On Being Unclear

John 14:23-29 May 22, 2022 Easter 6

 

For people who want clear and simple answers

in their religion, Jesus farewell discourse in John

will be enormously frustrating.

 

Basically what we’re reading today is

a small part of monologue by Jesus to the disciples,

at the last supper about what will happen and what

they should do after Jesus dies

and they continue the ministry without him.

This part is very close to the beginning of the speech.

 

Now when someone is about to leave,

for any length of time, there are usually some practical things

they like to share, like where the important papers are,

where to reach them, when to take the garbage out.

You know, practical things.

 

But none of the things in Jesus farewell discourse are practical.

Jesus speaks for three chapters and most of it is metaphors.

He talks about vines and branches, a lot of glorifying,

houses and rooms, and all sorts of other unclear metaphors. 

John’s complicated sentence structures and poetic language

doesn’t help either.

 

It would seem like a perfect time to tell everyone

exactly what would be happening, and exactly what

to do, but there just seem to be no clear and simple answers

in Jesus farewell discourse.

It can be frustrating to read and

very frustrating to preach about.

 

But sometimes I wonder if this is exactly how Jesus wanted it: unclear.

  

Some people think that clarity is what religion is all about,

and if you are unclear on things, then you don’t have faith.

 

Christians have spent the last two thousand years

trying to get everything correct.

Trying to set out the perfect doctrine and rules.

Even Lutherans have felt like we’ve got the whole thing

all sealed up in a book and we have a special kind of clarity.

 

But then our world changes, our culture changes, 

our understandings change, the questions we ask change,

and what we thought was absolutely clear
is not completely clear any more.

 

Like the doctrine around baptism and communion.

Do we think people are going to hell if they’re not baptized?

Who is welcome to the table and who isn’t?

We have made great changes in just the last 20

years since I’ve been in seminary. 

We’ve become more inclusive and more open. 

No, we don’t think people are going to hell

if they’re not baptized, and everyone is welcome

to the table no matter their age or background.

The people who were suggesting this even when I was in school

were kind of looked on as rebels and outliers. Now it’s the norm.

 

Some people hate this feeling of unclarity.

To some people it feels like shifting sands.
Some people say that changing what we believe

or watering down our believes and convictions.

 

But what if this is just how Jesus wanted it?

For us to be flexible enough to adapt to a changing world?

What if Jesus wants us to have less clarity not more.

To be able to admit that sometimes we were wrong,

or sometimes we don’t know what to do,  

and we don’t know how to do it 

that we don’t know exactly what God wants at all times.

 

Maybe Jesus wants less absolute clarity from

his followers and not more.

I was just reading something about John Wycliffe.

He was a Catholic priest in the 1300’s, 200 years before Luther,

He translated the bible into the vernacular,

words that regular people could understand it’s

called the Wycliffe Bible which you can still read today.

He spoke out against the Pope and the

extravagant lives of the clergy and the churches

the authority of scripture and the understanding of the Eucharist.

He died of natural causes, but one hundred years

after he died, he was declared a heretic,

and his body was dug up and his bones burned and the

ashes thrown into a river.

Say what you will, but that is absolute clarity.

 

Those people who had his bones

dug up and burned were very clear about

what God’s mind was and what the Holy Spirit

was and was not going to do in that new age.    

That was clarity.

 

When you  think about it,

clarity is really the thing that leads to

so much violence and so much of our embarrassing past.

The inquisition, the crusades, the destruction of Native

American populations,  Slavery, the Holocaust, segregation,

they’re all problems of clarity.

Everyone at every time was sure they knew what God wanted

and what the right order of things was.

 

Clarity is still a problem today.

Religious intolerance, wars and persecution.

Christians in this country and elsewhere are still sticking with

racism, homophobia, misogyny, trying to silence people

who have other thoughts, through exclusion,

slander and violence because they have clarity.

Maybe the problem is not the changing culture,

but the church’s stubborn need for absolute clarity?

Maybe unclear is just how Jesus wants it.

 

The one clear thing that Jesus says in his farewell discourse

is what we read today, Jesus promises that God would

send the Holy Spirit, the Advocate. Jesus promises 

the Spirit is coming and would be with them and teach them.

 

But the best we can do to describe the Holy Spirit

is to use metaphors. We know the Spirit as a dove,

a beam of light, the breath that moved over the waters,

Wisdom that dances in the entrance gates, the wind.

 

I think that wind is a good metaphor.

You can’t see where it came from or where it’s going

but still you can feel it. You know it’s been there.

But you can’t control it.

 

We like to think we can control the Spirit sometimes,

but like trying to contain the wind it’s a futile attempt

I think that’s why maybe the church has lost its impact

in the last few decades.

We’ve tried to put the Spirit in a neat little package.

We’ve tried to domesticate it and make it predictable.

We’ve tried to institutionalize it. Make its ways clear.

