Homily May 22, 2011 Easter 5 Yr. A
Well, we are still here. Or else I wouldn’t be speaking to you this morning. Most of us probably heard about the billboards in Windsor and other cities in North America which called yesterday—May 21, 2011, judgment day, the time of the end of the world predicted in Bible, according to 89 year old Christian radio talk show host Harold Camping.
Many of Camping’s tiny group of followers honestly believed his calculations of the end times, quit their jobs and sold their possessions.
Sadly this kind of speculation about the end times has been around for centuries, and always would-be predictors have set a date based on the visions of John of Patmos in the book of Revelation, and waited.
When the world has not come to an end, it has been an embarrassment not only for them, but for the Church—which has unfortunately become an object of ridicule because of a few misguided believers.
Taking the Bible literally—or in the plain sense of the words
And applying our own prejudices in seeking connections with current events is a fool’s game. Jesus teaches that we will know neither the day nor the hour, when the world as we know it will come to an end.
Therefore we are to live each day as if it were our last, loving God and loving our neighbour—and modelling our lives on Jesus.
Today’s Gospel includes a phrase which—like the visions of the end times in the book of Revelation—have been much misinterpreted.
Jesus says I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to my father, except through me.
Many have interpreted this to mean anyone who is not a Christian. Anyone who follows Islam, Judaism, Buddhism or any other faith is automatically doomed to hell—which we would see as separation from God our creator.
But there is a story I came across about Billy Graham, arguably one of the worlds greatest evangelists, who was asked about this text when he spoke to students at Harvard University.
An earnest Christian student asked a pointed question: “Since Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life, and no-one comes to the father except through me, doesn’t that mean people from other religions are going to hell?”
Dr. Graham replied: “I’m sure glad that God is the judge of people’s hearts and not me. And I trust God to decide those questions justly and mercifully.”
The student was disappointed not to have a clearcut answer and pressed further: “Well, what do you think God will decide?”
Dr. Graham responded: “Well, God doesn’t really ask my advice on these matters.”
Another questioner asked: “Well what about those who aren’t even monotheists—like the Buddhists?”
But Dr. Graham replied: “You know I have been to some Buddhist countries and so many of the people I’ve met seem to live more like Jesus than many Christians I’ve met.”
What Dr. Graham is saying is that the invitation to follow Jesus as the way, the truth and the life is not an exclusive one—it isn’t meant to limit the followers of Jesus to an elite. Instead it is meant as an open invitation to follow Jesus.
To follow Jesus means not to divide, but to include, to welcome, to care for our fellow human beings.
The theme of the Diocesan Synod which concluded on Tuesday was Astonished by Grace. Next week as part of the time, both Wendy Heasman, our delegate, and I will report on our experience of Synod.
It was inspiring to hear stories of God’s grace in the work of Anglicans throughout southwestern Ontario. It’s important for us to realize we are part of something larger.
We face the common challenge of living out our Christian faith in a secular world where the gospel and the church are often marginalized.
The way forward to us is renewal, recovering the excitement of learning our story, the story of scripture in a society where many Bibles sit on shelves, unread.
If anything the success of the church in the first two decades on my life—the 50’s and 60’s—was an aberration. It was the high water mark for Canon Davis, for most other congregations.
Yet now we have to realize that unique set of circumstances in which our congregations flourished in those two decades will never happen again and we have to seek out new patterns for our lives together.
We are not alone in facing these challenges. And there are no easy answers. But we have the assurance from Jesus, that we must not let our hearts be troubled—because indeed there are many mansions in God’s house. There is room for all.
So we can know the way, through Jesus, following his teachings. That way is the way of service, of caring, of sharing the bread and wine together, of hearing the word, of discerning how we can live out our faith.
No-one has seen God. The current fad which has seen the growth of best selling books by atheists denying God’s existence and debunking Christianity and other faiths, is a symptom of our sceptical age.
No-one has seen God. But Jesus was a real person, sent by God, whose life was mentioned by non-Christian historians, and who was crucified, died and rose again.
In Jesus, we have a doorway to God, a doorway which is the way, the truth and the life. That is something we must share with others as we live out our faith.
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