WATCHWORD:
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.[a] If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?[b] 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7 If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is.[c] From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”
9 Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. 11 Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do. John 14:1-11
Meditation:
Part #1 — Not My Fault!
How do I do that? Or should I say, why do I do that? But, it’s not always me, it’s all these things that are happening all around me, Lord. It’s these stupid politicians, or the dog, or the kids, or the weather. I can find any number of things that cause my heart to be troubled. I am not to blame. I am a sea of tranquility, amid all this chaos. Then I read your word again and I see that little word ‘let’, I had somehow missed the first time or the third time through. You tell me not to let my heart be troubled.
How do I do that? Letting my heart not be troubled. All stripes of politicians get on my nerves, and I seem to think a lot about them–not good thoughts, of course. They make me angry, then I take it out on the poor dog, and scare the grandkids, and rile the wife, and my day goes right into the dumpster! Talk about letting my heart be troubled!
Isn’t that the way it goes, too often? We get distracted by a little splinter of disruption and it colors too much of what we are about, and there goes our sunny disposition and calmness.
As we read on further, we can sympathize with Thomas, wondering how to do that, or where to go. So, we look all around. What is the way out of this trouble? What is the way back to peace and calmness? Then Jesus tells us that the way to peace is through Him.
In all fairness to the disciples, Jesus had just told them some pretty shocking things. He said one of them was going to be a traitor, and all of them would deny him. Not only that, but that very night he would be leaving them. Most of these guys had been with him for more than two years, witnesses to His ministry. Many had known Him for three years, yet, He tells them all that? No wonder they were troubled.
Jesus never wants us to have life without trouble. But He promised that we could have a heart that is not troubled even when trouble enters our lives. So, when he says let not your heart be troubled, he implies that we have control over our reaction to trouble. It’Ones not the trouble that brings us down, it is our reaction to it. Think about that!
Maybe our prayer to the Lord should be, that our life goes up and down, Lord, help me to always relate in peace when confronted with the difficulties that life brings. And, Lord, we know that you are the way the truth and the life and it’s in you that we experience blessed peace. Amen.
Bulletin Board:
Time for a little Irish humor — An American tourist asks an Irishman, “Why do Scuba divers always fall backwards off their boats?” To which the Irishman replies, “Well, if they fell forwards, they’d still be in the boat.” (True)
Murphy told Quinn that his wife was driving him to drink. Quinn thinks he’s very lucky because his own wife makes him walk.
This morning’s prayer is based on Romans 8:1-11:
Life giving God, we gather in your presence to offer you thanksgiving and praise for all that you have done for us. Through the life, death and resurrection of your son, Jesus Christ, we have been set free — free from the power of sin that leads to death, free to follow the leading of your Holy Spirit, free to love you with all our heart and soul and strength, free to worship! May your Holy Spirit inspire our praise and our prayers. Open our hearts and minds to your presence among us and within us, and to the word you have for us today. To you alone, life-giving God, belongs all praise and honor and glory and blessing, now and to the end of time. Amen.
