A Reconstructed Faith
John 15:1-17 (Liturgist help with sermon)
March 30, 2025
Imagine one Saturday morning, our daughter Sarah is preparing pancakes for her two children: five year old Saima and four year old Bene. The two children are hungry and begin to argue over who would get the first pancake. Always the teacher, our daughter says to the kids: “If Jesus were sitting here, what do you think Jesus would say to their sibling?” Saima says, “Jesus would say, let the other one get the first pancake.” Mom nods her head. After a lengthy silence, Saima then turns to their younger sibling: “Bene, you be Jesus.”
We can identify with Saima can’t we? We’re comfortable with someone else being Jesus. We know about folks who are like Jesus: Martin Luther King Junior, Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi, but those are gifted people. They’re not us.
We’re also good with Jesus being Jesus. We are drawn to him: our teacher, prophet, and savior. We appreciate the stories he tells, the vision he shares and the path to which he points. As disciples of Jesus, we’re comfortable with Jesus being Jesus. But Jesus is not us… or so we think.
In our Scripture today, we find out there is more to this Jesus story.
But to understand our Scripture we need to step back and see how the authors of this book are presenting a different way of looking at God and Jesus then how they were originally taught when they were young. The authors of John’s gospel have a reconstructed view of Jesus and the faith.
A year and a half ago, I did a sermon series on the reconstruction of our faith. I talked about the many ways we understand God differently than when we were younger.
Let me summarize my own journey of construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction before we hear from the author of the gospel of John tell their story.
Even though we went to church, God was never mentioned by my parents. Therefore, it seemed to me like God lived in some faraway heaven. God was distant and holy and other.
When I started high school, I had a conversion experience during a youth retreat. I started passionately following God. I joined a Church of the Nazarene youth group and learned about a different view of God and the faith. I learned I was a sinner who deserved the punishment of God. Fortunately, the price for that punishment had been paid by Jesus who was my substitute on the cross. Jesus died for my sins and in my place. Instead of God punishing me for my sins with the hell I deserved, God punished Jesus with a cruel death.
I also began to learn about the second coming of Jesus. This was something that could happen at any time. We were taught that the signs in the news showed it would be very soon. This is how it would happen: First, God would rapture or lift all the believers away from this earth up to heaven. Then after some wars, Jesus would come down from heaven and set up his kingdom on earth.
I believed all that as a youth fifty years ago. But over the years since, I’ve deconstructed and set aside those ways of understanding God and the faith. In their place, I have a reconstructed a view which centers in a God of love. I believe now in a God who is with us and in us, not above us and far away. I believe that the human Jesus revealed God’s love during his lifetime and in his death. I believe that the divine Christ has already returned to live in and through each of us.
That’s my story of the reconstruction of my faith. Now, let’s hear from one of the authors of the gospel of John.
About sixty years after Jesus was crucified, a group of Jews gathered in the Greek city of Ephesus. They were Jesus followers who felt like the disciple John best exemplified what Jesus Christ meant to them. This group believed in a more heartfelt theology of love. They called themselves the John Community of Jesus followers. This Community decided to write down the ways they experienced Jesus Christ. The book we have called The Gospel of John is the work of this group.
I’ve put together an imaginary dialogue between one of the authors of this book whom I’m calling Phoebe talking with a Christian friend visiting from Rome called Hermes. I’m playing Hermes, the friend from Rome and the liturgist is playing Phoebe, one of the authors of our Scripture.
Phoebe/liturgist: Hermes, thanks for coming over from Rome to visit. It’s been a long time since we’ve been together. What did you think of our worship service today? Weren’t the words shared by our teacher today helpful?
Hermes/Mike: Phoebe, it’s such a joy to finally spend time together in person after all these years. I’m so glad you found a group of Jesus followers here in Ephesus. But I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from your teacher today. That’s so different from what we were taught back in Rome. I heard ideas that I’ve never heard from any of the teachers in Rome, even today.
Phoebe/liturgist: My dear friend, my faith has been on a real journey over the past couple years since I joined this community. I’ve come to believe that it’s all about love. God’s love for us. God’s love revealed in Jesus and his death. And God’s love expressed through us for others. It’s all about love.
Hermes/Mike: But don’t you remember what we were taught in Rome. It’s more about sin and what to do with it. Our scriptures teach that we are sinners, just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We disobey and therefore we deserve the wrath of God which is eternal hell after this life is over. God above sent God’s Son Jesus down to earth to be the necessary sacrifice. Jesus paid the price for our sins by dying on the cross. This same Jesus went back up to heaven but will be coming back very soon to set up God’s kingdom on earth.
Phoebe/Liturgist: Thanks for summarizing everything I learned in Rome when I was growing up in the church. But we’ve come to some different ways of looking at God and Jesus and our faith.
Hermes/Mike: Tell me more. I’m interested in learning. I didn’t know there was any other way to understand our Christian faith.
Phoebe/liturgist: We’ve put our ideas together in our book called the Gospel of John. But let me summarize some of the differences from what you shared. We believe God created us in God’s image. We believe that God is not far away up in heaven. God is here. God is light. God is life. God is our bread and drink. But most of all, God is love.
Hermes/Mike: But what about Jesus. I’m especially interested in what you think his death was all about.
Phoebe/liturgist: We see Jesus expressing God’s love throughout his lifetime. Most of all, we see Jesus willing to let go of his life out of love. It’s only in giving your life away that you can love fully. Jesus was not willing to stop loving even when threatened with death. In this way, we see God’s love revealed in Jesus’ death.
Hermes/Mike: But what about Jesus’ return. We’ve always been taught that Jesus is coming back down from heaven very soon.
Phoebe/Liturgist: I know. We used to believe that around here too. We waited and we waited and we waited. But it didn’t seem like Jesus ever returned. We prayed about this greatly. “What is going on?” we asked. Then, we received an answer from God. We realized that we didn’t have to wait for him to come back. Instead, Jesus Christ already continues to live: right here, right now.
Hermes/Mike: Where is this Jesus Christ?
Phoebe/Liturgist: Jesus Christ lives in us and through us, through you and me. We live in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ lives in us. We are connected. We are all part of a vine. We are branches of the divine vine of Jesus Christ and God. God loves and lives in us and through us.
Hermes/Mike: I don’t understand. How does this happen?
Phoebe/Liturgist: Some words we use to describe this living connection between God, Jesus and us are: abide, dwell, and join. I prefer the word: abide. It has a sense of lingering. We linger in the love of Christ. These words point to how God in Jesus Christ is a part of us and we are a part of God. The same love and life that flow from God through the vine of Christ will flow into us, the branches. There is this mystical and mutual indwelling.
Hermes/Mike: There’s a term that Paul used when he was with us to describe what you’re talking about. He called us the body of Christ.
Phoebe/Liturgist: That’s it. That’s why we believe that we don’t have to wait for some second coming of Jesus Christ. Instead, we are the body of Christ: right here, right now. We are the love of God as we love others. We live by one command and one command only: love one another.
Hermes/Mike: Thank you friend for sharing your reconstructed faith and the insights of your community. I look forward to reading this gospel of John and learning more.
Mike: Like I said earlier: We’re good with Jesus being Jesus. We are drawn to him: our teacher, prophet, and savior. As disciples of Jesus, we’re comfortable with Jesus being Jesus. But Jesus is not us… or so we think.
In our Scripture today, we find out there is more to this Jesus story.
The more is this: The essence of the One whom we follow is alive here and now. Jesus Christ lives within us and among us. Jesus Christ abides in us as we abide in Jesus Christ and God’s love.
Maybe we can learn a lesson from four year old Bene, who in response to their older siblings’s desire had this to say:
“Okay, Saima. I’ll be Jesus. You can have the first pancake.”
The truth we celebrate today is this: You and I can be Jesus.
You and I can be Jesus.
May it be so…
