”
John 14: 1-14
5/7/23
Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.”
Since everything that follows for the rest of this passage for today is commentary on that thought – we need to hear it clearly, before we hear anything else.
This is the closest English we can get to the Greek of John’s Gospel – “Let not be troubled of you in heart; Believe in God, also in me believe.” (1)
Other translations put the Greek in slightly different ways, although they maintain the integrity of the meaning.
The Contemporary English Version says, “Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me.”
The Jerusalem Bible says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me.”
Or, maybe you’d like to turn to the New English version, “Set your troubled hearts at rest. Trust in God always; trust also in me.”
Perhaps you would prefer Today’s English Version, also known as the Good News Bible, “Do not be worried and upset,’ Jesus told them. “Believe in God and believe also in me.”
And it’s always interesting to see how Eugene Peterson puts it in his paraphrase, The Message, “Don’t let this throw you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me.”
What follows in this passage is part of Jesus’ farewell discourse to his disciples as he prepares to enter his final days in Jerusalem. Jesus is saying to us, have faith and trust, in the face of uncertainty about death, uncertainty about life, and uncertainty about whether anything is to be done about either of them anyway. That’s a whole lot of uncertainty.
I’ve often talked about the old homiletical model of sermons having three points and poem. This isn’t exactly a three-point sermon this morning. It’s really three short sermons, with one point. As Jesus puts it a little later in this chapter, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
In the face of death, there is a future for you – it’s with me, said Jesus.
In the face of life, there’s way for you – and it’s with me, said Jesus.
In the face of uncertainty about whether it’s worth trying at all, you have my promise. “If in my name you ask ne for anything, I will do it.” Said Jesus.
Die unafraid. Live unafraid. Ask unafraid. That’s it!
What God wants for us is to quit being fearful people and start being faithful people. A faithful person meaning not just somebody who believes a lot of doctrine about God, but rather a person whose trust is in God in the uncertainties of life and death.
Believing, as we Presbyterians put it in our Brief Statement of Faith, “That in life and death we belong to God… and with believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Let me underscore one word in there – “Nothing.” Nothing can separate us.
But in spite of that affirmation, drawn from Paul’s letter to the Romans, we’ve all got a secret list of things we think might separate us or others from God’s love.
Clarence Macartney catalogued some of our problems in a Memorial Day address given 96 years ago: Widespread murder, rampant divorce, the decline of family religion, rising hemlines, blatant hedonism, and apostate preachers all signal a seriously diseased society.” (2)
He’s right – pretty much. As right now as he was on Memorial Day, 1927. There’s a lot about the way we live and the way we die that would lead one to wonder whether there is any hope, for here or in the hereafter. There is a lot to be uncertain about.
But when our wondering hearts become worrying hearts, Jesus says, “Don’t worry. God is still God. I am still with you. Do not be afraid.”
Jesus didn’t say, “don’t be concerned.”
He didn’t say, “Don’t try to do anything about it.”
On the contrary, Jesus said, “Do something about your concerns without fear. I am with you all the way!”
Three points about what that means:
1. In death, there is a place for you.
2. In life, there is a way for you.
3. In uncertainty, we’ll find a way together.
First sermon – In death, there is a place for us. Jesus assures us that in my Father’s house are many dwelling places. The United Bible Society handbook on John says, “My Father’s house is best taken as a phrase descriptive of heaven as a place having many rooms (that is, room enough for all). (3)
When death is what scares you, be that the death of someone you love, the death of hopes and dreams, the death of some fondly-held belief, or the death that comes to us all – find security in me, says Jesus, In death, there is a place for you, there is room for you.
Amen to sermon #1.
On to sermon #2. Jesus said, “In life there is a way for you.” In other words, there is w way to live life that is worth living. What Jesus offers is a place for you at the end of life, but there is also a way for you in this life.
Jesus says here, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” That might sound a little arrogant, unless you understand that what is being offered is the truth about life and a way to live it. The truth, life is worth living. It’s worth living well. And Jesus shows us the way to do that.
