John 14:1-14 (Easter 5A)
St. John, Galveston 5/3/26
Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

    Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And then later, in verse 6 of this morning’s Gospel reading, He said, “I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life.” These are the words for this morning’s message, but especially a small part of those last words of Jesus, “I am the Way.”

    Today is a bit of an extraordinary day for us here at St. John’s, in that, very shortly, we will be receiving into membership fourteen new members. Nine will be received by way of the Rite of Confirmation. Five will be received by transfer from other LCMS congregations. We give thanks to God that He has so blessed us with these new members, who will, as our brothers and sisters in Christ, walk with us the road of faith in Christ Jesus that God has set before us.

    The confirmands have finished a course of study in the Bible and in Luther’s Small Catechism in order to profess their faith today before the Congregation. When we began confirmation instruction, I told the group the same thing I’ve told others in years past. Confirmation isn’t about learning a bunch of information. It isn’t about memorizing facts, such as names and dates, and the like. Rather, it’s about each person being formed in the faith that God gave them in His Son, Jesus Christ, so that we learn to filter everything in our lives, whether world events, or personal matters, through Christ and Him crucified and risen for our life and salvation. As it says in the Book of Acts, “it is in Christ that we live and move and have our very being.”

    We all have a road to walk in life, from where we are right now, to where we will be in glory. There are as many different paths, or roads that a person can walk. Still, there are some common experiences we face along the way. For instance, we all experience times of great joy, as well as great sorrow in life. As you might expect, it is in the sorrows, the tribulations and heartaches, that we sometimes find it difficult to reconcile our struggles with God’s mercy and lovingkindness.

    No one, I suspect, wonders if they are on the right road in life during times of great joy. In times of sorrow though, as we face life’s tribulations and heartaches, we are apt to wonder if we are on the right road. As a Christian, we are also apt to wonder what God intends when He allows us to face tribulations and heartaches.

    The right road for our lives is the first question to address. Now, I’m not talking here about our vocation, in other words, what career or calling we should pursue in our lives. When it comes to that sort of path or road in life, God works with us and through us, such that He provides many opportunities and many different ways for us to be a useful member of society. And the wonderful thing about it is that, as the children of God, all of our various callings are holy and pleasing in the sight of God, primarily because they afford us the opportunity to love and serve our neighbor. Which is to say, our callings are not purely secular or purely spiritual. Rather, we exercise our faith in whatever station God has placed us in life. And so, as Martin Luther once said, “a shoemaker doesn’t need to put little crosses on the shoes that he makes in order for his work to be holy and pleasing to God. No, he simply needs to make the best shoes he can.”

    There is more to being on the right road in life though than the various vocations to which you have been called by God. Another aspect of the road you walk in life is what Jesus refers to here in John 14 when He says, “I am the Way.” It’s worth noting that the word Jesus uses when says, “I am the Way,” is the word hodos, which literally means a path, or a road. Literally then, Jesus says, “I am the path, or road, the Truth and the Life.”  

    It’s also important to note that Jesus says, “I am THE path, or THE road.” Which, of course, means that He isn’t one path among many, which is a common belief of so many people in the world today. Jesus isn’t one path among many. No, He is the only path. Therefore, He says later, “no one comes to the Father, but by Me.” 
    
    Long ago our relationship with God was shattered by the Fall of Adam. It was an earth shattering and cataclysmic event that plunged humanity into an adversarial relationship with God.

    Jesus says, “I am the Way, the path.” In and through Christ you are restored to what God created you to be, that is, in fellowship with Him and with Him on YOUR SIDE. Indeed, “if God is for us, then who can be against us?”  

    Still, the question remains, what does God intend by allowing the tribulations and heartaches we face in life? Well, we get the answer to that question in several places in the New Testament. In Romans 5, for instance, we’re told that our tribulations and heartaches are character building.                 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with         
    God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained     
    access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in 
    hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our 
    sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance 
    produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not 
    put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts 
    through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” 
Character and hope then are byproducts of our tribulations and a heartaches. That’s a tough one though for us, isn't it? Sometimes we might even think, “God, I’d like a little more joy and a little less character in my life.”
    
    There is something else though that God does through tribulations and heartaches. Jesus, we are told, is the “author and the finisher, or the perfecter, of your faith.” In other words, your faith, it’s strength, it’s vitality, it’s sincerity, it’s ability to hold on to Christ to the day of His coming, is in God’s hands, not yours.  

    In 1 Peter, the apostle wrote about the various trials that afflict us and why God allows them in our lives. In chapter 1, he wrote, “(God) has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

    Which is to say that God is at work in your life, even in tribulations and heartaches, forging something beautiful, something resilient and meaningful out of a caldron of fire. “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”

    “I am the Way (Jesus says), the path, the road.” In Him you have been reconciled to God. In Him your faith is secure and enduring. In Him even the caldron of fire is beneficial and salutary.

“Praise, all you people, the name so holy
Of Him who does such wondrous things!
All that has being, to praise Him solely,
With happy heart its amen sings.
Children of God, with angel host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost!
Alleluia!”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +