The outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Text: John 20:19-23

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

This joyful cry leads us beautifully into our Pentecost celebrations. As part of God’s magnificent plan of making peace throughout the whole creation, Christ’s resurrection is followed by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Each of the readings today tell us something about the gift and the work of the Holy Spirit, giving us a taste for the richness of the Spirit’s activity. It’s wonderful that we hear four Bible readings each Sunday. The four readings we’ve heard today, from Psalms, Acts, 1 Corinthians and the gospel of John each tell us something different. This is wonderful because it shows us how diverse and generous God’s outpouring of the Holy Spirit is.

We’re taught not to become trapped in a prescriptive and limited understanding of how the Holy Spirit is given and what the Spirit does. For example, it would be quite wrong to say that the Spirit hasn’t come to a person, or group of people, if there is no sound of rushing wind, or tongues of flame, or speaking in tongues. We hear about those dramatic signs as Acts chapter two describes the day of Pentecost. Later in chapter 2 we read how 3000 people were convicted by what they heard and, we believe, prompted by the Holy Spirit to repentance and baptism.

However, Acts chapter two is not everything that the book of Acts, let alone the Bible, says about the Holy Spirit.

For example, in our psalm for this day (Psalm 140), we sang about God’s abundant, overflowing, joyful, playful creative activity, where the Spirit is very much involved in creating and sustaining life, in quite a concrete way. Instead of trying to limit God’s activity, the psalmist simply stands in awe of God’s wondrous and ongoing work of creating and sustaining all that exists, even some things that we’re not so sure about, like the Leviathan frolicking in the ocean.

For another example, there’s John’s gospel, which has no fire or rushing wind to signal the presence and work of God. The gospel reading we heard today is a section of the same gospel reading that we heard on the second Sunday of Easter. On that Sunday we tend to be captivated by the action involving Thomas. Today the focus is on Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We clearly heard about the risen Lord Jesus himself, God in the midst of the disciples, who breathed on them and said “receive the Holy Spirit”. In both the gospel of John and in the book of Acts it is clearly God who gives his Holy Spirit to the church. Jesus and the Father send the Spirit so that God’s mission to the world will be carried on as the church’s mission to the world.

It’s helpful to hear these different accounts which have both obvious differences and important similarities. We can be encouraged to notice that in both the reading from Acts and John’s gospel, the Holy Spirit is given to empower God’s mission through the church. In both cases the proclamation of the good news of salvation in Jesus’ name is central. In Acts we heard Peter’s pithy sermon using the book of Joel, when he proclaimed that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. The same wonderful, gracious message is contained in Jesus’ instructions to the disciples when he said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”(John 20:23)

The heart of the work of the church is to go out and tell the news that reconciliation has been won. Jesus has taken away the sin of the world. In Jesus there is peace. God is bringing everything into harmony in Jesus, and we have been baptised into Jesus. The Spirit empowers us to live in this wonderful truth, trusting completely in Jesus’ death and resurrection, and sharing this wonderful news in word and deed.

Jesus has given us the Spirit so that everything we say and do becomes a proclamation of the good news of God’s salvation.

We’ve already mentioned God’s overflowing creative genius. The beauty of God’s outpouring of the Spirit is the sheer diversity which works for a common goal. St Paul teaches us that we all have the same Spirit, but we are not all the same.

The basic gift is the gift of faith, which allows us to live confessing and trusting Jesus as our Lord, the Lord.

But then the wondrous diversity opens up. St Paul writes,

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”(1 Cor 12:4-7)

There are many gifts with one overarching goal and purpose.

What a wonderful insight it is, to realise that the working of the Spirit doesn’t look the same in each Christian, and it doesn’t need to look the same. The working of the Spirit is not the same from Christian to Christian. We can expect differences; differences which add to the health and richness of the body; differences which reflect God’s unstoppable creative genius.

Our differences are a reason for rejoicing. These differences are evidence of the presence and working of the Spirit.

Fully in keeping with God’s wonderful creativity is a church full of people of different abilities doing different activities. We can rejoice in our differences. We can rejoice that the Father and the Son have poured out the Spirit so richly on the whole church, including us.

