Resurrection Got-cha Events

 Today we have two accounts of resurrection appearances

         each of them focused on the response

                  of the two most prominent apostles,

         how each of them was encountered by the risen Lord,

         and how each responded:

                                                      Peter and Paul.

Here are two very different apostles,

         but both of them very much in the grips of

                  the commanding spiritual power of the Resurrection Jesus.

 

Let’s look at them 

         and see if we can see anything of ourselves and our world in them.

 

Paul first, or Saul as the name he was first known by:

 

I have always wondered about Saul,

         a good, religious person,

         a very highly observant Pharisee,

         scrupulous in conforming his life to Torah, 

                                                      the commandments of God.

What was it that caused him to become such a zealot

         and in such opposition to this new budding sect of Jesus followers

that he would resort to violence and jihad,

that he would pursue them and seek them out

         in order to harass and imprison and even kill them?

 

We see too much of such religious extremism today,

         such intolerance and exclusiveness in dogma and right belief.

Saul, the terrorist.

But God’s mercy and love is so incredibly great

         that instead of waging war on the terrorist,

God’s wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye, 

         as it says today in Psalm 30  -  the briefest nanosecond,

but God’s favor/God’s grace/God’s mercy/God’s love 

                  goes on and on for a lifetime.

 

And the Resurrection Jesus appears to Saul on the road to Damascus,

         an appearance like what Peter and James and John must have seen

                  on the Mount of the Transfiguration,

a resurrection appearance so blindingly brilliant

         that it sears Saul’s eyeballs.

 

And I always have a special fondness for Ananias,

         a disciple of Jesus put in a very difficult position when he is told:

“Go and minister to the very enemy who is seeking to do you harm.”

 

And Ananias reaches out to Saul 

         calling him brother and offering him healing,

“and immediately something like scales fell from [Saul’s] eyes…

         and he got up and was baptized…

         and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus…”

 

Whatever it was that had been behind Saul’s extremist religion and terrorism,

         was reconciled, forgiven and healed in this resurrection encounter.

 

Well, it’s easy now-a-days to point fingers at other groups 

                  and to call them extremists and terrorist,

         THEM and not us.

But don’t think for one moment 

         that there isn’t a latent terrorist buried beneath your skin too.

The potential is there.

Every act of domestic violence, 

         every occasion of verbal abuse even,

                  shows us how close we are to becoming terrorists ourselves.

 

But our risen Lord intervenes in our lives with mercy,

         and oftentimes through some modern day Ananias,

someone who doesn’t play the “them and us” game,

         who returns evil with love.

 

Watch out.           Maybe we too will be called upon by Resurrection Jesus

                                    to be Ananias to someone we are on the outs with.

 

Now for the other resurrection appearance,

         this in a more peaceful setting:

Peter going fishing with his old buddies.

 

Well now, have you ever wondered why Peter suddenly wants to go fishing?

 

Sure, he was a fisherman, that was his occupation, so it seems natural,

         but is that the sort of thing you would expect of someone

                  who had been through the whole events of Holy Week

                  and who had seen the risen Lord

                  and upon whom that risen Lord had breathed Holy Spirit

                           and entrusted to them the ministry of reconciliation?

 

Did Peter just say to himself, “Well, that was an interesting experience.

Now I might as well go back to what I was doing before all this began.”?

 

I wonder if Peter might still have been feeling remorse 

                  for his denial of Jesus that fateful night, 

         if he felt that he had so blown it 

                  that he no longer had the right to consider himself Jesus’ disciple.

He better just go home.

                                    And, notice, he wasn’t alone.

 

But this professional fisherman and his fisherman colleagues

         apparently had lost the knack, 

         couldn’t do what they had done so often before,

         couldn’t go back to the way things were.

 

And so this resurrection appearance comes with 

loving, and even maternal, compassion and caring on the part of Jesus:

         with a touch of humor 

                  – try throwing your net on the other side of the boat -

         and then directing the fish to come swimming right up to them,

         and having breakfast waiting for them on the beach.

 

Jesus meets them where they are 

         in their confusion and difficulty in recognizing him.

