Peace I leave you, my peace I give you, let nothing trouble your heart; Peace I leave you, my peace I give you; Do not be afraid.
Once again, the lectionary has done us wrong. Our passage – the one in the bulletin – begins right in the middle of one of Jesus' speeches. It's smack in the middle of the “Farewell discourse,” delivered – according to John – the night before the crucifixion. And to make matters worse, the lectionary is Jesus' answerto a question,and it doesn't even include the question. Listen to what John says: “Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?"” And by way of answer, our passage begins: Jesus says “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” Say what? There's a fundamental disconnect here, or at least there seems to be . . . Judas asks about revelation, and Jesus answers with something that sounds totally off the wall, totally beside the point, something about the word and obedience and love.
Well, if it seems a bit dense to us here, imagine how it seemed to the disciples, there in the upper room, there in the smoky twilight, lamps glowering in the gloom. Jesus knew that his hour had come and the whole world darkened for the disciples, because they could see the their light going out, they began to imagine life without the Lord. Jesus was talking to them, telling them what it would be like when he was gone, when he was no longer there in the flesh, when they could no longer tramp Galilean roads together, or talk face to face or touch him, or hear him, and they could hardly believe it. And as he washed their feet, there in the gathering darkness, he spoke of death and betrayal, and Judas Iscariot fled into the night. And he foretold much, not just Judas' betrayal but Peter's denial, three times before the cock crowed the next morning. And so the disciples sit there, eleven of them now, as night falls, and it's full of foreboding and fluttering spirits and it settles about them like a pall.
Jesus is speaking to them And he says “Those who love me will keep my commandments.” And sitting there in the gloom, they remember what he said not minutes before: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” And so they know what Jesus meant by “Those who love me will keep my commandments,” but in the same breath, in the same thought,he speaks of another, whom the father would send, another Advocate, another Helper another Intercessor. The spirit of truth and somehow, they knowthis Spirit, this Advocate because he says “he abides with you” like he's already there, already with them, right there in the room.
And yet . . . and yet, this Spirit is somehow not yet,for Jesus says he abides with you and“willbe inyou.” And somehow, they know that the commandments – that they love one another – that they keep Jesus' word – are tied somehow to this Advocate, this Spirit of God that abides with them and will be in them.
“I will not leave you orphaned” he says “I am coming to you.” Somehow, some way this Spirit is associated with Jesus just as Jesus abides with them so does the spirit; and just as the Spirit will be in them Jesus is coming to them. He has just predicted his betrayal, just predicted his doom, and the night surrounds them but he speaks words of comfort, words of hope – I will not leave you orphaned! I am coming to you! After his death, they will not be alone, for Jesus is coming to them, just as the Advocate is coming to them.
And the world will no longer see Jesus, but somehow the disciples will . . . and they will knowthat Jesus is in the father, and they are in Jesus, and Jesus is in them. And Judas – notthe Iscariot – asks what Jesus is talking about. “How is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” And his answer is “Those who love me” he says, “willkeep my word. and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” And now the disciples – then and now – begin to see . . . Jesus is talking for and aboutthe community, those who love him, those who keep his word, his commandments. And it's clear that wordand commandmentare one and the same thing, two ways of approaching the mystery of Jesus. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And the word is not Jesus' but it is from the Father who sent him – it is the word of God.
And those who keep his word, those in the community of faith, those who Paul would call “the body of Christ,” the father will love them, and Jesus says “we will come to them and make our home with them.” Not to the world, but to the believers, and like those other disciples, I'm wondering right about now who the “we” in “we will come to them” are . . .
And we're told a mystery there in the flickering light – like a ghost story told around a camp-fire – and a chill goes up our spine as he tells us they will come and make their home with us. And he tells us these things while he is still with us, But the advocate will come, The Holy Spirit who will teach us everything and will remind us of all that he has told us.
They will come, the advocate whom the father will send in his name, the advocate will come to teach us, and re-mind us and re-acquaint us, and re-invigorate us – The advocate, the holy spirit of God will come upon us, And will be in us, and we will be in that Spirit. We heard Jesus say “I am going away, and I am coming to you,” and we wonder “how can he be going away from us and coming tous? how can this be?” And he comes to us and says “Peace I leave you my peace I give to you . . . Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid . . .
And we huddle around the lanterns, at the table around the lamps, and outside the spirits flap and flutter, and these mud walls seem too thin to keep the world out, too flimsy and feeble and shaky. The world roars outside, people are plowing SUVs into each other, carnage on the highways, and there are wars and rumors of wars and somebody's killing somebody else . . .
And Jesus was killed on the cross, and he will be killed tomorrow, and we are terrified that he is not here, will not be here with us any more . . . The firelight flickers, and the darkness grows, and we hear the gentle words “I will not leave you orphaned . . ” But the world rages outside the lamplight and the winds howl and children die of starvation, minute by minute and there are bombs in backpacks, and they shoot each other in suburban schools. And our Lord Jesus . . . he has been spiked to a tree, and he will be hung up to die, and he rose again on the third day, but he's gone now, we saw him, carried up to heaven on a cloud, like some golden elevator, or rocket-ship, leaving grey and cold in his place. Darkness swirls outside, and demons howl in the night, and centurion boots sound on the flag-stones, but inside, in the lamplight, he is with us still, and he tells us “I will ask God and God will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever . . . this is the Spirit of Truth, whom that world outside cannot receive . . .”
But the homeless drift in silent purgatory around asphalt lanes, they sleep in doorways, and on steps and they bat at phantoms and spirits and they are outside us outside the flickering light, outside the dim warmth, dark ruby wine and yeast-bread, and inside, in the upper room, he is still with us, Jesus, lover of our souls, and he says these things while he is still here, before he goes up on that cloud to join the Father, to join God Almighty, and he says “in a little while, the world will no longer see me, but you all will . . . because I live, you all will live . . . you allwill know that I am in God, and you in me, and I in you. I in you.”
But the one to whom the world belongs, the ruler of this world will come, hascome, and his spoor is all around, his leavings foul the earth, and he is everywhere. he's in the gun-running, and the lay-offs, and the killings. he's in drive-bys and mass murders and corporate raids, in concentration camps, refugee camps, and slave camps, His boots sound in the courtyard outside the garden, out of range of the fire-light and the flag-stones rattle and hum, and the leather creaks and he is near. But inside the room, in that upper room there is lamp-light still, though the darkness thickens where the world's ruler presides, And Jesus tells us, gently, softly that he has no power over him, and he has no power over us, And the Advocate abides with us, and he will be in us, and he will remind us of all Jesus has said to us . . .
And the answer to Judas' question – “how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, but not to the world?” – is in that Spirit, that spirit of truth that comes to those who love God. The spirit that's in the World, but that the world sees only through a glass, darkly . . . The spirit that is Jesus and not-Jesus at the same time, that is God, and not-God at the same time . . . How is it that Jesus reveals himself to us, and not to the world? How is it that Jesus reminds us of all he has said and done and been?
Peace I leave you, my peace I give you, let nothing trouble your heart; Peace I leave you, my peace I give you; Do not be afraid. Amen.
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