Acts 17:1-15
1 Peter 2:1-10
John 14:1-14
Psalm 66:1-11 or 66:1-8
In January of this year, Nicole was diagnosed with Carcinosarcoma - it's a very rare and aggressive form of cancer which has affected her bladder and has consumed most of her small intestine!
Nicole is 30 years old and she is the mother of two children - Kelsey who's 10 and Tony who is 8. She is also stepmother of two more children - McKenzie who is 6 years old and Madisen who is 3 years old. She is happily married to the man who is her best friend.
To date, Nicole has had 3 surgeries and more surgeries are anticipated. She is currently undergoing intense radiation and chemotherapy. The prognosis is not good with 6 to 7 months to live. Nichole would like to make it through Christmas.
Perhaps you have lost a loved one due to cancer or some other illness. Imagine Nicole's husband's feelings as he knows that he will be separated from Nicole by her death. Imagine the childrens' feelings especially when they realize that Mom will soon die and will not be coming back.
We are all afraid of separation. My youngest daughter, Megan, and her husband, Mark, recently moved to Austin, Texas, for Graduate School. Both my wife and I have been sad at seeing them go and living so far away from us especially since we have a very small family. When we are separated from familiar surroundings or our loved ones, we suffer.
All of us have lost a loved one- whether a parent, grandparent or a close friend to death. Nicole's husband and her parents will lose her. These are things we fear.
We know too we are going to die someday. Our hope is that we die without a lot of suffering and with some dignity. However death comes, we will die! In today's Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that he will be leaving them. They don't want to hear this because it is a very disturbing message.
Jesus speaks to their fears when he tells them: "Do not let your hearts be troubled…I go to prepare a place for you…I will come again and take you with me so that where I am, you will also be. You know the way to the place where I am going."
Thomas the Disciple is a little skeptical about this and he says - "Lord, we don't know the way…" Jesus replies -"I am the way, the truth and the life."
This response of Jesus makes many of us uncomfortable. It sounds so exclusive. It seems unfair!
Yet, there it is. God's truth results in a life worth living. Jesus is the way into that truth. There are other "truths" that compete with God's truth. Society tells us to focus on wealth, power, and material things. Some people judge us by the material things that we have. Haven't you heard "you go to church - why do you waste your time?"
However, God's truth, which has been consistently articulated from the beginning, cuts through these competing truths and calls us to a life of fulfillment - a transformational life - in which caring for the poor, the homeless, the destitute, the sick, prisoners and widows and orphans results in a different kind of life. Following a different truth results in a different life. Following God's truth, we live out the message of the Gospel to love one another!
Death ends the mortal lives of Christians. Death hurts Christians who lose those whom they love but we know there is something more beyond death.
Vic and Dee, Nicole's parents, will miss her terribly. Her children and husband will be forever affected by her death for the rest of their lives! For us as Christians who place our lives in Jesus' hands and claim him as our Lord and Savior, we know that God will take us to himself. "No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." As we die with him, so too shall we be raised from the dead with him.
Nicole has a long list of things to do and places to see before she dies. What are those things you want to do and places to see before you die? And I'm not talking about physical places or fun things. I'm talking about those works that Jesus does and in fact, greater works, miracles, that Jesus says we will do because of our belief in him.
Yes, you and I can perform miracles every day in peoples' lives by living our lives in his image and by bringing a message of hope, love and reconciliation to the many outside these walls of Our Saviour's who have either lost their way or who need support and guidance to get to it again. Won't you be a guide for and to Christ and bring those who don't know him to him? For after all he is "the way, the truth and the life." Amen.