May 3, 2026 | Word Out!
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READINGS
First Reading: Acts 7:55-60
55 Filled with the Holy Spirit, [Stephen] gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. 58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him, and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.
Second Reading: 1 Peter 2:2-10
2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation—3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture:
“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 This honor, then, is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner,”
8 and
“A stone that makes them stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.
Gospel: John 14:1-14
[Jesus said to the disciples:] 1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 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, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”
SERMON—Pastor Dan Peterson
“What Is the Way?"”
Grace to you, and peace, from God the Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Amen.
“This is the Way.” How many of you recognize that slogan? “This is the Way.” It comes from the TV series “The Mandalorian.” “The Mandalorian” is a recent, or relatively recent, addition to the Star Wars franchise. The Mandalorians were a group of fearsome warriors originating from the planet Mandalore. They were bound by a code of behavior and known for their military exploits. They show up at various places throughout the Star Wars universe, including, in several weeks, a brand new movie dedicated to this franchise.
The TV series is set five years after the events of “Return of the Jedi.” It follows the exploits of a lone Mandalorian bounty hunter called Mando, who is hired by Imperial forces to retrieve the child Grogu (who is often referred to incorrectly as “Baby Yoda.”) The Mandalorian ends up forming a bond with the child that is with Grogu, and starts his own quest to return the child to the Jedi Order to be trained in his abilities to use the Force—something in which I was trained in seminary. 😊
This summary comes from Thomas Fretwell, another clergy person. “Throughout the three seasons of the show, “he adds, “you will hear a phrase repeated among the Mandalorians, (the one I said a few moments ago) ‘This is the Way.’ It operates as a statement of belief, a code or quality of life.”
So you’re probably on the edge of your seat asking, “What is this Mandalorian Code?” Well, according to Wookiepedia—that’s a real website, Wookiepedia—there are four tenets to the so called Mandalorian Creed, or Code. The first, as some of you who know the franchise might guess, is that you can never show your face. You must always wear a helmet. If you show your face, which happens several times in the three seasons of the series, then you must make amends by doing some kind of heroic deed for the rest of the Mandalorians.
The second tenet of the Mandalorian code is to protect Foundlings. Now, Foundlings aren’t members of the children’s choir (if we had one). Foundlings are new initiates into the Mandalorian Order. This is interesting because it shows that people of diverse backgrounds, even species, are welcomed under the same umbrella of the One Code, which is abbreviated or summarized by the phrase “This is the Way.” A Foundling is protected by the older Mandalorians to ensure that the Order itself will continue to provide hope, you might say, for the future.
The third tenet of the Mandalorian Creed is to adhere to tradition, which means to wear a particular suit of armor when one is engaged in the aforementioned military exploits. This armor is impenetrable and is something that gives the Mandalorian an edge in fighting the enemies of the Mandalorians and their Code.
The fourth and final tenet of the Mandalorian code is to uphold the Creed, which is a little problematic, as I will explain at the end of my message, momentarily.
Now, in our Gospel reading for today, Jesus says something that sounds a little bit like the Mandalorian Code. He says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” As one commentary puts this, Jesus is defined here as the Way, because through Him, one has access to a spiritually intimate relationship with God.
So God as the Source, Creator, and Ground of Being is made personal to us in Jesus the Christ. To know him, to follow him, is to experience spiritual intimacy with God through another human being.
But it’s not reserved just for individuals. We experience God through Jesus when we gather together in his name. This is why, if you go to the text in the original language, the “you” that Jesus uses is plural. He’s saying it as if he were in Texas. “Y’all.” So, “Y’all know me, when you come together in my name, and experience God through me.”
There is, however, another way to define the Way, and that is not only accessing God through Christ, but looking at the lives we lead, how we act, what our behavior consists of. So what is this Way? What are the defining characteristics of the Christian life? What does it mean to “follow Jesus” or to be “a follower of the Way”?
You may recall at the beginning of today’s service, I mentioned people who sometimes stand outside of sporting events with signs that say, “This is the Way.”
If you want to get into a fight, you can go up to that person and ask, “what does this mean? What does it mean to be “a follower of the Way”? What are we doing when we follow Jesus?” Hopefully that’s not a fight. Hopefully it’s a conversation…Actually, I wouldn’t recommend it. Never mind!
The question you should be asking in your mind when you see a sign like this is: What does it mean to be “a follower of the Way”?
Well, to be “a follower of the Way” is language we derive from the book of Acts in the New Testament. Now, some of you know that Acts is the sequel to the Gospel of Luke. The author of Luke wrote the first part of his story about Jesus’s earthly life and ministry, and then wrote the book of Acts to show how the early church continued that mission and ministry through disciples like Peter, and then an apostle like Paul. “Follower of the Way” is mentioned seven times in the book of Acts, and it’s the earliest language we have for what Christians regarded or defined as themselves. They weren’t Christians. They were Followers of the Way. Seven times. Four of these references simply refer to being Followers of the Way, and one of those is a reference to a couple named Priscilla and Aquila who instruct a newcomer in the Way. But unfortunately, Luke never tells us what they instruct him!
So we’ve got some detective work to do here. We need to figure out what being a Follower of the Way means, so that we can be better Followers of the Way. Now, two of these references to the Followers of the Way contains something that’s really special. Consider Acts 9. It says, “Meanwhile, Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”
Now this phrase “men or women” is really important. Luke goes out of his way to point out that being a Followers of the Way includes both sexes, male and female. And what’s interesting about Luke, and one of the reasons I love this gospel writer so much, is that he’s more positive regarding the role of women in the early church than any of the other New Testament writers. For example, we know from Luke that women funded the ministry of Jesus. We also know from Luke that when a man of significance is mentioned, a woman of significance is also mentioned. They come in pairs. So you heard just a moment ago about Priscilla and Aquila; that was believed to have been an early married couple in the church Paul also refers to two converts, male and female, Dionysius and Demetria.
So, what you have here is an understanding of the Way as broadly inclusive, inclusive not only of different ethnicities, Jew or Greek, not only of different socioeconomic classes, slave or free, but also of different sexes, male and female. So, we know that the Way was inclusive.
The most important element from the book of Acts regarding the meaning of the Way appears in Acts 24. There we read, “When the governor motioned to him to speak, Paul replied, “I cheerfully make my defense, knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this people.” (Paul is being accused in this passage of civil disorder, of disrupting synagogue services.) “As you can find out,” he continues, “It is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem. 12 They did not find me disputing with anyone in the temple or stirring up a crowd either in the synagogues or throughout the city. (So here I picture Paul going, ‘Who me? I didn't do any of that. Jesus might have turned over the tables, but I didn't do anything!’) He continues, “13 Neither can they prove to you that the charge that they now bring against me. But this, I admit to you that, according to the Way, which they call a sect (that is, an offshoot of the Jewish faith), I worship the God of our ancestors, believing everything laid down according to the Law or written in the Prophets.”
Now this language is really helpful. It’s a snapshot of where the New Testament was in terms of its development at the time. Paul, writing in the mid-50s and up to the early 60s, and Luke, writing here probably in the 80s, recognized only what we now call two thirds of the Old Testament as authoritative: namely, the Law, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, and then the Prophets. Only later would the Writing show up, probably around the turn of the century. So, this gives us a really interesting snapshot as to where the so-called New Testament canon was when it comes to its development.
What’s important here is this: whatever the Way was, it involved worshiping the God of the Jewish people, and believing what God had indicated to them through the Law and the Prophets. So now we can begin to put together a picture of what the Way was.
It involved communion with God through Jesus; it also involved the observance of Jewish traditionand the acknowledgement of the first two-thirds of the Old Testament’s authority.
But beyond that, what is the Way? Well, implicitly, there are two other clues in the book of Acts, and these are fascinating to me. Acts 9. Listen closely:
“Now in Joppa, there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha.” (This is the only place in the New Testament, again, in the Gospel, or by the Gospel writer of Luke, that refers to a woman as a disciple. The same word for disciple is used here as it is for the Twelve in the other gospels. )“She was devoted”—here’s the important part—"to good works and acts of charity.” So now we’re beginning to see a vision, a tapestry of what the Way looks like. The Way involves good works and acts of charity.
But there’s more to the story. If you go to the First Reading and take a look—if you’d like, look at the last two verses, 7:59-60. It says, “While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus receive my spirit.’”
Now, who says that in the Gospel? Yeah, Jesus is always the correct answer! Jesus is the answer here, according to the Gospel of Luke. When Jesus died, he gave up his spirit. And Stephen here does the same thing. He says, “Lord Jesus”—not to God now, but to Jesus—"receive my spirit. Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this he died.”
Now, does Jesus say anything like that before he dies? According to the Gospel of Luke, yes. He says, “Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do.”
This teaching, this aspect of the Way, is unprecedented in the history of Western civilization. No Rabbi before Jesus taught “forgive your enemies.” The Rabbis taught “Love one another as you love yourself.” But no rabbi took the extra, radical step of saying, “and also forgive your enemies; love those who persecute you,” as we hear in the Gospel of Matthew. In this case, Stephen says, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Now, can you imagine that kind of forgiveness? You are being pelted to death and you’re praying to God, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!?!”
