Where do you like to stay when you go on vacation? Do you seek out a luxury, 5 star, all-inclusive resort? Are you a “pack in, pack out” kind of camper? Or prefer the communal living in a hostel? Maybe you rely on the guest rooms and pull out couches of family members or friends. While some would argue that there are other things that matter more than where you stay, your lodging choice can make a big difference in how the trip goes, and we tend to have our own preferences. And so we read the reviews, hoping for reasonably priced places that will fit our list of wants. It can be a tedious process, whether you are researching the best place to park your family RV or finding the perfect beach front hotel with ocean views. In the end, we want to know what to expect, and hope to find the perfect fit for our needs to make a truly memorable trip.
In our gospel reading for this morning, Jesus is in the midst of what is known as his “Farewell Discourse” to his disciples, where he does far more than just telling them about a great trip he has planned with Mom and Dad to a cozy spot on the Sea of Galilee. The stakes of his journey are tremendous, and his explaining them to the disciples has caused understandable grief. In this passage, we hear Jesus offering words of comfort, reminders that his trip will not separate him from his disciples forever. Instead, quite the opposite will be true – they will be reunited with him. Naturally, the disciples want to know what it is going to be like, and how to get there. Thomas is the one who is bold enough to ask the question.
In response, we would expect Jesus to paint a clear picture. After all, throughout his ministry, particularly in the gospel of Matthew, he has described what the “kingdom of heaven” is like: a mustard seed, a great treasure, a generous landowner in the vineyard, a pearl. And yet, he doesn’t seem to spend much time on a list of amenities. It is as if he has already told the disciples what they need to know – it is his Father’s house, there is space for everyone, and he is preparing the way. Throughout the centuries, Christians have tried to paint a bigger, better picture of what this must mean; images of big pearly gates and a grand estate with golden roads. The Christian rock band Audio Adrenaline had a hit song in 1993, describing it as a “big, big house, with lots and lots of room, a big, big table, with lots and lots of food, a big, big yard, where we can play football!(i)” It’s natural for us to want to get a glimpse of what the Father’s house will look like, or at least to imagine some of the splendor that is to come. And, like we sometimes do with our vacation plans, we can get caught up in the lists of amenities and luxuries. We want to book our room, and secretly hope we’ll be upgraded to a penthouse suite. Our view of eternity is almost like we’re guests in God’s hotel.
When you’re a hotel guest, you view things as a customer. Things become a business transaction in which you give something to the hotel in exchange for services. If the services don’t meet your standards, you can call the front desk and complain to the manager in the hopes of some resolution. You are a consumer, free from the responsibilities you normally have at home. I remember arguing with my mother as a teenager while on vacation about whether or not it mattered if we made the bed, since someone would come and do it for us. To this day, my mom will more often than not make the bed, or at least smooth the covers back in place. Some people take this convenience to the extreme in the other direction and leave quite the mess; rock stars are stereotypically notorious for this. While I am sure that none of you would ever trash a hotel room, if we’re really honest, I imagine we don’t put too much thought into how it looks when we leave for the day, or even the trip. That’s normal for a hotel guest.
Jesus’ response to the disciples question makes it pretty clear that what he’s talking about is a bit more than a vacation reservation. He responds to Thomas not as a travel agent trying to sell the upgraded room, but as the Savior who knows what is truly at the heart of the matter. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” Jesus says. In other words, “I’ve got you covered, Thomas. Trust me, friend, it’s going to be good.” Jesus knows that the reservation will be made by his death and resurrection, that grace will cover all the costs. He knows he’s doing much more than playing travel agent. What Jesus is offering isn’t a short term vacation opportunity, or even a fantastic deal on some eternal real estate. He’s not really selling anything at all. Rather, he is inviting his friends to come and live with him. They aren’t going to be paying customers; they are going to be houseguests.
Being someone’s houseguest is very different from renting a room. Our expectations aren’t the same when staying with friends and family. We generally don’t experience a daily turndown service, mints on our pillows, or tiny bottles of shampoo and lotion. Instead, we tend to focus more on the time we get to spend with our loved ones. Things feel a bit more like home as we fall into a shared rhythm and routine together over morning cups of coffee, rocking on the front porch, local adventures and shared reminiscing. Of course, our hosts will do things to make us as comfortable as possible. They’ve probably done some cleaning up to prepare for our arrival, and show us where we can find things around the house. They say “make yourself at home,” and show us where to find extra towels and late night snacks. They may even give us their wifi password. But chances are, during our stay we aren’t that focused on the amenities or luxuries of the accommodations. They are replaced by something far more important – relationships.
