John 14:5-14, 1 Peter 2: 4-10 – Father’s Eyes

Story from Tom Stirling’s funeral of Thorwald and Jill walking to the Stirling’s home for dinner…

It reminds me of the first time Aron and I went looking for Yokohama Union Church - the church we attended while living in Japan just after we were married. We eventually found ourselves in a deserted park below a cemetery and I had my first lesson in the Japanese address system; “Do you mean, Aron, that none of these squiggly lines is the street name and none of these numbers is the street number?” Now I put my question as graciously as that because we are in a church, but I don’t cope well with being in a foreign country, in a strange place, not speaking the language, with an address that isn’t an address! I like to have a plan and a map (and to hold the map)… Fortunately for Aron we found a church at this point – the Anglicans –who kindly directed us to the church we wanted – 20 minutes after the service had finished!

I suspect Thomas was a bit like me. All that Jesus was saying (in chapter 13 and 14) about betrayal and him leaving them made Thomas increasingly anxious and bewildered. If he needed to go to another place to be with Jesus he wanted a plan and a map!

In his commentary William Barclay notes that we should never be afraid of expressing our doubts and concerns and lack of understanding to God. For Thomas’s questions elicits one of the greatest statements of Jesus: “I am the way and the truth and the life.”

I am the way. In that I am the truth and the life.

It is the most extraordinary statement. For all human beings finding a path through life, finding what is true, living a life with meaning is a central concern. For the disciples, as Jews, these words connected with foundational religious ideas. From the law they learnt, “You must follow exactly the path that the Lord your God has commanded you…” (Duet 5:33a). With the Psalmist they prayed, “Teach me your way, O Lord…” (Psalm 27:11a) and in the prophets they heard “this is the way, walk in it.”

And Jesus said, “I am the way.” Imagine, like Aron and I, you are lost in a strange city and ask directions. Someone might say… The chances are you will be lost fairly soon. But suppose, your guide says, “Look, I’ll take you there.” In that case that person is the way for you. Jesus is the way for us. Jesus doesn’t tell us about the way, but Jesus shows us the way; guides us, strengthens us and walks beside us.

But I suspect that all of us – are at times – like Phillip. Phillip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

All of us have moments of looking at the way Jesus shows us; knowing that week in and week out our clients at the Veranda will behave in much the same way; that each Tuesday at Playgroup or Friday at Crafty Fingers there will be conversations that need to be started, questions that need to be asked, stories to be listened to; that Irene’s Place will continue to need creativity and energy; that the Garden will need planting and weeding – as well as the lives of those who come to it; and we long for some dramatic event or experience, some revelation, some miracle… that will bring us to the end of our labours, that will make the lives and relationships we are part of whole and healthy and integrated with God, that will renew our earth, that will bring about the kingdom of God!

But Jesus says to Phillip, “Look at what’s been under nose all this time…I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”

If you know me, you know God.

If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen God.

If you’ve heard my words, you’ve heard God’s words.

If you seen my work, you’ve seen God’s work.

The visible, audible, tangible mission of Jesus, ‘bringing good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, letting the oppressed go free, proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favour’ was the presence of God in our world.

And it still is.

The cover picture… Masataka Unoura, 81, plants a tree on the ground where his house used to be in an area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

And this is the task for each of us. Each of us is called to some small or large action that will make God’s presence seen and heard and felt and known in our world.

Story from Travelling Mercies…

Trusting that Jesus is the way; we become the way for others.