Lectionary Meditation: As you live

A short meditation this week. I've been a little busy with things like seminary applications and the GRE.

John 14:15-21

15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

18 "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."

I thought I was going to talk to you today about commandments.  When I first read the Gospel for this week that first line seemed a wonderful place to start.  It allows us to talk about love, and Christ's command that we love one another.  It seemed like a much needed message in a week when I read about bombings, shootings, thwarted bombings, and accidents.  But as I sat with the text preparing to write I heard another voice; and all because I misread a line.

'In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.'

You see I sat reading the Gospel and I saw the words "because you live, I also will live."  It's an easy inversion for the eyes to make.  But it struck me deeply.  "because I live, you live.  because you live, I live."  And I thought, is this not truly Jesus' commandment for us?

Do our lives tell the Gospel story?  Do our lives give Christ flesh and blood today?  Does Christ live in us?  Those are big questions, they could be a frightening burden. They could be something we can never hope to live up to.

I have a story for you. It's a story about me, and it's not one I'm proud of.  A few weeks ago I got rear ended and my car spent a few days in the body shop.  The body shop was a few miles from my office so when the car was ready I headed across town after work eager to pick it up. Instead of taking the highway I decided to cut across on surface streets.  Between one light and the next the neighborhood changed from shiny new office buildings and streets filled with BMWs and Audis to old houses with winter shabby yards and cheaper, older cars.  There were people walking with shopping bags, and sitting on porches.  There were a couple boarded up houses, and bars on all the store windows.  My urban instincts told me this was an "iffy" neighborhood!

My heart rate went up a little and I suddenly wished I'd taken the express way.  I checked to make sure the doors were locked.  I wanted out of there!  I reacted with fear and distress to people because they looked different, dressed differently, had less.  I made snap judgements about my safety based on the neighborhood around me.  I'm not proud of it, and my heart was not Christ-like in those worried minutes. 

But then I saw up ahead a familiar sign, a blue and white and red shield.   You all know the one, there's one outside our church as well.  I immediately felt safer, more at home, my worry settled down and I was able to look around more clearly.  I was able to see my own reaction, and how unreasonable it was, and I was able to ask forgiveness and continue on my journey calmly.

Fear features often in the Gospel.   Jesus tells his disciples not to be afraid, angels tell Mary and the shepherds not to fear.  Fear features often because fear is something we all experience.  We all know what it is to feel alone, lost, foreign, and afraid.  Even church can cause fear.  Some of us grew up in churches that preached a pretty fearful message of damnation for many. Every evening when we turn on the news the fact that our world is not as God intended becomes painfully obvious, doesn't it?  And we sit perhaps, feeling small and helpless.  How can we be Christ to billions of people who are starving, suffering, and dying?  The fear of failure can stop us before we've even begun.

It would be one thing for Jesus to tell us yet again not to be afraid but it wouldn't help.  We'd still feel that fear.  So Jesus does more.  Knowing our fear and loneliness, Jesus gives us what I think may be the most reassuring words of scripture.  

Jesus promises that we are never alone.  The Spirit is with us as our guide, our protector, and our Advocate.  Jesus tells his disciples, and us, that we never need feel alone again because: 'he abides with you, and he will be in you.'  Does that mean we'll never feel afraid or unequal to the task before us?  Hardly!  Just as I felt overcome by irrational fear we will all find ourselves in places where we are afraid.

But in those places when we are afraid we can remember Jesus' promise.  God is with us, as our Advocate.  I looked up advocate in my dictionary because I often like to see where our words come from and what is their root.  Advocate is from the Latin word advocare which means "call (to one's aid)"  God is with us, dwelling among and within us, always.  And when fear overshadows us we need only to call.  This is Jesus' promise to us.  That God is always with us.  Without that promise, without that knowledge we could never hope to live as Christ commands.  We could never hope to live, so that he might live through us.  We could never hope to make even the smallest dent in the overwhelming need around us.

But we have that promise. As Christ lives, so we live.  And Christ does live in each of us, today, tomorrow, and for all time.  Amen.  Alleluia!