6 Easter.C.25
Rev. 21:10-22-2:5; John 14:23-29
Melanie L. McCarley

Catherine Marshall tells the story of a king who sought the perfect painting of peace. A prize was offered to the artist who could best capture the true nature of the subject. Many artists submitted their paintings, and the king, in turn, looked at all their pictures with care. After careful observation he narrowed the submissions down to two pictures that he thought were closest and decided to select one of them.

The first picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for the towering yet peaceful mountains all around it. Overhead the sky was blue with fluffy white clouds. A tree swayed gently in the breeze and a few birds nestled in its branches. Those who saw the picture couldn’t help but come away with a sense of calm tranquility.

The other picture had mountains as well, but these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky, painted a leaden gray, from which torrents of rain fell and lightening flashed. Down the side of the mountain there tumbled a foaming waterfall. This place did not look peaceful at all. But if you looked closely, behind the waterfall, there was a tiny bush growing in a crack of the rock. In that bush a mother bird had built her nest. And there, in the rush of angry water sat the mother, warm and quiet, her wings protectively covering her tiny chicks.

Which picture do you think won the prize?

What is home to you? If I had to guess, I’d say that for most of us home—ideally, is a place of acceptance. It is where you can be yourself. Home would also be a place of peace—a calm sanctuary in the midst of the storm of life. Two readings from our scripture today gift us with the opportunity to think of what it means to truly be at home and at peace.

In the Gospel passage for today Jesus says to his disciples: “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” Later, in this same passage, he says: ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

In the reading from the Revelation to John we are blessed with a beautiful picture of Heaven. Think of it as a painting made with words, where the City of God is rendered in splendid detail. Here, God is the city’s light and its lamp is the Lamb. This is a place so filled with security that the gates of the walls surrounding the city are never shut. In this land, flows the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, and here lives the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit. It’s a tree that is never barren, and its leaves are filled with healing. This is a place of light, peace, abundance and health.

Yet, here is what we know and experience in the present. There are moments, precious few, in fact, when this world resembles that of the first painting—a postcard view of blue skies, calm waters and white clouds. Then, there is the rest of the time—moments when the clouds obscure the sun and the forecast is calling for showers. Then there are those other moments—when the sky turns a frightening shade of green and we begin to wonder if our roofs are nailed down tight and our insurance is up-to-date. Yet, what Jesus teaches us is this—that as Christians, we need not be at the mercy of what is happening on the outside. What we need to concentrate on is what is happening inside—in the heart. We’ve all heard the phrase: “Home is where the heart is.” There’s a great deal of truth in this observation—and it’s worth remembering what we’ve been taught in Sunday School; that if Jesus is held in our hearts we are always at home and at peace with God—no matter where we might be, or how fraught with strife the world might become. Quite simply, no matter what storms are besetting us from without, if we have Jesus in our hearts, we can be at peace—at home—no matter where our wanderings on this earth might take us.

So, here is something to consider. This world….It is not our home. Like the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness, this world is a place of pilgrimage. This is the point that Jesus tries to communicate with us in today’s gospel lesson. He reminds his disciples that though he is going away—he will not leave them fully, but will send them the Holy Spirit to guide them on the way. And, when the time is right, he will come again, and take not only them, but also you and me, to himself in Heaven. Frederick Buechner phrases it eloquently: “Even though we wander through this world, our hearts can be content, because God is with us and God is within us. God is at home within us and therefore we are at home in the world.”

When the storms of the world surround you, remember the true place of peace isn’t necessarily the times when the skies are fair and the breezes blow gently. Instead, peace can be found when we are in the midst of the storm, but sheltered by the love and grace of God, much like that mother bird and her nestlings behind the waterfall. And home—home is where God is, not only in heaven, but also in our hearts. In Jesus’ name. Amen.