LESSONS IN LIVING
“I Am”
A St. Andrew’s Sermon
Delivered by Dr. Jim Rigby
August 23, 2015
Scripture Reading: John 14:1-14 (The Inclusive Bible)
I want to admit that this particular passage has never sat well with me. Even as a fairly young
person sitting there in church, the idea that Buddha and Socrates were in hell for the crime of not
being Christian, for the crime of being born too early, or some other place, or having a mind of
their own, didn’t make me want to go and spend eternity with whoever would come up with
those rules. And the whole picture of Jesus and John was troubling to me. It didn’t sound like
the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount. Sounded more like Donald Trump! If you’re not on my
team, you’re a loser, huh?
During this series I want to look at symbols that have been lost, I believe, by merely staying in
our comfort zone in the mainstream religious church. That by taking symbols that could take us
to a profound place; by taking them superficially, literally, as though they’re not poetry, we bring
divisiveness into the world. We have a wound in our eyes when we think that God has chosen us
as the best. And we think we’re going to be fine in heaven knowing that 99% of humankind
through history will be tortured in hell. That’s the Good News? That we happen to be born in
the right culture? So I think there’s better Good News than the idea that 99% of humankind is
being tortured for all eternity. Now let me say, if you are comfortable with the understanding
you have, I’m not trying to take that away. But I think most people have a problem with the idea
that Jesus is the only way, and yet there we see those words. I am the way, the truth, the life;
nobody comes to God except through me. Can we reconcile those?
I like going to the worst critics of Christianity I can find, because I think that’s what really tests
our mettle and takes us more deeply into the symbols. This is Robert Ingersoll, who is a very
powerful, and I think wonderful, atheist. But he had some problems. I believe this passage
comes from a book he calls Some Mistakes of Moses.
“It is amazing to me that a difference of opinion upon subjects that we know
nothing with certainty about, should make us hate, persecute, and despise each
other. Why a difference of opinion upon predestination, or the trinity, should
make people imprison and burn each other seems beyond the comprehension of
man; and yet in all countries where Christians have existed, they have destroyed
each other to the exact extent of their power. Why should a believer in God
hate an atheist? Surely the atheist has not injured God, and surely he or she is
human, capable of joy and pain, and entitled to all the rights of a human being.
Would it not be far better to treat this atheist, at least, as well as he or she treats
us?
Christians tell me that they love their enemies, and yet all I ask is—not that they
love their enemies, not that they love their friends even, but that they treat those
who differ from them, with simple fairness.
We do not wish to be forgiven, but we wish Christians to so act that we will not
have to forgive them. If all will admit that all have an equal right to think, then
the question is forever solved; but as long as organized and powerful churches,
pretending to hold the keys of heaven and hell, denounce every person as an
outcast and criminal who thinks for him- or herself and denies their authority,
the world will be filled with hatred and suffering. To hate humans and worship
God seems to be the sum of all the creeds.”
Now I beg to differ, but I can understand how somebody would get to that point. And we’re not
going to save Christianity by becoming defensive about truths. I will never forget in seminary
the horrible experience of studying church history and losing every hero I had. Because every
one of them had at one point or another called for the death of their enemies. I want to say I’m
not on that team. I’m not on that team.
But how do we save these words, I am the way, the truth, the life; No one comes to God except
through me? Now it may seem like we’re cornered, and that what Jim is going to do is do some
of the hocus pocus magic, the hamburger helper, going to twist and turn origami . . .but I want to
suggest that the book of John was not calling people to sectarian Christianity but instead to
universal compassion. Now I know that sounds outlandish but think for just a moment about the
fact that when Jesus said these words, there wasn’t a Christian church to convert to. Just for a
second, think about that. Think about how the passage begins. Let not your hearts be troubled,
neither let them be afraid. Jesus is speaking to people who he’s about to leave. He’s about to
die. And it’s of critical importance that they realize that whatever it is that he’s bringing to the
world, we have too. This is the transmission. I no longer call you disciples, I call you friends.
