Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled

Jesu Juva

St. John 14:1-14                                                   

May 3, 2026

Easter 5A         

 Dear Saints of Our Savior~

        Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, looked His disciples in the eye and said:  Let not your hearts be troubled.  Knowing that night, that within twenty-four hours He would be reduced to a corpse on a cross, Jesus said:  Let not your hearts be troubled.  On a dark night filled with terror and trouble, our Lord said:  Let not your hearts be troubled.

        Today’s text from John 14 is a treasure trove—a gold mine of good news: deep theology and precious promises.  You’ve got questions?  Jesus has answers:  You want to know what heaven will be like?  Let Jesus tell you about His Father’s house.  You want to know how to get there?  Jesus Himself is the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Him.  You want to know about the mystery of the Holy Trinity?  Just look to Jesus, because the Father is in Jesus, and Jesus is in the Father.  You want to know more about the power of prayer?  Just ask anything in Jesus’ name and He will do it.  It’s all there in black and white—powerful, profound content from the risen Christ.

        But it all begins with six words we simply must hear:  Let not your hearts be troubled.  Don’t skip ahead. Don’t dive right into the next thing.  Just pause to savor these syllables from the Savior (because you need to hear them):  Let not your hearts be troubled.

        Who has a troubled heart?  Well . . . who doesn’t have a troubled heart these days?  We live in a culture fractured by conflict and political violence.  Reprisals, revenge, and retribution are the name of the game.  Obscenities, vulgarities, and lies are the air we breathe.   Peace-making and forgiveness are forgotten concepts.  Meanwhile, many so-called churches—which are supposed to be bastions of truth—many “churches” have become champions for all manner of immorality, decadence, and perversion.

        But into this Babylon of blasphemy the Lord Jesus speaks:  Let not your hearts be troubled. And this is no throw-away line.  It’s not a soundbite.  Jesus wasn’t just telling the Twelve to cheer up and turn their frowns upside down.  That would be cold comfort compared to the healing, hope-filled words of Jesus:  Let not your hearts be troubled.

        The context for these words is critical.  It was the Thursday night of Holy Week.  The very gates of hell were about to be unlocked so that demons might do their worst to derail our salvation and dethrone the Son of God.  And it was into the deep darkness of that night, when terrible trouble was looming large, that Jesus dared to say, “Let not your hearts be troubled.”

        What the disciples needed at that moment is the very same thing that we need at this moment.  We need comfort and clarity; and Jesus delivers both.  What Jesus prescribes for troubled hearts is faith:  Believe in God; believe also in me.  Jesus asserts His divinity here.  Jesus and the Father are one.  Jesus needed to make that clear because sometimes His power and His glory are horribly hidden from our eyes.  We can’t always see it or feel it or even understand it.  When that happens Jesus says, simply, “Believe it.  Believe in God; believe also in me.” 

        And then, the comfort and the clarity just keep coming.  For every troubled heart, Jesus gives something to look forward to—something to anticipate.  Everybody needs something to look forward to.  And Jesus insists on giving us all something to anticipate:  In my Father’s house are many rooms. . . . I go to prepare a place for you.  The old King James Version described it as a house “with many mansions.”  The point is not to imagine the largest mansion on Lake Drive or the biggest castle in Germany. 

Jesus promises that there’s plenty of room in the heavenly dwelling He’s preparing for us.  There’s room for you!  The Father’s House is no three-bedroom Colonial.  The Father’s House—the place where we all ultimately long to be—it’s designed to hold a great multitude that no one can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.  The things that trouble your heart today and tomorrow are temporary.  But Jesus Christ, in love, has prepared a permanent place for you.  And one day He will take you home to Himself.

        Thomas was still troubled.  Thomas needed more than just comfort.  Thomas needed clarity—information—details:  “How can we know the way?” he asked.  There’s a lot of ground to cover between where we are now and where we will be forever in the Father’s house.  Thomas wanted the route laid out with certainty.  He wanted to know exactly what to expect.  Many of us would like that too.  We would like to know all the twists and turns and detours that lie ahead.  We’ll follow Jesus, for sure, but we would really like to have more information—for planning purposes.

