John 14.15-23                27 April 2008

Ann Lock

The last 2 weeks we’ve had terrific sermons from Cheryl and Beryl.

Cheryl talked about God who is our shepherd, the one who guides, protects, gives good things in abundance. And who, in Jesus, seeks out the lost one by name.

She also talked about our call to shepherd others; to nurture, protect, care for each other in such a way that we are touched personally, knowing the name of those we shepherd.

Last week, Beryl spoke about the many rooms, the resting places that the Father has prepared for us, enough for everyone to find a home in God. And the call to us to be home makers for others, to be a rainbow community which welcomes, respects and includes all.

In God we are shepherded

We are called to shepherd others.

In God we find a home

We are called to be a home in God for others.

To shepherd someone who is smelly and dirty because they have no home to shower in; to make a home in God for someone who the world knows as a ‘sinner’ because they work in a brothel can be challenging.  It can be hard to love the so called unlovable.

Now today we hear more words about love, keeping commandments, living in God, and God being in us.

As I write this I’ve just received an email from someone saying he has no idea what this passage is about! I replied that I’m confused too by the way the words go around in circles and so my head does too, but it’s pretty special stuff if it would just stop still enough for us to get a handle on it.

It’s this overwhelming repetition of the words of love, the promise of the Spirit, and the unity of being one which is the special message for us.

Words which are soothing and pleasant, if a little head bewildering! 

Remember those pastel coloured paintings of Jesus we sometimes see, a smiling, long curly haired white man dressed in a nightie. Paintings which make Jesus seem meek and mild when we know he was really a tough, freedom fighter who was executed for his rebellious life.

Let’s rescue the words of this passage from pastel coloured  ‘niceness’ and hear the power of what Jesus is saying. 

This has been a week of memorials for those who have been to war; who have made the sacrifice of giving their lives fighting on this country’s behalf.

On Thursday, more than 66 years after the ship HMAS Sydney disappeared without trace off the coast of Fremantle in WA, more than 1000 people attended a service in Sydney to remember the 645 sailors on Sydney and 60 from Kormoran who died in the battle which sunk both ships.

The other big memorial this week has been ANZAC Day, remembering a battle at Gallipoli in Turkey during WW1. A battle that lasted 8 months and caused the death of 130,000 people; far more Turkish than Allied people died and were injured. 

If you were listening to the radio on Friday you would have heard people telling lots of stories, ‘warries’.  Stories of horror, stories of fear, courage, of hatred, hostility - of being amongst the swirling, churning place of hostility. Stories of a frantic urge for survival which makes a person do things they loath themselves for, for the rest of their lives.  And accounts of how young most of the people were; 18 years old, some even 16.

These people have become some of our nation’s heroes, acknowledged with virtues of old fashioned words like valour and steadfastness.

War is a desperately awful and frightening thing. The time that Jesus lived was just as gruesome as the wars that we know.  Living under an oppressive occupying force evoked the same gut churning fear and hostility for people then as now.

The friends of Jesus, the disciples, were probably feeling as terrified as those who told ‘warries’ this week.  Imagine them huddled together the night before he was arrested, washing feet and sharing a last meal, knowing the swirling, churning forces of hostility were closing in on them, plotting to kill Jesus.

Putting ourselves in this place and listening again to the words of Jesus their power will leap into life, losing the sentimental gloss they are sometimes wrapped up in.

They are strong, passionate words spoken by Jesus in a desperate time.

‘I will ask the Father to give you another advocate to be with you forever.

I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.

I will love those who love me

My father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them.’

Love is the theme of Jesus’ words. The gift of the Spirit, the paraclete, is the promise

And intimate unity, between the Father, Jesus, the Spirit and the believer is the emphasis which we are drawn to again and again: I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

We can add now to the sermons of Cheryl and Beryl:

In God we are shepherded

We are called to shepherd others.

In God we find a home

We are called to be a home maker in God for others.

In God we are loved,

We are called to keep God’s commandment of loving one another.

To help us do this, to love the not so easy to love, including our enemies in war, we have the promise of the paraclete, the Spirit of Truth.

The Paraclete is not a little yellow bird. Paraclete is not those things on the bottom of football and bike shoes.

It is one of those words that it’s hard to translate into English as it has a few shades of meaning; we don’t want to lose any of them by just sticking to one.

It’s a Greek word describing some of the nature of the Holy Spirit. It is only used 5 times; 4 in Ch. 14, 15 and once in 1 John.

