Easter 5
1Peter 2:2-10, John 14:1-14
4/24/05
For a long time rocks have
had an important place in my life. As
symbols they speak to me in profound ways. Rocks
remind me of strength, solidity, stability and the continuance of life, no
matter what.
When I go somewhere and
experience something significant I try to find a rock to commemorate it.
I have a rock from a favorite camping place that was a peaceful refuge
during a stormy part of my life. I
have one from the area of my first call. I
have a pock marked rock I picked up on the shore in
A geode can be a wonderful
symbol for Christ. It looks like
just a plain old rock, like any other, easily missed in its ordinariness...that
is until you break it open to find the awesome crystal inside.
Isn’t this just like Jesus? He
was born in an ordinary human way, lived among working class people and died as
many others did in those days. Except
for his miracles you would never have considered Him anything but a carpenter or
wandering rabbi. And some say that
even miracles were performed by others back then...or at least they pretended
to. It was in His death and
resurrection that His human form was broken open to reveal the one true God that
had been inside all along.
All of this rocky thinking
led me to another common rock image, the hymn, “Rock Of Ages.”
The words are so familiar that you could probably sing them without a
book,
Rock of Ages,
cleft for me.
Let me hide
myself in Thee.
Until the day I wrote this
sermon I’d really never given much thought to what those words mean.
What a strange image that “Rock of Ages”.
Is that God? I called Ida up
to see if she had a book that translated that old English or explained the
imagery. When I got home I did an
internet search. The rock is Christ.
It seems the cleft relates to his being pierced by the spear.
Thus, we can hide or take
refuge in His suffering and death as the rest of the verse indicates,
Let the water
and the blood
from thy riven
side which flowed,
Be of sin
the double cure:
Cleanse me from
it’s guilt and power.
But, look what is said
already in the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah (28:16, 8:14):
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,
a stone that causes men to stumble” Jesus wasn’t good enough for the
religious leaders of his day. He
didn’t meet their expectations, so they cast him out.
They would not incorporate, much less use Him as the foundational stone,
in the building of their religion. Therefore,
Jesus became a stumbling block to the very people who had been looking for Him
for hundreds of years.
But, Jesus wasn’t just any
prophet or rabbi with a new idea about the religion.
He may have appeared to be just another wandering Jewish leader, but as
we know, He wasn’t.He was the God incarnate and His true identity was
displayed when He was cleft on the cross and then three days later broke free
from that rock tomb.
And with that He became the
“living rock” who could be a place of safety and refuge for sinners.
As that “living rock” Jesus makes it possible for us to be joined
with God, to abide in Him. We who split off from God through sin are reconcile
and reconnected to Him through Jesus. He
becomes the path back to the Father.
Jesus referred to Himself as
the Way, the Truth and the Life. A
“way” is a path, a road or a journey. I
read something mind-blowing this week. One
of my sermon preparation notes boldly declared that that verse does not state
that salvation comes by accepting certain beliefs.
Rather, since a “way” is a journey or road, the passage is saying
that salvation comes through our dying in Christ to sin and being raised to new
life with Him.
Jesus is also “the
Truth.” If you want to know what
the truth of God, of our faith, of life is, look at Jesus.
Churches and denominations, including our own, are in danger of being
split today because of conflict over beliefs.
Proponents of one beliefs line up Bible passages supporting their beliefs
and declare those who believe otherwise to be heterodox or even heretical.
Their opponents choose a different set of passages and do the same.
Each sincerely believes itself to be right and that the church will rise
or fall on whether their beliefs are the ones acknowledge to be true.
What we learn from what Jesus
is saying is that He is the truth. If
we want to see the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the Truth, we need to
step back and look at Him from the broadest possible viewpoint.
We need to study what He said, the acts He did and most of all, how He
lived and died. That will lead us to
know the only Truth that matters.
This Truth brings life and
is Life. Jesus is what life in a
person looks like. It is God alive
and dynamic in a person’s heart and living.
It is love and joy and hope even in the midst of suffering.
It is an experience that is not just limited to some future time, but
begins today. It begins as soon as
each person allows him or herself to be drawn into the cleft in that rock so
that we can abide in Christ and He can abide in us.
In this abiding, He then
takes us step by step in a life-long journey (Way) to the Father’s house.
But, here is another mind-blower for you.
According to the language usage of John the Father’s house is not the
same as heaven. The Greek word John
uses really means household; therefore, where Jesus is taking us is into a
relationship. A household was made
up of many relatives, living/abiding together.
This is the image we are given of how Father, Son and Holy Spirit exist
in a living unity.
So, Jesus is saying that if
we journey with Him, dying and rising in Him, we are brought into this living
unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We
become a part of the holy Household of God.
From this we see that
whatever life after death is like – whether a heaven with streets paved in
gold, a never ending banquet, an eternal service of worship or something we
can’t even begin to conceive, we will find in death the culmination of a
living relationship with God that is offered to all to accept Jesus as the Way,
the Truth and the Life. This is the
living rock in whom we already abide.
And may this rock give you
strength, solidity, stability and an
experience of the continuance of life, now and in the days to come.
Amen.