        Why do we crave all of that?  It’s simple:  We don’t trust Him.  We have more faith in our earthly house than we do in the Father’s house.  The earthly house we can see.  The Father’s house we see only by faith.  And so we trust what we see and we doubt what we don’t see.  But when you go through life trusting in what you see, investing in what you see, centering your life around what is visible; suddenly, you’re no longer a stranger here.  Suddenly, you’re at home here; and heaven?  Heaven sounds stranger and stranger. 

        Thomas wanted a map to follow.  Do you remember maps?  I used to love a good map.  I took pleasure in plotting my course, my exits, my turns, my stops.  Planning the perfect route gave me a sense of clarity and confidence.  Of course, maps are obsolete now.  I miss maps.

        But there’s no map to show the way to the Father’s house.  There’s no map that will give you all the details you crave about the way from here to there.  Jesus gives us something better:  I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  The way to the Father’s house—the way to that heavenly mansion—the way of deliverance from sin and death—is exclusively through Jesus.  There’s no alternate route.  No one comes to the Father except through Jesus; but—through Jesus—EVERYONE can come to the Father.  Salvation is found in no one else (Acts 4:12).  That’s the kind of clarity we need.  All are invited to the Father’s house.  God desires the salvation of all people.  But there’s only one blessed way to get there.    

        Only faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will get you there.  He alone is the way.  No one comes to the Father except through Him.  Jesus is the singular path to heaven.  His crucifixion cross has opened the way for you.  His sinless life as your substitute is what has bridged the gap between lost and dying sinners and the holy God of heaven and earth.  And His resurrection from the dead is the proof positive.  His Word is truth.  The life He gives is eternal.  In Him we have comfort.  In Him we have clarity.  In Him we have the remedy for troubled hearts.

        Jesus invites troubled hearts simply to believe in Him—to let Him bear your trouble away.  He is the way, the truth, and the life.  He has the solution.  He has the plan.  You can live without fear.  You can die without fear. 

        To troubled hearts Jesus gives comfort and clarity—and peace that passes understanding.  You will find it all right here—in the preaching of His promises, in the cleansing splash of your baptism, in the holy Supper of His body and blood, and in the Lord’s life-giving liturgy.  Here we gather in Jesus’ name, and ask Him for what we need.  Believe Him.  Trust Him.  Let not your hearts be troubled.

        In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

Living the Abundant Life

Jesu Juva

John 10:10; Acts 2:42                                          

April 26, 2026

Easter 4A            

Dear saints of our Savior~

        It’s the fourth Sunday of Easter, and around here that always means “Good Shepherd Sunday.”  Jesus the Good Shepherd.  Jesus the door of the sheep.  Jesus who calls His sheep by name—and leads them and feeds them in green pastures beside quiet waters.  The King of Love my Shepherd is.  It’s all very comforting, isn’t it? 

        In today’s gospel reading Jesus explains what it means to have Him as our good shepherd:  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.  Jesus comes to bring us life; and not just life, but “abundant” life. The abundant life is resurrection life—life that lasts forever—eternal life that comes as a gift to all those who believe in Jesus Christ.

        But this abundant life isn’t only a gift for the future.  It’s not something we have to wait around for.  It’s already yours—a present possession. The abundant life is life lived in the presence of the Good Shepherd—life that is served by the Savior with His good gifts.  The abundant life has Jesus at its heart and center. 

        Today’s reading from Acts chapter two shows us what the abundant life looks like. It shows us what life was like in the church way back in the beginning—during the days right after Pentecost—back when everything was new and fresh, before problems and persecutions arose.  The first sentence of today’s first reading tells the whole story.  It summarizes the abundant life enjoyed by those very first followers of Jesus:  They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

        When St. Luke wrote that they “devoted themselves” to these things, the Holy Spirit inspired Him to choose a powerful verb to express what was happening.  That they “devoted themselves” means that they were obstinately, passionately persisting in these things.  They were into these things with all their hearts.  These things were the center of life for the very first followers of Jesus.  All of them—from the greatest to the least—all of them devoted themselves—to what?—to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

        First and foremost, they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching—to doctrine.  Today we hear complaints about how doctrine divides people—that we shouldn’t get too caught up in doctrinal details.  Just make sure everyone believes in Jesus and call it a day!  Not so for the first followers of Jesus!  Doctrine didn’t divide them; it united them.  What the apostles were preaching and teaching was the glue that held them all together despite a diversity of cultures and classes and languages.  It wasn’t politics that united them.  It wasn’t demographics that brought them together.  It was the preaching and teaching of the apostles. 

