Jesus
said to his disciples: “Do
not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in
me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so,
would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for
you?”
“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that
were not so, would I have told that I am going there to prepare a
place for you?”
This Eastertide, I have been thinking a
lot about how Jesus deals with people as individuals. You can see it
during his ministry, of course – far too many instances to go into
here. But what I have been thinking of specially was how he came to
people after his resurrection. I mean, you have Mary Magdalene
crying in the garden, and how lovely he is with her; then there was
the walk and chat with Cleopas and his wife on their way to Emmmaus,
when he went through the Scriptures with them to show them how the
Resurrection was foretold – and agreed to stay the night, but then
vanished after he’d broken bread at the supper-table. Then he
comes specially to Thomas when he had missed the original appearance
to all the disciples, and had trouble believing it had really
happened. And, perhaps finally, he speaks to Peter on the shore of
Lake Galilee, forgiving him for denying he knew him, and reinstating
him.
All these people needed a different touch from Jesus,
and they all got it. And that holds true for us, too. Jesus comes
to us through the Holy Spirit, but our experiences of this will all
be different. “In my Father’s house are many rooms.” Many
rooms. They will all be of different shapes and sizes, according to
our individual needs.
I wish, in a way, that the Epistle
set for today was that lovely passage from 1 Corinthians about how we
are all part of one body, but all different parts.
Today,
you see, is Vocations Sunday, when I think I’m supposed to urge you
all to offer for ordination, or something like that. Don’t worry,
I’m not going to! Although I will just say that if you do think
you are experiencing a call to offer for ordination, or indeed to
become a local preacher, worship leader, or another role in the
church, do go and talk to Rev R about it! She will be able
to tell you what your first steps should be. And, by the way, if you
think you might be feeling such a call, you haven’t gone mad! It’s
always worth exploring, even if the call turns out to be for
something quite else. I mean, look at me – I’ve been a local
preacher for over 30 years now, if you count time spent on note and
on trial. They still haven’t discovered they made a terrible
mistake….
Seriously, though, our vocation need not
necessarily be for a role within the church. Some people are called
to be teachers, or medical professionals – and, goodness knows,
given the way the Government sees fit to pay public sector workers,
it would have need to be a vocation, as you certainly wouldn’t be
in it for the money! And in other roles, that aren’t necessarily
anything to do with the church, or a profession, for that matter.
God needs Christians in any and every role, from doctor to decorator,
judge to janitor, lawyer to labourer, professor to plumber,
rat-catcher to retired, and so on. We need people to stand as local
councillors, or maybe even get more involved in politics, if that is
something that interests you. And our schoolchildren and students
need to be focussing on their studies and their play, and on finding
out who they are as beloved children of God.
From youngest
to oldest, we all have our role to play in God’s plan for this
world. We all fit in the community in our various roles. We all have
different needs, different gifts, different preferences, different
dreams.
It can be instructive, sometimes, to read how God
dealt with his prophets and leaders who really didn’t want to
answer God’s call. Moses said he was crap at public speaking, so
God gave him Aaron to be his mouthpiece. Jeremiah also said he was
hopeless at it, and anyway, he was far too young for anybody to take
him seriously. He needed God’s reassurance that “I am with you,
and I will protect you,” plus a special touch from God, a special
gift of the Holy Spirit, if you like, for him to be able to
speak.
Isaiah, too, was horrified when he saw God’s
glory in the Temple and realised that God was calling him to be a
prophet. “Oh, no! I will be destroyed. I am not pure enough to
speak to God, and I live among people who are not pure enough to
speak to him. But I have seen the King, the Lord All-Powerful.”
And he needed a cleansing touch from an angel before he could say
“Here I am, send me!” to God.
Three different men,
with very similar concerns – they simply weren’t good enough for
God to use them. And God basically said “Rubbish!” and gave them
the reassurance they needed that they could, indeed, do the work to
which they were being called.
And it’s the same for us.
No matter what we are being called to do – and don’t forget that
most of us, probably, indeed, all of us, are doing exactly what we
are meant to be doing – no matter what it is, God will enable
us.
Whether we are called to actively preach the Good
News, or whether we are being asked to pray quietly at home, we will
be given the gifts we need to do so. All our gifts are given to us
as individuals, and, of course, God isn’t stingy! In fact, given
half a chance, God would give us far more than we are able to cope
with.
We are, after all, God’s children, not his
servants! Jesus reminds us, also in our Gospel passage, that nobody
can come to the Father except through him. There may be – there
are – other paths to God, but only Christians can know God as
Father. And Jesus reminds us that earthly fathers don’t – or
most don’t, we see exceptions in our newspapers all the time –
give bad things to their children; they don’t give a stone instead
of bread, or scorpions instead of fish. “If
you, then,” Jesus concludes, “though you are evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in
heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
How much
more! More than we can ask, or even imagine.
God deals
with us, then, as individuals – but, of course, we are part of a
community, of a family, and our gifts and calling will reflect that.
We are all one body, with many parts. We are, as our first reading
reminded us, “a
chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special
possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you
out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Yesterday, of
course, was a very special day in the life of our nation, as our King
was anointed and crowned to his office. I know our late Queen felt
that God had anointed her as Queen, and this meant being Queen was
who she was, not what she did. I rather suspect our new King feels
the same way. Certainly he, like his mother before him, believes
that he has been appointed to serve the various countries of which he
is King, and has sworn an oath to that effect. The crowning and
anointing, so we were told in the service yesterday, set him apart
and consecrated him for the service of his people.
There
is, of course, only one King. But we are all consecrated by God for
his service, as our reading from Peter’s letter reminded us: “But
you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s
special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who
called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” God does not
call without enabling. Of course, that doesn’t mean our service –
whatever it may be – will always be easy and trouble-free; you know
as well as I do that it won’t be! There are always rocks along the
way – as Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But
take heart! I have overcome the world.”
And, finally,
many years ago now I knew someone who had served as a medical
missionary in Burundi. She told me once that, when she had been
getting ready to leave, she got worried, as she was so looking
forward to going she started to wonder whether it was really God
calling her to go there, or whether it was just what she herself
wanted. And when she took this worry to her advisor, she was told,
“Why on earth would God call you to do something you would hate?
You wouldn’t do a great job if you were unhappy all the time, quite
apart from anything else. And the God who loves you gives good gifts
to all His children!”
It won’t always be easy.
Often we will wonder whether we’re on the right track or not.
Often we will wonder why so-and-so is called to be a worship leader
and we aren’t, or vice versa. But “In my Father’s house are
many rooms,” and each and every one of those rooms has been
specially designed. There is one for you, and there is one for me!
Amen.
