Today’s Gospel text is one that I have spoken on hundreds of occasions at the bedside of those approaching death, at services in their memory and in witness to the Resurrection, in conversations with those wondering if this life is all there is.  Jesus invites us not to be troubled in heart, but to believe in God and in him.  And he goes on to say that in his Father’s house are many dwelling places, and that he goes to prepare a place for us, so that where he is we will be also.  It is an invitation that we of troubled hearts would like to accept. 

            But like the disciples, we have questions.  Thomas asks Jesus where he is going and how can we know the way.  Aren’t you glad the disciples trusted Jesus enough to ask penetrating questions, and that they were somewhat slow to understand what he was saying to them? It is a little like sitting in class confused at what the instructor is trying to communicate, but in our confusion we hesitate to ask a question that will expose how clueless we are. And then one of our classmates does it for us..

            Does Jesus answer Thomas’ question in a way that helps us understand where he is going?  Jesus simply says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-8)

            So Jesus answers a question about a place for us in terms of our relationship to him.  Heaven is not so much a place as it is a relationship of trust and love with him who is the way, the truth, and the life.  Here is how Jesus puts it later in John’s Gospel:  “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) Knowing God through Jesus Christ is eternal life, and earlier in John Jesus says that anyone who hears his word and believes him who sent him has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24)

            We don’t need to die to experience eternal life, we need to trust and follow him who is the life right here and right now.  You pick up the urgency of his call when you read the many parables about God’s Kingdom entering into their midst right then and there and inviting them to embrace it.  The parable of the waiting virgins who need to keep their lamps lit for when the bridegroom appears(Mt. 25:1-13); the servants of the household who need to have all at the ready for when the master of the house returns at an unexpected hour (Luke 12:25-40);  the King who invites quests to the wedding of his son and the guests pay no attention and miss the feast (Mt. 22:1-10); are just three examples of how important it is to be ready and receptive to the reign of God, which John calls eternal life in his Gospel.

            Paul speaks with the same urgency when he writes the Corinthians not to accept the grace of God in vain and goes on to implore them: “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Cor. 6:1-2)  Dallas Willard, Professor of Philosophy at USC, laments that so often the Gospel has been explained as a kind of insurance policy which if you accept it on faith will pay the beneficiary after his or her death.  We urge people to sign on for heaven, and to wait until death to see what a good deal they made with God.  But Willard makes a very solid case that what Jesus calls us to do is to apprentice ourselves to him in life and to follow him all our lives and thereby discover a dimension to life we never would have known.  And when we die we experience what Paul also speaks of in I Corinthians: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” ( 1Cor. 2:9) So we cannot begin to comprehend what awaits us when we depart this life, except to say that Jesus assures us that he is there and God is there. 

            Let’s suppose that you are in a place that is marked by natural beauty but you are there with someone who thinks ill of you and is out to devour you.  Whom you are with is more important than where you are.  Any of us who have been in humble and hard circumstances with one whom we deeply love and who loves us knows that is far better than sitting at the Lodge at Pebble Beach with someone who despises us.  When Jesus walked through the villages and countryside of Galilee he didn’t stay in five star hotels.  He said that foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.  Yet life on the road with him was unforgettably exciting and fulfilling and changed his followers and history for good.

            If we read in the Revelation to John we see descriptions of a new heaven and earth with imagery that is hard to imagine, yet compelling.  A new Jerusalem that is pure gold yet clear as glass (Rev. 21:18) whose foundations are adorned with every jewel.  But best of all, God is there and will wipe away every tear and death will be no more(Rev. 21:3-4). In the last chapter of the Bible  Jerusalem is described with a river of the water of life running through it and tree of life on both sides of the river, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations.  But once again, the most important thing to note is that God will be there and we will see God face to face (Rev. 22:1-4)

            Remember what Jesus said to Philip’s question. “Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.”  Jesus replied, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (Jn. 14:8)  We see God with us, God for us in Jesus Christ, and when we follow him in life and in death we find life abundant and eternal.

            Often the good news has been preached with a warning that if one doesn’t embrace it one is bound for hell, a place of flames and torment.  Jonathan Edwards, one of America’s brightest minds is unfortunately known less for his penetrating essays on theology and philosophy or even his inoculating himself with an experimental vaccine in attempt to find a cure for small pox which killed millions of Indians and people of European ancestry, and cost him his life, than he is for his sermon: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.  He read his erudite sermons, but revival broke out with outbursts of conviction, repentance and faith.  To be fair, Jesus tells parables that describe a state of separation from God that is anything but pleasant.  For those who failed to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit the sick and those in prison Jesus says, “Depart from me, your cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Mt. 25:41-46) 

Hell is not absent from the vocabulary of Jesus.  But we ask, What purpose can hell serve?  How can a good God consign people to a place of torment?  We know from numerous places in Scripture that God loves the whole world and came not to condemn the world but to save it (John 3:16-17).  We read in 1 Timothy 2:3-4 that our prayers made by us for all and for those in high position are right and acceptable to God our Savior, who desires that everyone be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  God wants everyone to know God’s life and truth.  The dilemma is that God will not force us to know and love God, because love by definition cannot be coerced.  

Listen to what Frederick Buechner writes in his little book, Wishful Thinking: “People are free in this world to live for themselves alone if they want to and let the rest go hang, and they are free to live out the dismal consequences as long as they can stand it.  The doctrine of Hell proclaims that they retain this same freedom in whatever world comes next.  Thus the possibility of making damned fools of ourselves would appear to be limitless.

“Or maybe hell is the limit.  Since the damned are said to suffer as dismally in the next world s they do in this one, they must still have enough life left in them to suffer with, which means that in their flight from Love, God apparently stops them just this side of extinguishing themselves utterly.  Thus the bottomless pit is not really bottomless.  Hell is the bottom beyond which God in his terrible mercy will not let them go.

Dante saw written over the gates of Hell the words “Abandon all hope ye who enter here,” but he must have seen wrong.  If there is suffering life in Hell, there must also be hope in Hell, because where there is life there is the Lord and giver of life, and where there is suffering he is there too  because the suffering of the one he loves is also his suffering.

“He descended into Hell,” the Creed says, and, “If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there,” the Psalmist (139:8).  It seems there is no depth to which he will not sink.  Maybe not even Old Scratch will be able to hold out against him forever.”

I cannot say that the Bible speaks of second chances, as if the life we life is a sort of dress rehearsal for the real thing where we have to get our lines right.  I agree with Buechner that the love of God goes to the depths of human depravity and loss.  Jesus demonstrated that in the manner in which he reached out to those who were sick and lost, even to the murderer crucified next to him who cried out, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Jesus with his dying breath assured him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”  Can there be a more telling example of the mercy and grace of God than that and of his prayer that God forgive his executioners because they knew not what they were doing?  God’s mercy is not to encourage us to ignore God till the eleventh hour or to presume we can make a U turn from self-centered to God centered living at the close of our days.  Paul puts it well when he says, “Do you not  realize that God’s  kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4b)

There is a place for us, a loving relationship for us with the living God who will go to the very depths of the hell we create for ourselves and invite us into the wide light of life.  However lost you feel, can you look into the bloodied, bruised and yet compassionate face of Christ and say, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.?” And can you hear his assurance of life with him?