a quest for truth-Theva

A quest for Truth!        John 14:1-14

Dear Friends,

Grace and peace are already ours for we belong to the family of Jesus the Christ. My sermon today is centered on the 14^th chapter of the gospel of John. And the context is this. Jesus after having been with his twelve disciples in ministry for three years is now sensing that his time has come to leave them. So he is making a final farewell speech in Bethany. Friends I will have to leave you soon and when I leave to prepare a place for you…; there is interruption. And it is from Thomas. He jumps in immediately. Are you leaving us Lord? Thomas is made up of a certain personality trait that he always wanted straightforward and concrete and specific responses to everything. We do not know where you are going then how will we know the way Master? You remember when the resurrected Jesus appeared to the disciples within the closed room, Thomas wanted a visible and tangible and concrete verification. In this context Jesus says: I AM THE WAY-IAM THE TRUTH- I AM THE LIFE. Then there is another request from the other disciple called Philip. It is going to be hard when you leave us. However can you at least give us a glimpse of God before you leave?  Show us the father, Master. Then Jesus says “Phillip”  “you have been with me for three years and yet don’t you know that the father and I are one”. It is because the father dwelt within me always, I was able to do this marvelous work of ministering to people. Philip’s question of wanting to see the father of Jesus is often our question too.

        When things go well, when we enjoy the benefits of prosperity, when our children have earned the name and fame, we have no problem in recognizing God. Only in sickness and in death, only during national calamities and personal tragedies; we blink and waver and ask where God is. This was precisely Phillip’s problem. In order to explain God to us clearly, the theologians use two different concepts.1.Trancendance 2.Immanence.Some of us have a distant vision of God; God as a far remote being, a distant reality. We are comfortable in calling God “Thee” and “Thou”, because it helps us maintain that little distance from God. This is the meaning of transcendence. Then we also have an anthropomorphic God image. It is our ability to touch and taste and feel and see God. This is what we call immanence. We need to have a good balance of both to know who our God is.  “Lord, show us the Father” is the deepest yearning for Philip. Jesus had already told them that he is the bread of life. Jesus had already told them that they need not stumble in the dark for he is the light of the world. Jesus had already assured them that they will be rescued from the dangers of life. Jesus has already promised them of their safety on this world by saying I am the gate of the sheepfold. One has to enter wherever he or she wants to go through him being our gate. Now these two persons are behaving as strangers to Jesus. Thomas and Philip are now behaving like little children who hold and cuddle the stuffed animals for safety and security whenever the parents are away from them. This is today’s text. And the rest of this sermon is a little bit of theological chit chat between you and me. What is truth? In the trial of Jesus in Pilot’s court Jesus said” Everyone who belongs to the truth, listens to my voice”, and Pilot asked as though he had never heard in his life before “What is truth?” I have heard and read of many kinds of truth. Just to name a few there is scientific truth, philosophical truth, religious truth, psychological truth and legal truth. Truth is multifaceted. A father awakened in the night and realizes that his teenage daughter’s boyfriend is still in the living room downstairs. He called down the stairs: ”Do you realize that it is 2.a.m?” “Do you think you can stay here all night?” The teenager paused for a minute and then replied “Gee I don’t know”. “I will have to call home and see”. A parent’s understanding of truth is not necessarily be that of the child’s.

       My interest in the study of Truth began at age 13.This was the time of my confirmation into the Christian faith. Our Pastor at that time gave the class a homework assignment to read through. It was the autobiography of Gandhi. I read his life story with great fascination; his birth, student days and his child marriage to Kasturba’; his university days in England and becoming a Barrister at Law, his legal practice in South Africa and his involvement in the freedom struggle of India, and his most powerful revolution led by three hundred million people fighting non-violently with a weapon called “SATAYAGRAHA” .a Sanskrit word which means a fight against injustice with a soul force called TRUTH. The title that Gandhi gave to the book was “MY EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUTH “. A quest for truth is always an experiment.  Truth to me is an experience. If you live a life focusing only on honesty and forgetting mercy you will be the cruelest person on the face of this earth. If you want to be joyful without learning to apply self-control in your life you will end up as the most miserable person on earth. Beauty without truth is ugly.  Truth without compassion is boredom. You remember the Rodney King’s trial in Los Angeles: Why can’t we get along was the question?  Truth to me is not a restrictive monologue; it is rather an expanding dialogue between persons and communities. Truth to me is to learn something from every religion, every church, and every subject and every leader. The itinerant  ministry of the United Methodists, the liberal spirit of the Presbyterians, the choral and the chanting liturgy of the Episcopalians, the confessions, penance and the absolution of the Roman Catholics, the spirit filled ecstasy of the  Pentecoastalists are all part of religious truth. How about the spirit of simplicity in Mother Teresa? How about the spirit of truth and dignity in Mahatma Gandhi? How about the spirit of justice and racial inclusiveness in Martin Luther King? How about the spirit of self-determination in Nelson Mandela? How about the spirit of commitment and sincerity in Dietrich Bonhoeffer?   Gandhi also said once we know what our common blunders are then we will be able to walk on the path of truth and justice. What are our blunders? Wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice and politics without principles. I want to wrap up my message with a word from John’s epistle. (3 John 1:4) “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth”. Amen!