As part of the created order, our relationship with time is a fascinating phenomenon. While intellectually we know that every day is made up of precisely the same number of minutes and hours, we often do not experience time as a constant, evenly measured commodity. There are days that seem to race by, perhaps because we are busily engaged with someone or something that captures our imagination and passion. There are other days when time seems to crawl—days when we are waiting for a doctor's phone call or the arrival of a special event or person, and the minutes seem like hours. Our relationship with time plays out in ways that are sometimes quite profound. It is common in counseling that a client may spend 45 minutes talking all around an issue, but as the counseling hour nears the end, it is often in the final 5 or 10 minutes that the nugget of truth emerges. And, of course, words that are spoken as a person nears the end of life are words that we pay particular attention to because we consider them to be closest to the heart, words that tell us who a person is and what he or she wants to leave behind. It is exactly this type of verbal "last will and testament" that we've just heard read from John 14.

Our text this morning is part of what is often referred to as Jesus' "farewell discourse" in the Gospel of John. Jesus has made his entrance into Jerusalem; he has shared supper with his disciples and washed their feet; he has predicted both Judas' betrayal and Peter's denial of him. He knows his end is near. Jesus has only a few chances left to share with his disciples what is most dear to his heart. In this farewell discourse he begins to synthesize the purpose and meaning of his three-year ministry with this group of twelve. He is, in a sense, reminding them of what's good about the Good News, spelling out for them what they themselves have heard and seen and experienced so that they can make sense of it for themselves and then share it with others when he is gone. In particular, Jesus wants the disciples to be clear about who he is and especially about his relationship to God the Father. In the verses immediately preceding our passage, Jesus tells the disciples that he is leaving them, but promises that when he leaves them, it will be to go ahead of them and prepare a place for them with the Father because he and the Father are one. And, Jesus speaks the news of his impending departure as if this is Good News. It is Good News, Jesus tells them, because if he goes to the Father, then the Holy Spirit will come to them. This confuses the disciples. Remember, we know "the rest of the story," as Paul Harvey would say. We know the events of Holy Week, the arrest, the trials, the crucifixion, and especially the history-altering event of the resurrection. But, the disciples know none of this, so Jesus' talk of leaving bewilders and frightens them. That is why Peter asks, "Lord, where are you going?" Thomas chimes in with, "We don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way?" Philip then adds, "Lord, show us the Father."

I give both Jesus and the disciples a lot of credit here. It seems to me that the disciples are living in something of a time warp. Jesus is beginning to prepare the disciples for his death, and in doing so, he is talking about a reality in the future that these twelve cannot get their minds around; they can't quite make sense of it, yet they keep working at it, keep trying, keep asking questions of Jesus to try to unlock the mystery that he is describing. And, Jesus, although maybe slightly exasperated that he has to repeat himself one more time, does, in fact, say is again, wanting them to understand the significance of what is about to happen and what that will mean for them after he is gone. Jesus wants them to understand that since they have seen him, they have seen God. When they heard him speak a word of grace and mercy to an undeserving sinner, they heard the voice of God. When they saw him restore people to wholeness of body, mind and spirit, they saw God act to restore the divine image in humanity. When they saw Jesus reach out and touch the untouchable, to include those who were outcast and marginalized, to eat with the poor instead of with the rich, they were witnessing first hand who God is and what God is like. Jesus responds to Philip's question by saying, "whoever has seen me has seen the Father. The words I say I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me does his works."

Because we know "the rest of the story," if we are not careful we will read our text and hear and see little more than words on a page. We need to grasp that this dialog between Jesus and his disciples has the same intensity, the same urgency as the father who summons his strength from his deathbed to say his last words to his children. Jesus knows that it is critical for these 12, his closest followers and friends, to understand that he has spoken and acted not of his own accord but in complete union with God. It is critical not because Jesus wants a fabulous eulogy to be said about him or because he wants to be immortalized as a super-saint. It's critical because Jesus expects the disciples to continue to act and speak and live in exactly the same way he has modeled for them. Jesus is passing the baton to them, and they cannot continue to run the race he has begun if they don't understand who he is and what he is giving them to do.

