Sermon Title: Uncertain Trust
Text: John 14:1-14
Lectionary, Year A, Easter 5
Submitted with call to worship and introductory prayer
Author: Chris Harbin
How do we trust amid uncertainty? Well, how is it really trust if what is before us is already known and understood? Does trust really depend on understanding? Is it enough to know whom we trust?
They had never heard anything like this before. They had nothing on which to pin Jesus' words and the images he was placing before them. Oh, the words were familiar enough. They had no problem with the vocabulary. It's that Jesus was putting words together in novel ways. Jesus began with the presumption of his impending death, while the disciples had not really entertained that possibility. Jesus knew death awaited him. He also knew death was not the final reality ahead. Jesus had an understanding of life beyond death, while the society around had no such understanding or expectation.
Imagine with me that you had never heard of eternal life. Imagine you had no concept that life after death could have any meaning or significance. Imagine understanding that there could only be a shadowy existence in the realm of the dead in the Underworld. That existence would only be a meager reflection of the reality we know and in which we move. That's not an easy thing to grasp when we have been steeped in talk of heaven and hell from birth. It's probably easier to accept what so many atheists and some religious groups understand as annihilation, that death is simply the end of our existence. Being erased upon death is a simpler concept.
The first of those is where these disciples were. They understood that upon death one entered the Underworld, the realm of shadows or shades. It is this image we find in 1st Samuel 28. Saul conjures the shade of Samuel and Samuel indeed arises from this shadowy sphere of Sheol, asking why his slumber has been disturbed. When the Heb ...
Text: John 14:1-14
Lectionary, Year A, Easter 5
Submitted with call to worship and introductory prayer
Author: Chris Harbin
How do we trust amid uncertainty? Well, how is it really trust if what is before us is already known and understood? Does trust really depend on understanding? Is it enough to know whom we trust?
They had never heard anything like this before. They had nothing on which to pin Jesus' words and the images he was placing before them. Oh, the words were familiar enough. They had no problem with the vocabulary. It's that Jesus was putting words together in novel ways. Jesus began with the presumption of his impending death, while the disciples had not really entertained that possibility. Jesus knew death awaited him. He also knew death was not the final reality ahead. Jesus had an understanding of life beyond death, while the society around had no such understanding or expectation.
Imagine with me that you had never heard of eternal life. Imagine you had no concept that life after death could have any meaning or significance. Imagine understanding that there could only be a shadowy existence in the realm of the dead in the Underworld. That existence would only be a meager reflection of the reality we know and in which we move. That's not an easy thing to grasp when we have been steeped in talk of heaven and hell from birth. It's probably easier to accept what so many atheists and some religious groups understand as annihilation, that death is simply the end of our existence. Being erased upon death is a simpler concept.
The first of those is where these disciples were. They understood that upon death one entered the Underworld, the realm of shadows or shades. It is this image we find in 1st Samuel 28. Saul conjures the shade of Samuel and Samuel indeed arises from this shadowy sphere of Sheol, asking why his slumber has been disturbed. When the Heb ...
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