John 14:15-21

Over the last few weeks, we have been exploring several Gospel passages together. As a quick reminder, Jesus had just told His disciples that He would soon be leaving them, and this made them feel overwhelmed by fear and anxiety. That same sense of unease still lingers in the air in today’s reading from the Gospel of John, chapter 14.

Today, we are exploring a crucial moment in the lives of the disciples, who had spent 3 years with their Master. Just Imagine how wonderful it would have been to walk beside Jesus—to see His face and hear His voice in person.

I often hear people say that they would believe without hesitation if Jesus would only show Himself to them just once. They say, “All my doubts and unclarities would vanish once and for all.”

For three years, those disciples had a “physical companion.” When they were hungry, Jesus provided food. When they were afraid of a storm, He calmed the sea. Their faith was tied to a God they could see and touch everyday.

From the very moment Jesus called them by the shores of Galilee, they never left His side. Many believers at that time also shared the same desperate need to keep Him close. They would think, ‘As long as Christ is physically with me, I am safe, but without Him, I’d have been completely lost.’

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John 14:1-14

Many of us all know the very catchy tune, ‘Hakuna Matata’, from a Disney movie titled “The Lion King” in 1994. Hakuna Matata is a phrase in Swahili, meaning ‘No worries.’ The song was about a ‘problem-free philosophy and ‘no worries lifestyle.’

But when Jesus told his disciples, ‘Do not be worried,’ he wasn’t singing that catchy song about “no worries” or “forget your troubles. He was speaking to men whose worlds were about to be turned upside down. They feared that their new lives with the Lord were coming to a permanent end.

So, given their circumstances, they had every reason to be anxious. When he said, “do not be worried and upset”, it was actually a profound spiritual instruction in the face of real struggle.

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Psalm 23

To begin the message today I want to briefly explain what the lectionary is. All of us here today come from many faith backgrounds, different practices and customs. Also, some are new to this church. I don’t want to assume that you are across what we do here and why. So bear with me for a minute.

At this church it is our practice to follow readings from the lectionary. The lectionary is a pre-selected collection of bible readings assigned to Sundays. It follows a three year cycle and over those three years it covers much of the bible.

The lectionary readings for any given Sunday usually include a reading from the gospels, an old testament reading, a psalm and a new testament reading other than the gospels.

This discipline opens the door for us to thoroughly explore the bible over the three year cycle and because the lectionary is followed worldwide by many Christian denominations it provides a sense of oneness. Hugh often says that people all around the world are hearing the same bible readings that we in Gungahlin are hearing each Sunday.

Usually the practice is to give the message based on the gospel reading. It is not compulsory, but it is the usual practice. Thus ends the lesson on the lectionary.

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Luke 24:13-35

There is a true story about a man in the United States, who bought an old, ugly painting at a local flea market. He paid just $5 for it, because he liked the frame, not the painting itself. He placed it on a bookshelf, where it sat untouched for years.

One day, he decided to take the frame apart to reuse it for a family photo. As he dismantled it, a piece of paper fell out from behind the canvas. It wasn’t just any paper; it was one of the 24 surviving original copies of the Declaration of Independence.

It later sold for over $2 million. For years, he had been holding a masterpiece in his hands without recognising its true value. He merely liked the frame that contained it. He valued the frame over the masterpiece.

This story serves as a powerful metaphor for our relationship with Christ. It reminds us that we often follow Christ for external blessings or emotional comforts rather than seeking and treasuring Christ Himself.

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John 20:19-31

Many people in this stressful world live their lives hiding in their own locked doors by listening to and focusing on the footsteps of their own problems, and that includes believers. Psychologists say that this is the “inner prison” of anxiety and fear. It is a dark place somewhere inside us, where even our own breath feels like an enemy. The worse part is many of them even don’t know they themselves are the victims of their own “inner prison”.

Today’s story from John’s Gospel tells us that ‘the disciples, too, were hiding in the upper room. Imagine, for a moment, the silence in that upper room. They had locked the doors because now fear had become their reality. Outside, the world felt dangerous. The authorities were searching for them frantically, and their leader, Jesus, had been taken. In their minds, it was over. Their time with Christ felt like a summer dream. Everything was over.

Then, something miraculous happens. John tells us the doors were locked, but suddenly, Jesus stood among them. He didn’t wait for them to get their act together. He didn’t wait for them to find enough courage to unlock the door. He didn’t even knock. He simply arrived.

We may not be hiding from Roman soldiers today, but many of us live behind “locked doors” the spaces that we created inside us. We lock ourselves behind the door of Anxiety. We hide behind the door of Uncertainty. We retreat into the secret room of Loneliness, thinking no one understands our pain.

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