St. John’s Lutheran Church, Toluca, IL – 6th Sunday of Easter
Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:8-20; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-24
Gospel: John 14:15-21
[Jesus said:] 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, who will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, whom the world neither sees nor knows. You know the Spirit, because the Spirit abides with you, and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.
NRSVue
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Where Love Dwells
Grace to you, beloved of God, and peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb is among the top 5 faith leaders I would love to meet. Dr. Raheb is a Christian born in Bethlehem in 1962. He was the founder and pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem from 1987 to 2017 and president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land from 2011 to 2016. The first time I heard about Pastor Raheb’s ministry was during a Bible Study at my home church led by Pastor John Sutherland, who had served in the Holy Land and got to know him.
If you ask about his nationality, Dr. Raheb will tell you he is a Palestinian. Bethlehem has been in an area of dispute since the founding of the modern Israeli State. Nonetheless, Raheb has affirmed that if a DNA were run on him, it would probably show a line to King David, and who knows, maybe Joseph, husband of Mary, whose ancestry also came from the former little town.
So there we have it. What makes Dr. Raheb a fascinating figure to me is that he is a baptized Christian, born in the same city as our Savior, who identifies himself as a Palestinian, and who has an Israelite heritage. He is also a former rejected stone, who is also nothing without Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life. Nonetheless, with our Savior as the corner, Mitri Raheb, has become part of the royal priesthood of living stones, God’s beloved and holy people, chosen to build spiritual houses, called to be a light to the nations and a covenant to the people. Pastor Raheb’s ministry in the city where Jesus was born has no borders, walls, or gates.
Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem has been as vulnerable through the years as a faith community can be. It has been damaged many times due to the violent conflicts in the region. Through the decades, it has lost physical and living stones, casualties of violence and evil. Nonetheless, it has always been rebuilt, both the physical and the spiritual house, every time stronger, more resilient, loving, and hospitable.
I suspect Pastor Raheb would agree those processes are like living our baptism. In the case of Christmas Lutheran in Bethlehem, every rebuild was a testimony to the death of their old selves, so a better version could rise, so they and their neighbors could live, love, and laugh. They kept dedicating themselves to the teachings, the breaking of the bread, and the joyful sharing of their gifts. They kept doing ministry in Jesus’ name, to the glory of the Father, in a place where I suspect most would scoff at them. Over the decades, not only they survived, but they also grew.
We have a sense now why the figure of Dr. Raheb and the ministry of Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem comes to mind amid the collection of scriptures we have today. Paul’s proclamation gets mocked and rejected in Athens, a center for knowledge and wisdom during his time. Yet some believed. The psalmist lamented tough times for God’s people. Yet, they remain grateful in praising God, for they did not dwell in evil, and God answered their prayer. The early church faced many impossible trials. Yet, powered by the unending love of Christ, here we stand, forgiven by grace, made new, and still learning about what Jesus did for us and commanded us to do for one another.
It is safe to say, God’s beloved, that despite our personal challenges – we all have those, it has been said the chances are everyone we meet is struggling against something – the church of living stones had experienced, generally, unprecedented times of vitality and prosperity until a mutation happened in the RNA of a coronavirus allowing it to infect human beings. Many will rightfully say that the decline was already there. Nonetheless, none of us, as a larger faith community, have ever experienced in our lifetimes this level of spiritual hardship in our corner of the globe. The struggles of recent years were not compared to the ones of our faith ancestors and the challenges our siblings in Christ endured. Some still do.
This brings us to Jesus’ farewell speech, the 14th Chapter of John, the promise of the Spirit of Truth, and how that may have sounded to the disciples.
Remember, Jesus opened this section of his final message to his closest followers with “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Jesus himself is troubled as his hour comes. He said this much both in chapter 12 of John after the authorities begin plotting against him and again in chapter 13 in the presence of his betrayer, after their final meal, and the foot washing scene, while commanding them to love one another. As Jesus speaks to his disciples, he is living the struggle between love and fear, violence, abandonment, and condemnation, between love and evil. Perhaps here, in chapter 14, he is even more troubled because he knows what it will mean for his beloved disciples to live the risen life. Some will deny him and surrender to fear. Some will stand up to him and lose their lives.
I don’t know what God is up to in those times. Why evil gets even the chance to exist. I know it does. I know that my old sinful self, who wants to be rewarded by dedication to Christ, has a very hard time drowning when faced with the struggles of the risen life. But I also know this – and I know it because Jesus promised it to us. If we keep the word of our Savior. If we treasure and practice his commandment to love, even when it feels like nobody is there for us, then the whole God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will make a home in and with us. Love is our only weapon, and it is not a weapon at all. Love is a gift. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Bridging Faith 