APRIL 24, 2005 PASTOR SCOTT FULLER
This portion of scripture is a favorite of many. God’s grace is so tangible, so enfolding, so assuring, that our hearts are filled to overflowing with hope, hope that one day we will experience true blessedness: a union with Christ and a reunion with our loved ones…How we get there is the question.
Yet when Jesus shares his vision of the Father’s spacious home, he tells his followers that they all know the way…Has someone ever given you directions, and then cursed you with those terrible words, You can’t miss it!?
I’m living proof that you can. I’m a visual learner. Words, names, directions, phone numbers – as soon as they enter my ear…they disappear into space. Words on a page are a whole lot better. But a map is even more concrete: a picture really is worth a thousand words.
Almost casually Jesus assures his friends that they will find the Father’s mansion. But Thomas, oh, I give thanks to God for Thomas, this questioning disciple blurts out, We don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way? Then Jesus offers that beautiful but cryptic response, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that our world is teeming with ways and truths and lives all of which claim to show us the way to go. One glance within the Christian Church itself is proof that just looking to Jesus is not enough. From fanatic fundamentalists to the loosest liberals, the Lord’s promise means different things to different people.
Some people base their decisions on feelings. The creed of the seventies stated, If it feels good, do it!
Others, like Terri Schiavo’s parents, operate by a principle. In her case it was that life in any form is sacred. Still others have to assess the experience of a given situation before reaching a decision about the right thing to do.
The struggle in our culture seems to be that there are too many options, too many choices, too many voices arguing that their vision of the truth is right. Add to the din those familiar voices of the devil, the world, and our sinful selves and it’s a wonder that we can ever hear the still, small voice of God.
The 1991 movie Hook stars Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook and Robin Williams as Peter Pan. The twist on this familiar tale is that Peter has grown up. He’s abandoned his rebellious youth, repressed his childish memories, he’s even changed his name to Peter Banning. Now he delights in being a hungry corporate raider – in other words, Peter’s become a pirate.
He sacrifices his family for the thrill of the kill, promising them love, but never proving it. Then one evening, his children, Jack and Maggie, are kidnapped by his old, arch-enemy, Captain Hook. The challenge is issued, Return to Neverland and fight me or you’ll never see them again.
Well, Peter wakes up to find himself in Neverland, but he refuses to believe it. So the Captain gives Peter three days to get rid of his middle-aged realism and embrace the truth of his youth, or lose his children forever. But during that time, Captain Hook comes up with an even more diabolical plan. He works at the strained relationship between Peter and his children, planning to make Jack and Maggie love him as father, call him Dad, accept him as their way, truth and life.
Hook starts by blessing Jack with something that Peter never did: he cheers him on at a baseball game in which Jack is the star. The boy’s loyalty starts to waver.
In one comical but touching scene, these two powerful voices collide. Up to bat, his team needs a homerun to win the game. Some fans give him a sign: they hold up letters that spell the words, HOME, RUN and JACK.
The problem is that these less than perceptive pirates mess it up. And for a moment, Jack sees a sign that causes him to stop and think. Instead of spelling out Hook’s message, HOME RUN JACK, they spell RUN HOME JACK. But they quickly correct their mistake, and Jack’s inner voice is silenced by the cheers of Hook and the crowd for him to win the game.
How can we be sure of the way to go?, about which voice is God’s and which comes from our own desires or fears? Truth is, there’s no substitute for familiarity. I remember teaching our children how to find their way home from the park or the store. It didn’t happen easily or quickly, nor did it happen without some tears of frustration. On our walks home, we’d come to a street corner and ask them to tell us to turn right, left or go straight.
Mark got it. Like Carolyn, he’s always had a good sense of direction. At a very early age he’d recognize signs or houses and tell us where we were or where we needed to go. Rachel…is more like me. You might say we’re a little directionally challenged. But even so, Rachel has a gift that is a great help: she doesn’t give up. If she’s lost for a moment, she just keeps driving and trusting that she’ll figure it out and find where she needs to go.
In the same way, there is no substitute for being familiar with God. To spend time in worship and in prayer, reading the bible, listening to music, joining in classes or projects around the church with sisters and brothers in the faith - it all helps us be familiar with God’s voice in our lives. That is a blessing both for those who get it and for the rest of us who have a harder time figuring out the way to go. The other piece is all about trust.
Jesus says, You know the way. Now, we, like Thomas, may feel like shouting, How can we know the way if you haven’t shown us???
But then comes the word of assurance, that the Spirit of the Risen Christ Jesus, promises to be our guide, our healer, our helper, our friend.
At that point trust really is the driving force that keeps us going. Though at times we may feel lost and ready to give up, the truth is that Jesus said it, so it must be true: You know the way. I guess the only thing we can do is keep going, even when we feel lost, and trust that the way to go will be revealed.
In the movie Apollo 13 Tom Hanks plays astronaut Jim Lovell, the commander of that ill-fated flight to the moon. As the three men wonder together about their chances of returning safely to earth, Lovell tells them a story from his days as a fighter pilot trying to find his way back to the aircraft carrier after a mission. He says,
I'm in (my jet) at night in combat conditions, so there's no lights on the carrier…plus my radar had jammed, and my homing signal was gone...
I'm lookin' down at a big, black ocean, so I flip on my map light, and then suddenly: zap. Everything shorts out. All my instruments are gone. My lights are gone. And I can't even tell now what my altitude is. I know I'm running out of fuel, so I'm thinking about ditching in the ocean.
Then I look down, and in the darkness there's this…green trail. It's like a long carpet that's just laid out right beneath me. It was the algae, that phosphorescent stuff that gets churned up in the wake of a big ship. And it was…leading me home. You know, if my cockpit lights hadn't shorted out, there's no way I'd ever been able to see that. So you never know...what... events transpire to get you home.
We never know…but we’re called to trust that God is showing us the way to go. Amen.