Acts 7:55-60
John 14:1-14
“Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled”
Today’s Gospel text is probably a familiar one for most of us. I’ve read it many times (particularly at funerals). And when you hear it you may notice that beautiful promise of Jesus to his worried, scared, and confused disciples: “In my Father’s house there are many rooms. I will go and prepare a place for you, so that where I am there you may be also.”
When I think about the end of my own life, I can imagine trying to focus on that promise, trusting in God’s mercy and grace, and the gift of everlasting life. Although I don’t know what heaven will be like, I’ve said many times that I believe that there will be a heaven – a continuing reality, in the presence of God, where there is joy and peace and rest.
But when I imagine the end of my life, I imagine myself at an advanced age, and in my bed. It’s not like the end of life that the Apostle Stephen experienced – way too soon, surrounded by an angry crowd, anticipating the agonizing pain of the barrage of stones hitting his head, and body, and legs.
Nonetheless, when Stephen came face-to-face with his own immanent death, his faith didn’t falter. Like many other Christian martyrs who would face horrific deaths in the centuries to come, Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit, he looked up to heaven, and he saw Jesus sitting at the right hand of God.
To top it off, he followed Jesus’ lead as he was being executed, praying confidently for Jesus to receive his spirit, and asking God to forgive the people who were killing him.
Wow! Jesus told his disciples that he was the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and Stephen (for one) followed Jesus Way through the horror of death and into the promise of everlasting life with God.
Now, we don’t really know what Stephen was thinking, or how he was feeling when all of this was happening. But from what is recorded in the text, I get the impression that he was steadfast and confident that with God’s help, he would be okay.
Maybe some of Stephen’s apostle friends had told him about what Jesus said to them before he died. “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” And somehow, even as the angry mob began to stone him to death, Stephen stayed calm.
I’m quite sure that I wouldn’t have been able to stay calm like that. I haven’t faced anything so frightening before, but my experience has been that when feelings of stress, worry, and sadness strike me, I can’t just order them to go away. I can take some deep breaths, and I can pray for God’s strength, and I can tell myself that everything’s going to be okay. But I can’t necessarily stop the feelings or even slow down my racing heart when I am afraid.
That’s why I’m so glad that that’s probably not what Jesus meant when he told his disciples to not let their hearts be troubled or afraid, as if they could simply take control of their individual hearts and make themselves feel calm.
Instead, I think that Jesus is not only encouraging his disciples not to fear death, he’s also assuring them that they need not fear life and their call to continue his mission of love in the world. The risk in this moment, as Jesus prepares to depart, is that his disciples will give up. They might feel abandoned, ill-equipped, or just too troubled by his death to do the things that he has been preparing them to do in the world.
In a blog on workingpreacher.org from Luther Seminary, Laura Holmes suggests this translation of the Greek text: “You all, do not let your [plural] heart [singular] be troubled.” Holmes explains: “In other words, Jesus says to this group of disciples that they have one heart, and that they, collectively, have a responsibility for it not to be troubled at Jesus’ departure.”
Jesus isn’t talking about individuals worrying about their salvation or whether they’ll get to go to heaven. Jesus is talking about the community of disciples (the church) worrying about the fact that Jesus is no longer present with them and giving up their mission.
There are plenty of things happening in the world right now that may be causing our hearts to be worried and troubled. We may think of the wars in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, Sudan, and more. We may think of the fraught political climate in the United States and around the world. We may think of economic challenges that make so many people’s daily lives difficult. We may think of the opioid crisis, of the prevalence of houselessness and hunger, and of the slow progress of healing and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada. I think it’s quite natural and normal that our individual hearts are troubled by these realities, as well as strained by our own personal challenges, griefs, and disappointments.
And yet, Jesus tells us that the one heart that we share as the community of his disciples must remain steadfast. Together as the church, we must hold fast to our hope and be unified in purpose as we carry out Jesus’ mission in the world. We cannot let the setbacks discourage us to the point of giving up.
Here at First Church, I know that at least a few of us are feeling worried about the feasibility study that is being completed by 1080 Architecture. The Directions Task Force will be meeting with them soon to receive a report on what our options may be for the building, and we’re a little nervous about it.
Others may have read through our financial report from 2025 and the budget for 2026, and may be feeling worried about how we will sustain our active ministry going forward. Folks were very generous in their giving in 2025, but if our expenditures continue to exceed our income, something will eventually have to change.
Still others may be focussed on the ministry itself, and our generation’s responsibility to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the coming generations and with our neighbours beyond the community of our congregation. We’re striving to do this, of course, but are we succeeding? Perhaps our hearts are troubled at the possibility that we may fail in our calling to spread the gospel.
I don’t think that Jesus would scold us for having those feelings, for caring deeply about our mission and worrying about how we are fulfilling it. But Jesus would say to us as a church, to us as the community of disciples in this place, “You all, do not let your [plural] heart [singular] be troubled.”
Jesus would remind us that although he’s not physically present with us, that the Holy Spirit is with us, and in us, and between us, and working through us. Jesus would tell us to be of one heart, and to work together to not let that heart be shaken.
After Jesus’ death, the earliest disciples were just about ready to give up, but with the power of the Holy Spirit they went from discouraged, frightened, and confused people who were even starting to scatter from each other, and turned into a group of courageous, determined, and faithful followers who were willing even to face death in order to fulfill their mission.
If the Spirit is with us also, as I believe she is, then can’t we do the same? Together, we can not let the heart of our community be discouraged. We can stay on the path that Jesus set for us as we follow him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And we can never give up.