It means summoned, called to one's side, especially being called to one's aid.

It is one who pleads another's cause, an advocate, an intercessor.

In its widest sense it is a helper, comforter and a counsellor, one who teaches and guides.

Its limited use in these chapters gives it special significance when the world is swirling, churning around us. The gift of the paraclete is from God; made in love, to be with us always and forever, to abide with us.

With this love and gift we are made whole, living in the Father, as Jesus lives in the Father, and in us. These confusing words! Words which hold a precious pearl of truth if we can let our head be still and listen. 

We know about the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but in these words there is another aspect. One commentator called it the Quadtrinity, those who love God are also included in this 4 way relationship. I don’t think the Trinity is wrong and that it should be 4 in 1 instead of 3 in 1, but there is a place for us as believers to be included in the relationship of mutual community we see in the Trinity. We are not observers from the side but fully involved, we are ‘in’ this relationship intimately not just imitating it.

This is where we are when we shepherd those who come to our church seeking a home, when we create a home for asylum seekers in partnership with others, and when we build a home here which is a welcoming haven and a hub for our community life.

We don’t have to be war heroes sacrificing lives to show our love. Often Anzac Day is described as the event which made Australia as a nation, shaping our character with the attributes if the diggers. 

The Age columnist, Hugh Mackay, wrote yesterday that our character is not just defined by our leaders, film stars and war heroes but by caring for others. It is crafted by those who do the tedious, sacrificial and often unnoticed work of looking after a severely disabled child, a parent with dementia or a dying relative. Who we are as a nation is defined by how we care for others.  This is even more so for our identity as Christians.

As we love God, we will keep God’s commandments with the help of the paraclete who comes because we are loved by God.   This is our call.

Because Jesus helped us understand the great truths of God’s kingdom with stories of everyday things like mustard seeds and lamps, here is a story that might help us get our heads around confusing things.

You might have heard about hospitals which use dogs to help patients. This is a story about a patient called Hazel and a dog called Blacky, a great big shaggy white dog.

Since Hazel had been moved into Intensive Care, she had barely moved, or even opened her eyes. Her nurse decided to call in a member of the patient pet- partner scheme.

Blacky arrived and crawled right up on Hazel's hospital bed and snuggled in beside her. She lay beside her patient, nuzzling her warm and furry body in next to Hazel, who hadn't moved a muscle for days. As the nurses watched they saw a movement; Hazel's hand came alive. It wasn't long until her hand was moving toward the dog and she began to stroke its fur. Within minutes she was smiling and talking, calling the huge dog her friend.

The point of this story? Perhaps we should try a little harder to be Godly and dogly in our daily lives. We know what this would look like from today’s text:"If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (14:15). We know that we would receive the Paraclete’s comforting and reassuring presence.

If we were to have the kind of ministry in our church and families that pet partners have in hospitals, what might that look like?

Here are a few things that we can learn from dogs:

· Greet loved ones with wagging tail. Nothing is more important than feeling loved, and there's no animal that welcomes us home better than a dog.

· Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. You know how dogs eat: slobber flying everywhere, and licking the dish clean until every last scent of gravy is gone. Breaking bread together is holy, it breaks down barriers and renews friendships. So, eat with gusto.

· Be loyal. Loyalty is a good thing, and if your dog is nothing else, she is loyal to fault. Loyalty shows our relationship with others; our family, our vocation, our community and our friends.

· If someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle gently. We all have bad days. That's why we need encouragement and affirmation. When we are depressed, we know that it takes only a quiet word, a gentle touch to bring us around. Words are not always needed, or even helpful, to convey empathy. A gentle nuzzle will do.

· No matter how badly you get into trouble, don't sulk, run back and make friends, assume the best. Carrying grudges makes life drudgery.

· Avoid biting when a simple growl will do. We do not need to injure others by what we say or do. We can be strong with love; firm with kindness.

· Bark with your friends. Barking is an act of commonality. Barking says we belong in this together. We are one.

In the three years the disciples travelled with Jesus, they learned about love, about faith, about affirmation, about friendship, about ministry, about eating together, about acceptance, about patience and humility. Now, as Jesus prepares to leave them, he reminds them of what is truly important. Love, the gift of the paraclete and unity with triune God.

Maybe God put dogs on earth to remind us of some important truths, for on one level dogs seem very human. And much more Christlike. They are consistently more humble, more loving, more grateful, more joyful, more kindhearted, and so on. Which should compel us to vow - if not to bow wow: I will learn from my dog how to love others.
Amen.