But the Spirit doesn’t work that way.

 

I was asked to do a boat blessing a couple of weeks ago,

and they came and laid out the plans with me.

There was going to be a parade of boats going

by the boat that I was supposed to be on.

It was planned for months.

But the day came and it was too windy to do anything,

so we just stood on the dock and did the boat blessing

from there and then we had lunch.

Everyone took it in stride though.

 

Because the sailors knew you can’t tell the wind

to blow one way or another,

you can’t tell it to stop blowing long enough for

us to complete our plans.

The only thing you do is just figure out

which way the wind is blowing and how fast

and to adjust your world to it, instead of the other way around.

 

Jesus clearly promised us a complete lack of clarity.

And a Spirit to guide us through it.

 

We’ve been reading parts of the end of Revelation.
Another of John’s writings.

In it we get visions of a life to come.

A new heaven and a new earth.

A place of eternal daylight where

the crystal clear river of the water of life flows.

Where every tear is wiped away,

where death and dying will be no more.
Where mourning and crying will be no more.

 

It’s a vision that one day

we all will all resort to love and understanding

instead of intolerance and contempt.

That we will one day live in peace together.

One day there will be no place for war or violence.

No place for racism, and hatred.

One day, we will all follow Jesus words

of love and grace and forgiveness and not

even give it a second thought.

 

And maybe it’s okay that I cannot clearly see

the way there right now.

 

After yet another mass shooting of people

this time in a grocery store, doing their daily shopping,

by a man with such absolute clarity about his white supremacy

that he would kill 10 innocent, unsuspecting people.

And that this was the 198^th mass shooting in the

United States in 2022.

Maybe it’s okay that we don’t understand our way out of this

That it’s not clear how we will get to that vision

of God’s peaceful kingdom.

 

Maybe we just have to and give up our will, our clarity,

and our preconceived notions.
Maybe we have to just throw up our hands and

and say, we don’t know what we’re doing.

 

Maybe the most holy and faithful

thing we can say is “I don’t know.”

And actually let the Holy Spirit guide us.

 

Maybe this is just how Jesus wants it.

 

 

They Will Know Us By Our Love

 John 13 31-35

Easter 5  5-15-22

 

There was a history of my seminary,

Philadelphia seminary, and other seminaries

playing a flag football game against each other

at Gettysburg Seminary.

Each team would get t shirts for the game.

 

Our team, got them in purple with white writing.

And when we got there we realized,

another team had the same shirt.

Purple with white writing.

It was a very confusing game.

We could never figure out who was who.

 

Likewise, it’s hard to identify Christians in the world.

We don’t wear particular clothes, or eat certain foods,

We don’t only interact with certain people,

We aren’t really commanded to do much that is outwardly different.

Christians basically blend in with everyone else.

I think we’re meant to do just that.

But how do we tell ourselves from others?

 

Jesus tells his disciples that we will be known by our love.

By the way we love one another.

So we won’t be known for

going to church on Sunday morning,

or wearing a cross around our necks

or praying before meals.

We will be known for our love.

That will make us distinct.

 

Love one another as I have loved you, Jesus said.

This is what will make us famous and well-know.

This is what people will talk about.

Jesus gave this command during his last supper.

Right before this, he told them that one of his disciples was going to betray him.

And right after this he tells Peter that he would deny even knowing him.

It must have been a very painful meal for Jesus in many ways.

And yet in this same dinner, he washes the feet of the disciples.

All of them, including Judas, in act of humble service

to his students and followers and betrayers and deniers.

 

That is the kind of love that Jesus is talking about

The self sacrificing, self-denying kind of love.

The kind of love that isn’t stopped by pride

the kind of love that includes all, even those not worthy of it.

Jesus tells the disciples to love one another,

He addresses this to the disciples specifically.

But Jesus is talking about the kind of love that crosses

boundaries, and a love that doesn’t make more boundaries.

This is Jesus last request, this is Jesus’ new commandment:

Love.

 

This has surely been a struggle for Jesus’ church

both inside and out.

Sometimes the church is better known for

it’s infighting and squabbling with one another.

Sometimes the church is better known for its

judgment and brutality towards others.

Last week we talked about how a large portion of

Christians have decided to wage war on modern culture

which does not read as any kind of love that I can discern.

I would say that Love is not the first thing that most people

think of when they think of those who follow Christ.

  

If you read anything about the very beginning

of the Christian church, the startling thing is how fast it grew.

Christianity wasn’t very organized, it wasn’t a unified institution.

Worshipping Jesus was not part of the main stream,

it was not the government authorized religion,

it was sometimes even dangerous for most people to be a part of it.

But even under oppression and threats, the church grew big and fast.

And many scholars have said that the reason is

because it was the different way that Christians treated each other.

 

At the time, the world was arranged in

strict hierarchy that was supported by Roman religion.

