Christ
is Risen! (He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!) Amen +
We
hear the Scriptures differently depending upon the events of our
lives, what we have been through. You hear things differently as a
child than you do as a parent, or a grandparent. Thing resonate
differently. Because you have experienced different things in your
life, you end up noting, keying in on different things in the text.
Now, with that being said, how much different is our Gospel text, how
much more keenly does it resonate in our ears this morning. Consider
– On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the
doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews....
There had been the disciples, gathered together in fear. Why? We
can't go out there – we go out there in public and there's a good
chance we will die. I've preached on this text over 15 times, and
I'd bet that every time I've preached it I've taken pains to point
out how this is a reasonable fear, how it's understandable for the
disciples to be locked up in fear – and I'm sure this text is
familiar to you. It sounds a bit different this year, doesn't it?
With us having been cooped up, staying inside, going out only when
wearing masks?
I'd
also be willing to wager that the disciples hated their quarantine,
their hiding themselves away as much as we do. I mean, a week later,
the second time around in this text, they are still locked up.
Things are still rough and strange and bizarre for them. And things
are rough and bizarre for us. I reckon that quite a few of us are
going a bit stir-crazy, that this is some of the worst cabin or
spring fever you've felt. Or the uncertainty, the random dread. Our
situation isn't the same as the disciples, clearly – but perhaps
now we understand it a bit better. Our comfortable lives have been
disrupted, just as theirs had been. And their pious stories had been
disrupted too – after all, these were the disciples, the students
who had dedicated their lives to following Jesus. Well, I'd say
that's been tossed out the window expect the window's closed and
locked and nothing is going out it. And likewise too, so many of the
pious things we do, the good works that we cherish and value, well –
lots of those are are on hold. And it sits poorly, it gnaws. We're
Americans – we value hard work and what we do – and that's
changed now, so what does that say about me? If I'm not doing what I
used to do, what does that say about me?
The
disciples weren't doing anything. For three years they had been
defined by following Christ, their identity was that they followed
Christ and now they are hiding precisely to keep from following
Christ to their own graves. What does that say about them? What
does that say about how God sees them? Will there be wrath and anger
and punishment? Will there be fear never ending? The disciples
aren't doing anything – doesn't that mean that God must now hate
them?
On
the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being
locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and
stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He
had said this, He showed them His hands and His side.
Hi there disciples. Peace. With you. Shalom – for you. Yeah, I
know you're freaked out, I know you've been lousy – I was there
when you all ran off, and you're probably expecting some fire and
brimstone, if not an angry mob... but, um... no. No, instead you get
Jesus. You get Peace. You get Christ the Crucified who has died and
has risen – see the nail prints, see the spear wound – it's the
real Jesus. And He says peace. Jesus is the Truth, and He says
Peace be with you, even in that locked room to lousy disciples who
hadn't been doing a thing.
Now the lie, the terrible damnable lie that we tell ourselves is that our relationship to God is based upon what we do. That God's attitude towards us is shaped by what we do for Him, how hard we work, how devoted we are, how we keep our nose clean, how we might have our faults but at least we don't fill in the blank like the other guy. And we make idols out of our actions – and these idols seem great and good... until they fail and crumble as all idols do. As all of our own actions do. And then comes the fear, the crippling fear that locks us up and wraps us up tight. And that's all based upon a lie – the lie that our relationship to God rests upon what we do. Over and against that, over and against what we think we need to do, or ought to do, or should do – or ought to or should have done – over against all of those recriminations, over and against all of that sin comes Jesus Christ, Christ the Crucified – and He says, “Peace be with you.”
Seriously.
Even now. Peace be with you. And this peace doesn't rely upon you,
or your actions, or what you have done. It's on Jesus – He's died
and risen for you, and so you have peace. Period. And it's not in
doubt, it doesn't hang upon you or your reaction – God did it for
you well before you were born. All that Jesus has done – for you.
So that you would know this peace that He gives. In fact, we hear:
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when He
had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Recieve the
Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven;
if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”
There you go fellas – just as I've come into here in the midst of
your fear and proclaimed peace to you – you're going to do that for
others. You're going to tell them that they are forgiven by Christ
the Crucified. Might have to tell them that they are loving their
sin idols and not looking at Christ – but the point is to give them
Jesus, Jesus Crucified for them. And thus has been the history of
the Church.
There,
in the upper room that Easter Evening, Christ Jesus made sure that
you would have people who would speak Christ's peace to you, this
day. Established well before you came along, established well before
you did a cotton picking thing, but established for you. Jesus even
set up this Church here for you – before any of you were born –
put it here so there'd be a place where that peace would be
proclaimed, that there would be pastors put here to proclaim in.
Because it isn't about you or what you do or don't do – this peace
is yours because of Christ Jesus and what He has done.
Oh,
but the temptation to not believe! The temptation to think we have
to do things, that there are hoops we have to jump through first.
Consider much maligned Thomas – Unless I see in
His hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of
the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe.
Surely these are the hoops I must jump through, here are the
qualifications I need met. I'm going to poke around for myself.
Eight days later, His disciples were inside
again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked,
Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
And still, Jesus shows up. Still Jesus proclaims peace. Even to
grumpy, cynical Thomas. Peace be with you. And then, of course, in
what really is one of the more humorous lines of the Scriptures we
hear Jesus: Then He said to Thomas, “Put your
finger here, and see My hands; and put out your hand, and place it in
My side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
I heard you talking smack to My preachers that I sent out. I heard
all your bluster and bravado... and I still showed up and proclaimed
My Peace to you. I can take your Pepsi Challenge if you want – I
mean, you can dig around here if you want to... but the important
thing is that I'm here and proclaiming peace – so away with this
not-faith demands about what you're going to do and let's get onto
faith, shall we. And so it was – Thomas cries out, “My
Lord and my God!”
Yep, that's who it is who says peace. Your God and Lord.
And
Christ Jesus, your Lord and your God still proclaims His peace to you
here today, even right smack dab in the midst of your fears, your
doubts, the bluster and false bravado you've shown this past week.
Right in the midst of your foolish sins, your silly idols – all of
it. And your Risen Lord has sent forth His Word and Spirit to
proclaim to you this same peace, proclaim to you this forgiveness
that He has won for you. It's all been written and read and
proclaimed that Jesus is the Christ – that He has done it – and
you... you believe. You hear, you receive what Christ does – and
you simply get life. In His Name. The Name you received as your own
in Baptism when He joined Himself to you. The Name proclaimed in His
Church, week in and week out. The Name proclaimed in our homes in
our own devotions, at our meals. The Name that does actually give
peace and forgiveness and righteousness – true righteousness –
His righteousness. And all we do is receive this. And even when
distracted and fearful, Christ bursts in again and says Peace be with
you.
So
– once more. Peace be with you. All your sins are forgiven by
Christ the Crucified. Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed,
Alleluia! Amen.
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