Imagine You are a Fish!

The Holy Gospel According to St. John the 14^th Chapter

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 

And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know

where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 

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. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

(Uh oh, he’s coming out of the pulpit)  John’s Gospel is a little odd so, sometimes, it takes being a little odd to understand what’s going on.  Fortunately for you, I’m pretty odd!  SO, to attempt to unravel the odd, I’m going to need you to use your imaginations today.  I want you to imagine that you... are a fish.  Fresh water, salt water... you pick.  You can have sharp teeth, pretty fins, a long nose or even a dangly thing on your head... whatever you like, but imagine you are a fish.  

Now that you’re a fish, I have some bad news.  I just pulled you out of the water onto the deck of my boat.  So how do you feel.  Not good, huh?  What do you think you need to feel better?  Water?  Water has the power to save you... to give you life?  OK then, since water has the power to save you, I want you now to BELIEVE in water.  With all of your mind, believe it exists, believe in it’s power to save, believe in the doctrine of water, the two hydrogen, one oxygen nature of water.... believe in water and mentally check off all those critically important doctrines and faith statements about water.  Got it?  Do you believe in water now?  Good!  So how do you feel?  Not good yet?  Huh.  Maybe believing with your mind isn’t the answer.  I know!  Try your heart!  OK, believe now with all your heart... all your emotions, all those deep down feelings.  Believe in water!  FEEL in your heart how it can save you!  Got it?  How about now?  Feeling new life yet?  No?  Huh.  

So believing in water with your mind didn’t work.  Believing in water with your heart didn’t work.  So there’s one last thing we can try.  Instead of believing in water with all your mind or all your heart.  How about if I slip you over the side of the boat where you can simply BE in the water?  Now, the water is all around you supporting your whole body.  The water brings you food, takes you to shelter and provides everything else you need.  The water is even flowing THROUGH you, over your gills and bringing you oxygen.  How do you feel now, my fishy friends?  Better?  YES!  Ok, you can stop imagining you're a fish now.  

When Jesus told the disciples “Believe in God, believe also in me” he wasn’t telling them to agree to a list of doctrines, creeds, cultural standards, political stances or faith statements about God, or even to FEEL a certain way about God.  In Jesus’ time, belief wasn’t something that happened in a person’s mind and it wasn’t even something that happened in a person’s heart... it wasn’t a head thing and it wasn’t a heart thing... it was an EVERY-THING.  

The meaning of the word “belief” changed about 400 years ago, so most of us today think of belief as a head thing or maybe a heart thing.  But belief in Jesus’ day had a significantly different meaning... it meant making a radical, intimate and complete connection with another person.  What Jesus was telling his disciples to do then was to radically be connected to God in a similar way to how a fish is radically connected to water!  It is in THAT connection where Jesus said we would begin to fully live into the LIFE God has already given us all as a gift.  THAT, Jesus told them was the TRUTH!  God, as Luke writes in Acts, is the One in whom we live and move and have our being!

Of course that begs the next question... HOW the HECK do you do THAT!?  HOW do you radically, intimately and completely connect with God?  Fortunately for us, Thomas didn’t know either, but Jesus gave him the answer.  Jesus told Thomas, I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  

So here we need to take a minute to really understand this verse because it has been used abusively all too often by Christians to “clobber” people who are not Christians.  This does NOT, NOT, NOT mean that if you aren’t a Christian you’re going to hell.  To figure out what it DOES mean, first remember the context.  Jesus is talking to his disciples... people who were already his followers.  He’s also answering a question personally for Thomas.  Thomas was worried that he would not be able to figure out HOW to connect with God the way Jesus was asking him to, so with this answer Jesus was attempting to COMFORT Thomas, to tell him it wasn’t as complicated as he thought it was.  To use a verse to clobber someone that Jesus originally used to COMFORT a disciple is a tragic misuse of the text.

So, Thomas wanted to live into the gift that is a radical, intimate and complete connection with God.  He wanted to, but he didn't get how he, simple human Thomas, was going to connect with the Infinite, the Divine, the Holy.  Basically, what Jesus told Thomas was, “RELAX!  When you are connected to me (and Thomas had been connected to Jesus for three years) you’re connected to God... when you live the Jesus life, walk the Jesus walk, go the Jesus WAY… in other words, live a life of selfless love, grace, forgiveness, justice and generosity… you ARE connecting more and more to God.”  The more often you are able to live the Jesus WAY in your day to day life... the more often you live with unconditional love, generosity and peace... the more you will recognize the TRUTH about the path you are on... and that TRUTH is that the Jesus WAY really does bring us more intimately into the abundant LIFE God created us to live.  

In our modern understanding of the word “believe” we’ve turned things completely around from how Jesus understood and used that word in his day.  Modern Christians often mistakenly make right doctrine, faith statements and correct ideas about God the first and most important thing about being a Christian, thinking THAT is what BELIEF is all about.  But what Jesus told Thomas, was that living the Jesus WAY… attempting to live a life of selfless love, compassion, generosity and inclusion (and attempt is all we can do) is the only way to get to the TRUTH.  No amount of right doctrine, faith statements signed or correct thinking is going to bring you life.  It is only when we start DOING it… living the Jesus WAY that we will see the TRUTH and begin to experience more fully the LIFE God created us to live.   

Now, before you charge me with heresy and burn me at the stake or worse.... I’m NOT saying creeds, doctrines, faith statements and ideas about God are bad.  And I’m NOT saying we shouldn’t use our minds or our hearts or our emotions to think about and talk about God.  What I’m saying is that creeds, doctrine, faith statements, ideas, our minds and our hearts are not the WAY.  Jesus is the WAY.  Those other things can (and ideally do) SUPPORT us as we try to live our lives the Jesus WAY, but they themselves are not the way.  For us Christians, Jesus is the clearest revelation of God... for us it is not a creed or an idea or even the Bible that we believe in or follow... it is a person named Jesus.  It is not when we think "correctly" or "confess perfectly" that we connect intimately and completely with God as Jesus desired us to do.  It is when we DO what Jesus did, and LIVE our lives the Jesus WAY that we truly and intimately connect more deeply with the God in whom we live and move and have our being.  To try to connect with God without doing our best to live each day in the Jesus WAY, would be, well, like a fish trying to live out of the water.  Amen.

The photo, entitled "Dream" is by Peter Ralston.  Peter is a good friend and a deep soul.  If you are in Maine, check out his gallery in Rockport or visit his website at www.ralstongallery.com