It’s true that, from time to time, there have been profound signs and activities in conjunction with the Spirit’s presence, but mostly the Spirit’s work is to build up the body of Christ in all sorts of ways that people easily overlook. The activities of the Spirit are for the building up of the body, as St Paul wrote “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”

Today we’re encouraged when we hear that Jesus gives us the Spirit so that we can proclaim his forgiveness, an essential part of building up the body. He’s not saying that you or I can decide on whether or not we forgive other people. That would be to jump out of the story and to pretend that we’re God. No, Jesus does something very important so that we trust that we are forgiven and can live in a good relationship with God and each other.

Jesus gives his church the authority to declare that sins are forgiven. We have the privilege and responsibility of telling people, including one another, that sin is forgiven. When someone confesses their sin, we can declare confidently: Your sin is forgiven for Christ’s sake. The Holy Spirit helps us to trust in that forgiveness and to live in it. We have peace with God. The barrier is gone. Jesus has taken our sin away.

There is another side to that message. Since Christ’s work is so wonderful and complete, it’s not to be taken lightly or ignored, and we might sometimes have to tell people that they are not forgiven. Who would that be, we might wonder? Certainly not any despairing sinner, since forgiveness comes from Jesus and isn’t dependent on us pulling our socks up by ourselves. It might come as a shock to realize that those who may need to hear that their sin is not forgiven are the proud and self-righteous, who are often seen as ‘good people’, like the Pharisees, who considered that they had little that needed to be forgiven. Jesus wants everyone to turn to him and accept his gracious forgiveness – that includes you and me. In turn, he sends us to proclaim God’s mercy in the power of the Spirit.

Today, we rejoice in the gift of the Spirit’s presence and work. We rejoice in the rich and diverse activities of the Spirit among us. We rejoice in God’s manifold creative works that are evident in the creation and in the church.

Let us rejoice in his creative, life-giving presence, knowing that God’s Spirit is at work in us.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Ascension of Jesus.

The text: Acts 1:1–11

After He said this, (Jesus) was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky?’ (Acts 1:9-11)

The events surrounding the concluding weeks of Jesus’ ministry on this Earth are really quite fascinating and action-packed. This includes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, the resurrection on the Sunday and the weeks after it until His Ascension forty days later.

Up until His entry into Jerusalem Jesus was out and about in all sorts of places: wandering here, there and everywhere. He made himself available to plenty of people, crossing all sorts of boundaries: geographical, cultural and religious. He made Himself available to bring the truths of God’s Kingdom to bear on people’s lives.

Sometimes Jesus was a bit harder to find. He would withdraw to solitary places in order to be alone; like when He heard news of the death of John the Baptist (Matthew 14:13). But despite this, the crowds still managed to track Him down. They could still find Him in the end.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem at the beginning of what we call ‘Holy Week’ He very much placed Himself within reach. He went to the most public of places, the Temple, and taught there each day. He wasn’t hard to find at all. In fact, at His arrest, late at night in the Garden of Gethsemane, He told those who had come to arrest Him: ‘Every day I was with you in the Temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me…’ (Luke 22:53).

Following this, the Son of God allowed Himself to be pinned down in place on the Cross. He was very easy to find that day, lifted high on Golgotha for all to see. After that He was laid in a tomb. Now, it appeared, He wasn’t going anywhere anymore. His body could be found readily enough – if anyone cared to look.

Three days after He had died, the women disciples did care to go and look. They went to go and conduct the last rites for the body of Jesus. Only now, they couldn’t find His body. And they had no idea where to start looking. Mary told the angels at the tomb: ‘They have taken my Lord away … and I don’t know where they have put Him’ (John 20:13).

They would soon discover that they were not dealing with a misplaced body – they were dealing with the resurrection. What followed was a number of instances where Jesus came to find His followers; the same followers who had no idea where to find Him.

