Friday, May 16, 2014

John's Divine Humor



A Reflection for V Easter                      All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Southern Shores, N.C.
May 18, 2014                                      Thomas E. Wilson, Rector
Acts 7:55-60                        1 Peter 2:2-10                    John 14:1-14
John’s Divine Humor
Some years ago and for several years, this church would have an annual talent show, and a couple of us would do the “Baseball” sketch by Abbott and Costello - you know, the one that has strange names for the players at each position on the team:         


It is a comedy sketch of misunderstanding as the straight man, Abbott, tries to explain who the players are to Costello. This is part of the middle of it:
Costello: What's the guy's name on first base?
Abbott: No. What is on second.
Costello: I'm not asking you who's on second.
Abbott: Who's on first.
Costello: I don't know.
Abbott: He's on third, we're not talking about him.
Costello: Now how did I get on third base?
Abbott: Why you mentioned his name.
Costello: If I mentioned the third baseman's name, who did I say is playing third?
Abbott: No. Who's playing first.
Costello: What's on first?
Abbott: What's on second.
Costello: I don't know.
Abbott: He's on third.
Costello: There I go, back on third again!

I liken this comedy routine to what I believe is going on in today’s Gospel reading.  It helps to divorce the reading from John from the usual place we hear it read, in funerals as a warning to people that if they don’t get right with Jesus they are not going to get the keys to the penthouse being prepared for them beyond the pearly gates of heaven after Jesus introduces them to the Big Guy on the throne above the sky. What I would ask you to do is to go with me to see it as John’s comedy sketch during Jesus’ farewell, when Jesus tells the disciples things which they want to take literally and thereby miss the point.  

Jesus, in the lesson from John, is saying “Good-bye” to his disciples, and he speaks in metaphors and symbols, as he says he is going to “prepare a place for them”. Thomas, who has this unfortunate habit of being literal, wants to know the “way” to the place. Jesus answers that Jesus is the “Way to the Father”. Philip says “Show us the Father.” Jesus says, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” Let’s look at the four words that are part of the comedy sketch that I envision: “Place”, “Way”, “Father”, and “See”.
·        Place:              We want to make “place” a physical site of geography, but the way I read it, “place” means the spiritual awareness of the dimension of being in the presence of the Holy wherever we are in the this world.

·        Way:                We want to take “way” as being a path to a place, but the way I read it, “way” means the way of living one’s life, ordering one’s emotions, calming one’s mind (as Jesus says at the beginning of the lesson, “Let not your hearts be troubled”), claiming one’s shadows, forgiving one’s enemies, having compassion for the poor and passion for justice, being open to a power greater than ourselves, having a sense of wonder and awe in all creation, living one day at a time, opening one’s soul to the presence of the Risen Lord in the everyday.

·        Father:              We want to place “Father” as the Divine being on a throne above the sky. I see God as the ground of our being, the one in whose image we are made, who has placed the divine Self/ Soul/Spirit within us as our true Self/ Soul/Spirit. God is here every time I breathe. The Holy is here in the space between us. Our bodies are made to wear out and die, but our true self remains connected to everything that ever was and will be.

·        See:                  To see (or to be shown) is not an action of eyes, but a commitment to living into the Divine Vision of what life is all about. Life is not about counting the numbers of days of sheer existence, but about living as if life had a greater purpose than getting as much of whatever you can. I don’t want to confuse you, this is not about earning a bunch of merit badges so that we can earn God’s love in order to “get into heaven” when we die. Heaven is here and now when we die to chasing after things that fade away and “rust and moth consume”, and we are able to “see” the presence of God loving us and our enemies at the same time and with the same intensity, a love so great and so unearned that there is nothing that we can do which can ever keep that love away from us. Death itself is powerless to kill that love.

Jesus is preparing his disciples for his deep love of them, his courage to stand up to hatred, sure of God’s love,  his willingness to find the strengthening presence of God even when everything is going wrong, his forgiveness of his enemies, his accepting of death as not the end but as a gate to a different dimension of love. We see this in the lesson from the Acts of the Apostles for today as Stephen is able to have the vision to “see” God’s presence and to forgive his enemies as they are stoning him, as he lets go of his own fear and places his true self/soul/spirit into the heart of the Divine, the ground of all of our being. For Stephen, Jesus is the Way into his own soul and into the soul of God.

This is the “Place”, wherever and whenever we are, the “Way” is here, the “Father” is here and the “vision to see” is here. Alleluia, Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!     

This is the You Tube version           

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