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WAY TRUTH AND LIFE - SERMON ON JOHN 14:1-13 · Padre Alberto (Father Albert)

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  A really good man died and he went to heaven, and an Angel of
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  God introduced him after passing the pearly gates and said this
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  is heaven. And heaven just seemed like a
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  big, big, big house, a big mansion, a huge, huge, big house
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  with many, many, many, many rooms and many hallways.
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  But they walked down the main hallway.
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  The Angel as he introduces the new tenant to his new home.
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  And the man saw this kind of door, kind of quiet looking
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  door, big, big, quiet door. And he said, what's that?
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  What's in that room? And the Angel said, oh, yes,
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  those are the Roman Catholics, the Roman Catholic room.
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  And they are always kind of doing that.
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  They're chanting in Latin. And the Angel kept going further
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  along and they saw a door and there was a door with a bunch of
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  pipes coming out of it, loud big pipes.
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  And it was a loud room. And he said, well, who's that?
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  He said all those are the Anglicans.
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  They have lots of hymns and they love their pipe organ.
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  And then they kept walking and walking and there was a group of
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  white robed people. They were dancing and clapping
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  and singing and every once in a while shrieking loudly.
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  And they said, Nan said, who's that?
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  He said, oh, those are the Pentecostals.
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  They're always very lively. And then they moved a bit more
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  down the hallway, big long hallway.
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  And there was a very, very interesting room with, you know,
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  bald headed people. And they were making a hum
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  sound. And every once in a while they
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  hear the sound of a loud gong. And he said, who's that?
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  And the Angel said, oh, that's the Zen group.
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  That's a Zen group. Maybe the people who come and do
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  yoga in the sanctuary on Saturdays, who knows?
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  Now, the Angel warned the the person that was coming to heaven
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  for the first time said, we're going around the corner now.
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  I need you to please be very quiet.
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  We're going to tippy toe past there.
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  We're just going to tiptoe past there because the people in that
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  room can't really hear you. He says, well, what's going on
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  in that room? What's wrong?
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  They saw a bunch of fundamentalist, evangelical, non
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  denominational Christians and they said, yeah, they're in
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  there, but they're convinced they're the only ones that got
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  saved. I'm here to tell you God's house
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  is very, very big. Can you say it with me?
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  God's house is very, very big. That's right, because God is
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  love. God is love.
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  God is love, the God revealed in Jesus Christ.
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  Who said I am the way, the truth and the life is the God of the
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  way of love, is the God of the truth of love is the God of the
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  life of love. All other definitions of
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  religion, not just Christianity, any religion are wrong.
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  God is love. God has been revealed as love.
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  And I'll tell you what, in every major religion in the world,
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  Christianity, Islam, Judaism, all of us who are children of
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  Abraham and share that same common heritage, all of our
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  sacred books speak of a God of love.
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  It's a shame that in every religious group, Christians in
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  Islam, Muslims in Judaism, there are radical, radical people on
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  every end. You know, the hardcore rigid
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  type and the more open minded, more welcoming type.
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  But at the end of the day, God is 1.
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  We're the ones that are fractured and divided.
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  We're the ones separated into the different rooms.
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  But why would Jesus tell his disciples in my father's house?
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  There are many rooms, many dwelling places in my father's
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  house. You know why?
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  Because God is love. God does not reject His
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  children. At a very young age, as a Roman
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  Catholic kid growing up in Miami, I was invited by a
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  Protestant friend of mine to his Bible youth group, Bible Study
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  youth group. It was at a Presbyterian Church,
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  and I was 12 or 13 years old. And I remember going that day to
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  the Presbyterian youth group, and I felt so loved and so
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  welcomed by them. And we just studied the Bible.
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  I'm sure they asked me about, you know, being Catholic and
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  what it meant. But it was more important that
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  we were all united by Jesus and by the love of God than our
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  differences. And that friend was a dear
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  friend. I actually saw him recently.
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  He works now in the city of Miami Beach.
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  I went to give the blessing to one of my friends that became a
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  commissioner. And he was one of the people
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  there on the staff. And I said, Oh my God, do you
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  remember? And he lived on the other block
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  from me. And we went to the same public
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  school together. And then ironically, his pastor,
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  his childhood pastor became one of my mentors of, of the icon of
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  the Cuban community, Reverend Anorga.
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  He became one of my mentors. And actually I was the Roman
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  Catholic priest, director of the radio stations and all that.
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  He was a real strong guide. And when I make the transition
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  to Anglicanism, he was one of the first people to really
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  encourage me and, and, and guide me through the process.
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  But why do I say this to you? Because I've never, and this is
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  very personal. You don't have to believe it if
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  you don't want. I've never thought that any
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  Christian Church was better than any other Christian Church.
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  I've never thought that if you're a follower of Jesus
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  Christ in the Protestant way or in the Catholic way or in the
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  Orthodox way, if you're from the East or the West, if you're from
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  the high church or the low church, if you're from this,
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  that you're any better than any other.
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  I've always thought God is 1. I was taught that from a very
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  early age. I believe that that's the way my
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  parents raised me. My parents had friends that were
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  Hindu, that were Muslim, that were Jewish, that were Christian
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  of every stripe. I never thought of them as being
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  any different than us. You don't have to believe this.
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  I'm just telling you what I've experienced in my walk with God.
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  God is 1. And I say it to you because we
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  live in a world where everything's very different,
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  right? Where there are factions.
