Transitional Housing

With all the controversy over our southern border and the wave of illegal immigrants, we hardly hear a word about legal immigration. But last year 136,000 people arrived here with the proper documentation from the State Department. Another 125,000 came here as refugees. And although there’s considerable disagreement on how many illegal immigrants arrived during 2022, NBC reported that it’s almost 3 million. And each one has to adjust to a new reality. For most new arrivals, culture shock is too mild a term.

Throughout America’s history, people from all over the world have endured quite amazing hardships in order to get here, because of their vision of what life could be like, here in the promised land. Some even came as indentured servants - that is, they paid for their passage by selling their labor after arrival for 8 to 10 years. And later, during the great pioneer trek westward, people did the same thing - packed up whatever they could carry, left the rest behind, and struck out for the unknown. And not very many people returned to wherever it was they had started from.

But some few did go back. I don’t have any statistics, but I have a sneaking suspicion that many of the people who went back did so because the terms and conditions of the adventure got radically changed midstream. For instance, if the vast acres and wealthy estate turned out to be a leaky cabin in the middle of a swamp, or the wonderful business opportunity turned out to be a rundown second-hand store, or the leader of the expedition died and no-one else knew where they were supposed to be going. I’d go back, wouldn’t you? If you could?

I’m not suggesting that by the time of the Last Supper any of the twelve (except for Judas, of course, who had his own agenda) was contemplating jumping ship. But they certainly weren’t where they thought they were going to be when the joined up. After three years of following Jesus around Galilee, here they were at last in the capital Jerusalem, for the greatest festival of the year. What better time to announce that the longed-for Messiah had come! All the old dreams of power and plenty and privilege were ready to be dusted off and readied for fulfillment, just as soon as the Master said the word.

But the word the Master said wasn’t the one they had been waiting for. They had arrived at their goal - only to find that what they had thought was their final destination was really the embarkation point for a journey they had never expected to take.

Jesus has washed their feet. He has blessed the bread and given it to them with the strange words, “This is my body, broken for you,” and blessed the wine with equally strange words, about the blood of a new covenant sealed in his blood. He has told them one of them would betray him, and received Simon Peter’s indignant denial.

And then he tells them he is leaving them.

They are upset. Wouldn’t you be? But they’re more than upset. They’re scared. What are they going to do now? They’ve left their families, let their businesses gather dust, and probably earned the reputation of being religious fanatics to boot. And Jesus is bugging out, leaving them to face the music alone? There must be some mistake! This can’t be what it was all about!

So Jesus says to them, soothingly, “Don’t let this throw you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me, too. There is plenty of room in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m going to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking.” [Jn 14:1-4, The Message, Eugene Peterson]

Well, this time Thomas speaks up. “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?” Jesus answers him, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life; no one gets to the Father apart from me.” [Jn 14:8, The Message]

Well, it takes them a while, and they still really don’t get it. But eventually - after the events of that terrible Friday, and that wonderful Sunday, the twelve finally figure out that Jesus was talking about going on ahead of them to take up residence in a heavenly kingdom, not the earthly one they had earlier so confidently expected. And of course by that time they do believe him, and they do trust him, and they all live the rest of their lives in the confident expectation that Jesus would do just as he had said: