6th Sunday of Easter

I love the phrase “at home.” I picture walking in the door at the end of a long, busy day, or even a long trip, and having a sense of being able to relax at home. The outside world has its demands of us, and we wear a variety of different hats in the world. But at home we take off our hats and have a sense of simply being ourselves. And there is a sense of belonging when we are at home. We are not in a space that is set up by our employer, or by capitalism, or by public transit, or by a hospital; we are in our space, which belongs to us and where we belong. We have a sense of the comforts of home.

In today’s gospel passage Jesus says, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them,” and then he says the phrase that jumped out at me most this week, “and we will come to them and make our home with them.” I was more familiar with the opposite idea, which appears in the same chapter as today’s passage, in which Jesus says, “In my father’s house there are many dwelling places…and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will take you to myself, so that where I am, you may be also.” Our eternal home is in heaven, in our Father’s house, were Jesus has prepared a place for us. But right now, during our earthly lives, Jesus and the Father will make their home with us.

A bit of background: in our lectionary, on the first few Sundays after Easter we read about the appearances of the risen Christ shortly after Easter. Then, in our lectionary, we read the passages in which Jesus tells us about what will happen next, Jesus’ return to heaven 40 days after Easter on Ascension Day, which we celebrate this Thursday, and what happens after that, which is the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, 50 days after Easter. Here in John 14 we are in what scholars refer to as Jesus’ farewell discourse, in which he says farewell to his disciples, as he prepares them for his crucifixion, his resurrection, and his return to heaven in the ascension. As he is saying his farewells, he is telling them the meaning and significance of what will happen next, when he is no longer with them in bodily form. The “farewell” is a literal one: Jesus is telling them that they will fare well even when he is no longer with them in bodily form, and he tells them why they will fare well. Once he is free from the limitations of his physical earthly body, he can be at home elsewhere, he can dwell in their hearts and in their souls. This is important not only for the disciples who happened to be alive and in Galilee during Jesus’ earthly lifespan; it is important for all those who love him in every generation, including us.

As I was exploring today’s passage, the quote that came to mind was one by Elizabeth Dreyer, who says, “In a profound way, our intentionality is a key ingredient in determining whether we notice God everywhere, or only in church, or only in suffering, or nowhere. It all depends on how we choose to fashion our world.” One of the main points Jesus tells his disciples in today’s passage, which is also the main point of today’s sermon, is be open to noticing God in new ways. It’s like the line from the old infomercials: “but wait: there’s more!”

The people in Jesus’ era were used to seeing God in one way, what we often refer to as God the Father, and saw strict adherence to the law as an essential part of their relationship with God. They had strict rules about what, and who, was sacred and what and who was profane, which people were part of the in-group and which people were outsiders. Then Jesus showed up and said “but wait: there’s more!” He taught them to notice God in him, and welcomed the outsiders to eat with him, and he touched the ritually impure. And rather than their ritual impurity making him impure, his holiness made them holy and granted them healing and forgiveness and welcome. Women, lepers, tax collectors, centurions, prostitutes, prodigal sons, children, poor widows, Jesus loved all of them as children of God. And the power of God’s love was at work in Jesus as he worked miracles, even on the sabbath. For the people of Jesus’ time, this was a violation of everything they held sacred. Still, there were some in that time who listened to Jesus’ invitation to notice God in new ways, and they recognized God at work in Jesus, and believed in him.

Now, Jesus is taking them one step further. But wait, there’s more! He encourages them to be open to noticing God not only in God the creator and law-giver, not only in Jesus of Nazareth, but to be open to noticing God at work in them, and even in one another. That really blows their minds. And that God is at work in them not after they’ve achieved spiritual perfection, but God is at work in them right in the middle of earthly life, even with their various weaknesses and sins. That is what Jesus is telling them to be open to in today’s passage. We refer to it as the Holy Spirit. The Greek word Jesus uses is “paraclete” which is sometimes translated as “Counselor” or “Advocate” and which literally means, someone who comes to your side, someone who’s alongside you.

My explanation of the Trinity is that there are three ways we humans experience God, and ultimately they are all the same God. That idea comes through in this passage. As I was exploring the passage I wrote it out using three different coloured markers so that we can see the way Jesus talks about the three persons of the Trinity, with God the Father in blue, Jesus in red, and the Holy Spirit in purple. We can see they ways they are intertwined they are, and the ways in which they are one and the same. Even in one sentence, we read But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit (3rd person of the Trinity) whom the Father will send (1st person) In my name (2nd person) Will teach you everything and remind you (3rd person) Of all that I have said to you (2nd person). And I want to highlight the combination here of continuity and newness. Jesus says one of the things the Holy Spirit will do is remind us of all the things Jesus has said to us, so that’s the continuity with what Jesus said during his earthly lifetime. But wait, there’s more! The Holy Spirit continues to teach us even after Jesus’ earthly lifetime is over. Even after Jesus’ earthly lifetime is over, the Holy Spirit teaches the first-century disciples to notice God at work in all sorts of people they used to think of as outsiders or impure. This is a big deal in the book of Acts, which tells us what the Holy Spirit was up to in the lives of the 1st century disciples after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. They are astounded that the Holy Spirit is active in people who do not follow the dietary laws, and even the uncircumcised. The Holy Spirit is active in women such as Lydia, a successful businesswoman in today’s passage from Acts. The Holy Spirit is active in the Ethiopian eunuch, and others who don’t conform to gender norms. In Philemon we read that the Holy Spirit is active in enslaved people such as Onesimus. Paul expresses both the continuity and the newness directly in Galatians 3:28 “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

Yes, Jesus is going away from the disciples. Jesus is going to prepare a place for us in our heavenly home. And paradoxically, Jesus tells us that he will be closer to us than ever, because Jesus will come to us and make his home with us. The Father will come to us and make his home with us. The Holy Spirit will come to us and make its home with us. And God isn’t finished with us yet. The Holy Spirit continues to be at work in us teaching us everything. And if we haven’t yet learned everything of the divine, the Holy Spirit continues to teach us to see God in new things and new people. When Jesus says farewell to us, Jesus also says, “But wait, there’s more!”