 

Yes, this is something we can more readily identify with.

How often do we experience confusion in our faith about 

                  who Jesus is,

                  where is God, 

                  why is this happening to me, 

                  how am I then to live?

How difficult does it seem at times to recognize the risen Lord

                  present and active in our lives?

 

But if we were to pause at frequent intervals and say to ourselves, like John,

                           “It is the Lord!”

what might be revealed to our hearts, 

         how would the eyes of our faith be opened to us?

 

But this Gospel story doesn’t stop here.

Peter is led right back into discipleship

         with dreadful resoluteness by Resurrection Jesus.

He may not have been struck blind like Saul was on the road to Damascus,

         but he too was experiencing intervention in his life

                  so that he would never again deny he knew Jesus,

                  so that he would be a faithful witness to the Resurrection,

                  so that he would be faithful even to a martyr’s death.

 

Three times Peter had denied knowing Jesus,

and three times Jesus asked him, “Do you love me?”

         Three opportunities for restoration…

 

The passage contains a number of subtle references

         to the process of calling a disciple.

Peter is being called again into discipleship with Jesus,

         a fresh start, a new beginning

                  in the new creation of resurrection.

 

And this is not just so that Peter can get it 

         that he is restored to right relationship with Jesus.

Discipleship with Jesus is for a purpose, a job, a ministry,

         and Peter’s is pastoral leadership among the followers of Jesus.

 

Okay, where are we in this story?

Do we want to be considered as disciples of Jesus?

Are we afraid about what this might entail

         if we were to let ourselves really answer that call?

 

Are we confusing discipleship 

         with being active church members?

You know, much of what we do as “ministries” around here,

         is simply sharing the chores.

Discipleship ministry goes out from this safe, comforting space

         and engages us in reconciliation in the world,

                  in our homes, in our workplace, in the marketplace,

                  in our associations,

                  in our outreach and volunteer activities in the community.

 

And do we understand that discipleship includes, indeed, is mainly 

                  being a witness to the Resurrection?

 

Being a witness to the Gospel good news that there is new life,

         a new creation possible in each of us,

         an abundance of love to be experienced and to give.

Resurrection Now

 Welcome to all families visiting from out of town and to all guests!

When I look out at you sitting there in the pews today,

         I don’t know all your stories, all your history,

but I do know that you have chosen to be here today,

         and that lets me know first of all that this has importance for you.

No matter how each of you may be feeling at the moment

         that either encouraged you to be here or did not deter you from coming,

                  you are here.

This I do know:  that you are each uniquely created beings

         who are so valued by your Creator, so loved, so deeply known 

                  that despite whatever we may have ever said or done,

                           grace has touched our lives.

You are love,                    and I respect that and I thank God for you.

 

So at the time for Communion please don’t hesitate to join with us                                                                         in the receiving the bread and the wine.

         Wherever you are in your journey of faith, you are welcome at this table.

 

Today, Easter Sunday, we celebrate the Feast of the Resurrection

         and not just for today, but for the Great 50 Days of the Easter Season.

 

Christians are sometimes referred to as the Resurrection People.

         The emphasis is on Resurrection.

So liturgically in how we worship, we need 50 days of Easter

         - and notice that this is longer than 40 days of Lent. 

 

We need 50 days to celebrate and practice living in Resurrection Life

                  to foster being open to realization of Resurrection

                           as a present reality and potency of life

                                                               right here and now

 

But notice, this Resurrection is not just about one person raised from the dead,

         but ALL of us given the opportunity to experience Resurrection Life NOW,

                  even before we die.

 

Resurrection Life is realized life, 

         a quality of life revealed to us in the present moment

                  when we recognize the Holy One  present with us,

                  when we experience joy and wonder in Creation around us,

                  when we know that our love for others 

                                    is taking us beyond ourselves, outside of ourselves.

 

These are Easter moments

At these times, which we may consider “special”

         we are tasting the Eternal quality of Life,

                  that part of life that has a timelessness about it,

                           a fullness about it.

