Fifth Sunday of Easter (Deacon Hopkins)

Today is the fifth Sunday of Easter. The season does not have many more days remaining in it this year. While we are still proclaiming alleluia and ringing the special bells, the flavor of today’s lessons has turned a bit. Instead of just hearing what God has done for us through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we now are reminded of our place and purpose in God’s world. First, we have received God’s immense love, and how we have rejoiced! But the Easter message does not end there. We are not only receivers of God’s love; we recognize that we have an important part in God’s world, and an important message to share with others.

Before I begin to look at some parts of today’s lessons, I ask you to think about a question. “What does the word house or home mean to you? For now, I use the words interchangeably. What image comes to mind when you focus on the word home?

I will tell you a brief personal moment. Mike and I were away for a couple of weeks this winter. Even though we talked with family often, our house, our home was empty. When we returned, Theo came over for an afternoon. While I was preparing a meal, I overheard him as he set the Alexa to watch a show. He said quietly to himself, “Aaah, mama’s house; it smells so good; I love mama’s house.”

Can you visualize your special place, or remember a certain feeling of home?

For many of us, home is a place of love, of comfort, of security, and a place of belonging. Now I recognize this is not true for everyone. The place some recall first, might not have been a safe place. But I hope there are other homes where peace has been found by each of us.

Also, I remind us, there are those in our community who are not as fortunate as we are to have any physical space to live.

From a point-in-time survey conducted on Jan. 22 this year, the total unhoused people in Champaign County was 355. Of those, 169 were sheltered in emergency sites, 130 in transitional housing and 56 were living outdoors or in cars. And included in that total there were 75 children under the age of 18 experiencing homelessness. While this is not a sermon about homelessness, when we think of houses, we should not forget those who do not have one.

Looking at today’s Gospel passage, these verses are a part of Jesus’ farewell discourse to his closest disciples. Scholars believe these words were spoken on the night before Jesus’ death, after Judas had left the group at supper and before the remaining disciples went to the garden with him.

It was a time of great emotional tension. Jesus has just told them he will die and the horrible way that will take place. This passage is part of Jesus reassurance to his dearest friends and companions.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled”, Jesus says. And yet at that moment, they are filled with fear and disbelief. They are deeply troubled.

Jesus highlights for them his promise of eternal life and uses words to assure them of a beautiful hope filled with love where they will be with God. Jesus says, “In my father’s house there are many rooms. Or depending on the translation, many mansions, or many dwelling places. The Greek word is monai which means loosely money so mansions might seem the better word. It is not a corner or a pull-out bed, but rather a beautiful place with room for all. There are many mansions to hold our uniqueness. God’s house is a place of love, lasting, and eternal love.

Jesus tells them he is going ahead of them to prepare a place so that they may be with him in glory forever. He assures them that he will continue to act on their behalf.

In this passage, Jesus offers hope as he prepares his disciples for what is to come. He invites them to a continued relationship with him. Despite his physical absence, his love and guidance will remain.

This comforting passage is often read at funerals to offer the same hope to those who may be deeply troubled, as were those original disciples. In this Easter season, we current followers of Christ, hear these words of comfort as spoken to us now.

In this season, we recognize that this is God’s initiative, not our intellectual reasoning that brings us to Him. We may identify with Thomas’ questions as we come to terms with what the resurrection means for us. How can we know the way to God? Thomas says, “Lord, we do not know the place you are going, how can we know the way?” And Jesus answers “I am the way.” And he adds to this, I am the truth, I am the life. His words are for this targeted audience, closest to him, those he will depend on to carry out his ministry. Jesus offers reassurance that they don’t have to figure it all out by themselves. While Jesus is leaving them in his physical presence, he will still be with them, leading them and guiding them.

Can we read those words and know that they are meant for us today? Jesus still is with us. He still leads and guides us. We need only to ask for his assistance.

Think back to your image of home. While the actual structure of the place, or the smell, or sound or look of the space came to us, what we really remembered was the love contained in that building. And what we really cherish is the person or persons embodied there.

Jesus is that person for these early disciples. They have followed Him and they are beginning to understand that Jesus will continue to be with them to lead them to God the father. This is the comfort today’s gospel.

Let’s look briefly at the first letter of Peter, probably written some thirty to forty years after the dialogue that John describes.

This was a time of growing persecution of the Jews and of the early church which eventually led to the second temple in Jerusalem being destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The Temple was the “sacred home” of the Hebrews. All sacrifices could only be done in the Temple by priests who served there. After the Temple’s destruction, worship for the Jews changed. There were no more sacrifices and there was no central place to come together. Those who were followers of Christ separated themselves from the Jewish traditions and worshiped in secret.

The message of I Peter was to encourage Jesus’ followers to persevere in the middle of suffering and to remember the hope found in Jesus. Hear this phrase: “Come to him, a living stone.” Jesus is that living stone, the corner stone who they follow. It is not a particular structure, they worship, rather it is the living stone. Their spiritual house, their spiritual home is grounded in and on Jesus.

That verse doesn’t end there. “Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

We become those living stones to carry out God’s work. We are the ones being built into a spiritual house.

The passage today finishes with these words,

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

We who have received God’s love and mercy, now have a purpose. We are to demonstrate in our words and actions that it is Jesus we follow. We are God’s people so that we may proclaim the mighty acts of the one who loves and redeems us.

Our lives are different because of the gift of Jesus and his resurrection. The specifics of that difference and how we act post resurrection varies from person to person. After all, “in my Father’s house there are many mansions”. There is a space for each of us as we pattern our lives after Jesus. We have the comfort of today’s gospel as well as the challenge of becoming the living stones that God will build into his spiritual house. God is the builder; we open ourselves to being those living stones in response to His love. We are not passive recipients of God’s love but rather actively sharing that love with others. This is our part in God’s story.

The season continues!

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

The Lord is risen indeed, alleluia!