WEAVING TOGETHER JESUS
Psalm 148
JOHN 13: 31-35
May 18, 2025
It was in that Upper Room in the city of Jerusalem that the story of our Savior became evident to His disciples … at least in retrospect based on what they later shared about their Jesus experiences with the Gospel writers. They told the historians what had happened … what was said in the midst of the traditional Seder meal of the Passover celebration of their faith during a week we now refer to as Holy Week.
You do remember this year’s Holy Week, right? Just a few days ago. The children entered this sanctuary from over there … they marched up and down the aisles waving palms. Perhaps you too waved your palms in praise of God or at least out of habit. We marched to close the service … Maundy Thursday arrived with the reenactment of the meal and the Garden arrest and then Friday’s powerful Tenebrae service taking us into the darkness that evil powers seem comfortable in throughout history … Easter Sunrise in the park … a friend has taken my photo from that morning as the sun rose and made it into a wall hanging because there was something about the flowers and the sun peaking through the trees as we shouted HE IS RISEN <<He is Risen Indeed>> and then the Easter’s celebrations right here at St. Paul’s, you remember them, right? My sermon that day began with “Happy Easter … Joy to the World, the Lord has come …”.
You do remember this year’s Holy season, right? You are focused on continuing to connect the dots of your faith to complete the puzzle of your relationship with Jesus Christ … weaving Jesus into your life is essential to you …. Right? Knowing just how short life can be … our need as humans loved by God to connect with God as believers who have hope of eternal life with God.
Well after that first Holy Week … after the following 40 days until Jesus ascended back to God in heaven … the disciples started to pull together their relationship with the Messiah. They started to reflect on their journey with Him. We don’t know if any kept journals other than in their heads, but they knew what they had seen. They knew HIM!
Perhaps some understood the complete realities of our Savior before Jesus ascended into heaven … but I am sure that the others who shared their experiences with the Gospel writers needed the Resurrection that Ascension into heaven when Jesus declared that people of faith are to “go and make disciples of ALL nations AND teaching them to OBEY EVERYTHING I have commanded you” to put it all together.
That is what we all are doing, right? We have weaved together Jesus and understand that we are to share His story … and to let others know what Jesus told us to do in this life? That is part of faith, right? That is a key element of the works James refers to when he wrote faith without works is dead. Part of who we are as Christians … pick up the fallen and the hurting just like that runner did in this morning’s video … carrying the burdens of those who struggle … actually adopting the Good Samaritan’s lesson from Luke chapter 10 into our lives.
After the frightening moments of Jesus’ arrest in the peace-filled garden, the horror of that Friday … after the unease of the Saturday wondering if the authorities were going to arrest them next … after the moment when those women of faith came rushing to their locked room to declare HE IS RISEN <<He is Risen Indeed>> … those disciples remembered Jesus coming into their presence declaring “peace be with you” when they were frightened at seeing their teacher whom they thought had died amongst them.
In retrospect, those disciples and others were ready to weave together the reality of Jesus and to share His story and thankfully with those whose recorded words provide each of us the answers to our hope … our life direction … and our salvation and eternal life with God. The miracles, Jesus standing true to God’s Word … his caring for the poor … and His messages of salvation. All of us merely have to open our phones to read those Gospel lessons of faith.
And, the disciples shared the words of Jesus or perhaps John just remembered the words that we heard in today’s Gospel … a reality from the Upper Room after Judas had departed to complete his conspiracy against the Son of God. Jesus said, “You will look for me! Where I am going you can’t come.”
Friends, in this world of challenges … in this world of stresses and sadness and yes, in this world that can bring happiness and joy … are you actively LOOKING FOR Jesus Christ as a priority in your life? While we walk and talk and breathe in the air of this planet we cannot go where Jesus is but the hope and promise of our faith is that in the scheme of eternity we will have the opportunity to be face-to-face with Jesus and then we can discover our answer to that song of faith’s questions … “[1]what will it be like when I walk by your side surrounded by Your glory. Will I dance for you Jesus? Or in awe of You be still? Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing hallelujah? Will I be able to speak at all?” Do you imagine those moments that will occur when your short journey of life is over … when that day comes and you actually have to face God and Christ?
In his book, ‘[2]The Unexpected Teachings of Jesus,’ John Coleman writes, “Jesus teachings hit us —gently most of the time — from a direction we hadn’t been looking. His teaching nudges us to revise our takes on some issues about which we may be too content and settled and in so doing, to adjust our vision of Jesus and the life to which he calls us.”
And, friends in this life we are living today … perhaps we can refocus on the video that started our service. Are we willing to give up our direction in life in order to adopt the call of God through Jesus Christ? In this life are you getting closer and closer to God as the psalmist reflected in today’s reading … so close to the Lord that your breaths exhaling include praises for God … young men and young women together with those who are old … the call of faith is clear, “Let all of these praise the Lord’s name because only God’s name is high over all!”
The late Pope Francis frequently offered the world a glimpse into Jesus Christ’s teaching with a special humble manner that one would have hoped could have nudged us into a better place. When he stopped to embrace the man along the roadside with a disfiguring disease that had most people turning away from … when he shared the story of God’s love with the little boy whose father had just died and who told the Pope that his father was an atheist. Francis’ rejection of a celebration of wealth in order to embrace and do what he could to care for the poor and the immigrant … Francis said, “The future does have a name and it’s name is hope. A tiny flicker of light that feeds into hope is enough to shatter the shield of darkness. Hope is the humble seed of life that with time will grow into a tree. Hope is the virtue of the heart that does not lock itself into darkness. Hope is the door that opens the future. Hope is able to see tomorrow and it can do so much. A single individual is enough for hope to exist. And, the individuals can be you.”
We have sung together many times … “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name. ON CHRIST THE SOLID ROCK I STAND … “ Church what is the next line? (All other ground is sinking sand) All other ground is sinking sand.”
When we weave together the reality of Jesus into our very souls we will experience something that is hard to explain to those who don’t believe. A peace that goes beyond human understanding … a desire to do what God calls us to do even in the face of challenges from loud voices that absolutely contradict the Scriptures from start to finish yet are popular amongst friends and family.
The truth is … we are called to be the church of Jesus Christ, which offers the world hope and love. It should not be surprising to any of us who have opened our Bibles from the Torah which clearly teaches the lessons of relating to our neighbors to the moment we heard from today’s Gospel, which clearly Jesus and God intended to have a direct impact on people of faith. In Leviticus chapter 19 God commands God’s followers to “love your neighbor as yourself” and here in John’s Gospel we hear Jesus declaring, “I give you a new commandment. Love each other. JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, so you also must love each other. THIS IS HOW EVERYONE will know that you are MY DISCIPLES WHEN YOU LOVE EACH OTHER!”
Could not be more clear … when you weave Jesus into your life the essential element that offers you hope but also all whom you encounter hope comes down to LOVING ALL of our neighbors as Jesus loved. You can’t express racist opinions and meet this requirement of the Lord … you can’t express hate for individuals from different nations, cultures or religions and still love as Jesus loved because if you know Jesus … if Jesus is in your heart then you know that you are called be that one individual who offers hope to the lost … love to the hurting … you might be the person folks wonder about who lifts the hurting up and carries them on your shoulder to the finish line.
This morning a friend sent me a video featuring Deptford Township’s poet emeritus, Patti Smith. Her words are fitting for today … “Life is a package deal … I have every day … something new … I just think that we have to be grateful for the small things … having our breath and start with that every day. We are going to have some rough things in life … I am so happy to be here. I think I have another day to make change …”
Friends … make sure you have changed and are weaving Jesus Christ into your world allowing yourself to be a beacon of hope to those whose paths you cross. Lift up the broken, embrace the hurting and show love to every single person rejecting calls to divide and instead strive to make disciples for Jesus Christ through love. AMEN
[1] I Can Only Imagine written by Bart Millard copyright MercyMe
[2] ‘The Unexpected Teachings of Jesus’ by John Coleman published by Jossey-Bass