Now, some years ago, I was at the bedside of a woman who was about to die. She was not affiliated with this congregation, but she was connected through somebody who was, and on her deathbed, she told me privately that as a child she had been sexually abused by her father, and she said to me, “Pastor, I cannot forgive that man.” What do you say to that? Well, here’s what I said: “If you can’t forgive that man, give it to God.”
Give it to God. God isn’t asking you, in my opinion, to forgive this man. Give it to God. I can’t believe in a God who loves less than I do, but at the same time, I don’t know the mystery here, but I can say, “give it to God” —which is exactly what I said.
So if you, God forbid, have experienced abuse, or know somebody who has, you’re not being asked here to forgive them, necessarily. If it’s too big for you—and this is super-human, I believe—then give it, at least, over to God, that the burden, in whatever way possible, might at least slightly be lifted.
So what is the Way? Well, now what we’ve learned is this. The Way involves a special relationship to God through Jesus, who makes God personal, and discloses to us God’s love. It involves, as we see in the example of Tabitha, doing good works or acts of charity, and in the case of Stephen, it involves radical forgiveness, forgiving those who persecute you, or at least giving that over to God.
Now there’s one other text in the New Testament that talks about the Way, and it’s in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10. This text is a call to persevere, now that our sins have been washed away by the blood of Christ. Listen to it closely.
The author writes, “Therefore, my siblings, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living Way”—so there it is, ‘the new and living Way’—"that he opened for us. Through it, let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together,” (Which you’re doing today, thank you very much) “as is the habit of some”(this is a huge slam toward those who don’t attend church regularly, by the way, listen to it again): “Not neglecting to meet together, (passive aggressive), as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more, as you see the Day approaching.”
Now, this is really exciting here. I hear people say, “I don’t believe in Jesus, but I follow his teachings.” I don’t care how you divide those up; either way, this is novel; this is radical; this is new. Being called, through Jesus and by him, to love one another, to forgive one’s enemies, as much as that is possible, to not neglect to meet together, but to encourage one another—this is new! This is novel! This, to quote the Mandalorians, is the Way.
Hebrews gives us the final clue we need to put it all together. The Way is the kind of life we rehearse when we gather together in Jesus’s name, one that we take out in the world by loving others and doing good deeds. That’s exactly what we saw with Tabitha. That’s exactly what Paul invites us to do in Galatians 6, listen closely. “So then,” he writes, “whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, not just other Christians, but all people, and especially for those of the family of faith.”
I visit a senior, who is now mostly homebound, and she often talks about how Queen Anne Lutheran is her faith family. And I love that; that’s the kind of community out of isolation into which we’re called here: to be a family of faith, to encourage one another, to love one another, to perform good deeds, all in the name of Jesus Christ, who is, and shows us, the Way.
One of my favorite examples of this is when Jesus, from the cross, according to the 20th chapter of the Gospel of John, ministers to his mother as he’s dying; that is the Way. That is the Way.
So, we’ve heard different, albeit intertwined answers to the question, “What is the Way?“
My question now is this: Is there an approach that can consolidate all of these, so that you can put it in your pocket and take it with you to go after you leave church? Well, for my money, the best formula is found in—and this won’t surprise you—in the Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He writes shortly before his death in 1945
“Our relation to God is not a religious relationship to the highest, most powerful being and imaginable. Instead, our relationship to God is a new life in existence for others through participation in the being of Jesus.”
In other words, if you wish to meet the divine, if you wish to meet the sacred, stop looking up. Look to your neighbor and find Christ there. Be Christ there. This is the Way, the Way of Christ called to be men and women for others. The way to access God is not up there, but in and through our neighbor down here.
Add to that, or expand upon that: charity, acts of love, mutual fellowship, radical forgiveness when possible, and you have the Way of Jesus Christ.
Now let’s return to the Mandalorian. Four tenants wear a helmet, protect foundlings, adhere to tradition by wearing a metal costume and uphold the Creed. Pretty paltry by comparison, isn’t it? The trouble is, moreover, that we never learn what the rest of the Creed is. I’m supposed to follow what I don’t know. One person on Reddit wrote “The Creed of the Mandalorian is to follow the Mandalorian Creed.” I was like, “That’s circular, you jerk!”
All right. The Mandalorians may not know their Creed, but we know ours. We know ours as followers of the Way, to be as Jesus was: men and women for others, the kind of life we practice and worship through the sharing of the peace, through praying for others throughout the world, the kind that we practice here in deed, and perform in life out there. So, let us follow the Way with confidence, by the grace of God; this is our Way.
Amen.