Commentary on Lectionary for May 22, 2011

Easter 5A

Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14

John 14: 1-14 is one of the passages taken on by Brian McLaren in his book A New Kind of Christianity because it seems so exclusionary, especially in verse 6: “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” If used as a ‘proof quote,’ this verse seems to imply that those who do not know or accept Jesus (as Lord and Savior?) cannot be in God’s good graces nor among his chosen people. You can carry that thinking to the conclusion that such a person will NOT be in one of the mansions Jesus is preparing for his followers, but will end up in Hell.

McLaren counters this conclusion by having us look closely at the context—that Jesus is responding to Peter’s insistent request that he explain why they can’t go where he is going. He is not talking about all peoples in all places of the globe, but is talking to his followers, hoping they will get it that his body will die and be in a tomb for three days. He also wants them to understand that his Father’s house does not mean heaven. He is most likely referring to the Temple, which John reminds us is a metaphor for His body.

If that is correct, Jesus may be saying that in Him—that is, in God—there are many opportunities for contact, for dwelling, for connection. In the words of Psalm 31: “In you, O Lord, I take refuge.” As a crying baby may unconsciously wish she were back in her Mother’s womb, so we hope for that incorporation into the Being of God: “Into your hand, I commit my spirit” (Ps. 31:6).

McLaren makes an eloquent plea that if we Christians could refrain from considering people of other faiths as outside the good graces of God, we then could “offer Jesus to the world” as a person who through his words and actions could show us all how to save the world from its self-destructive practices and attitudes.

One thing Jesus would tell the world would be to get or remain connected to God in whatever way they think of Him. This being connected with God would certainly be the cornerstone that 1st Peter talks about, and we could even imagine that all peoples of whatever faiths could taste and see ”that the Lord is good.”

This smacks, as the May 17 issue of The Christian Century makes clear, of a very bad word for some Evangelical Christians: “Universalism.” The word implies that everyone or nearly everyone will be saved. If that’s the case, the critics proclaim, then there is no need for the Church, for Jesus, or for His Cross.

Those who are so accused, however, would strongly maintain that it is absolutely NOT true. Jesus is supremely necessary. Where else would we have such an example, such a Way to follow towards peace and justice, such words of challenge, consolation, and wisdom? Who else would give the world such hope, and call so many to collaborate with him in saving it? And where else would we believers learn what to think of God?

He calls us from darkness into “his marvelous light.” And—without denying others’ right to their own beliefs—we are proud to let our light shine into whatever darkness lies upon the earth.