Satisfied (Fifth Sunday of Easter)

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Today in our country, it seems that we agree on virtually nothing.  We’re highly polarized, we’re divided into special interest groups and most of our political discourse centers on telling the other side that they’re wrong.

But the other day, I was reading an article that at least seemed a little bit hopeful, because it talked about recent surveys that showed that by an overwhelming majority, Americans agree about at least one thing – we’re not satisfied!

We’re not satisfied for a variety of reasons.  We’re not satisfied with our politics.  We’re not satisfied with the economy.  We’re not satisfied with the way the world is going in general.  And of course, we’re not satisfied with these things for often polar opposite reasons.

But for whatever reason, we’re not satisfied.  And in today’s Gospel reading, Philip isn’t satisfied either.  As today’s reading begins, Jesus is speaking to his disciples on the night in which he was betrayed. He’s told them he’s going to the Cross.  And now, he’s telling them that in his Father’s house there are many dwelling places, and that he’s going to prepare a place for them and bring them there eventually, too.

But Philip’s not satisfied.  “Show us the Father”, says Philp, and then we’ll be satisfied.  And maybe Philip isn’t satisfied for the same reason so many of us aren’t satisfied.  Philip wants a “thing” or a particular experience, or perhaps simply for the world to be different than the way it is, or that it seems to be turning out to be.

It’s as though Philip is asking for Jesus to show him a picture.  Or give him some kind of ecstatic spiritual vision.  Or even to place him in “the Father’s house” right now.

But Jesus doesn’t do any of those things.  Instead, he asks Philip, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”  That is, the kind of satisfaction you’re looking for doesn’t come through a thing or a place or even some kind of special one time vision.  Instead, satisfaction comes through relationship.  And it’s being in constant relationship with Jesus that the disciples indeed have come to know and experience God’s presence.

And in these final words Jesus speaks to Philip and all of the rest of the disciples on the night before he died, Jesus is telling them that if they want to continue to experience God’s presence in their lives, it’s going to come through the relationship that he’s already begun with them.  And that means that “seeing the Father” in their lives is going to come through their continued relationship with:

• Jesus – even after his Resurrection, Jesus promises to be with them and guide them.  And just as the disciples had experienced God – indeed, even “seen the Father” – through Jesus, it would be through nurturing their relationship with Jesus through prayer and through listening for the voice of the Spirit, that they would continue to be satisfied in the future…

• Each other – when Jesus speaks of the “Father’s house”, the word John uses to translate what Jesus says is “oikos”, and it doesn’t so much mean a physical structure as it means the family that dwells together; Jesus means that often the “satisfaction” of experiencing God comes through dwelling in that “house” – that relationship – right now, not just in heaven after we die…

• The world God made – that word for house, “oikos”, is also the root of our English word “ecology”, and it reminds us that God is not just found in our hearts and in heaven, but in the mission to the world to which Jesus sends us.  Jesus goes on here to talk to the disciples about doing “greater works” than they’ve seen before, because Jesus is sending them into the world.  And the disciples will have the “satisfaction” of experiencing God’s presence as they open themselves up to being Jesus’ agents of God’s love in the lives of people in the world around them…

Satisfaction, like happiness, isn’t the result of a “thing” or a single experience.  It’s the result of being involved in relationships and activities that give your life meaning and purpose and value.  And maybe that’s why so many people in our world express a lack of satisfaction lately.  We’re unhappy with the way things are, but we’ve lost a sense of connection and relationship with one another.

Jesus’ words to the disciples today, and by extension to us, remind us that satisfaction and happiness – purpose and value and meaning – are found through deeper relationships, not simply from getting things to be way we’d like them to be.

And so perhaps this is Jesus’ way of calling us, also, to model a kind of satisfaction that’s found by deepening our relationship with:

• Jesus himself – so much of what gets talked about as “religion” today is really simply about people of various religious groups trying to get others to be like them, or do things their way.  It’s neither effective nor “satisfying”!  But there’s a real opportunity to be found in living our faith in a way that centers ourselves on exploring Jesus’ love and care for us and for our neighbors, and finding ways to express and share that love.  After all, even when the first disciples were being beaten up, they often found joy and purpose not in the hardships, but in the sense that they really were in a living relationship with Jesus, and sharing that relationship with others.  It was even satisfying…

• Each other – no matter where you look in the New Testament, no disciple of Jesus was ever called to go it alone.  They worked in teams and in pairs.  They gathered together in each others’ homes.  They stayed in touch with each other through letters.  And it was in that relationship with each other that they often experienced the power and the presence of Jesus.  There is, of course, an important place for personal, spiritual devotion.  But if it stays merely personal, and private, it’s rarely satisfying.  And just as with the first disciples, Jesus often satisfies our desire for God’s presence through the community and relationships we share with each other…

• The world around us – at the end of today’s reading, Jesus talks about the “works” the disciples will do in his name.  And that’s because, just as the disciples could “see the Father” through the works Jesus did, they would also see Jesus through some of the works they did in his name.  After all, happiness and satisfaction are rarely the result of stuff I do for myself.  It’s always more satisfying if I’m making a difference in somebody else’s life, or in the wider community around me.  Jesus calls us to such works, not in order to “be good people”, but because it’s through works in Jesus’ name for others that both we and others can have our need for experiencing God’s love and presence satisfied…

In the end, Jesus never criticized Philip or any of the other disciples for wanting to be satisfied.  But he did make it clear that the satisfaction of feeling and experiencing God can’t come through a one-time experience, or even through somehow hoping we can make the world into a different place.

Instead, the satisfaction to which Jesus calls us comes through deeper relationships, through which we continue to experience Jesus’ Resurrection in our lives today.  And we grow in the satisfaction of that experience as we open ourselves to a deeper commitment and relationship with Jesus, with each other and with the mission to the world to which Jesus calls us.

Amen.