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  Everything's about all those people.
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  Who are those people? Those people are your brothers
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  and sisters. They were just raised
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  differently. Most people don't get get their
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  religion from their culture, from their upbringing.
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  They don't get it from some kind of personal conversion.
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  That's what I love about the Curcio, by the way, because
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  Curcio allows you as a Christian, no matter where you
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  are, that you're not, you weren't just baptized into
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  Christ Jesus. You begin to develop a personal
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  relationship with Jesus. That's why this gospel is
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  perfect today. It's a strong gospel.
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  There's a lot there. Do you see John 14?
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  It's a lot there. Jesus says to his disciples, Do
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  not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith, Believe me, believe
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  me. Why does Jesus say this in John
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  14? This is the final discourse.
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  These are the days before Jesus celebrates the Last Supper and
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  gets ready to die on the cross for our salvation, gets ready to
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  rise from the dead. These are the days his disciples
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  are worried that they would be persecuted, and they were, but
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  they had no clue what Jesus was up to.
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  How do we know the way? How do we know where you're
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  going? And Jesus says I am the way and
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  the truth and the life. We are called to choose.
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  As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to choose trust over
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  fear. If you are afraid of something,
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  I'm here to tell you this. Listen to me carefully.
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  Fear is a horrible counselor. Fear paralyzes you.
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  Fear doesn't allow you to follow the way of God.
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  Fear, as a matter of fact, leads you away from God.
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  Fear is the worst advisor you can ever have in your life.
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  That's why Jesus said more than anything else, do not be afraid.
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  So I'm here to tell you this, Jesus is the way.
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  By the way, the Way of Jesus is not a set of rules, doctrines,
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  and dogmas. The way of Jesus is a way of
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  developing a real relationship with a real person, interacting
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  with Jesus as you interact with a friend.
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  God should not be. For a Christian and abstract
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  concept. God is this real relationship.
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  Christianity is about a living, real relationship with a friend
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  who listens to you, who cares for you, who deeply knows you
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  and loves you and guides you. That's the way of Jesus.
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  And I don't know how many of you know this.
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  Before we had an official church and called it church, this
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  church that whatever Christianity was called the way,
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  did you know that the disciples of Jesus called it the way?
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  Oh, he's a member of the way. El Camino, The way.
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  What's that? To follow Jesus, you've got to
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  know the way. And Jesus says I am the way.
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  It's a relationship with a real person, not with an institution,
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  not with a set of formulas. The truth, Jesus is the truth,
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  the way. The truth, by the way, truth is
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  not just learning the creeds by heart.
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  I've told my Sunday school teachers in this church, and I
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  know a lot of clergy listening to me or saying, did he say
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  that? Yes, I said that.
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  I don't want my kids to have to memorize stuff out of the Book
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  of Common Prayer or memorize this or memorize that.
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  Yes, I want them to learn the commandments.
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  Yes, I want them to learn, you know, the sacraments.
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  Yes, I want them to learn about the Trinity, God, one God, you
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  know, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. But I don't want my kids to
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  leave Sunday school at Saint Benedict's with a bunch of
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  formulas in the head. I want them to know Jesus
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  because it's the only thing that's going to help them the
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  rest of their lives, to live the way, the truth and the life.
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  Learning a bunch of stuff in catechism will not get you to
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  the corner. It'll make you an encyclopedia
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  of information. But if there's no relationship
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  with God, it means nothing. It's like those people who tell
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  me, oh, Father, because I went through the religious school,
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  you know, for 15 years I went through that religious school.
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  I say, yeah, but the religious school didn't go through you.
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  I haven't been through 30 years. I haven't been to worship in 30
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  years. But I spent my whole life in
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  that religious school. Guess what?
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  You didn't learn a whole lot. So when Jesus says he is the
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  truth, he's talking about God's truth.
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  And it goes beyond our human ideas.
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  It goes beyond our passing ideas.
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  It goes beyond your passing emotions.
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  You got to be rooted in the truth of God.
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  And when you're rooted in God's word and the truth of God, then
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  you begin to know the truth. And I always tell you this.
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  Let me tell you this, we are all lifelong learners.
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  When people ask me to define myself, I often say I'm someone
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  that wants to continue learning. You think you've got it all
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  figured out. Guess what?
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  You don't remember life. Jesus is also the way.
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  The truth is also the life. And it's not just eternal life
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  because when we hear this, oh sure, he's the life, that means
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  we're all going to be in heaven. Well, yeah, that's the promise
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  he made. But it's not just about that
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  life. It's also about this life.
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  Jesus said I have come that they might have life and that might
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  have life to the fullest. So Jesus wants you to live this
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  life well beyond your physical existence, your material wealth,
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  your knowledge that you may acquire through education or
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  through life. I want to tell you this, Jesus
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  wants you to live life, the fullness of life, to not be
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  enslaved by the darkness of sin, to not be enslaved by addictions
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  and things that can attitudes, negativity, things that can make
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  you go through a different path that it's not the path of
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  fullness of life. He wants you to have the
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  fullness of life. So when Jesus says I am the way
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  I am the truth, I am the life, he's showing us a new way of
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  living. That's what Easter is all about.
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  We are an an Easter people. We have to put our feet firmly
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  on the ground in the reality that exists today, with our eyes
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  fixed on the hope of the promise that God has given us through
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  Jesus Christ our Savior. In the name of the Father, and
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  of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.