The chronology of appearances is not neatly presented in one Gospel account. Putting them all together we find that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene that Easter morning at the site of the tomb (John 20:16). Next appearance was to Peter, though exactly where and when is unknown. It was prior to Cleopas and the other disciple leaving for Emmaus – because they were the next ones to see Jesus, and that happened late in the day. These two disciples said to Jesus, before they recognised Him: ‘stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over’ (Luke 24:29). When they did finally recognise Jesus they rushed back the 11 kilometres to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples. As they were discussing it that night Jesus came and stood among them and appeared to them as a group – except Thomas who was not with them. (Luke 24:36).

Eight days later, Jesus appeared to the Disciples, once again in their locked room, together with Thomas this time (John 20:26). At some point after this night, the disciples leave Jerusalem and return to Galilee. They are back fishing and Jesus appears to them by the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-14).

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, mentions that Jesus also appeared to more than 500 of the brothers at the same time (1 Corinthians 15:6). It would be interesting to know more details about that incident, when and where it occurred, but that is the only mention we have of it in the New Testament.

As you gather together these scattered accounts you get the distinct impression that the post-resurrection Jesus is not so easy to find and track down. He is there one minute, and gone the next. There are 40 days between the Resurrection and Ascension and the recorded sightings of Jesus, in that time, are surprisingly few. The final sighting is at the Ascension itself and that concluded with Jesus being …taken up before their very eyes and a cloud hiding Him from their sight.

If the post-resurrection Jesus was hard enough to find and keep track of, then how much harder is the post-ascension Jesus? It is not surprising the Disciples stood there looking into the sky as He disappeared from their sight. I wonder what they were thinking? Were they wondering if they would ever see Him again in their lifetime?

And how about us? Jesus told Thomas: ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’ (John 20:29). We are those apparently blessed ones who have not seen Him with our physical eyes. We have not had visible firsthand experience of the earthly ministry of Jesus. So where do we go to find Jesus? How hard is it for us to track Him down?

Do we stand looking into the sky, hoping for some kind of sign? Do we resign ourselves to simply having to live by faith – what some would call ‘blind’ faith – until that day when we finally see our Lord face to face? Or is it that it is the risen Lord who comes to find us? Is it that our Lord is out and about in all sorts of places: here, there and everywhere? Is our Lord making Himself available to us, crossing all sorts of boundaries in order to seek us out and find us and bring us into God’s Kingdom?

Surely the answer is ‘yes’ to that second bracket of questions. After all, it was Jesus who told His disciples: ‘I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.’ (John 14:18). And in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ Ascension He told His disciples: ‘…surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’ (28:20)

The ascension does not remove Jesus from us but places Him in a position whereby He can and does come to us. Listen again to how Paul describes the current location of Jesus in His letter to the Ephesians 1:20-23):

God raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the Heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way.

The Heavenly Throne of God symbolizes His sovereignty. It is from there He stretches out His hand for His people. We hear about this in Psalm 47. The thought of God ruling on high did not discourage the Psalmist – as though God was distant and uncaring. Instead, He declares to the world: ‘Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy…Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises’ (v1&6).

The Psalmist declares that it is from this position that God is ‘King over all the earth’; it is from this position that He ‘reigns over the nations’.

It is to this place Jesus has ascended and it is from this place He now rules. From this place, Jesus exercises all authority in Heaven and on Earth.

So standing there looking up at the sky wondering when Jesus would come back was not the most helpful of exercises for those first disciples. Similarly, if we live our lives as though Jesus is absent from us or if we find ourselves biding our time here on earth until we finally get our reward in Heaven, then that too is not particularly helpful. Instead, we clap our hands and shout for joy that our Lord and King Jesus is in the very place where He can effect His reign – the very place where He can stretch out His hand to help us and bless us and keep us.

We will struggle to find Jesus if we fail to see that the Ascension has placed Jesus in a position of power that is exercised in the here and now.

So it is, that we find Jesus in worship – though it is probably better to think of our worship as Jesus coming to find us. He comes to us through His word and He ministers to us through it according to our needs. He comes to us in His Holy Supper, strengthening us in body and soul with His presence in this special meal.

But we also find Jesus out and about in our world. He is not lying in a tomb where He is not going anywhere anymore. He is risen from the dead and is the living Lord who is here, there and everywhere. Jesus is there as the truths of God’s Kingdom are being proclaimed in His name. Jesus is there as sins are being forgiven in His name – a forgiveness that has come through His death and resurrection. Jesus is there as healing and hope and life are brought to so many people in so many ways.

The first disciples were told to be His witnesses “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). As the first disciples witnessed they discovered that Jesus wasn’t hard to find at all. He was out and about – here, there and everywhere. All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Him and they saw He was acting on it. As we bear witness to Jesus in our lives He won’t be hard to find at all; for He promised to empower us with His Holy Spirit and He promised to be with us always to the very end of the age. Amen.

I will never leave you.

The Text: John 14:18

Jesus said to his disciples, “I will not leave you as orphans”.

Orphans the world over are a tragedy of tremendous proportions. According to UNICEF there are 153 million orphan children worldwide with over five and half thousand being becoming orphans every day. Whether in refugee camps in Africa, India, Romania, Bulgaria, or South East Asia these figures are mind blowing especially knowing the tragic affect that the loss of parents has on children and how this loss shapes the rest of their lives.

Even a child left without parents here in our country, although infinitely far better off than those in the countries I have just mentioned, is affected in ways that we don’t fully understand. Children who lose their parents lose their security and are vulnerable and powerless physically, emotionally and psychologically. The love and care given to them by others will, in time, make up for this but unfortunately some children never get over their loss. Some never get over the psychological wounds that comes with being an orphan. It’s as if they have lost their story, their roots, their history, their identity, their sense of direction.

In the light of this, the words of Jesus take on a special meaning. “I will not leave you orphaned” Jesus says to his disciples. Or this could be translated, “I will not leave you desolate, deserted, alone, abandoned, unloved, futureless”.

The disciples knew Jesus in a very close and personal way. They had walked together, talked together, eaten together, shared good and bad times together. They had been constant companions of Jesus. They felt confident and safe in the presence of Jesus.

When they experienced doubt, pain and suffering, they felt Jesus understood what was happening to them.

When they were filled with joy and happiness or overcome with sadness and sorrow, they felt secure in the knowledge that Jesus experienced the same emotions and feelings as they did.

When they were hungry, Jesus fed them and a great crowd with a few loaves and fish.

When they were in danger on the sea, Jesus was nearby to rescue them.

When they witnessed the grief that death brought into their lives, Jesus was at hand to comfort and raise the dead to life.

You see there is a kind of fatherly or perhaps brotherly relationship between Jesus and the disciples.

Jesus could see that his disciples were dependent on him. In fact, Jesus occasionally addressed them as “little children”. In the presence of Jesus they were like “little children” who relied on his love and comfort.

When Jesus warned the disciples that he will no longer be with them he had to quickly assure them not to be worried and upset, but to trust him. Now if that’s how they felt before Jesus’ death imagine how alone and abandoned they must have felt after Jesus’ death on the cross. Under the shadow of the cross, Jesus knew that they will feel like orphans—lost, without hope, helpless, powerless, uncertain about their future and confused. So he makes them a promise:

“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth…I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you….Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14.16,18,27).

Note this unique way Jesus reminds us that we will always have a home and a family. He says, “I am in the Father, and you are in me, just as I am in you (John 14:20).

This is a good passage to pause and meditate on. Simply what Jesus is expressing is the very close and intimate relationship between himself and the Father, himself and his disciples and his disciples and God. That tiny word “in” describes a special bond, a unique oneness. A family relationship.

You who believe in Jesus already have the Holy Spirit. God the Father has sent you the Holy Spirit through the Son. He did this for you at baptism. Because of God’s work for us in baptism you have a place of belonging in the family of God, by which you are no longer orphans, for God our Father has made you heirs with Jesus his Son. We are sons and daughters together with the Son. And since that is the case for every person who is in Christ then we are all a part of that Triune God’s loving, supporting family. We are all brothers and sisters joined together in God’s family, the church.

In this family God the Father continues to give you the Holy Spirit, through the Son, who meets you in the word, the scriptures. Through the Scriptures the Holy Spirit continually comes to us. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we are given a new direction, a new future and a new life.

