Luke 24:36b-48
We Christians are a strange lot, according to the world. We believe in things that many people find completely incredible. Angels and demons – and a dead man rising back to life! That makes a lot of people think only of zombies, to tell the truth. Or ghosts.
There are so many different ways of seeing things – so many different ways of understanding the world. I was reading something last week that stated that every religion answers two questions: What is real? And what is important? And it is these questions that sharply divide Christians from those who do not believe.
The disciples had a lesson in our Gospel today about what was real. They thought, as everyone else does, that once a person had died, they stayed dead. And so, when Jesus appeared to them, they at once jumped to the conclusion that he was a ghost. I think they had never heard of zombies in that culture!
Jesus had quite a time convincing them that he was not a ghost! He had to show them his wounds to prove that it was really him and not a look-alike. He even had to eat some fish to prove he was not a ghost. (Good thing they didn't have any brains lying around...)
That makes us ponder, what is it that has convinced US that Jesus is alive? How has God reached into our lives and changed our way of seeing? For all our texts make it quite clear that we cannot see the truth, we cannot know what is real, what is important, unless it is revealed to us by God's own self.
“You mortals, how long will you dishonor my glory? How long will you love illusions and seek after lies?” says our Psalm today. “Many are saying, “Who will show us any good?” Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord.”
And this is indeed what many are saying. They want to be shown something good, they want to know what is real and what is important, but they just can't see it. This world is a mirrored fun-house, where illusion is just as convincing as the truth. How can any of us know the truth?
There is only one way, and Jesus brings that way to his disciples. “He opened their minds to understand the scriptures.” God is the one who brings understanding to our minds. God is the one who enables us to understand what is real and what is important.
The people that Peter was preaching to had seriously misunderstood the situation when Jesus had been killed. “You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead.” Can't get more misunderstood than that, can you? And now, is God furious with them? Has God rejected them?
No! Peter tells them, “I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.” They couldn't help it, God had not revealed the truth to them, so that God's plan of redemption could be carried out. So Peter goes on and offers them the way out: “Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.” This is always the way God works; God offers us forgiveness and a chance at a new beginning. Even when we have acted in ignorance, even when we knew perfectly well what we were doing was wrong, God offers us forgiveness and and new start.
And then a miracle happens. We see the truth. We see the truth about ourselves, we see the truth about God, and we see the way forward, the way to God. A few steps, anyway. Enough to be going on with. Steps in the right direction. Steps out of the fun house, the house of mirrors, the world of illusion.
God speaks to us through the words of scripture. God speaks to us through the words of preachers. God speaks to us through the wonder of nature. God speaks to us through the love of the community. God speaks to us in the silence of the dark of the night. God never stops speaking to us, calling us, revealing God's own self, God's own love to us.
This is what is real. This is what is important. God's love shown to us in the old stories about Jesus rising from the tomb. God's love shown to us in the healing done in Jesus' name. God's love shown to us in the forgiveness of sins.
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called the children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.” Thanks be to God. Amen.
John 20:19-31
“These are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” This is the big SO THAT, the chief motivation for John to write his gospel, and for that matter, for all the gospel writers. So that you may come to believe.
Now, we tend to use the word believe as if it means to have an opinion. “I believe it is going to rain today.” The word has a much deeper meaning as it is used in the Bible. There is intellectual content of course, but there is also an element of trust and confidence, and even loyalty, to the word believe.
Now, how does this belief happen? What causes it?
The kind of proof we need to believe in Jesus is not the kind of proof that we need if we are, say, developing a cure for cancer. It is not scientific, experimental, verifiable proof that we need. It is more like the kind of proof we need for falling in love. Ian and I know about this. We had only known each other 3 months when we decided to get married. And then we were only engaged for 5 weeks! 4 months from start to, well, not to finish, because that was only the start after all, and we're still going, after 38 years. We didn't need a lot of proof that we were a good match – and we were right.
Thomas thought that he needed tangible proof. “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” He wanted proof that he could touch. But in the end, he didn't need that much proof. There is no indication that he actually did touch Jesus. When he saw Jesus and heard his voice, that was enough – he fell to his knees: “My Lord and my God!”
And there are many who don't even have this amount of proof – who just hear the story, and believe. And they are blessed.
Now I think there are 3 stages to coming to belief in Jesus. 1. We are attracted by the story, we want to believe it is true. 2. We decide to believe it is true, and start to behave as if it is true. 3. We get affirmation of the truth of our belief by what we experience.
This is also true in the process of falling in love: I first met Ian and just knew that we would be good friends. I decided that he was worth getting to know better. Then as we spent time together, we found more and more reasons to keep spending time together.
So the process of coming to belief in Jesus is much like falling in love with someone: You hear the story of Jesus; you decide that it would be worthwhile to be one of his followers; and as you act like his follower, you have experiences that convince you that you were right; everything about him is true.
What is the proof for you? Some people have had supernatural experiences. One man I know was baptized in a river as an adult. He says that while he was under the water, he could feel the pastor holding his hand, but he could feel another hand in his other hand, and he knew that it was God's. Some people have dreams or visions. Some people just have a sense of a comforting presence. All these are valid signs of the presence of God, proofs that the Jesus story is true.
But there is another affirmation that the gospel is true: the love and fellowship that is found in the church. It is significant that Thomas, after he was not present at the first appearance of Jesus, did give up. He was still with the community when Jesus appeared again. He didn't abandon his friends because he thought they were deluded. He still hung around with them.
The kind of love that the early church had for one another is so beautifully described in our first lesson from Acts: “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and... everything they owned was held in common.” And in the second lesson: “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.”
Because when we believe, we have no need anymore to SEE the body of the risen Christ. We ARE the body of the risen Christ. WE are the proof that Jesus is alive.
Now, walking in the light, as John says, means being honest with one another. It means being honest with ourselves about our faults and our shortcomings. It means forgiving one another. We cut each other some slack because we are all struggling with some sin or other, if we are honest about it. And Jesus tells us to forgive one another in the power of the Holy Spirit. If we retain the sins of any, they are retained. We have to let go of them, let go of all our grudges and hard feelings from the past, and forgive one another freely, in order to set each other free.
In a world where everybody seems to be promoting their own agendas and putting up a perfect front for the world to see, covering up their inadequacies, it can be refreshing to be among a people who are humble and honest and forgiving. And this is the final proof that Jesus is alive.
People will fall in love with Jesus when they not only hear his story but see him in the flesh. And that's us, folks. We are the body of Christ. A bit broken, but filled with new life, the life of the Spirit, eternal life. Thanks be to God! Amen.
Just when you think you know how the world works, God comes and turns everything upside down.
On Maundy Thursday Jesus taught his disciples that bosses are now servants, and servants are bosses, in fact, there are no more bosses and servants in the Kingdom of God, but all are servants of each other, bound together in love.
On Good Friday Jesus taught his disciples that vulnerability is victory, that defeat is glory, that failure is success, that the only way that violence and hatred can be overcome is with love and forgiveness.
And now on Easter Sunday, Jesus is teaching us that death is life, and that humanity is now divine, as the divine is human.
Last Sunday we contemplated God in Jesus, hanging on the cross out of love for God's fallen creation, taking responsibility for all the sin and suffering of the world. God had to become human for God to know the full extent of our fallenness. And so God did the unthinkable thing – God did not hold us to account for our sins. God took those sins upon God's own self, and paid a terrible price of abandonment, suffering and death.
Some would say, “Well, if God takes responsibility for all my sins, then doesn't that allow me to just do whatever I want and keep on sinning?” Well, yes and no. If you are some kind of sociopath, who is not moved by suffering, who doesn't have any compassion, yes, I suppose so. But then you would keep on sinning anyway.
But when we see the suffering of Jesus, we are deeply moved. It is always moving to see the victim of an injustice. And seeing this suffering arouses compassion. Compassion is made of two latin words: con, meaning with, and passion, meaning suffering. We suffer with Christ. That's what it means to be baptized into the death of Christ. This is what it means to eat his body and drink his blood at communion. We are joined to him, we have communion with him in his death. We take his death into our bodies, just as he took our body to his death. We think about his suffering, we have compassion with him, we are grateful to him, and so we participate in his death.
And then we are transformed. Because when Christ participated in every single aspect of human life – including death – human life was taken up into the life of God. And was transformed. Now all human life is caught up in the life of the divine. As Peter said, there is no distinction based on ethnicity or culture. “Everyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him.” God and humans are joined together on the most basic level – right down to the DNA.
And this is activated in our baptism. As we participate in the death of Jesus, we also participate in the resurrection of Christ. Christ's life is in us. We are in Christ as Christ is in us. And new life begins.
John is pointing to that new life in the way he writes his account of the resurrection. You notice, that Mary comes to the tomb “while it was still dark”. This may remind us of the darkness and chaos before the creation of the universe, while “the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep.” That is certainly how Mary must have felt in her grief. Life had no shape now, no content – her life was in darkness.
And of course, where does this story take place? In a garden. Just like the first garden, the garden of Eden. In the garden of Eden, God had grieved because the first humans were lost to him; now Mary is grieving because she thinks that God is lost to her. No wonder Mary thinks that Jesus is the gardener; he IS the gardener of the new Eden. And the fruits that this garden produces are love and joy and peace.
This is no longer the first day of the week, the first day of creation. Sunday has now become the eighth day of creation, the day of new creation. Eight has always symbolized the resurrection; when you come up for communion, take a look at the font and see how many sides it has!
Everything is different now – the very rules of the universe have changed. Death no more has dominion over the universe. God is changing things, slowly but surely, and you are a part of that change.
For this God-life that has become a part of you in your baptism will not be denied. It will grow in you, Christ will grow in you, and you will find yourself less and less attracted to sin. You will find yourself more interested in caring for your neighbour. You will become more and more the person God wants you to be.
And in the end, even death itself has lost its sting. The psalm that we read earlier is the one that I read at a burial, standing beside the open grave: “This is the gate of the Lord; here the righteous may enter.” Or, as the choir sang last week: “Here, O Lord, the very death I fear is that which draws me near, Lord, to Thee.”
Death has become life. Sorrow has become joy. Guilt has become forgiveness. God has turned everything upside down. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Just when you think you know how the world works, God goes and turns it all upside down.
We all have an instinct for self-preservation. That instinct leads to fear. We fear many things, but above all we fear dying. And our instinct is fight or flight. If we can't run away from what we fear, we become angry. And our fear of violence turns violent. Violence erupts from insecurity, from anxiety, from fear. And then it turns and becomes evil. People start to enjoy the power that they get from putting the fear onto someone else with violence. And so the cycle continues, violence begetting violence.
We are told that God hates violence. Right near the beginning of the world, there was violence on the earth, and God decided to wipe the earth clean of violence with a flood. Didn't work very well, did it?
How could God stop this never ending cycle of violence? This endless round of fear and self-protection and lashing out, this grasping for power over others to ensure one's own safety, this blood lust and cruelty?
God met it head on, in person. God in Jesus gave himself over to the darkness.
God’s love is so strong that Jesus is willing to submit to violence in order that his followers might see once and for all that violence is not the answer. For in the face of violence Jesus refuses to employ violence but instead insists that God forgives us. We remember today Christ’s willingness to sacrifice himself so that no more blood would be spilt and no more bodies destroyed for the sake of sin.
Jesus confronted the fear and evil that constrains us from being the loving creatures that we were created to be. And this gives us courage to also confront the demons that lurk within. It gives us hope that we do not have to be captive to fear, captive to violence, captive to sin. We are confident of Christ’s promise that God is gracious and violence will not win.
Dog eat dog is the way of the world, the way of our instincts. But Jesus' kingdom is not of this world. Jesus transcends instinct and shows us a better way. Jesus empties himself, and becomes obedient to death, even death on the cross. Jesus shows us the way of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Because when we are faced with fear, when anger grabs hold of us, when our sufferings seem too much for us, when despair overtakes us – Jesus has been there. Jesus knows what we are going through – even to death. And there we find that love is stronger than death. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Just when you think you know how the world works, God goes and turns it all upside down.
The disciples knew how the world works. There are bosses and there are servants. The servants work for the bosses, take care of the bosses. The bosses sit back and enjoy.
And then Jesus turns that on its head. Jesus gets the basin and the jug of water and the towel, and kneels to them and washes their feet. And teaches them that greater honour is due to the ones who serve.
This has been embraced by the church, and to a large extent, by our society. Our politicians are called ministers, and the word minister is from the Old French, meaning “servant”. Those who run the government offices are called public servants. We give honour to these servants, and to others who serve: firefighters, nurses, philanthropists. The concept of honouring those who serve others has become engrained in our society.
It has in the Church, too. We honour those who work hard to help others. In fact, many people work hard to help others because that is the way they will get honour. Jesus' instructions kind of backfired, there. People are not supposed to do good because they will get brownie points, but because it is good to do good. But that's human nature.
People like the role of taking care of others, of being the servant. We have several hints in scripture that Peter thought of himself in that role, that his job was to take care of Jesus. He scolded him when he started talking of his suffering and death. He had a sword and tried to fight when Jesus was arrested. He probably thought of himself as some kind of bodyguard.
But now Jesus is turning that upside down, too. Jesus is kneeling at his feet, and Peter doesn't like to have the tables turned. “You will never wash my feet!” he exclaims.
And isn't that what we are often like? We want to be doing the caring, and it makes us uncomfortable when someone tries to, or has to, look after us.
I have a friend, who was sick, and I brought her some groceries. And she said, “I owe you so much; you have done so much for us! You shouldn't have to do this for us!” And I actually had to read her Acts 2:44,45 before she would accept the service I was offering. Acts 2:44 and 45 reads, “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.
Now, I pray that when I am in need, I may also have the grace to accept what others give me with humility. For in allowing someone to give you something, you are giving them also a blessing; for “it is more blessed to give than to receive,” as Luke tells us in Acts 20:35.
And Peter learned this the hard way. Jesus said to him, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." And this is how it works: we both bless each other, and are blessed by each other, when we serve one another. Society may be divided into haves and have nots; but it should not be that way in the church. I minister to you, but you also minister to me, and that's the way it should be, for that's the way we are bound to each other in love.
The symbolism of the footwashing means that there are no bosses here; there are only servants. The way of the world is turned upside down. And the kingdom of heaven is ours. Thanks be to God. Amen.
I was having a really rough day on Friday when I wrote this. It all started when my dog bit someone. I know, I know, this is really bad. This made me feel horrible. I was really shaken, because I felt like a complete failure as a dog owner. And from there I started to think of all the other parts of my life where I feel like a failure. I have a nagging suspicion that if only I were a better Pastor, we wouldn't have to sell the building. And I am a terrible housekeeper. And this tapped into a huge well of emotions that have been building up for the last 60 years. I am a failure. I am inadequate. I am just not good enough.
This was how Peter must have felt. He felt it was his duty to protect Jesus, and he was a complete failure at it. When he should have been keeping watch in the garden, he fell asleep. He tried again. He struck out at the people who came to arrest Jesus, but his attempt was pathetic. Then when he followed him to court, and people accused him of being his friend, he denied him. No wonder he broke down and wept.
While Jesus I'm sure understood Peter's clumsy attempts to protect him, he also didn't appreciate it. Because Jesus knew that his destiny was to die, he didn't need well-meaning friends trying to talk him out of it. That made it only harder. And it was hard enough, as we can see from his agony in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus had his fair share of the normal human instinct of self-preservation. But he had to overcome it in order to do what he had to do.
I wonder if it was only when God became human that God fully understood just how weak and flawed humans are. God had been struggling with his humans ever since God had created them. God had tried various ways of getting us to be obedient and faithful, and everything had either backfired or failed. So God became human, and realized the depth of our inadequacy. We honestly just can't help it, we were born this way. We don't want to be this way, but how can we do otherwise? We are always beating ourselves up because of our failures. And if we can't stand to beat ourselves up, we beat each other up, and that's even worse. And here we are, trapped in our human nature, longing for God but stuck in the mire.
So God did the only thing God could do to release us from this trap that God had unwittingly placed us in by creating us. God took the blame. Yes, God in Jesus took the blame for all the sins that we as humans have committed. Jesus allowed himself to be taken, and blamed, and tortured, and killed. This was God showing humans that God takes all the responsibility for our failures. They are nailed to the cross along with Jesus.
So, if Jesus has taken all the blame, I cannot and must not blame myself. I must not take my anger with myself and turn it outwards against my neighbours. Jesus knows our every weakness. Jesus knows how hard we try. Jesus knows how disappointed we are in ourselves when we fail. And God says, “My child, my own dear child, I love you and I will never leave you. No matter how you fail, I will never fail you. Allow me to help you. Allow me to lift you. Come to me, and I will give you rest.”
God never writes people off; God never gives up on people. Jesus didn't write Peter off, even after all his failures. After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to Peter especially. And when Peter didn't know what to do next, Jesus gave him instructions: “Feed my sheep.”
So, in all our failures, through all our sin, we hear the voice of the prophet Isaiah: “The Lord God helps me, therefore I have not been disgraced... It is the Lord God who helps me, who will declare me guilty?” Our sins and failures have been gently lifted from us by our Saviour, Jesus. His body given, and his blood shed, to take upon himself our sins, that body and blood now nourishes us and strengthens us for all our struggles. Thanks be to God! Amen.
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