This is what Jesus is really talking about in this passage: relationships. Not just in the far off future of eternity, but in the very immediate reality of the present. He reminds the disciples that through him, they are already connected to God the father. They have begun an intimate relationship with the divine host. Through Christ, they have laughed with God, dined with God, walked with God. They have witnessed God’s incredible powers to heal and reach out into the world. They have truly experienced God, not as some future being to meet, but as someone who is a part of their lives even now.
Jesus’ farewell discourse is meant to encourage them to live more deeply into that relationship with God in the present. He summarizes what that means in this passage by identifying the role of good works, not as a way to get to God (that’s already been done through Christ), but as a response to God dwelling within each of them, and as a way to glorify God in this time and this place. Theologians call this “sanctification,” the ongoing process of living holy lives that remind us of God’s presence with us and seek to praise God in all that we say and in all that we do. Jesus reminds the disciples that these works give hints of the even greater works he will do in God’s name, and will be the glimpses of what is to come. The key to this kind of living? A focus on the relationships they have with God and one another.
Hearing this passage today, we are challenged to consider what our relationship with God is most like. Do we approach it as a hotel guest with a list of desired amenities and consumer mentality, or do we approach it like we are going to visit a dear friend or family member. Chances are the answer is truthfully a little bit of both. We trend toward the consumer approach sometimes. We remember to pray more when there is something we particularly want or need. We come to church looking for what we can “get” out of our time here, ready to be served and hoping not to be disappointed by a less than stellar sermon. We think about God when it is convenient for us, which might be less often than we’d like to admit, rather than make our spiritual lives a priority. And if we’re really honest with ourselves, we’re pretty quick to complain to the management when things aren’t the way we like them. This mentality isn’t all bad. Jesus even indicates that he will provide for us in verse 14 of our scripture passage. We trust in God’s power and grace to be able to do anything, even more than what we ask. And there is certainly nothing wrong with asking God to help us or others, or to expect that our time together as a community of faith will benefit us. It absolutely should. But that’s not where our relationship with God should end.
I think we have an innate desire as human beings to connect in meaningful ways, and it’s even seen in our travel trends. All over the world, people are opening their homes to guests through programs like “AirBNB.” In one commercial, the company is presented like this. A mother juggles a tote bag full of groceries and baby bottles, trying to get them to fit into a hotel room mini-fridge, as her husband notes that every time she moves one of the original overpriced snacks, “you know they’re going to charge us for that.” Then, the scene cuts to the same family entering a home, with a room for the kids to play, and large spacious fridge big enough for an assortment of items only Mary Poppins could produce from that same bag. The mom smiles and takes a deep breath.
This travel movement accomplishes a lot of things and meets a new set of needs for travelers, but also represents in us, I think, the desire to be more connected with each other and for our travels to feel more rooted in our own realities as we try to find places that “feel like home.” It shifts the focus of our trip to the relationships we have, and even opens the doors to some new relationships, depending on whether or not the owners of the house are around. Many who have enjoyed these types of accommodations have noted the joy of shared cups of coffee as cultures are exchanged. It can be fun to engage with the host.
In God’s house, we find the best kind of host. We are welcomed with warm and open arms as beloved children who have come home. We settle into the Father’s house and are reminded of past memories. We reminisce with God about good times and bad, laughing and crying together until the wee hours of the morning. We learn more about the place we are staying, and get insider tips that make our experience more authentic, rather than falling into tourist traps with cheap thrills. We are more inclined to lend a hand preparing dinner, and might just tidy the covers a bit and hang up our towels in the morning. When we approach our faith journey more like houseguests than customers, something shifts inside of us. We realize that our time with God involves giving of ourselves, to God and to each other so that we can all grow together as a family of faith. We sing out in worship, not worrying if our voices are a bit off key. We speak up in Bible study, not worrying if our ideas about Scripture are perfectly phrased or even completely correct. We volunteer in service, not worrying about being the most qualified, just wanting to help as best as we are able. As houseguests, we have the boldness to do these things because we trust we are in a safe place with our host, who will be with us every step of the way. As God’s houseguests, we can linger in this place without worrying about a check-out time. For with God, we are home.
The invitation to us has already been made some two thousand years ago, and will extend into eternity. But we don’t have to wait to accept it. We can live as God’s houseguests now, dwelling with Christ in us today. The Father’s house can be wherever we are; the light is always on for us to come and stay. As the Psalmist reminds us, this is a good and joyful place to be! You won’t find better amenities anywhere else than God’s grace and love. So come and stay a while, there’s a place prepared for you. Let us go to the house of the Lord! Amen.
~Rev. Elizabeth Lovell Milford, July 16, 2017
[i] “Big House” by Audio Adrenaline, from their 1993 album “Don’t Censor Me”
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