The Church of St.
Paul and Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
May 10, 2020
Year A: The Fifth
Sunday of Easter
Acts 7:55-60
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-14
Following the Way of Jesus
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
If
you tuned in last week, you may remember that I talked about how we humans are
pretty amazing but we do have our limits, including when it comes to talking
about God.
The
best we can do is come up with images - some that work better than others - images
that point to what God is like.
God
is like a Father or a Mother.
God
is like a king, a potter, or a shepherd.
But,
for us Christians the clearest image we have of God is Jesus.
As
Jesus says to the Apostle Philip in today’s gospel lesson, to see Jesus is to
see the Father.
If
we want to see what God is really like, we look to Jesus – we look to his love,
his life, his teaching, his healing, his self-sacrifice, and, most of all, his resurrection,
transforming death into new life.
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Today
is the Fifth Sunday of Easter – yes, it’s still Easter – it’s still
Easter even though we’ve been distracted by so much fear and sadness and
separation and loneliness.
It’s still
Easter even though we’ve been horrified by yet another deadly appearance of
barbaric racism – the cold-blooded but unfortunately not really shocking
killing in Georgia of Ahmaud Arbery, whose life was brutally cut short simply
because he was a black man out for a jog in a white neighborhood.
It’s still Easter
even though we face an uncertain future, not knowing when we will all be
reunited, not knowing how we will all be reunited, not knowing when some of us
who have been working so hard will finally get a rest, not knowing when some of
us who have lost our jobs will find work again.
So,
yes, it’s still Easter even though it doesn’t really feel like it.
And,
it doesn’t really feel like Easter in today’s gospel lesson either.
Actually,
the setting is before the first Easter – it’s the Last Supper – and Jesus has
gathered with his closest friends for one last meal, one final opportunity to
teach how they are to live – how they – we - are to be washers of feet – how
they – we – will always have Jesus with us, especially when we gather together
around the table and remember him.
At
the Last Supper, with time running out, Jesus promises that they – we - will
all be reunited and that they – we – know the way to the place where Jesus is
going.
At
this point I always imagine at least some of the disciples nodding along with
Jesus even though they have no idea what he’s talking about – and maybe others
are surreptitiously looking around at each other with slight shrugs of the
shoulders.
But,
it’s only Thomas who seems brave enough to speak up and admit he doesn’t get
it. He says, “Lord, we do not know the way to the place where you are going.
How can we know the way?”
And,
Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
Jesus
is the way.
As
many of you know, this is the passage that we usually read at funerals – a
reminder when we need it most that Jesus isn’t going to let go of us, no matter
what – a reminder that we have seen Jesus – a reminder that we have been shown
the way.
And
this isn’t a funeral but maybe in our time of trouble we need to be reminded
that Jesus is the way – and that we know the way.
A
few weeks ago I had to drop off something at the home of one of our
parishioners.
As
it happens, she lives in a high-rise apartment building where my parents and I
lived when I was very little, when I was 2 and 3 years old.
I
guess I was in a chatty mood that day because I boasted to the man at the front
desk that I had lived in this very building about fifty years ago! He didn’t
seem terribly interested or impressed but he did give me a second look, as if
asking himself, just how old is this guy?!?
Since
I was so young when we lived there, I only have two very vivid memories from
that time and place.
One
is the garbage chute down the hall from our apartment, which definitely
captured my imagination and probably scared me a little.
Where
did all of our trash go, anyway?
Just
what was at the bottom of the chute?
And
the other thing I remember is the balcony. The apartment (which my sources tell
me was on the tenth floor) had a balcony and so we could go outside and look
out at the sprawling city below.
And,
at least in my memory, my favorite thing to watch was the buses.
Unlike
today when most of our buses are all basically painted white, back then each
bus company had its own color. You old-timers will remember: gray for the
Boulevard; brown for Central Avenue; green for Public Service.
Maybe
this is how I learned my colors – I’ll check with my sources.
Anyway,
I liked the buses so much that the very first job I ever wanted was to be a bus
driver!
And,
I don’t want to overanalyze this, but think I wanted to be a bus driver not for
the excitement of driving a big vehicle or getting to meet lots of different
people, but because buses follow fixed routes – day after day the drivers steer
their buses along the same way.
In
fact, when I was a little older I used to love looking at maps and tracing the
routes of buses and trains – and, I can’t see you but if you’re making fun of
me, knock it off! There’s nothing unusual about any of this!
And,
ever since I was able to go out on my own, I’ve always liked following a set
route – I still do that today when I take my morning walks through Lincoln Park
– most days I go the same way in the same order.
Now,
it’s possible that I’m completely lacking in creativity and I’m the most boring
person you’ve ever met, but I think that following the same route day after day
eliminates many distractions, helps to keep focus, and allows an awareness of
subtle changes that we might otherwise miss if we’re all going over the place.
Right
now in the park, it’s wonderful to see new life bursting out all over, along
the same paths that were gray and barren just a few weeks ago.
Each
time we travel along our route we deepen our bond to these places, to this
particular way.
Jesus
is the way.
Following the way
of Jesus is a lot like taking the same route every day - we pray and we break
bread – we tell and re-tell the old stories – we sing songs that some of us
have been singing our whole lives – we offer help to people in need – we mess
up and say we’re sorry and try to do better and we offer forgiveness to those
who have wronged us – we share the Good News, sometimes by word but mostly
through example.
We follow the way of
Jesus.
For many of you,
I’m just reminding you of something you know so well.
For example, quite
a few of you have been asking about how to get your copy of Forward Day By Day. To be honest, I
hadn’t realized that so many of you relied on that handy and daily resource,
didn’t know that so many of you followed that particular daily route.
(Good news: the
latest issue has finally arrived and went out in the mail at the end of last
week – I know some of you have already received your copy.)
Following the way
of Jesus is a lot like taking the same route day after day – and along the way we
deepen our bond to Jesus or, rather, Jesus deepens his bond to us.
So, during this
strange and troubling Easter season when so much has been taken away from us –
so many of the activities of our lives have been canceled or postponed – we’ve
been separated from many of the people we love - so many of our usual routes
have been blocked – during this strange time maybe we’re able to see the way of
Jesus – a way that will never be canceled or blocked – maybe we can see and
follow the way of Jesus a little more clearly than before.
Long ago, Jesus
the Image of God promised Thomas and Philip and the other disciples that they
would all be reunited – and Jesus makes the same promise to us today.
And we know the
way – it’s the way of bread and wine – it’s the way of washing feet – it’s the
way of love and forgiveness – it’s the way of sisterhood and brotherhood – it’s
the way of justice for the innocent and the vulnerable – and, most of all, the
way of Jesus is the way from death to new life.
Alleluia! Christ
is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
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