Living a Life Lika Dis!

Let’s not beat around the bush but get right to it! Today’s message for Reformation Sunday is, Living a Life of Lika Dis!

What does that mean? It means asking how we actually live in a close and intimate relationship with God lika dis? And how we live in close and intimate relationships, not just with the people we like, but with everyone with whom we have contact? 

In other words, what does God expect from us? And, more to the point, how does God expect us to do it? 

How do we live a life lika dis?

Language is tricky. As we’ve said many times—especially when considering a reading from the Gospel of John (and today’s reading is from the Gospel of John)—words in one language can have nuances and meanings that are almost impossible to convey with just a single word in another language!

Today’s gospel reading is a case in point. Three times John uses one of his favorite Greek words in talking about Jesus: the word meno, which usually means something like to abide or dwell. And that’s why it’s a favorite word for John’s! Throughout John’s gospel, Jesus urges us to abide in him as he abides in us. Or he urges us to dwell in him as he himself dwells in his Father.

So, no surprise! Three times in today’s reading, John uses that beloved word meno; to abide; to dwell. Except, nowhere in our translation, is it clear that the writer is using that word!

Here’s what I mean. The first time he uses that word is in the first sentence of today’s reading. See if you can find it! “Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’”

Where is it? Believe it or not, the word “continue” in that translation—“if you continue in my word”—is the word meno. And that’s important! 

Our English translation isn’t giving us the full detail! It isn’t simply by “continuing” in Jesus’ word that we are truly Jesus’ disciples. While there’s an element of ongoing continuation to it, Jesus is saying something more important to us than that! 

We are truly Jesus’ disciples, Jesus says, by continually abiding—by dwelling—in his word! 

And Jesus’ word—as the Gospel of John makes crystal clear—is Jesus himself! We are truly Jesus’ disciples, in other words, when we live with him and with others lika dis!

From 4th grade on until I was in college, I studied French. After all those years, you would think that I was a master, able to speak French fluently.

Hardly! As just one of many examples, I never quite understood the difference between the two French verbs connaitre and savoir.

Both mean “to know.” But, as my teachers kept trying to point out to me, they do not mean the same thing!  The way one “knows” facts or things—in French, savoir—is not the same as intimately “knowing” (and loving) one’s spouse or best friend—which, in French, is connaitre.

I could never keep them straight. And, as a result, sometimes I’d claim a deep personal knowledge of facts while claiming I had only a passing acquaintance with those nearest and dearest to me. Ah, c’est la vie!

Back now to Jesus. French has a point! How are we expected to “know” Jesus? Are knowing the facts or reciting what is said about him in the Creed—that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried and that on the third day he rose again—enough to claim that we “know” him? Or that we’re in a close and intimate relationship with him?

Clearly not! The kind of knowing that Jesus seeks us to find in him goes beyond facts and recitation. Jesus seeks us to know him like we seek to know those nearest and dearest to us. He wants us to know his passions, his dreams, his concerns and interests. In a word, he wants us to abide in him! Lika dis!

I mentioned earlier that the word meno (or to abide) is used three times in today’s short reading. The other two times are also disguised in our English translation. 

See if you can find them in these two sentences! “Very truly, I tell you,” Jesus says, “everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever.”

Did you figure it out? That same word, meno—which means to abide or dwell—is translated “permanent place” in one phrase and “place” (or the forever place) in another.

Jesus is helping early Jewish believers in Jesus correct a misunderstanding that they had. They thought that, by simply being genetically Jewish they automatically had a dwelling place in or with God. Jesus wants them—and us!—to understand that what actually matters is, as we just said a moment ago, that we abide in Jesus as he abides in us. And that we dwell in Jesus as Jesus dwells in God. Lika dis!

The Spiritual Reading group at church—to which you are all invited!—is currently reading Luke Timothy Johnson’s classic book, Living Jesus. Learning the Heart of the Gospel. Among many gems in that book is this simple but profound thought: “Jesus is shown in the midst of a group of people who follow him in a special and more intimate fashion … 

“These followers,” he goes on to say, “are called disciples (mathetoi), which in Greek simply means ‘learners.’”

To follow Jesus is to be a disciple. You are a disciple! And, to be a disciple, you are a learner. 

Which means, you are a lifelong learner of Jesus!

Earlier in this sermon I took a little detour to talk about my experiences trying to learn French. Despite my best efforts, I could never quite master the differences between two common French verbs for knowing. One is supposed to mean knowing facts and the other is meant for deep and intimate personal knowledge.

I kept using the one when I should have been using the other! 

My hope, however, is that you don’t make that same mistake now with Jesus! Jesus wants you to abide in him as he already abides in you! And he wants us all to dwell in him as he dwells in God the Father.

We do that, not by simply knowing “things” about Jesus. Or reciting facts or even Bible verses! We know Jesus by having an ongoing, personal and deep relationship with Jesus, knowing his passions, interests, concerns, and dreams.

That’s what it means for us to live a life with Jesus lika dis! We come to know Jesus—who is a living being—just like we know those nearest and dearest to us: by loving them and “learning” them.

Lika dis! In Jesus' name. Amen.