The church doesn’t want that, they want you to be permanently children. Many churches . . .
most churches. They want God to be the eternal parent which doesn’t leave you a place to grow
up. But when we return to the stories themselves, there’s a transmission that takes place. Jesus
is leaving, and he’s saying you’re going to be just fine. What was in me is in you. I’ve been
telling you that I am the child of God; I’m telling you now that you are too. He says this by
saying, the way to where I’m going, you know. Now that’s a clue, isn’t it? He hasn’t said
anything about that, he hasn’t said anything about that in the book of John, but he turns to the
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disciples and says, don’t worry, you know where I’m going. Now what do you think that means?
Have you ever been so lost and you just wonder why you’re here? And somebody gave you a
philosophical or theological answer, and it just bounced off? What we’re looking for is our
sense of our roots; that take us down into nature, into life, into the life process. That’s who we
profoundly and deeply are. And that’s the gift I believe that Jesus is giving us. He’s going to
say in these passages, you are a cosmic event. You are the light of the world. He’s going to say
this, but to get there we have to understand the symbols, we have to stop taking them literally.
Now again, if it works literally for you and the wheels are on the bus, stay on the bus. But I want
to suggest that interpretation of Christianity has caused inquisitions, crusades, anti-Semitism, and
might be able to use a little tweaking. In fact, it might need a radical reformation where that
poison is pulled out of it once and for all.
Now to get to what Jesus is talking about in John, as I understand it anyway, last week we talked
about the divine name. Moses is going through a desert (if you weren’t here last week you might
want to listen to that to get some background for the sermon today) - he’s going through the
desert and he has an experience, a mystical experience, with a bush. And through that bush he
has a sense of the nature of being itself. And I say that because when he asks what is the name
of this being that’s radiating through the bush, the name in Hebrew is basically the very literal
“to be”. Its four letters and any type of being can be expressed by rearranging those and putting
vowel points on it. It’s being itself; it’s the source the ground of all beings. Now when they
want to translate the divine name into Greek, they don’t have anything like that in Greek.
Hebrew’s a very stripped down language and for much of its time it didn’t have vowels, it was
just consonants. And there were four consonants which were the divine name. So in Greek the
way they want to get around that, they use a very special mixture of the word “I” as a subject and
as a predicate. You wouldn’t need both in the same sentence—its “Ego” which is the subject,
“Emi” which is the predicate, and they’re put together in a sentence. The way that was translated
is “I am”. So when you’re going through John, what you can’t see in English, but it’s critically
important to realize, is when Jesus says “I am”, that’s the divine name. The Greek that’s used
would never be used in regular speech. It was reserved for the divine name - which changes
what Jesus is saying.
The church sort of leaves out - and I know that all churches do this but I think enough of us have
done it where it’s a problem - and that is, when Jesus says I’m not talking about myself in John,
we leave that part out. There are seven or eight “I Am” sayings, and we love the one where
Jesus is saying “only through me”. We’re not as crazy about the verse in John where Jesus says,
whatsoever you do to the least of these, you do to me. That kind of changes it a little bit, doesn’t
it?
My favorite of the seven sayings is where John has Jesus say, before Abraham was, I am. Now
try to put that in traditional theology. Try to take that literally; you cannot. It’s a mystical
saying. Before Abraham was, I am. And if we look at all of the sayings, then we realize again
that it’s not calling us to be sectarian, narrow-minded Christians; it’s calling us to universal
compassion.
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When Jesus speaks as the “I am” sayings, one of the images that it draws up is the tree of life,
which is going to really help you in John when Jesus gets to the part about “eat me”. Which
again, literally, sounds a little bit like cannibalism. But it’s the tree of life speaking, the source
of life, the foundation of life. And Jesus keeps saying, it’s not me I’m talking about. I’m talking
about the source from which I come, and the source from which you come.
