Bethlehem Lutheran Church

We've just heard, in order, brief clips from a Hindu chant of the Vedic Scriptures, the Muslim Call to prayer, the prayer of an Orthodox Jew, and the chant of a Buddhist. Each fascinating, moving and beautiful, and each one, then, raising the question for our conversation today. A question I have been asked many times over the years: Does God play favorites? Is ours the ONLY way to God, and are these other expressions of deep faithfulness consigned literally to hell?

What do we do with the Gospel text today- where Jesus says to his disciples "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me..."? Because this text has certainly been interpreted to say just that and it has been understood by others outside our faith to say that, too. They think we say if you don't believe in Jesus, you're outside the realm of God's love- permanently!

And I have dear brothers and sisters from the Baptist tradition who believe that passionately- that's why evangelism is so important to them- there is an imperative to keep as many people from eternal separation from God as possible.

So what do we say when our unchurched friends raise this question? Goodness, what do we think when we wonder about it ourselves?

When you consider the question in the history of Christianity, we haven't even needed to move beyond our own faith, much less think about others! The Western and Eastern churches condemned each other when they split in the 10^th century. On the way to the Crusades, the Western Christian armies routinely slaughtered the people in the cities they sacked. When told that they were killing Christians as well as Moslems, one noble is said to have replied, "Kill them all, we'll let God sort them out."

The Reformation resulted in thousands of deaths, if not more- fighting between Christians over baptism, communion, church structure, the place of the Pope- you name it, and in every case, you can be sure that the thought of John 14: 6, if not the actual words were on the hearts and minds of those swinging the swords.

It is only recently, relatively speaking, that the Roman Catholic Church considered the possibility that God might- might- let in Christians of other varieties... And many of you know the old joke about the preacher dying and going to heaven, and being shown a variety of rooms- in one, Catholics are celebrating, in another Episcopalians, in another Baptists- but as the preacher and St. Peter walk through the heavenly house, there is a closed door- and St. Peter puts his finger to his lips to urge silence and tiptoes by it. After they pass it three times, the preacher finally asks, "What's the story? Why do we have to be so quiet?" And St. Peter answers, "That's the room with the Missouri Synod Lutherans, and they think they're the only ones here."

My point here, of course, is that we're exclusive enough within our own family- before we even look at what the rest of the world believes. Those folks are just further beyond the pale than the rest of us.

I wonder why we make it a "zero-sum game" in the first place- that we can be "in" only if everyone else is "out." Is that really what Jesus is saying in our Gospel reading today??? Is it intellectual assent to the fact that Jesus is Lord, or something much deeper and profound?

John 14:1-14 is one of the most moving and important passages in all of the Bible. The first part of the passage, which includes our troublesome words, verses 1- 6, is often used at funerals and memorial services, and for good reason.

Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for what is coming- his arrest, trial, crucifixion and even his resurrection from the dead. He knows they are uncertain. There is an atmosphere of heaviness in the room, and Jesus tries to comfort his disciples with a wonderful metaphor: "In my Father's house there are many dwelling places...and I am going to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am you may be also..."

But the disciples have no idea. When Jesus asks "And you know the way to the place where I am going?" Thomas, bless his heart, gives the answer we all would give. "I HAVEN'T A CLUE? HOW CAN WE KNOW THE WAY???" And Jesus responds, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me..." Jesus finishes by saying that in knowing him- in knowing Jesus, we know God.

Now get this: Philip jumps into the conversation, and essentially changes the subject: "Show us the Father..." And Jesus has to go back to square one and explain- and he finishes by saying "If you DON'T believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, believe me because of the works themselves..."

So, if you can't believe that Jesus is God, you can believe because of what Jesus did- his ministry- his teaching- his signs- the miracles. The disciples are lost in this conversation. Even though Jesus is showing them a path- THE way, Jesus' way- they don't get it!

Let me suggest to you that for the disciples, the issue is not that there are many roads, ways, if you will, to God, and that they are all equal. It is that there are none. They can't see any way. They don't see Jesus as the way either, at least not yet. And the question of hell simply isn't there at all!

Jesus keeps the promise he made to the disciples in his death and resurrection. He walks the way of every human being, experiences the death that we all face. But in his resurrection from the dead on the third day he shows the disciples- and you and me the- truth of his words, his promise, of everything he said and did, so that in everything, through the best and worst that life can bring, even through death itself, he is present with us offering His abundant life.

It is not until after Easter that the disciples finally understand what Jesus was talking about- what he was calling them to do- and it was not simply to share a set of intellectual propositions about who Jesus was and what the world had to do to "get right" with God.

It was to share the living Jesus, the difference he made in their lives. It was to answer his call to love and serve the world in his name, becoming his living Body. That's our call, as well! We are to reach out and meet the needs of the people around us, just like Jesus did, serving the poor, the outcast, and being God's voice for peace and justice in our world.

Sure we can talk about Jesus, who he is and the difference he makes. Jack Fortin, a pastor and teacher from Luther Seminary was our Leadership Retreat speaker back in the beginning of February. He urged us to be comfortable enough in our faith so that we could talk with others about it. That true ecumenical dialogue happens when we acknowledge the differences in other faith traditions, and don't try to gloss over them, and descend to "lowest common denominator" conversation.

But our words will ring much truer, and much more powerfully, both to those who have no faith tradition and to those who come from different ones, if it is in the context of serving- of caring and of loving.

Did you notice I said nothing about consigning the people who believe differently than we to hell? Or expecting that God would? That is simply not our job!

I am perfectly content to leave the question of salvation to God- and to trust that the God who created the world and all that's in it- including human beings- is capable of bringing all the world, broken as it might be, back into relationship with him. Indeed, in two of the most wonderful and powerful visions of God's new creation, one from Isaiah and the other from the Book of Revelation, BOTH use the phrase "all nations" - people from outside the family.

And so I can see God at work in the lives of others who come from other traditions, in the beauty of their rituals and music, in the ways they care for each other! I have good friends who don't know Jesus like I do, and I am perfectly comfortable saying that Jesus loves them as much as Jesus loves me, and I have no trouble entrusting them, their lives, their present and their future into his arms.

I absolutely believe their lives would be all the richer- fuller- if they shared in the relationship we claim in Jesus, knowing God's presence and the difference Jesus makes now! That's why I believe in sharing Jesus- in reaching out to others.

Dr. David Samuel, my host and boss in India, has shared with me the impact of low-caste and no-caste people learning the love of Jesus: for the first time, they know they are valuable, beloved of God, instead of beneath the gods' feet, and it gives their life meaning and significance right now- not in the distant future!

One more thing: the question posed was "Does God Play Favorites?" and we have engaged in some beginning conversation about that, especially as it relates to the question of salvation. That is where the question usually comes from.

But I must confess to you that if you read the Bible, it is abundantly clear that God does, in fact, play favorites! God chose Abraham and Sarah, God chose Isaac over Ishmael, and Jacob over Esau, Joseph over his brothers, to be the forebears of God's Chosen People, Israel.

At the foot of Mt. Sinai, after having freed the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt, after having rescued them from Pharaoh's army at the sea, God says this to them: "you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation..."

In 1^st Peter, we as Christians hear words which are close to identical to those we just heard: "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light... Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people..."

The problem is that everyone who hears those words, whether the children of Israel, or the Church, tends immediately to think of all the privilege that comes with them: WE ARE GOD'S ELECT- and you're not. WE ARE TIGHT WITH GOD- and you're not.

And that is to miss the point entirely! A priest is one who connects God with people. Our task is to share God's love with the world. Where Israel got in trouble with God, where the Pharisees got into trouble with Jesus, was when they claimed their exclusive relationship with God as one of privilege and entitlement, and tried to close the circle, instead of making it wider!

When the Church has been least effective- and furthest from God- have been those times when we claimed privilege, power and entitlement. Our privilege is a relationship with God in Christ that calls us to service. Our power is in our weakness, in our servanthood as we follow the crucified one. We can claim no entitlement: if we are beloved of God (and we are) it is because of what Jesus has done, never because of what we have done!

We are on a wonderful and fascinating journey together, my brothers and sisters. Jesus wants to use us to make a difference in our world. He wants us to be his priests, with our lives, bearing witness to God's way, truth and life- our Savior Jesus- in our homes, our families and our jobs. And as we do so, His promise is that our lives are changed, transformed, forever for the better.

The more open we are to being used, the more people in need of Jesus' love will be sent our way. Are we ready for the privilege we have as God's priests, the privilege of being used in Jesus' Name, and for his sake? Amen.