May 17, 2020 Text: John 14:19-21
Dear Friends in Christ,
A fellow by the name of Ralph Larson observed this, “We poor humans boast of our freedom, then exhibit our shackles of material enslavement. We insist that nobody can tell us what to do – but the clanking of our chains gives our plight away.”
“Nobody can tell us what to do.” I don’t know about you but I have never been good about being told what to do. These last few months have not been easy in that respect. How about you? “The clanking of our chains gives our plight away.” What are some catch words used during the pandemic – enslaved, quarantined, house arrest, freedom restricted, tied to our home. For some in nursing homes it has been even worse – they use words like “imprisoned in my room.”
We are shackled to this world. Why has there been all this fear and anxiety? It really comes down to one word – death. People do not want to die. We have flipped our lives upside down to avoid the question prevalent since two people were tossed out of the Garden of Eden – “What happens to me when I die.”
For the Christian the direction is a little different. Let’s use our text to find some answers . . .
“WE ARE SHACKLED TO LIFE (ETERNAL)”
We start with a big concern on many of our minds. It’s rooted in Jesus’ words of verse 21, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
We love the commandments or so we should. They bring order to life. We also know that we do not keep them perfectly. We fall short. The greatest work is to believe that Christ is the One who came to keep the commandments perfectly in our stead, suffer and die in payment for our sin and be raised to eternal life so that we would be assured of eternal life. And remember this, it is the Holy Spirit who works faith in us so that we can believe.
That brings us to verse 19, “Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.”
Recall these words of Jesus: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live…” (John 14:25a) “Though he die.” We can’t stop the process. I recall this scene from the TV show MASH. Henry Blake, played by Bloomington’s own McLean Stevenson, was asked about death by a fellow surgeon. This was his reply. “In command school, they taught us two rules. Rule #1, in war young men die. Rule #2, doctors can’t stop Rule#1.” There will be no human cure for death or dying. No vaccine will come along that will prevent our hearts from eventually stopping. There is though a heavenly cure: Christ paying for our sin. Christ declaring victory over the grave. Didn’t we just sing it confidently: “Jesus lives! The victory’s won! Jesus is my confidence!” “Yet shall he live.” Not life tied to earth, but heavenly eternal joy and light.
Jesus says, “Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:26) The day will come when the body shuts down – an accident, a disease, aging – but the promise is unchangeable: Whoever believes in me, though he die (to this world), yet shall he live. That is a promise we can take to the grave.
Years ago this story came out of Buenos Aires, Argentina. There was man who feared the pain he was going to have because of bunion surgery. It read:
“He requested a general anesthetic. Tragically, the general anesthetic led to a heart attack. The physicians opened his chest and massaged his heart and revived him. But later he suffered a stomach contraction resulting in the rupture of the stomach…Then while being carried on a stretcher, he tumbled off, broke a leg and collarbone and injured his heart further. At the end of his ordeal the unfortunate man had a breathing tube in his throat, a drainage tube in his stomach, a leg in plaster and an arm in a sling. He still had not had the bunion removed.”
Welcome to life in this world, right? We have so many unknowns. We have the mountaintop moments and then we experience the valley happenings. Then death occurs. Paul Eldridge wrote, “We free ourselves from the womb, but there is no knife sharp enough to cut the umbilical cord which binds us to our grave.” On the contrary, there is a knife that can cut the umbilical cord to our grave. It is our resurrected Lord Jesus Christ who has overcome sin, death, and hell for us.
Hear the promise again: “Because I live, you also will live.” Hang on to this comforting thought as you navigate the unknown day-to-day. The Savior says to you, “Whoever believes will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) This is unending joy and comfort and peace. No more being shackled to this life.
Lastly this quote, “what death did to Jesus is nothing compared to what Jesus did to death.” We can say, in Christ Jesus We Are Shackled To Life . . . Eternal!
Amen.