        That’s no less true right here among us at Our Savior.  We are a diverse group—differing in politics and personality, in education and income, in age and experience, and temperament and tastes.  But when it comes to what matters most—to the teaching God has given us through prophets and apostles, written down in the Scriptures—there we live in a God-given unity—a wonderful oneness based on the truth of God’s Word. 

        But this unity can only be maintained as we continue to devote ourselves to the Scriptures—only as we passionately persist in reading them, studying them, and teaching them to future generations.  If we don’t do that, the abundant life we now enjoy will quickly become impoverished.  If we don’t talk about God’s Word in our homes, if we consistently choose activities that lead us away from hearing God’s Word in worship, if parents don’t model for their children what it means to be a lifelong student of the Scriptures—well, then don’t be surprised when those children grow up to separate themselves from their Savior, and walk away from the abundant life He gives so freely.

        But the abundant life of the first Christians didn’t center exclusively on doctrine; they also devoted themselves to “fellowship.”  Now, Lutherans hear “fellowship” and they often think of coffee or potluck meals.  Well, forget about that for a minute. “Fellowship” in Acts chapter 2 meant that they all shared in the same things.  In fact, these very first Christians shared together in everything—pooled together all their goods and money.  They sold their belongings and gave the proceeds to those who were in need.  Freely they received; freely they gave. 

This system of fellowship worked well when the church was small in number, living together in one place, at that time in history.  It wouldn’t work so well today if we all liquidated our assets and pooled them all together.  That’s not what this means for us.

        But what does it mean?  Why does the Holy Spirit tell us about their unique expression of fellowship and sharing and caring?  If nothing else, it shows how those first believers were whole-heartedly committed to cultivating and sustaining their life together through acts of mercy and compassion.  They weren’t afraid to take risks out of love for the body of Christ.  Where there was a need—where there was a debt—where there was a problem—these saints didn’t just stand around with their hands in their pockets saying, “That’s not my problem.”

        Beloved in the Lord, the fellowship we enjoy here at Our Savior isn’t that different.  It means that there are no bystanders, no spectators, no second class members or third-string members warming the bench.  We’re all baptized; we’re all in this together.  The fellowship of those first believers shows that their life together mattered more than everything else—more than sports and hobbies, more than entertainment and social events.  Fellowship mattered more. 

Those first Christians managed their lives in a way that visibly demonstrated their faith in Christ.  It was the center of life.  It was real.  And they were unafraid to invest their money, their property, their time and sweat—and eventually their blood—into ensuring the success of their life together in Christ.

        The abundant life for those first believers centered not only on the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, but also on the breaking of the bread and the prayers.  For them, the “breaking of the bread and the prayers” went together.  The breaking of the bread was a reference to the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion.  As often as they were gathering to hear the apostles’ teaching—as often as they shared together in fellowship—they also gathered to be fed with the body and blood of the Good Shepherd.  This gift nourished their life together.  It drew them closer to Jesus; it drew them closer to each other in love and works of mercy.  That’s why they were passionately persisting in the Lord’s Supper.  It, too, was the center of life.

        And around this regular celebration of the Lord’s Supper came also “the prayers.”  Note that St. Luke describes not just prayer, but “the prayers.”  We today would call it “the liturgy.”  When the first Christians gathered for worship it wasn’t a free for all.  There were set prayers, and hymns, and readings—just as there had been in the synagogues of the Old Testament.  Private prayer was no doubt happening too.  But “the prayers,” the liturgy spoken and sung in worship—it too was the very center of life.

        They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  There we have the abundant life.  This is what the abundant life looks like.  You have it here and now.  It’s not an easy life, of course.  It’s not a life that’s free from trouble or sorrow.  It’s a life where wolves and thieves and robbers threaten to steal and kill and destroy.  But Jesus has come to give you His abundant life.  Abundant life begins by being served by Jesus, and continues as we serve others in the name of Jesus.

        You have the abundant life because Jesus devoted Himself to you.  Jesus has invested in your eternal good.  It was an investment made not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.  He bore all our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.  By His wounds you have been healed.  That healing is distributed here in holy absolution, in His holy Word, and in His holy meal.  This is your life—the abundant life to which you have been called by the Good Shepherd—so that you may dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 

        In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.