 

Take a moment right now to search your memory, something recent, 

                  or something farther in the past,

         those moments when what I am describing was something you tasted.

 

Maybe that is what you long for right now.

You might recognize 

         that our longings come out of what we have previously experienced.

When you recognize that this is so,

         then you have proof that you have tasted this Eternal quality Life.

You have tasted something of the Resurrection.

 

But let’s take a pause here to see how the great Spiritual Truth of Resurrection

         was initially experienced.

In the Resurrection story we just heard read

         the women come to the tomb seeking the corpse

                  to do it service and honor as respects the dead.

In that dark cave of a tomb as they fumble around searching for the body,

         instead they suddenly encounter right beside them 

                  two men in dazzling clothes that flood the tomb with light.

That’s enough to make you jump right out of your skin!

But it’s the question they ask which is the most important:

         “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

 

Let me share a quotation with you from the late Bill Ellis,

         who had been dean at St. John’s Cathedral here in Spokane.

He wrote this to address that provocative question the two in the tomb had posed.

 

Our catechism tells us that 

         “By his resurrection Jesus overcame death 

         and opened for us the way of eternal life.” 

Were we to content ourselves with [this]…, 

         we would draw the reasonable conclusion 

                  that the resurrection of Jesus is not particularly relevant to us 

                           while we are alive on this earth; 

         it becomes important only when we die …

And thus, as far as our present existence is concerned, 

         the resurrection is like an exit from a very large building.  

It is nice to know it is there, but we won’t need it until we are ready to leave.

 

[end of quote]  This is helpful for all of us, 

      as we deal with our own mortality and of those we love, 

                  but it is not enough.  

 

A religion that deals only with what happens after we die 

         is a religion for the dead, not the living. 

What difference does the Resurrection make to us right here and now?

 

For all of us, from the least of us to the greatest theologians,

         our understanding of the resurrection 

                  is much too small, too limited, vastly incomplete.

Resurrection is far more than life after death,

         far more than an idea about heaven.

 

We say in the creed we believe in the resurrection of the body.

         But what sort of body is this?

The women in the Gospel story for today come to the tomb,

         and even before the stone is rolled away, the body is gone.

That’s some sort of body! a body that can dematerialize,

         and then rematerialize in a room where the way in by the door is barred.

 

Yet it is a body that can be touched, 

         a body that can take in food, eat and swallow,

                  not like Marley’s ghost whom Scrooge could look through

                  and see the waistcoat buttons on the other side.

What kind of body is this?

The bodies we are familiar with die and decompose and return to dust.

 

But resurrection is more than a body, a physical body or a spiritual body.

Resurrection came after the death of Jesus,

         a death into which Jesus has perpetually taken all our sins, 

                                                      all our suffering, all our deaths.

He died our deaths.           He died our deaths for us.

 

Resurrection is the New Creation.

 

With his last breath, the last breath of the One who is the Word of God,

         who spoke all creation into being,

         now in this last breath he takes with him all beings,

                  back into that realm of Uncreated Light,

                  the realm of the undivided waters over which the Spirit was hovering,

                  back into the Source, back to God,

and now he brings to life, lifts up all that the Father had entrusted to him.

 

And so now everything is New Life, new life sustained in the resurrection.

It is all the New Creation, 

         continually and eternally sustained in the resurrection life of Jesus.

 

Now we can begin to see what difference resurrection means to us 

                                    right here and now.

 

We are living in resurrection.

If we had eyes to see this, we would be able to recognize

         the newness of every moment,

         the incredible wonder of life, of breathing, of growing,

         the love which sustains all life new every moment,

                  despite all the strife, contention, warfare, and suffering.

 

We would see the abundance of goodness.

We would see through our attitudes of scarcity.

We would see through our fears for what they are.

 

If we had eyes to see the resurrection

         we would see in each other the image of Jesus the Resurrected One.

 

We would see Jesus in each and every one of us,

                                                      in all living beings.

We would bow down in awe and love before one another.

If our awareness of present resurrection were to expand,

         this would have great implications on what we would do.

 

It could shift our priorities, reorder our attitudes,

         change our emotional reactivity,

         reorient our aims and purpose in life,

         and energize us for participating more fully in life.

It would send us out as agents of resurrection,

                  lights sparked eternally 

                           from that ultimate Paschal candle

                           of Uncreated Light at the Source,

                           the creating Word of God himself,

                           the Resurrection Lord.

 

So that group of devoted women left the tomb

         and reported to the disciples and everyone all that they had seen and heard.

And the disciples’ response was not the joyful response we give when we hear

                  Alleluia! Christ is risen!

not

                  The Lord is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

 

They dismissed the women’s testimony.

         Easter Day was not yet a celebration for them.  They would be in hiding.

Still, Peter, at least, went to check out the report.

         But don’t go looking for the living among the dead.

 

May we not be so slow to believe, to accept the joyful Gospel good news.

 

Alleluia.  Christ is risen…

Walking the Via Dolorosa

 I look around and notice that this is not the crowd we will see

         on this coming Sunday morning.

It’s no wonder.

         Who really wants to spend an hour 

                                    focused on the crucifixion of our Lord?

The Good Friday liturgy can’t compete with 

         the joyous exuberance of the Easter Alleluia celebration.

 

Yet here you are, drawn here by your faith, your devotion, your hope,

         or because you get the truth about how today 

                  is part of a seamless flow of worship began Palm Sunday.

 

There is an irony today about how on Good Friday

         we read the longest Gospel lesson:

                  from the first verse of John 18 through to chapter 19, verse 37.

But we don’t have the time or opportunity 

to go into an in-depth Bible study 

on all the segments of these 2 chapters.

 

I think that this portion of the Gospels, the 4 Passion Accounts,

         are the least read or studied;

they are the least popular.

 

If we could see in John’s Gospel

         how Jesus is the One who is empowered, who is acting,

         our attitude might change, 

and we might find ourselves dwelling more and more 

on this portion of the Gospel,

         reading it with love and devotion,

                           with joy and wonder and thanksgiving

for its powerful message to encourage us 

         and fulfill our hopes and to give us deep gladness of heart.

 

In John’s Passion Account Jesus is the only one in control.

 

Everyone else exhibits 

that they have no control over what is going on, 

that there is great failure on their part 

to achieve what they want to do.

 

As we know from the other Passion accounts,

the disciples have no apparent control over their drowsiness;

                  they fail to stay awake.

And then they all run away, fleeing for their lives.

 

Judas is doomed to play his role as betrayer

         despite whatever his motivation and intentions were.

 

Those in the band that comes to arrest Jesus at Gethsemane

         are knocked to the ground by the force of the word 

         spoken by Jesus, his simple but provocative statement: “I AM.”

Only when Jesus purposely gives them a second chance 

         can they lay hands on him and take him away.

 

Peter, in spite of his earlier protestations,

         fails in his ability to keep from denying his Lord.

 

The high priests and Sanhedrin 

can’t make a credible case against Jesus.

And they have to revert to political pressure 

to get Pilate to cooperate.

 

Pilate tries to set Jesus free but fails.

 

And Mary, his mother, must stand by 

helplessly watching with the other women as he dies.

 

Everyone is ineffective.

 

One of the times I was in the Middle East

I was leading a pilgrimage in the Holy Land,

and when we were in Jerusalem

         we walked the original Stations of the Cross,

                  the Way of the Cross, the Via Dolorosa.

 

It was not a nice spiritual exercise

         there in the ancient city of Jerusalem,

         in the heart of one of the most volatile places on earth.

 

Many would probably prefer the setting for such a Good Friday meditation 

to be in chapels or cloistered walks

         so as to enhance the meditation.

But this was on the busy streets of the old city of Jerusalem.

 

It was entirely lined with shops and businesses

         and in some places too narrow for a motor vehicle to pass.

So as we walked along,  

         we got close up views of all the commerce taking place beside us.

 

The last 5 stations are in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,

         a church overlaid with the clutter of centuries

                  and a definite eastern flavor of spirituality about it

                  that can seem quite foreign to our western minds.

 

And along the way some of the other 9 stations 

         have little chapels you can step into off the street.

But most of the time it's pushing your way through the crowds.

 

Carrying a large cross through the street 

         helped give coherence to the group,

         identified us as pilgrims engaged in a religious ritual.

But that was no protection.

 

The way of the Cross is full of evils and pitfalls and temptations.

 

In fact, we had not quite begun 

         when one of our group became victim to pickpockets.

 

We had to be assertive about making a pathway through the street.

We had to read the liturgy by shouting over the surrounding noise.

In one place there was construction – jackhammers making noisse

         and blowtorches showering sparks around us.

Poor lighting and uneven paving stones plagued us.

And always the shops 

         shops which lured our attention away from what we were doing,

         with their materialistic promises.

All antithetical to our task at hand.

 

There were hawkers pushing postcards in our faces.

There was a professional photographer flashing shots of us

         so that he could come and sell us the photos later.

And one of his pictures caught four of our pilgrims

         following the cross, but all of them looking sideways

                  into a shop that seemed particularly enticing.

So much for our attempts at trying to make this religious ritual

         spiritually efficacious!

Jesus had to face taunts, indifference, cruel looks

as he and his guards pushed their way through the same streets

         2 millennia earlier.

Some people went along with their business of buying and selling

         while the Lamb of God passed by.

How could they be oblivious to what was happening!

How could life go on as usual

         while this execution was taking place!

They have eyes but cannot see,

         ears but cannot hear.

So, that time in Jerusalem there is no perfect way to carry out this ritual

         of the Stations of the Cross.

It's always going to be less than perfect.

So this really is all a picture about us,

our failure,

our helplessness, 

our misguided attempts to take matters into our own hands, 

and how the results are not what we anticipated or wanted.  

How often has this happened to you?

None of us is able to do what it takes save our own selves, 

         let alone the world.

But it is Jesus who acts, who is in control, 

who accomplishes all that needed to be done, 

right down to the last detail described in the ancient texts 

about the Servant, the Lamb of God.

 

And it is he who chooses when his last moment is, when he dies.

He completes all, 

and breathes out his breath 

and gives up his spirit.

 

Usually in each sermon there is an exhortation

         - that which we are urged to do in response to the Word of God.

But on Good Friday, today, I give none.

 

Today we sit and do nothing, no action.

We can’t.

It is impossible.

Nor need we do anything…

 

…despite our question carried down through 2,000 years of history:

         “What may we do that we may work the works of God?”

                  the question asked of Jesus in the 6^th chapter of John.

 

The answer is believe, trust, surrender.

         Surrender to Jesus; trust into him.

 

Today it is Jesus alone who acts, who by dying accomplishes all.

It would be a denial of faith, of our basic trust in Jesus, 

to seek to add our own action to what he has done for us.

 

Even the faith we do have in him is a gift that he has given to us,

         breathing his breath/his Spirit into the disciples

                                                               and into us,

         breathing out his last breath

                  to release that breath in us for life.

This death, 

which we have such a hard time being with and paying attention to,

         is for the healing of the world,

         is for all those who suffer and struggle 

                  and fail or who want to think they succeed.

 

We are not alone in having a hard time staying present to this death.

In the Garden of Gethsemane the disciples ran away.

Later, however, after the Resurrection and Pentecost

         something very significant changed for them all,

and for the rest of their lives they were engaged full out in ministry.

 

How interesting - the disciples,

         though they all ran away that night of the betrayal,

later they all stayed the course.

 

Tradition has it that each of them, except John,

         died a martyr's death, and often in horrible torture.

John suffered exile and imprisonment on a desolate island,

         a prolonged torture.

What made the difference for them,

         that turned them from deserters to martyrs?

 

After Christ's death and resurrection,

         they got it.

They got the message Jesus had been telling them all along.

 

One death does it all.                  One death buys life for all.

One death brings healing and sanity and hope and new life,

         and everything worth giving up your own life for.

 

I pray that each of us will be able to really get it

         about this death, about this day.

It can be life changing         if you let it.