This new life is one in which we will always have a home. We will always have a loving family—God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These words of comfort carry the message that we won’t ever be orphans—we will know exactly who we are and where we belong.

True enough Satan will always try to break up that togetherness we have. He just loves to drive wedges of doubt, anger, hostility, and jealousy, either between us and God, or between each another in his family. He will constantly tempt us to sin and break the bond and put up barriers between the members of the family, and break apart from it. But that’s not what God has planned for any of us.

God wants no one to feel like an orphan. When Jesus says to us “I will not leave you as orphans” he means that we belong to the Father, adopted and claimed through Jesus the Son. We are loved by the Father. We are forgiven by the Son. When there are members of the family who are feeling like an orphan because we have had a falling out with someone, as a member of this special family, it becomes our responsibility to make amends, whether it was our fault or not.

When there is a member of the family who is feeling like an orphan—lonely, scared, uncertain because they are facing illness and even death—as a member of this special family, it becomes our responsibility to pass on the love and care that we have received from our heavenly Father.

When there are members of the family who are feeling like orphans—feeling unloved, needing a guiding hand, wanting someone to know their pain—as a member of this special family, it becomes our responsibility to be a brother and sister to that person and let them see the love of our heavenly parent through us.

When there are members of this special family who are feeling like orphans, needing someone to provide them with basic essentials and to empathise with them in their circumstances, it becomes our responsibility to be a brother and sister to that person and let them see in us the love of our heavenly Father as we meet those needs.

Jesus’ words need to become our words to one another as people of God’s family “I will not leave you as an orphan”, as we reflect the love and care of God into the lives of the people around us. Let Jesus inspire us to say to our fellow brothers and sisters, “I will not leave you desolate, feeling deserted, alone, abandoned, unloved, futureless”.

At the 400 metre race at the 1992 summer Olympics a young Englishman, Derek Redmond was hungry to win a gold medal after being forced to withdraw from the previous Olympics because of injury. However, shortly after the start of the race, he popped his right hamstring. All the other runners continued the race leaving him like an orphan alone on the track. Amazingly Redmond got back up and started hopping towards the finish line. The other runners had all finished the race in a matter of seconds. Redmond, in tears, slowly and laboriously kept hopping. It looked as if he would fall any moment.

Suddenly, a man appeared beside Derek. It was his father. He had run down from the stands and pushed his way through the security guards to reach his son. Redmond’s father put his arm around his son and let him cry on his shoulder. Then, with his father holding him up, Derek hobbled to the finish line and then he hopped over the line by himself to finish the race.

There’s a word of hope for you and me, to help us finish the race of life. It is God’s own word. When we are feeling like orphans to run the race of life in this world—a race we cannot run by our own strength—we have a Father who gives us his strength to keep on going, a Saviour who walks beside us and the Spirit who comforts us, and strengthens us in faith, pointing us to everything Jesus said and still speaks, enabling us to cross the finishing line. We are not abandoned because we have a God who loves us. He says to each of personally and individually, “I will not leave you as orphans”. Amen.

A place prepared

The Text: John 14: 1-14

A Place prepared

Clean sheets on the spare bed. check.

House clean and tidy. check.

Plenty of Food in the house. check

Yep ready for the visitors to arrive.

Is that something you do to prepare for visitors to come and stay with you? A special meal, the spare bed has clean fresh sheets, and the house is tidied?

It is special when children who have grown and left home, come home. For a mother, it is a joyous occasion when all the family are together and are at peace with one another.

Depending on where the children are geographically, there may be different ways they can travel to come home. Even when we go to places there is generally more than one way to take to reach a destination. If there is a more scenic way to get to a destination, sometimes that is a better wat than to travel on a major highway.

We can’t do that at the moment. We aren’t allowed to travel. We can’t be with our mother’s today if they live away from us. But that’s okay we can still connect with, phone, Facebook, Skype, email. Once this pandemic is over, once again we can go to their place.

Jesus tells about a place for us to go to today. He calls it his Father’s house. It’s a place where there is not just one spare room, but there are many rooms. But as Jesus says to Thomas, you can’t get there on your own. Jesus says: “I am the way”.

To know Jesus is to know the Father. In the same way, the Father knows the ones who listen to the voice of Jesus, and follow him along the way. It’s interesting that before early believers were called Christians they were called people who followed ‘The Way’.

Jesus fulfilled what the prophet Isaiah spoke of, “And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray”. (Isaiah 35:8).

How are we ever able to walk the way of holiness and be invited into our heavenly room that is prepared for us? For we know that daily we struggle with our humanity and its sinful desires. Rather than daily concentrate on the Holy life God desires of us, we follow our own ambitions.

The way to God was completely closed, and sin was the roadblock. It was like when the Israelites had been rescued out of Egypt they were filled with fear because they thought the way to freedom was blocked by the Red Sea as the Egyptian chariots were closing in behind them. It’s the same in our lives. If we think our way to freedom depends on us, then we fail to trust that Jesus has provided away for our freedom.

The way was blocked because of sin, but God wanted to rescue us from this world in which sin entered and blocked the way to the place where our Heavenly Father has these many rooms prepared. God could not simply excuse or overlook our sin and allow us to enter his place in our sinful state. Yes God is merciful, but He is also just. Justice requires that sin be paid for. At great cost, he himself paid that price.

God offers salvation to everyone who accepts it through faith in Jesus. Jesus describes this way as entering through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Perhaps the way through Jesus doesn’t look appealing enough or has too many restrictions. But in reality, the way through Jesus is bigger than you think, because God sent Jesus to save the world. It isn’t God’s fault that many don’t accept that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

We know the way to heaven by trusting in what Jesus has done for us and what he continues to do for us through his gifts to the Church. Our journey begins in Baptism. Through God’s Word and water Jesus dwells in our hearts through faith. Faith receives the promises of God and clings to Jesus as the true and only way. Faith receives Jesus as the way and rejects all other ways that are contrary to what God’s word says.

Just like a mother, God has a lot of love to give, even lots more. God’s love is an everlasting steadfast love that endures rejection, as he sees people go on a journey in other directions to fulfil their needs. However, through the Holy Spirit, God never stops trying to alert us if we go in the wrong direction.

It’s like when your TomTom or Navman tells you perform a U-turn where possible. What I really dislike about relying on GPS is when they try to take you down a road that isn’t there. It makes us end up feeling lost and not sure where I am. Then I need to back track to get on the right way.

Likewise, God gives us a conscience to alert us when we follow a way that leads away from his way. His ways are written on our hearts, and supported through his written word to show us his way.

When it comes to walking the way of holiness, it’s the way of repentance and forgiveness. Repentance because we fail to live holy lives and need to turn back and confess our failures to God. God hears our cries for mercy and forgives us for Jesus’ sake.

He is always waiting like a mother for her children to come home. One of the best images we have of this in the bible is the story of the prodigal son.

When Jesus says, “I am the Way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me” he is not meaning this to be a threat. Jesus spoke these words to his disciples, as a word of comfort.

They are a comfort for us as well, for we don’t need to panic and search for a hidden map or look for clues, or guess if we are on the road to salvation. It’s clear and simple. As Jesus says “Do not let your heart be troubled. There are many rooms in my Father’s house. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going away to make a place for you. After I go and make a place for you, I will come back and take you with me. Then you may be where I am.”

A mother’s desire is to protect her children. Have you felt the anxious wait to see your children safely arrive home? You hope they will not get lost, but will follow the way that leads to you, to the place you have prepared for them. Sometimes things occur where as parents, as a mother, you need to go and bring your child to the safety of home.

This is what Jesus did for all of us. He came down from heaven into the world, where we were lost and heading in all sorts of directions and he shows the way home. His desire is for us to be where he is. There is no other way than the way Jesus paved at a great cost to himself.

He calls us to follow him with hearts that forgive, and have compassion. With hearts that welcome home into the family a child who had lost their way. With hearts that even go looking when we notice we haven’t seen them for a while.

It’s what a mother does for her child so she knows her child is safe.

It’s what Jesus does for us. There is only one true way to eternal life. That is the way of Jesus. Amen