When the Hebrew was translated into the Greek, you had this wonderful poetry that started. The
Protestant Church didn’t keep those books. The Catholic Church did. There’s a book in the
Catholic Bible called Ecclesiasticus. In these texts it talks about Sophia. Before Jesus comes
here, there are “I am” sayings where Sophia speaks as the divine wisdom and it’s critically
important to realize that Jesus is quoting these on occasion. Listen to this from the Sophia
sayings:
Hear the praise of Sophia from her own mouth: "I am the word that was first
uttered by the Most High. (Does that sound familiar?) It was I who covered
the earth like a mist. My dwelling place was in the high heaven . . .Alone I
made the circuit of the sky . . Before time began God created me, and I shall
remain forever. (See, this is somebody vocalizing the divine wisdom, the
nature of things the patterning of things.) In this world I manifest God’s
presence... (when you see me, you see the source) It was God who established
me in the city God loved and gave me rule over Jerusalem. I took root in the
hearts of those who were honored by God (now listen to this part and think of
communion). I put forth lovely shoots like a vine, and my blossoms were a
harvest of love, reverence, knowledge, and holy hope. Come to me, you who
desire me, eat your fill of my fruit, the memory of me is sweeter than syrup and
the possession of me is sweeter than honey dripping from the comb.
When Jesus is talking in John he’s quoting often, or certainly alluding to the wisdom passages.
And this is saying that the patterns that create the stars, the redwoods, all of being, are also what
have created us. It’s written in your body. You know the way to the source, it’s written in you,
in your body. So when we look at the world of God, we’re not talking about just the Bible,
we’re talking about your DNA. We’re talking about the laws of physics. So Jesus is saying, I’m
not coming to talk philosophically about the truth, I am the truth and so are you, you are the
manifestation of that sacred something that we’re all looking for. You’ve followed Jesus not by
cowering and diminishing yourself but by loving with your heart, your mind and your strength;
by blossoming, by being fully human, by bringing those gifts to the world.
You are not being asked to be eternally a child, to an eternal parent. Jesus passes the torch to
you. I’m not calling you disciples anymore, I’m calling you friends. I’m not talking about
myself, I’m talking about us; our source, our ground of being. That which I do, you will do, and
greater things. That’s in the text. Let not your hearts be troubled. Neither let them be afraid. I
will not leave you as orphans. But you don’t need a parent. You are the light of the world. You
are the cosmic dance.
One more version of this comes from Hinduism, actually two more versions. As I’ve said, I was
raised in Dallas, Texas. And growing up I’d only heard one version of things. Give me
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something outside what I learned in Oak Cliff; wasn’t too hard to do! When I was in seminary, I
went to a bookstore and found the Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism. And listening to this blew my
socks off. Krishna speaking:
I am the source of everything. And all worlds come out of me. Knowing this,
the wise ones honor me in the cave of their hearts. I am the supreme selfdwelling in the hearts of all creatures; they are born in me, sustained by me, and
in the end returned to me. I am the primal seed of all existence. No being
moving or unmoving can exist without me.
In the gospel of John, we have some of the most valuable maps to the ground of our own being
that we could possibly find. It’s a hymn that we find swept through history. Someone singing
from the ground of life, singing from the roots that we’re searching for when we feel lost or
alone or when our lives seem futile. They give us not a philosophical answer, but manifest to us
the ground of our own being. You don’t have to look for me, they say, it’s in me. It’s in you.
You are not lost. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. I will not leave you
orphaned.
I want to leave you with one last I Am saying, and this is one that you’ve probably heard at
funerals if you’re old or a minster. You will hear it if you haven’t. But it’s one of my favorite “I
Am” sayings and it doesn’t come from scripture, it comes from a poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye.
I close with this.
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
Transcribed and edited by a member of the St. Andrew's Sermon Transcription Project.
St. Andrew’s Church
Loving ♦ Progressive ♦ Presbyterian
14311 Wells Port Drive, Austin, Texas 78728 · (512) 251-0698
· Fax: (512) 251-2617 www.staopen.com
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