God’s Home With Us
based on John 14:23-29
Rev. Karen Goltz

In today’s gospel, Jesus speaks of a home; a different kind of home than most people would think of.  First of all, what is a home?  For some, it’s a place of joy, security, comfort and love.  For others, it’s a place of sorrow, insecurity, hurt, pain and abuse.

Jesus tells his disciples and all would-be followers of his that, “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.”  These words give all faithful followers of Jesus a wonderful promise.  This special home that Jesus is referring to here provides us with everything we need in life—everything necessary to live our lives abundantly, to fulfill God’s will and purpose.

You need to understand that the culture of Palestine during this period of history placed a great deal of importance on the home and hospitality.  The home was a place of nurture, rest, retreat, growth and fellowship.  People were given adequate food and drink for their survival and physical health.  They were given a bed on which to rest after a day’s work.  They were given a place to retreat from the world with all of its endless problems and demands.  They were given a place to enjoy physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual growth and fellowship.  The home was not only a centre for the basic family unit; it was also the centre of hospitality for banquets, study, higher learning and worship.  The home, in addition to all of this, was a place of protection and amnesty for foreign travelers, refugees, and outcasts.

So when Jesus, speaking about the Father and himself, says, “We will come to them and make our home with them,” he is making a wonderful promise.  He is promising—through the power of the resurrection—to be present with us; to live with us and provide for our needs; as we journey through this life.  As we live in this world, he is dwelling with us; we are able to enjoy the close fellowship-communion with him in the same way that he enjoys close fellowship-communion with the Father.

In the midst of our limited, insecure world, Jesus is our source of true security.  He gives us small portions of eternity right now, as we journey through this life.  He feeds us with spiritual food at the communion table, and he is responsible for the physical food we enjoy every day.  He gives us rest when we are weary so that we can experience the freshness and newness of another day.  He is our centre of retreat when the world’s pain, problems and demands are closing in on us.  He provides us with countless opportunities for physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual growth and renewal.  In an often hostile and dangerous world, his hospitality is so wonderful and inviting—we are able to feast at his banquet, grow in his wisdom, knowledge, and understanding; and we are given the privilege of worshipping him.  In addition to all of this: Jesus provides protection and amnesty for foreign travelers, refugees, and outcasts—often working through us, his followers to accomplish this work.  What a marvelous promise, that Jesus and the Father have made their home with us!

Because God the Father and Jesus have made their home with us; we can hear and truly live by these words of Jesus in verse 27: “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”  One of our worst enemies is fear.  Fear incapacitates us and makes us helpless, apathetic, uncaring and unloving.  We’re afraid of ourselves—we’re afraid to succeed; we’re afraid to fail; we’re afraid to get involved; we’re afraid to love.  We’re afraid of others—especially if they belong to a different culture, race or religion.  We’re afraid of the world—there are so many changes, so many complex problems, we wonder what we could possibly do to make a significant difference.  Often we don’t want to think about the world—we’d rather build a fortress around ourselves and our own comfortable little community and put a “Keep Out” sign on the door.  We’re afraid of the unknown—who knows what the future holds?  It can’t be predicted with clarity.  We’re uneasy living by faith; we’d much rather live by sight.  If we can see it, we might be able to control it, but how can we control the work of the Spirit?  Perhaps most of all, we’re afraid of God—we may believe God exists all right, as many polls indicate; but many of us don’t really want to get too close to God.  If we get to know God real well, then we’ll have to live under his reign and truly love and obey him.  Many of us would rather be our own masters, run our own lives and love only ourselves and those others we decide are worthy of our love.  And it’s in this context, this situation, that God comes to us.  God bids us to leave all of our fears and troubles with him.  We even have a plaque here in this church near the stairs leading up to the sanctuary that reads, “This is God; I will be handling all your problems today.”  But do we really let him?  Or do we try to handle them on our own?  God wants to make a home within us and offer us a marvelous hospitality.  A life of wholeness, peace and love.

There is an alternative to living by all of our fears and troubles; we don’t have to be paralyzed by them.  The alternative is letting God make a home within our lives—a home of love, security, joy, peace, confidence and hope.  A home that makes it possible to keep God’s word by getting involved and putting our Christian faith into practice in response to what God in Christ has done for us.

God in Christ did not come to make the bad become good; God in Christ came to make the dead become alive.  For as long as we live fearfully trying to be our own masters, we are dead to all that God’s world has to offer.  But Christ left his peace with us, peace that can conquer all fear, and allow us to truly be alive in him.

Hopefully we’ll be so enthused with God’s peace and grace that it spills out over into every area of life; every encounter with others as we live each day—making a significant difference in their lives and in ours.  Amen.