DESERT PALMS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Sun City West, Arizona

Memories Of Home

A Sermon Preached by the Rev. Dr. David S. Hodgson

February 21, 2010

Exodus 3:1-14

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the

bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” 4 When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 Then the LORD said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.

10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.” 13 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”  He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

John 8:48-58

The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and he is the judge. 51 Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” 52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, ‘He is our God,’ 55 though you do not know him. But I know him; if I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.”

57 Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”  58 Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Our text this morning is taken from the Gospel According to St. John, Chapter 8,

Verse 58:

“Jesus said unto them, ‘Verily, verily’” … You know, I chose the King James Version for this reading because I love the ‘verily, verily’. You see, I have this feeling that every time Jesus said “verily”, the disciples knew that everybody had to pay attention, but when he said “verily, verily” … said it twice … they looked at each other and said, “Watch out for this one.” And so it was. “Verily, verily I say unto you, before Abraham was, I Am.” Let us pray for insight. Thank you Lord for the chance to reflect together on your life and ministry on the earth, and the work of your spirit in ages since. We ask you to bless the thoughts we share and use them for your purposes. In your holy name we humbly pray, Amen.

            Many months had passed since Jesus had first invited the disciples to follow after him. It was a call to adventure, to experience something new that excited them, but it was also a claim upon their devotion that took them away from all things familiar, especially from hearth and home. The cost of discipleship to those they left behind is not recorded in the gospels at all, but it had to be a top concern for Jesus and the disciples along the way. And so it is that I imagine Jesus, every now and then, would sit with his disciples and reflect upon the memories they had of home. I can take you there in this moment of devotion if you follow me.

            I can take you to a time when the crowd disappeared and left Jesus alone with his disciples. I can take you to a place where they took their rest under the shade of some sycamore trees, and in that setting they thought about home. Perhaps Jesus began by raising the question, “What do you miss most about the life you left behind?” You just know that Peter had to be the first one to answer; he was always first. Either he thought that everybody needed to know what he knew or he just was over-anxious, but I can hear him saying something like, “You know, I miss fishing all night in the stillness of the lake. I miss the smell of dawn coming up along the shore, and I miss the certain weariness from physical labor after a day well spent.” 

I can see Jesus looking at the others and saying, “What do you remember most about home?” I know that one of them surely said, “You know, I miss life in the marketplace. Whether we went there to sell or to trade or to buy, the camaraderie, the companionship we all had in the market while children played, women talked, and the guys kibitzed with each other, it was a life I miss; it was wonderful.”

            “How about the rest of you?” said Jesus. “What do you miss most and remember dearly about home?” One of them said, “You know, I miss family and friends. I miss their laughter and their love. I miss the aroma of a home-cooked meal filling the cottage. I miss the wildflowers in the field outside my cabin.” Then one of them, noticing that all of the disciples had a chance to talk about what they remembered most about home, but not Jesus, said, “Lord, what about you? What do you remember most about home?” They all thought he would say something about the hill town of Nazareth where he grew up, or about the carpenter shop and the smell of sawdust on the floor; about his mother’s house, there, in Nazareth. Imagine their surprise when they discovered that he could remember farther back than that; that his soul could remember all the way back to his father’s house in heaven before he was born.

            His words were profound, memorable, poetic, and have been set to music for the ages to enjoy. “What do I remember most about home,” he said? It’s like this:

[Vocal rendering by Jeanne Westerberg of IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE.]

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you,

Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.

Let not your heart be troubled, Neither let it be afraid.

In my father’s house are many mansions.

If it were not so I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go to prepare a place for you

I will have forgiveness and receive you unto myself

That where I am, there ye may be also.

And whither I go ye know and the way ye know.

In my father’s house are many mansions.

If it were not so I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you.

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you.

            There was another time, as you heard in the gospel lesson, when it became clear that the latent memory of his soul could remember a place from before his birth, before his incarnation, only instead of being a nostalgic setting, this one almost cost him his life. It was in a normal discussion with rational people whom he called the Jews. In the midst of that rational conversation he suddenly let it be known that he knew Abraham, who had been dead for hundreds and hundreds of years. At that point they accused him of being completely out of touch with reality, only to have him point out that he was in touch with the reality they could not even imagine. He said, “Before Abraham was, I Am.”

            “I Am”, as you heard in the Old Testament lesson, was God’s name for God’s own self. He was really saying he knew Abraham and furthermore, to add a little salt to the wound, he said, “When Abraham knew that I was coming to earth he rejoiced to see my day.” They picked up stones and tried to kill him. I can almost understand that reaction. I’ve had many a rational conversation with somebody suddenly go completely berserk. What I don’t understand is why the gospel story doesn’t tell us how the disciples responded to him. This is one of those places where you not only have to read between the lines, you have to read between the pages. There had to be a time, a place, when the disciples took him aside and said, “Lord, what’s going on here? First you talk about your father’s house, that you can remember what it’s like, then you talk about paling around with Abraham. Who else do you know that you haven’t told us about, and how come, if you have all those friends in high places, you’re down here making friends in low places?”

            They had to have asked him that. His answer is the entire gospel message, the one that says, “I came to remind you that you are children of the living and loving God, and I’m here to help you remember whose you are and why you are here. You have been sent here for the maturity of your souls, challenged by life in the temporal world, stretched, mellowed, matured, and you will go home again. Because you cannot remember, I have come to help you remember. All of the parables that I’m teaching you are lessons of life that your souls need to learn for their own maturity.” That’s the gospel message in essence. 

            Somewhere in that conversation, surely they asked him, “Lord, if you came to bring messages here, do you ever send messages back to God about what it’s like down here?” He said, “Surely I do. All the time, and you do, too, every time you pray, for God is always listening, and that’s when one of them said, “Lord, if God is always listening, what do we say when we pray?” His words have been set to music, to be enjoyed by the ages. [Jeanne sings THE LORD’S PRAYER.]

            Let us reflect on our memories of home … Amen.