[Ps. 121; Jn. 14:1-6]
Spoken at a memorial service of a clergyman.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
“...I go to prepare a place for you.”
When Jesus died, he left a massive void amongst his disciples and other followers.
Not only had there been the seemingly needless and violent loss of a life, there was confusion and disappointment; after all, had he not come to restore Israel and the Hebrew nation?
The Resurrection proved to only be a short lived reunion and the disciples were devastated by the knowledge that they were seemingly going to lose Jesus again.
But the Ascension needed to happen, just as Jesus explained.
When a person dies, they leave a space behind.
Whether they were famous or known to God alone; whether they were well liked or a bit annoying; whether they were a Christian, a believer or a person of good will.
When they pass away, when they pass on they leave a space in the bigger whole.
It’s part of the mourning process to allow for that new space to be there, to have meaning.
When referring to this blank space left behind, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Lutheran pastor and martyr, wrote:
“It is wrong to say that God fills this emptiness. God in no way fills it but much more leaves it precisely unfilled and thus helps us preserve -- even in pain -- the authentic relationship.” -end quote.
“...I go to prepare a place for you.”
There’s a lot of debate and argument on what happens to a person when they die, where they end up: in Paradise, in Heaven, the afterlife, eternal bliss...the other place.
What will it look like, what will happen there, who’s in...and who’s not.
Who among you has seen the footage of the little boy asking Pope Francis if his atheist father has gone to heaven?
The Pope answered that by all accounts the man had been a good person with a good heart, and God with his fatherly heart would accept this father also.
A fantastic balancing act between doctrinal and pastoral theology.
Now to many Christians that answer is unacceptable.
If -they argue- this is true, then what about through ‘faith alone’, one of the battlecries of the Reformation?
However, faith isn’t just about the words of a Creed -however important- it’s first and foremost about trust and reliance.
Trust that when Jesus said that in the Father’s house there are many more rooms than we could imagine.
And we can rely on the promises of God...and God does not lie.
“...I go to prepare a place for you.”
On the eve of his Ascension, Jesus wanted to make sure that the disciples wouldn’t loose heart. He wanted to impress on them that once again this was not the end, that there was still much to do.
When we leave this earthly existence God promises us another place.
We won’t just fill that space, we will become that space, part of the building blocks in God’s many mansions just as we will have been part of the building blocks for the Kingdom here.
However we interpret the afterlife, Jesus will be there and we will be with him.
We will be given access to God in a more permanent way than we have now, in our prayers, in Communion, in fellowship...it will be a new way of experiencing the divine.
Death will not be the end!
Let’s not let our hearts be troubled, because there is still much to do.
Many Christians long to be with Jesus in the afterlife in such a way that they loose sight of life here and now. What will happen to them after they die almost becomes an obsession. It’s almost as if they want to skip this earthly bit and immediately move on to the glorious heavenly part.
That’s not how it works, of course: God promises us to take care of us in the next life, that doesn’t mean we should ignore what goes in the here and now.
If there are many rooms in the Father’s house than surely it is our Christian duty to prepare a place among us for the many who feel excluded, ignored, chased away, homeless.
If the Church can’t fulfil that task, the world is in a sorry state indeed.
Like many times in the Scriptures, Jesus sets an example that we are to imitate.
We can read Psalm 121 not only as Good News, we can also read it as a guide book.
God’s grace doesn’t come at a price but it does come with a call, with responsibilities.
“...I go to prepare a place for you, don’t fret, don’t stress out, it’ll be alright...and in the meantime, I ask you to prepare a place for others as well.”
And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.