SUNDAY SERMON: ‘I will not leave you’

By Rev. Stephen Baldwin,

NT: John 14.15-21

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill

He sounds too blue to fly

The midnight train is whining low

I’m so lonesome, I could cry 

–By Hank Williams 

Loneliness has gotten so bad that the last US Surgeon General called it an epidemic. He said loneliness affects half of all adults, and while it may sound harmless…true loneliness, lack of connection with other people regularly over time, is the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day and leads to all kinds of negative health factors such as obesity, addiction, and more. 

Americans age 18-24 are the loneliest of all. Nearly 80% report being lonely. Only about half as many people over age 65 say they’re lonely. Yet, half a million senior citizens go an entire week without talking to a single person on a regular basis. 

And it’s not just in America. Let me read you a paragraph from The Atlantic about young people in China. 

“Earlier this year, one of the most popular apps in China was called Are You Dead?. This was not a game, but a handy way for the many young people who live alone across the country, mostly in cities, to keep tabs on one another. Users needed to check in with the app every 48 hours by pressing a big green button. If a user did not check in, the app promptly notified a designated contact. Designed as a source of comfort to those who worry about dying alone, the app became the top paid download for the iPhone in China in January.”

It’s downright depressing, isn’t it? But we’re dealing with it because it’s important, and because while loneliness may be increasing in the modern age, particularly with new technology, it’s nothing new. 

In the wake of Jesus’ death, the disciples felt the weight of loneliness. Jesus was gone. Their leader? Gone. Their teacher? Gone. Their savior? Gone. 

It’s a miracle Christianity survived two months, let alone 2,000 years! 

One reason it did is that Jesus prepared his disciples for the day when he would leave them. My favorite instance of him doing that is in today’s reading from John 14, when he promises– “I will not leave you orphaned.” 

Jesus doesn’t often speak definitively. When he does, you know it’s a promise. “Get behind me, Satan.”

“It is finished.” 

“I am preparing a room for you.” 

“I will not leave you orphaned.” 

In other words, you feel alone now….but I am with you. You feel abandoned now…but I have not forgotten you. You feel vulnerable…but your strength is in the Lord.

“I will not leave you orphaned.” It is a promise. An unbreakable covenant. A connection, which is precisely what experts today say is needed for our loneliness epidemic. Community. Relationships. Connecting with other people to rebuild the social fabric of neighborhoods. Civic groups. Friend groups. Small groups of all shapes and sizes. They offer the type of support Jesus promises, “I will not leave you orphaned.” 

Foster parents and adoptive parents are some of this world’s greatest heroes as far as I’m concerned, because they live out Jesus’ promise with our community’s most vulnerable kids, saying with their actions, “I will not leave you orphaned.” 

The question we’ve wrestled with since these words were spoken is, “Who?” Does God mean everyone? Or only certain people? If it’s only certain people, which ones? Only those who believe? Only those who are good? Only those who are Christian?

It’s helpful to remember what else Jesus says in these chapters in John as we think about the extent of God’s grace and mercy. 

Let me read you a few passages which all fit together so nicely. 

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms. I go and prepare a place for you, and I will come again so that where I am, there you may be also.”

“I will not leave you orphaned.”

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

“I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

So who will God remember? It sounds like that’s up to Jesus, not us. We don’t get to decide; God does. And what God tells us suggests God’s grace and mercy are wider than we can ever imagine. 

Think about this. Jesus says, “I am the gate.” I’d always thought of that like I think of the gate at our land in Gap Mills that keeps the cattle in the neighbor’s field and out of ours. Jesus is the gate. The big metal gate that separates this side from that side. 

But I once heard a sermon at the Episcopal Church in Ronceverte that blew my mind. The priest said, “If you look up the definition of gate, it’s not really the thing you unhitch on a farm. The gate is the open space between the fence posts.”

I looked it up right then and there. Lord forgive me, I Googled it as we sat there in worship. You’ve never Googled some crazy thing I’ve said during church, have you? I’ve seen some of you! 

So I looked it up, and sure enough, he was right. While a gate can be a hinged door, it is “an opening in a wall or a fence,” or “a means of entrance or exit.” 

Jesus says, I am the gate. I am the opening between this world and the next. I am your entrance into heaven. No one comes to the father but through me. I’m your entrance. And I will not leave you orphaned, because I am preparing a place for you!

Thinking about that promise from God gives me chills. Especially on a day like today when we celebrate our mothers, who were our gates into this world. 

Jesus says, I am the gate. I am the opening between this world and the next. I am your entrance into heaven. No one comes to the Father but through me. I’m your entrance! And I will not leave you orphaned, because I am preparing a place for you! Amen.