Look again at verse 12: "the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name…if in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it." What is your reaction to these statements by Jesus? It's not uncommon to find people either completely overwhelmed by and skeptical of the boldness of a claim like this, or at the other extreme, to find people who take the verses completely out of context and promote a "name it, claim it" kind of theology. But, let's think about this. Jesus has said to the disciples—and, by the way, to us as well—look at me: I've shown you who God is. I've shown you how God reaches out and loves people. I've shown you that God cares about your diseases and demons and afflictions because God wants wholeness for you. I've shown you that God returns peace for violence; that God forgives instead of retaliates; that God isn't impressed by money or status or things but wants you to experience freedom from the demands and tyranny of seeking after things that won't make you happy. Jesus is saying to the disciples and to us, if you can grasp this, if you can take hold of this truth, you, too, can reflect who God is to the world. You, too, can speak words of mercy and grace just as I have done on behalf of the Father. You, too, can be agents of healing to the broken and broken-hearted around you. You, too, can affirm and encourage the image of God in every person you see. You, too, can keep on doing the works I've been doing and do even more, because I've shown you how and I'm going to send you a helper.

Four times Jesus uses the verb "pisteuo," or "believe" to exhort the disciples to accept the revelation that Jesus has offered them. He has lived and worked, taught and prayed among them, and he has loved them as God loves them. Believing in Jesus in this context does not mean a mental assent to theological doctrines about Jesus. It means receiving him, accepting the truth of who he is. And when we do that, we become the baton bearers. We become the ones through whom God will reveal himself to the world. Jesus is passing us the baton, not so that we can "name and claim" what we want and then ask God to rubber stamp our ideas with his blessing. Jesus is passing us the baton so that we can continue to do and say and live and be what he showed us and began in his own life and ministry.

I don't know about you, but I find these verses both convicting and comforting—convicting because I am afraid that the Church has been guilty of living in its own time warp and of using that as an excuse for an anemic faith. Do we really believe that Jesus has and will empower us to be transforming agents in this world, or do we dismiss his claims that the Holy Spirit is waiting, poised and eager to bring glory to God by our actions of love and mission to a hurting world? Do we step out in faith to believe and act with boldness to bring healing and hope, justice and joy to those who yearn for an encounter with God? Do we dream and act on God's call to us when we can't see where the money will come from or who will lead us or how the work will get done? Friends, if the ministry we are pursuing at FPC is only the ministry for which we already have all the resources and know how it's going to be accomplished, we are not living by faith, and we are not walking in the Pentecostal power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promises us.

I am also comforted, comforted by knowing that the Holy Spirit has been given first, to empower us to be the disciples he has called us to be. We are not on our own, not left to our own devices, not left to fulfill a supernatural calling with only our natural gifts. And second, the Spirit is given to bring peace so that we may not be troubled or afraid. Our belief in the Divine Encourager and our willingness to receive the gift of peace from the Holy Spirit is really tested during a week like the one we have just experienced. Our grief is a process which we will move through one day at a time. Jesus leaves us with the promise that we do not walk through these days alone, but through the Holy Spirit, we will see "God moments" even in the midst of suffering; we will know God's presence even in the darkness of grief; we will be supported by a Savior who is at God's side, weeping with and for us and giving us hope.

In the farewell discourse, Jesus gives the disciples a new commandment, that they love one another. He tells them that the number one mark of their discipleship is not correct doctrine and not perfect adherence to the law, either. Rather, "by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (13:35) Their love will the be sign that they "got it," that they understood what Jesus was all about, that they believed that Jesus was one with the Father, speaking and acting on his behalf, and that they received Jesus' call to be his disciples. It is no different with us. Our love is the witness to faith in a Savior who has gone before us, confident to put the Good News in our hands, because through the power of the Spirit poured out upon the church at Pentecost, we can receive the baton in faith, empowered to love one another and bear witness to Christ in the world. Amen.