On this “Memorial Day Weekend,” allow me to give you a quick review of history of those who have died in service for our country: 

American Revolution – 11,000; Civil War – 558,000; WWI – 117,000; WWII – 407,000; Korean W. – 34,000; Viet Nam War – 58,000; Gulf War – 293; Afghanistan – 323; and Iraq – 3,441. 

There are those of you who have lost loved ones to one of these wars.  Remembering these sacrifices creates a heart-felt thanksgiving in every one of us.  And, most certainly, we give thanks for the sacrifices of our men and women who have left the comforts of home and family yet survived the horrors of war and terrorism.   Thanks be to God!

When someone has sacrificed in our behalf it always causes us to remember them.  But it always causes us to be thankful.  On this Memorial Day, there is also One other whom we are to remember.  He was One who sacrificed for every military person who ever served our country, or any country.  He was the One who prepared the way for anyone who died, whether tragically or due to common death of aging.  And when we remember this One - when we really grasp the magnitude of His suffering, sacrifice, and death - then our hearts swell with praise and thanksgiving.  The One about whom I am speaking is known by you…for you have come this day, just as you have come before, because His sacrifice has touched your life in some most important way, and you continue to come so that you might remember and give thanks!

This chapter of John is part of a greater writing known as Jesus’ farewell discourse.  Some have called it, Jesus’ farewell promise.  And on this Memorial Day weekend, we need to be reminded of these promises.  Why... because we may very well be in a place of sacrifice now or in the future; or maybe we currently feel that we are making a sacrifice because of an unexpected loss; or maybe we have possibly experienced rejection by an employer or a friend; or maybe we are sacrificing because of some wrongful manipulation and we are shocked to come to that realization.  Then again, maybe sacrifice was not something that was forced upon us, rather we purposefully chose to sacrifice because it was the right thing to do – there was a higher reason for another’s good. 

If the word “sacrifice” is known by any of us, let us be assured that Jesus understands and owns the meaning of sacrifice the word perfectly.  Jesus gave this promise to Philip: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [7] If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

Jesus makes a direct promise that was almost misunderstood by Philip.  In the discourse with Philip, it appears that Jesus was frustrated with him that he had been this long with him but he did not fully understand his words. 

If a misunderstanding took place in the day when Jesus walked and talked with his disciples, consider how easy it is for you and me to repeat that error.

What was the way, the truth and the life that Jesus demonstrated?  It was the deliberate choice of supreme sacrifice based upon supreme love for you and me.  Jesus gave us the perfect example of how life was to be lived – not selfishly, not self-centered, but willing to live our lives in sacrifice for the welfare of another.

“I like the story reported in a documentary film on the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mother Teresa. A young man who had gone to India to help her in her mission to the poor and sick was interviewed. He had been given the task of working with a small group of eight or 10 boys who were homeless and parentless. He became a parent, teacher, minister and friend to them - living with them, bringing them up. When a reporter asked the young man if there were not times when he felt discouraged as he realized how many thousands of children there were whom he could not help, a look came over the young man’s face which seemed to say, "That is about the most stupid question I have ever heard." What he finally did say echoed the words of Mother Teresa, "Here are some boys who need me. I am able to help them. That is all that matters."[1]

Yes, let us remember and give thanks that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

And maybe the biggest promise that Jesus ever made is that He counts us as equal in his message to the world.

Here is what Jesus promises:  “[12] Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.”

“In World War II, a large number of Japanese soldiers sequestered themselves in caves on the Philippine Islands, cut off from chains of command and supply routes. They were on their own, and were committed to the defense of those islands at the cost of their lives if need be. When the war was over, the problem became how to notify and convince those soldiers that the war had ended. They decided that the only way those in the caves would believe it would be to send a person who could not only speak their language but would be one of their own. That is what they did, one Japanese soldier began the message, and then the news was spread by the Japanese themselves, cave by cave, person by person.”[2]  All finally surrendered to the setting of peace.

Jesus came here on earth, not as the “Great I Am,” to be in awe and fear, but One who came here to be personally known with us at every level of life.  But Jesus also came for another reason.  He came here to communicate to us that the war is over - that the battle has been won and that we can once again live in peace because God has overthrown all injustices and all evil.

Yet when Jesus gave this promise, it was also a commissioning.  He did come to show us the way and the message of the Father, but he commissioned us to continue this message…that is how we will do greater works than he.  In human form Jesus was limited.  But it was Jesus who came it to proclaim the message of freedom, and commissioned us to go and tell others until all believe; until all believe that it is okay to lay down our sense of insecurity, to lay down our fears, to lay down our desperate need to protect ourselves at all cost, and to have faith in God.  When we grasp that knowledge and hold it close to our hearts, we will certainly discover the truth of Jesus’ promise here in John 14.

While I was on medical leave I read a book that a church member loaned entitled, “Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in our Busy Lives.”  At a time when I was feeling a bit useless and uncertain about my future, this book spoke powerfully to me.  There were many points in the book that spoke to me, but one in particular was a quote by Ette Hillesum who was a young Dutch woman who became the victim of the Nazi Concentration occupation.  Here is what she wrote:

“We have to fight them daily, like fleas, those many small worries about the morrow, for they sap our energies… we must not allow ourselves to become infested with thousands of petty fears and worries, so many motions of no confidence in God. Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace; and reflect it towards others.  And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.” [3]

Her words certainly give us a new and refreshing understanding of evangelism.  But I believe them.  When we own the commissioning of Jesus, to do greater works than what he has done, surely Jesus mentored that purpose of commissioning.

 And so today on this Memorial Day Weekend, I conclude with a well know prayer of St. Frances[4]:

 Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen!