Readings

In this morning’s collect we prayed “Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life…” That’s also the collect nudging the preacher: there’s your focus.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” This text often shows up in discussing other religions, and, at worst, gets reduced to a flag we wave at others. It, is, indisputably, narrow, and so aligned with the other Gospels. This year we’re reading Matthew, so it’s worth recalling the way these words restate what we hear towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount:

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (7:13-14)

Or again,

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell– and great was its fall!” (7:24-27)

Nevertheless, notice that Jesus here may be making a somewhat different point. Thomas had just asked “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” It sounds like a request for some sort of map. But now that Jesus is onstage, Jesus is the map. The Gospel of John put it this way in its prologue: “The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (1:17). Jesus, the living person, not some abstraction, whether Jesus’ teaching or Jesus’ action, is the map, the way, and the truth, and the life. So it’s a call, an invitation, to an ongoing relationship, to ongoing learning.

Why ongoing? Recall the observation “We see things not as they are but as we are.” So any significant learning is going to involve transforming who we are. This is why we hear Paul saying “I appeal to you…to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God– what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom 12:1-2).

Coming to the Father—back to Jesus’ statement—is a process of continual following, continual transformation. Paul gets it right: it’s not a head trip. “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Growing pains: if we’re doing it right, they’re ongoing.

Thomas thought that Jesus could give us a map apart from Jesus himself. Philip’s request, “show us the Father,” exemplifies a different misunderstanding, as though there were distance between Jesus and the Father, Jesus the little mystery, the Father the big mystery, or, in one of its variants, Jesus as Good Cop, the Father as Bad Cop. No. Jesus and the Father: it’s the same mystery, the same luminous mystery in which we’re invited to enter.

Continued learning, continued transformation. For example? We understand that God is not more like a man than a woman. But our traditional language (“Father, Son, Holy Spirit”) can confuse that. How do we respond? Again, what does it mean to be Christian now in this place? Also the 250^th anniversary of our nation’s founding pushes that question toward the front burner. Discernment is always a challenge: where is God inviting my/our focus?

But back to Thomas. The problem with any map, even God-given maps, is that we’re tempted to so focus on them that we stop listening to the Giver. Since in our first reading Stephen gets in trouble over what he says about the temple, let’s think about the temple. Exodus chapters 25-31 describe how the tabernacle—the mobile temple—is to be built; chapters 35-40 describe its building. And large portions of Leviticus and Numbers describe its staff, its sacrifices, etc. So the temple’s important.

But it doesn’t take long for Israel to start assuming that as long as the temple is operating, they can neglect, say, the “love your neighbor” or the “love the foreigner” part. This comes to a head in Jeremiah’s time:

“Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’… Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are safe!’– only to go on doing all these abominations? (Jer 7:4, 9-10)

The temple is a gift. But if we so focus on the gift that we stop learning from the Giver, it doesn’t end well. In the time of Jeremiah, “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell– and great was its fall!” That would be the Babylonians destroying the temple, about 600 years before Jesus.

But back to Stephen. What if we hear today’s psalm (Psalm 31) on Stephen’s lips? Surrounded by a crowd right at the boiling point, he is not put to shame. “Look…I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” On the one hand he isn’t rescued from the stoning. On the other, he is rescued from the greater danger: he doesn’t become like his enemies. “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

“Be my strong rock” the psalmist prayed. Jesus: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.” Stephen showed himself to be one of the wise. Jesus’ words as found in Matthew’s Gospel, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (5:43-44), Stephen had heard and acted on these, and received the vision for which so many have prayed: “Look…I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

A couple more observations and I’ll close.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” An invitation to continual learning from Jesus.

“I appeal to you…to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God– what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom 12:1-2).

In our second reading Peter captures this with his “Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation.” And our temple theme from Stephen’s story moves centerstage: “Come to him [Jesus], 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.” God’s got a mobile temple again—in the form of every local parish. To do what? “…to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” “Spiritual sacrifices”—we might translate “sacrifices inspired/powered by the Spirit”—that’s open ended. Since we’re reading Matthew this year we might recall:

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Mat 5:14-16).

So much that we need to keep learning from Jesus. Keep that in mind also as you look for your new rector. Look for someone who’s learning. Look for someone with whom you can continue learning.