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| (At the Gandy Dancer, in Ann Arbor) |
A dying man's last words are said to be important.
I was in India, riding in the back seat of a car on a five hour ride from Hyderabad to Kurnool, on one of India's major highways. I could not sleep, even though I was jet-lag tired. India, by their own admission, leads the world in road deaths.
I thought I was gong to die a hundred times or more on that trip! My driver was a crazed man in a land of psycho-drivers. He would routinely pass cars while going up a hill, or driving around a curve. Occasionally, he played "chicken" with an ongoing car, and sometimes with an oncoming truck. The game was to see who would "chicken out" first and swerve aside. This is beyond ridiculous, I thought, as my Indian friend and host slept soundly next to me through it all, as if this was the normal Christian life.
One time we passed a car going round a curve and came face to face with a truck. My driver swerved at the last moment. When I saw the truck coming at us, I said the following profound, almost-last-words-of-a-dead-man: "Oh no!" Had I died, whoever would do my funeral would have to say, "John the theologian's last words were, "Oh no!""
Jesus' Final Words, aka his "Final Discourse," were profound and continue to guide my life. We hear them in John, chapters fourteen through sixteen.
The disciples are wondering what they will do when Jesus is gone. Jesus instructs them, and us.
He does not say, "Form some committees, and think of strategies to keep this thing going." He tells them: "Abide in me."
Jesus says:
Because I live, you also will live.
Call this "reciprocal abiding."
God comes to make his home in the heart of every Jesus-follower. Every Jesus-follower is to tend this inner fire by making his home in Jesus like a branch connects to a Vine.
As we abide in Christ we...
- do the kind of things Jesus has been doing (John 14:12)
- do greater things than Jesus has been doing (John 14:12)
- are taught and led by God himself (John 14:26)
- are immersed in Trinitarian peace (John 14:27)
- live lives that bear much fruit (John 15:5)
- live lives of true, God-love (John 15:9)
- are flooded with the kind of joy Jesus experiences (John 15:11)
- receive the Father's wisdom (John 15:15)
- bear fruit that will last (John 15:16)
Jesus' last teaching was:
Connect.
Attach.
Dwell.
Remain.
Abide.
Slow-cook.
In Him.
He lives, in and through you.
Let us sing these words together.
O holy Child of Bethlehem
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I was in India, riding in the back seat of a car on a five hour ride from Hyderabad to Kurnool, on one of India's major highways. I could not sleep, even though I was jet-lag tired. India, by their own admission, leads the world in road deaths.
One time we passed a car going round a curve and came face to face with a truck. My driver swerved at the last moment. When I saw the truck coming at us, I said the following profound, almost-last-words-of-a-dead-man: "Oh no!" Had I died, whoever would do my funeral would have to say, "John the theologian's last words were, "Oh no!""
Jesus' Final Words, aka his "Final Discourse," were profound and continue to guide my life. We hear them in John, chapters fourteen through sixteen.
He does not say, "Form some committees, and think of strategies to keep this thing going." He tells them: "Abide in me."
Call this "reciprocal abiding."
As we abide in Christ we...
- do the kind of things Jesus has been doing (John 14:12)
- do greater things than Jesus has been doing (John 14:12)
- are taught and led by God himself (John 14:26)
- are immersed in Trinitarian peace (John 14:27)
- live lives that bear much fruit (John 15:5)
- live lives of true, God-love (John 15:9)
- are flooded with the kind of joy Jesus experiences (John 15:11)
- receive the Father's wisdom (John 15:15)
- bear fruit that will last (John 15:16)
Connect.
Dwell.
Remain.
Abide.
In Him.
He lives, in and through you.
Let us sing these words together.
