“Music for the Ages”

Karen Sloan – 10/05/2020

Reading: John 14:1-14

I heard on the radio the other day, on Classic FM, maybe showing my age, that this year we are celebrating the 250thanniversary of the birth of  Ludwig Van Beethoven. He was born on the 16thDec 1770, perhaps humming some musical score when he entered the world.  Apparently, Vienna was going to be offering a feast of events to celebrate the milestone, but that may be a bit limited now.

It’s pretty amazing that in 2020, we play so much of his incredible music, from small groups to huge orchestras to just at home on the piano.    No doubt many of you have a favourite piece, maybe the 9thsymphony, with the song of joy imbedded in it, although I have always loved number 6, the pastoral symphony myself. And the moonlight sonata.  But on the radio I have been hearing earlier pieces, that have been beautifulincluding one operacalled “Fidelio”. Since I am an opera buff.

But it’s not just his music. He is remembered as a revolutionary, a visionary and a man of the world. He had a powerful imagination and brimmed over with musical ideas; being bold and passionate about them.  The impact of Beethoven’s work on the course of music history could not have been greater. Or so say  many of the reviews.  What a guy!

So, Beethoven and his music is remembered, every day in every way, long after his death. Would he be surprised that this music is still so popular? He would probably be chuffed even though he wouldn’t be able to hear any of it, going deaf in 1812, before he wrote the 9th symphony. 

But what would happen if his music had been changed, or not recorded accurately, or taken by someone else and distorted.  He might come back and wonder what had happened to his legacy.

He would be shocked. Quite rightly.

If Beethoven would be shocked, what about Jesus. 

What would Jesus think if he came back today to see his legacy. He was also passionate, a visionary, prophet, teacher and a mystic. And for many of us a man who changed the world. 

Maybe he would also be shocked.

Maybe he would be horrified by what the church has become, even withstanding the good that it does.  And horrified by what people do in his name.  

It made me wonder, how do we make sure the facts matchup between what Jesus spoke about and did in his time and the message in our place and time today. How do we play his music?

Well, maybe we make sure we have the message that most closely resembles Jesus, and not some high-jacked version.  We know from many scholars and theologians and from our own reading, that Jesus lived and worked for the poor and marginalised.  That he challenged those in power, not only the Roman Empire but also the temple and priestly institution, and called ordinary people to follow him in bringing the Kingdom of God alive in the world.  He didn’t seem too worried about sticking strictly to the rules, but focussed on love, non-violence, compassion and inclusion.  Everyone was to be part of the kingdom.  He wasn’t aiming to form a new religion, if the truth be known, but to widen the existing structures to embrace all people. He was a link, a reflection, a light, revealing the divine and connecting presence of God, and what God wants from us.

But instead we got a new religion. 

The reading today is a perfect example of a passage that has been used to restrict and exclude people, to marginalise those not included under the Christian umbrella and to negate the truth found in so many other places in our world.  This includes other religions and the secular world of science, the humanities, philosophy and psychology. Is this what Jesus intended?

Today’s reading from John begins with a passage often used in funerals, about a house with many rooms, but it is verse 6 I want to concentrate on.

To remind you, this part of the reading goes like this, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the father except through me”.

So how do we understand this part? Firstly, we must look at the whole reading, because these verses do not stand alone but form part of Jesus parting words to his disciples which began in chapter 13. 

This is the moment when Jesus and his disciples have gathered in the upper room, they have shared the last supper, he has washed their feet, and he has given a new commandment. Jesus has told them, “love one another as I have loved you, by this shall all people know that you are my disciples, if you have love for another.” 

Then we have what has been called the upper room discourse and the farewell discourses, John 14, 15, and 16.  Chapters where Jesus gives his final instructions to prepare them for life after his death.

In the reading today from Chapter 14, the conversation continues, Jesus says more about his departure and the disciples take it in turn to ask rather naïve questions.  Sounds a bit like a set up! Rev Prof. Bill Loader would say that Jesus’s final address is very important, but that John has used some creativity in presenting it.   Others like Jack Spong would say they are made up stories, to emphasise the role and purpose of Jesus for those who are to follow.  Whether Jesus actually said these words is debatable although as Bill would attest, the writer of John does draw on traditional elements that formed part of earlier stores.  But we already know that about the Gospel of John.  This book is not a biography but much more than that.  It’s a big picture gospel. And to take it literally misses the point.

So back to the reading.

In the ancient world a person’s last words were always very special, writers would take great care to ensure they contained the most important things which future generations should learn.  So, what is the writer of John trying to say with Jesus’ parting words?  Initially it is about trusting in God, in Jesus, and that there is room for us all, that this is not an exclusive house.  Yet when Thomas, who we spoke about a couple of weeks ago, shows his confusion about how to get there, to this imaginary house, Thomas is told by Jesus, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no-one comes to the father except through me”. And then Phillip continues this confusion and we hear most clearly from Jesus, “I am in the father and the father is in me.”  God works in me, God speak through me.  

