Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
May 3, 2026
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras

Easter 5A
Jesus Priceless Treasure

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, and believe in me also. In my Father’s house there are many rooms; if it were not so would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you I will return and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.” (Jn 14:1-3 DKV)

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In order to understand what Jesus says in today’s gospel we must be in Christ. From the outside the Lord’s words sound one way, and from the inside another. It is the difference between watching a cooking show on TV and actually enjoying that same gastronomic feast in a FIVE STAR restaurant.

As to the power of these words to console those who are crushed beneath the burdens of death, devil, sin and self – that’s a big one – those who are addicted to deadly sins. Those who have left the way of truth and righteousness behind, and now like the demoniac in Mark Chapter Five occupy dark places; and can neither restrain themselves not be restrained.

By these words Jesus invites all such people to come to him, so that he can expel your demons and initiate you in to the Way the Truth and the Life. Said another way: o be baptized into him because he cares for all; those who are near and those who are far away. He is able to help and to console you because he is no ordinary man. But he is God’s Man. The Son of God. “Very God of very God.” “Of one substance with the Father.”

Yes, today’s gospel proclaims the Lord’s divinity and therefore his omnipotence over all things. His ability to subdue all things under his feet.

“You believe in God, believe also in me.” A claim that he is of one substance with the Father.

And to Thomas, “if you had known me you would have known my Father.” The announcement of his Divine Nature.

And again to Philipp when he says to Jesus, “Show us the Father and it will suffice.” And Jesus answers him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” Case made. This Man is the full and perfect Man that Adam was meant to be, but was not.

Moreover Jesus says this. “I am going to prepare a place for you; and if I go to prepare a place for you I will return to you so that where I am you will be also.”

Jesus speaks here to the initiated, the baptized who believe in him. But these same words extend to all mankind. If you are not initiated into him by faith and holy baptism, he invites to live an abundant life, beginning now and going on into eternity.

If you are baptized but have not nourished your faith, so that it suffers a near death experience every day; because you have starved it to death – then Jesus calls you today to renew yourself, and to walk in him who is the WAY. The road, that is, to a glad life – no matter what might befall you; even as it befell him. The Way to God who alone will satisfy your every desire and make you human again.

Let not your hearts be troubled he says to his closest friends and even the one who will betray him. Words that do what they say. Lazarus arise, and he did. Regain your sight, and he saw. And to the lame, “Take up your bed and walk, and he did.”

As mere mortals we speak words of comfort to one another when our sins catch up to us so that we suffer loss, guilt, shame and self-recrimination, confusion as to the way forward, and even lose all hope for a time.

Or when the Black Swans come calling. A Black Swan Event is something that comes out of nowhere, and upends our lives. It is a knock on the door in the middle of the night. A word from your doctor to: get your affairs in order. Or a sudden discovery about someone you love, that you wish you did not know.

People will often say: Everything will be okay. Be strong. Time heals all wounds. All shows of love. All well-meant. But nothing comes close to the Lord’s words, “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God believe also on me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go to prepare a place for you I will return to you, so that where I am, you may be also.”

These are the words of life. Spoken by: the Man of sorrows, who was acquainted with grief,” as Isaiah puts it. Who took all of our sorrows and griefs onto and into himself; and took them to the cross, and put them to death even as he himself died; and sent them to hell where they belong.

Such mighty words of love make Jesus, in the words of the hymn, our Priceless Treasure. That is the title of the hymn that Johann Franck taught the church to sing over 300 years ago, with its mysterious melody composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, the Harp of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Priceless Treasure.

Relief for troubled hearts can be found nowhere else. Nor can we find satisfaction or enduring peace, except by communion with our Lord Jesus Christ. And so take these words to yourself and rely on them at all times. “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God believe also in me.” Amen.