Fifth Sunday of Easter
April 20, 2008
The Rev. Charles Henrickson
Living in Camp Hope (John 14:1-14)
Yesterday our Mens Club held a big fundraiser for
Camp Hope. Camp Hope is a place where disabled
veterans can come and find a little R & R, rest and
relaxation, or you could say, rest and recuperation,
rehabilitation, and recreation. Camp Hope is a place
where these men can find healing, help, and hope.
Hope. These disabled veterans need hope. These men
go off to war healthy and whole and vigorous, and they
come back wounded--physically, to be sure, but often
mentally and emotionally wounded also. Now they have
the rest of their lives to face, and they will have to
bear their disability and adjust to how that changes
their future. Yesterday we met a young man who had a
leg blown off over in Iraq. I was told that after he
got back, he became very depressed, which is only
natural. The time he spent at Camp Hope last fall,
bonding with other men who had gone through similar
things, really helped him and encouraged him. He
found renewed hope. He is finding out that there is
still something to look forward to in this life, in
spite of his war wounds.
But then we met another young man yesterday with an
obvious brain injury. I had assumed this was
sustained over in Iraq, but no, I was told he
developed a brain tumor after he got back. This is a
sobering reminder, isnt it, that even if these men
recover from their war wounds, and do find renewed
hope for their future, something else can come along
to take them down. Eventually, that something else--a
brain tumor, leukemia, heart problems, old
age--something else will, finally, take us down and do
us in. Do we have a hope that can overcome that?
Hope for the future is a wonderful thing. It lifts
our spirits and helps us to carry on. We need hope in
our life. But we need a hope that can also deal with
death. As St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, If in
Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all
people most to be pitied. This life is short and
full of trouble and will end in death for every one of
us. We need a hope that reaches beyond the grave.
How can we deal with that discouragement, death
looming before us?
The disciples were dealing with discouragement and
lack of hope as we meet them in the Holy Gospel for
today. Its a night when Jesus, their master, had
told them some troubling things. He had said to the
disciples, One of you will betray me. He told them
he was going away: Where I am going you cannot
come. Where I am going you cannot follow me now.
Obviously, this was very troubling and disconcerting
to the disciples.
So Jesus now tells them these words, to give them
hope: Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in
God; believe also in me. In my Fathers 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.
Troubled hearts. Jesus is going away. But thats not
the end of the story. Jesus calls them to faith,
faith in God, faith in Jesus himself, as the one sent
from the Father, to do the Fathers will.
Jesus speaks peace to troubled hearts by pointing his
disciples to where he is going and what he will be
doing there. He is going to his Fathers house, as he
puts it, and he is going there to prepare a place for
those who believe in him and follow him.
In my Fathers house are many rooms. Jesus had come
from the Father and now was returning home. By
speaking of his Father in this way, Jesus is affirming
his identity as the only Son of God come from heaven.
He is the eternal Word made flesh, the only Son from
the Father, full of grace and truth. Now he is
returning to his Father, having come and done his
will. He is going home to his Fathers house, but he
is not the only one who will be going there. There is
room for more. In my Fathers house are many rooms.
Many more will come.
In fact, Jesus is going there first to get the place
ready. I go to prepare a place for you, Jesus says.
For you? Yes, for you! Jesus is preparing a place
for his disciples, all those who believe in him, trust
in him, follow him. And that includes you! Jesus is
preparing a place in his Fathers house 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. OK, some more hope. Jesus is going
away, but he will come back and get us and take us to
where he is. Jesus is going to his Fathers house,
preparing a place for us, and he will bring us there,
to be with him, where he is, forever. This is the
hope Jesus gives his disciples. His going away is
really for their benefit. And, he tells them, you
know the way to where I am going.
But now this raises a host of questions. Thomas
starts: Lord, we do not know where you are going.
How can we know the way? This whole going-away
business was still troubling the disciples. It was
still shrouded in mystery for them. It would be for
us too, except we get to look at it now on this side
of what would come that night. We know where Jesus
was going that night--and the next day. That was the
night our Lord was indeed betrayed, arrested, and put
on trial. And the next morning he would be delivered
over to Pilate, condemned to death, and handed over to
be crucified. Thats where Jesus is going, and he
knows it as he speaks to his disciples. Jesus is
going to the cross, to suffer and die for them and for
you.
The way to the Fathers house runs through the cross.
Jesus came to do his Fathers will, and that will for
humanity is that Christ, the only Son of God, would
die for the sins of us all. We talk about the service
and the sacrifice of our soldiers. Well, here is the
greatest service and the greatest sacrifice ever made:
Jesus serving us and saving us with the perfect
sacrifice for our sins. Greater love hath no man
than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
That is what Christ our Savior has done for us. He
laid down his life--his holy innocent life--willingly,
so that the penalty for our rebellion against
God--death under Gods judgment--would be paid by him,
not us. Jesus falls on the grenade and takes the
death that otherwise would strike us down.
But Jesus emerges from this battle victorious, having
defeated our enemies for us. Sin, death, and the
devil, defeated, conquered by our divine Champion!
Christs resurrection on Easter morning is the proof.
And our Savior still bears in his now glorified body
the wounds by which he won our salvation--the marks in
his hands and side. Yes, the way to the Fathers
house runs through the cross.
I said we need a hope that reaches beyond the grave.
Well, the good news is, we have it! Christ Jesus our
Savior conquered the grave for us and gives us the
hope of eternal life. We rejoice in hope of the
glory of God. This hope of glory causes us to say
with St. Peter: Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he
has caused us to be born again to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead.
Now we have hope, real hope! And we rejoice in this
hope, even amid the difficulties of this life. Life
can be difficult and full of trouble. We lose a leg
or we lose a loved one. Brain injury, heart trouble,
growing old and growing weak, physical wounds,
emotional wounds, discouragement--these are the
afflictions that we face in this life. But Jesus
speaks hope to our troubled hearts: In my Fathers
house are many rooms. . . . 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.
I said earlier that Camp Hope is a place where the
wounded can come and find a little R & R, that its
a place where men can find healing, help, and hope.
This is kind of a picture of the church. This is the
place where we come and find our Redeemers R & R,
rest and recovery, rest and re-creation. Come unto
me, Jesus says, and I will give you rest. Here is
where we find healing for our souls, help in time of
need, and hope for an eternal future.
Over at Camp Hope today, they are having an open
house. If you go there you will see the temporary
lodging they have for the veterans. Its a fairly
small, old place with a few rooms. Theyve fixed it
up as best they can, but the plans are for a much
nicer place, much bigger, with many rooms. Its
something to look forward to.
This too is a picture of our life now in the church.
The church is our Camp Hope, and we are having an open
house today. The door to heaven is open today, and
whosoever will, may come. And we too are looking
forward to a place much grander and more glorious, our
home in heaven in our Fathers house. Jesus is
preparing that place for us--the way there runs
through the cross and the empty tomb--and Christ will
come again and take us to himself, that where he is we
will be also, forever.
Yes, fellow campers, the good news is, we are living
in Camp Hope!
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit
you may abound in hope.
Charles Henrickson
4749 Melissa Jo Ln
St. Louis, MO 63128
(314) 845-8811 (home)
(314) 779-8108 (cell)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
___________________________________________________________________________
'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise
noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such
gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_
_attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author, as well as
for quoting or use in a congregational setting
_with_or_without_attribution_.
Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list.
Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster.
Subscribe? Send ANY note to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe? Send ANY note to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Archive? <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/>
For more information on this or other lists offered by Confess And Teach
For Unity, you can contact the CAT 41 list administrator at:
Rev. Fr. Eric J. Stefanski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
