(A sermon for John 14:23-29 Presented at Christ Christ, Bordentown, NJ, May 24-25, 2025)

A few chapters prior to today’s Gospel, Jesus during the Last Supper tells his apostles that he’s leaving them. It is sad news for them being told that “Where I’m going, you cannot come.” I imagine this had to hurt. It had to hurt having their friend and teacher who they loved, say essentially _ “Good-bye.”

Now, unless you’re hoping for it, no one likes being told, “Good-bye”. And we don’t like the feeling of losing someone we love. It feels like_ abandonment … like being adrift on a river that’s not going your way.

The apostles wrestle with this news from Jesus, and appeal and negotiate. They cannot comprehend the situation they are living through. They can only feel the abandonment. They can only feel the hurt.

Then a few chapters later_today’s Gospel_is a continuation of the conversation, and it turns to words of faith and love.

Firstly, Jesus conveys patience, he says, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you”

Then He conveys peace by saying, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

Then He offers an other worldly gift, “I do not give to you as the world gives.”

Moreover, He says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

Because even though He is going away, He assures them, “I’m coming to you”.

So even though this sounds confusing _ he just said he was leaving them, now he’s saying he’s coming to them _ this is a message of joy. And this message of joy isn’t just in the Gospel this week. It’s in every part of today’s lectionary readings. You’ll find it in Psalm 67, and the lines from Joel, Acts, and Revelation. And today’s Collect stands out saying: “O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding”.

It can be difficult to travel from confusing thoughts of abandonment to feelings of joy. It can surpass our understanding of how we can get from one point to another. But we can, and we do.

In 2017, I experienced the death of a coworker and friend, who was older than me, and always had time to chat and provide me with the odd pearl of wisdom about work, such as “you know, they’re not paying you extra to be aggravated”. His passing left a hole at my job that never got filled.

When I attended his funeral, I didn’t know what to expect. The church, St. Matthews in Maple Glen, was packed full of people that I did not know. A small number were family members but mostly it was people who knew Dave, and from the eulogies and conversations I overheard, his passing left a hole with them too. As I drove home afterwards, I cried the entire time, feeling left alone, and confused by my own visceral reaction.

But over time, my confusing thoughts of abandonment began to sort themselves out. I eventually came to a place of joy, from realizing how lucky I was to have known him, lucky to hear how others felt the same, and astonished by how many people he touched, and how many more stories there were to tell that I will never hear.

And even though my friend is gone, I often imagine how he would apply his acerbic wit and pithiness to my current list of grievances. So in a sense, his presence is still with me. But just in another form.

The apostles struggled similarly in trying to make sense of Jesus’_ “in one way I leave you, in another way I come to you”. They would soon understand that Jesus’ presence was possible in many forms. Therefore, He was never gone in the first place. He had never abandoned them. Nor would He.

For me, I feel like today’s sermon is the third part of a dark trilogy. My last sermon was about torture. The sermon before that was about disbelief, and this one is about abandonment. However, all three were about God’s never ending, and constant presence even when there is doubt, pain, and fear.

Thus, we are never as alone as it may seem at times. On some days you may feel like you’re adrift on a river that’s not going your way. On other days you’ll recognize that all of this, this human life, surpasses our understanding, and ___everything is going to be OK.

Hopefully though on most days, you feel the presence of God, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit working through you, with you, and for you.

Because it is. All the time.

Amen.

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And here’s some music that inspired this sermon …