We need to remember the questions are addressed to Jesus by his disciples, who will be left behind when he is gone.   How will they find guidance, comfort, how will they be reminded of what to do, how to live.  You can hear the panic, the despair in their voices. Jesus tells them, look to me.  I am the way, I will give you life and light.  I am the truth, but the truth is in you also.  The spirit is in you also. Those who believe in me, and believe the father is in me, will also do the works that I do.   In other words, those who are followers of Jesus will do the works of Jesus.  Jesus then leaves the disciples with the challenge to follow him and do even greater deeds. 

So now, how do we understand the last bit of the passage addressed to Thomas. When Jesus says “No one comes to the father except through me”. Well,  the `me` is not an individual, but the larger truth, way and life that are represented by Jesus. It’s addressed to the disciples but it speaks to us. We are to trust that Jesus reveals God to us, in his words and deeds. And if we follow as the disciples did, we can change the world.

It is not a doctrinal statement about belief or a personal ticket to heaven. Jesus is not saying that to believe in him is to be saved, and not to believe is to be damned, as though it was some magical formula, but that in him we see the spirit of God.  In Jesus we find the clearest understanding of who he and we belong to, and what God wants from us, how we are to live.  We are to find the spirit of life and love, wherever Jesus’ words and deeds are found, regardless of whether Christian claims are made or not. This is an inclusive love that binds all people together, not an exclusive claim that pulls them apart. It’s a larger truth. The bigger picture.

I feel as if Jesus came back now, he would be incredulous that the exclusive claim of  Christianity holds such patency.  Wasn’t it Jesus himself who says, further on in the reading of John, “they who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and my father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them”. 

And in other places, other words of Jesus, this message is reinforced.  Parables about ordinary people transforming themselves and their society by acting, loving, and working for peace, justice, being compassionate, generous, forgiving and inclusive. He was forever challenging the Pharisees and other so-called religious people to wake up and see what the real message was.

Jesus was inclusive, not exclusive. How did we get a religion named after him which often focusses on who’s out rather than who can we love. Sometimes it comes down to a few words in an ancient text.

Today we live in a multicultural, multi-faith world. How do we reconcile our differences and work together for the best possible world, as Lorraine Parkinson would say?  

Jesus is our window to the divine, he is our way, our truth, our life, but we have to acknowledge he is not the only way.  As Desmond tutu has said, God is not a Christian.  In fact, God is bigger, wider, deeper and much more universal than that.  God has been present since the beginning of time, in all of creation, and in all places.  We somehow have to reconcile our own tradition and our own truth that we find in Jesus with the greater truth found around us.  God is moving and has been moving in the universe and in the world for a lot longer than we or even Jesus has been here.  

To illustrate this, let me tell you a story from one of my favourite writers…..

Rob Bell had an epiphany when he was the pastor of the big evangelical Mars Hill Church in America. One day he looked at an image of Gandhi on the wall, part of a larger exhibit, and someone in the church had placed a sticky note on Gandhi’s face with the message, “he’s in hell, you know”. Rob Bell stared at the sticky note and had a moment of truth.  He knew in the depths of his soul that no, Mahatma Gandhi was not in hell because he remained a Hindu for his whole life.  And Rob knew he could never again preach a gospel that could be interpreted as suggesting that such a thing was the case.  So he wrote, “Love Wins”, a book that got him on the cover of time magazine and earned him the fury of the evangelical and fundamentalist establishments of America. He now travels across America speaking and writing of the inclusive compassionate loving ways of Christ.

Why was he in such trouble? Well, he had the audacity to suggest it is the way of living, the seeking of justice and peace that was more important than doctrines or dogmas about Jesus. Spiritual leaders like Gandhi have come closer to the Jesus truth, the Jesus way and the Jesus life than most Christians living today or who have ever lived. 

So, let us be open and remember, as Paul Tillich puts it, `the particularity of Jesus` life and message points to the universality of God`s love and presence in the world. Not by shutting the door, but by opening the window.  In fact one of the great scholars of world religions Huston Smith summarises it well,  “God is defined by Jesus but it does not mean, cannot mean that God is confined by Jesus”.  If we stress the particularity of Jesus and forget the universality of God, we make Jesus into an idol and sing love songs to him, rather than follow him.

And he wants us to follow him.

Maybe then if he was to pop in for a visit, he would he sit quietly, with a smile on his face.  We can only picture that as we attempt to be Jesus followers in our world. 

Amen