Too often, I think, these words get coupled with “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Taken together, some have misused Jesus words to say there is only a place for those who believe as we do, who walk the way we walk and believe as we do. Other times, it’s a blatant attempt to end every conversation about religion by having the last word for ourselves “We know the way, and everybody else better get with it, or God will get them.” That is just not the way of God as we see it in Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” That’s a clear warning not to misunderstand God’s relationship to us as some kind of “good cop/bad cop” game, with Jesus as the “good cop”, reassuring us that God loves us, and God as the “bad cop” threatening us if we don’t love him back.
It’s one thing to say, “If you want to see God, look at Jesus.”
It’s another to say, “You’re going to hell, if you don’t see it.”
And that is not the way of Jesus Christ. The way Jesus summed up elsewhere in response to those who asked him what was most important about the way we live is that he didn’t say we should try to figure out who’s right and who’s wrong, but simply live together as Jesus did. Follow the simple maxim: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength – and love your neighbor as yourself.” That is the way Jesus is talking about.
Someone once said that contrary to what would seem to be true, Christianity has not failed as a way to live – it’s simply that so few have ever tried it. Whatever else this passage may mean, some kindness and love along the way are clearly what Jesus intends for us to try, even when things are at such a point that we longer want to try at all.
Amen to sermon #2.
So, now for sermon #3.
In uncertainty we’ll find our way together. If there is anything that we in the 21st century are looking for, it is a sense that something is certain: and if there is anything we can assume, it is uncertainty.
That, in fact, sometimes seems like the only thing that is certain – uncertainty. But Jesus said we should be certain about this – “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.”
I know that’s a verse that lots of people raise their eyebrows over. We can all recall times we’ve prayed for something and it appears we get no answer. We hear Jesus’ words here and we think they mean “whatever you want, you’ll get, if you ask.” But that isn’t really what Jesus means – his words do not mean that we have a right to whatever we want.
The biblical scholar, Charles Cousar, writes, “Jesus makes the pledge to the disciples, repeatedly, that their prayers will be answered. The text makes clear, however, that this pledge is not a willy-nilly commitment to give to overly indulgent children whatever their hearts fancy. Prayers are to be made “in Jesus name”, that is, they are to be made out of the disciples’ relationship established with and by Jesus. The answering of the requests does not serve those who pray, but is to the end “that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” These are prayers offered on behalf of the community and the community’s mission. They undergird the “greater works” that the church is to perform.” (4)
Right prayer, says Jesus, is for God’s glory, not just self-aggrandizement. And right prayer is prayed not only with our words, but with our lives.
I’m sure you’ve heard a version of this story. Once upon a time there was this guy who really needed some money – so he got on his knees and he prayed that the Lord would bless him by winning the lottery. After the prayer, he got up and went about his business. The next day he was on his knees again praying, “Lord, you know I really need this money and to win the lottery would be such a great blessing. Think of all the people I could help with the money. I thought for sure I’d win it yesterday, but I didn’t. Please Lord, I’m begging you.” And off he went.
The next day, he was back at prayer again. “Please Lord, I need this money! Is something wrong, God? Why don’t you answer my prayer?” Suddenly a voice from heaven calls out, “Look, you’ve got to meet me halfway! Go buy a ticket?”
Now, I’m not saying God wants you to stop off at Kwik Trip on the way home today to buy a lottery ticket. The point is that what we pray for we need to be willing to work for as well. The only answer to prayer we need to hear is “Well done! You’ve done what God wants you to do.” Does that get you everything you want? No. But can we be certain of everything we need? As they say in Minnesota – You betcha!
Amen to sermon #3
So live unafraid! In the uncertainties of life and death, this is certain. “We belong to God… and nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord,” who calls us together to face life, death and uncertainty together with him.
May God be praised. Amen.
1. The Zondervan Parallel New Testament in Greek and English Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1980.
2. Bradley J. Longfield, The Presbyterian Controversy: Fundamentalists, Modernists and Moderates, Oxford University Press, November 1st, 1993, p 118.
3. Barclay M. Newman and Eugene A. Nida, A Handbook on The Gospel of John, UBS Handbook Series, United Bible Societies, 1980, p 455.
4. C. Cousar, et al. Texts for Preaching, A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV – Year A, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1995.