The rich were higher than the poor,

the men were higher than the women,

the masters were higher than the slaves

It was all ordained by the gods,

And people acted and were treated accordingly.

 

But Christians tried to treat everyone the same.

Everyone got the same respect and dignity,

everyone was given responsibilities,

women and slaves were leaders.

everyone was treated with the same kind of love as everyone else.

 

And they showed that love to others too.

they fed the poor with the collection they got during church.

They gave food and company to those who were imprisoned.

They visited the sick and helped them too.

They treated the forgotten people with dignity and kindness.

They shared their love inside the community and outside.

This was radical to the Roman world.

  

Their growth wasn’t about having great worship services

it wasn’t about stellar music or preaching or children’s programs. 

It was what happened when they got outside

of that worship service that made the difference.

It was what happened the rest of the week that inspired others.

 

The things that define us as Christians

aren’t the things we do in here,

it’s the things we do out there.

The way Christians behave towards others.

 

Someone said on the internet that sometimes

the best evangelism they can do is just tell

someone they’re a Christian and then not act like a jerk.

That’s quite a low bar for us to walk over.

But in contrast to the reputation of Christians.

sometimes that’s enough.

 

But other times people are just quietly impressive with their

acts of kindness. Paying for another person’s groceries

when they’re in trouble at a check out.

Mowing a neighbor’s lawn because they need help.

Helping homeless people, the unconditional acceptance

of those who are different or marginalized.

Loving one another through our pain and joy and sadness.

Raising money for people in need like the

interfaith activity, Hilton Head for Ukraine.

Feeding people with lunches on Thursdays.

Feeding children in schools.

Having a free pantry.

 

This is what Christians should be known for.

Not for condemnation of anyone who thinks differently,

not for throwing the first bomb we can in the culture wars.

But for reaching out to serve, washing each other’s feet.

We should be set apart by our love for one another.

  

Tony Campolo is a popular  pastor and author. 

He tells a wonderful story:

He’s a pastor, and he also has a PhD in sociology.

He was presenting a paper in Honolulu.

He flew there from the East Coast and it was time to go to sleep

in Honolulu but he couldn’t because of the jet lag.

So was sitting in a coffee shop at about 3:30am.

it was the only place open, and it was pretty grungy.

 

There were only a few people in the place

and a group of prostitutes came in.

He was sitting at the counter and they all

sat around him.

 

He was basically in the middle of the conversation

and the one who’s name was Agnes said that it

was her birthday tomorrow. She was going to be 39.

One of her friends said sarcastically,

“What do you want me to do, throw you a party?”

 

She said, "Why do you have to be so mean?

I was just telling you, that's all.

Why do you have to put me down?

I was just telling you it was my birthday.

I don't want anything from you.

I mean, why should you give me a birthday party?

I've never had a birthday party in my whole life.

Why should I have one now?"

 

After she left the place with her friend,

Tony asked the owner of the place

if she was in there every night

and he said yes, right at 3:30 they always came in.

  

Tony suggested to the owner that maybe they could throw

her a party since it was her birthday.

The owner thought it was a great idea

and got his wife who was the cook involved.

Agnes was a nice person and he would love to be a part.

Tony said he would get the decorations and even bring a cake.

The owner said that he would make the cake.

 

The next night they decorated the place and

by 3:15, and they had invited other prostitutes

and other people who were out at night and knew her.

At 3:30 Agnes and her friends came in.

Everyone yelled out surprise and sang Happy Birthday.

She looked completely flabbergasted.

And then the owner of the diner gave her the cake

it said “Happy Birthday Agnes” on it. It had candles on it.

She started crying at the sight of it.

Everyone told her to blow out the candles.

She blew out the candles

and then the owner gave her a knife

and told her to cut the cake.

 

She said to the owner, “Harry, if it’s all right with you,

I don’t want to cut the cake right now.”

He told her it was okay.

She said, “Is it okay if we just keep the cake a little while,

I just live a couple of doors down, would it be okay

if I just took the cake to my apartment and I’ll be back?”

She left the diner holding the cake like the Holy Grail.

There was kind of a stunned silence at this point.

and no one knew what to do

So, Tony suggested that they pray.

So they did.

 
He said, “looking back on it now, it seems more than strange for a sociologist 

to be leading a prayer meeting with a bunch of prostitutes in a 

diner in Honolulu at 3:30 in the morning.

But then it just felt like the right thing to do.”

 

When he finished, Harry leaned over the counter

and with a trace of hostility in his voice, he said,

"Hey! You never told me you were a preacher.

What kind of church do you belong to?"

He said, “In one of those moments when just the right words came, 

I answered, ‘I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for

prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.’"

 

Harry waited a moment and then almost sneered as he answered,

"No you don't. There's no church like that.

If there was, I'd join it. I'd join a church like that!"

 

Jesus said,

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,

if you have love for one another.”