Time for Renewal: April 18, 2021

Year B, Easter 3                                                       Luke 24:36-48                                                                    

            There is a theory that every 500 years or so, the church goes through a major upheaval and changes dramatically.[1]  We know what happened in the 1^st century.  That is when Jesus was born, crucified and resurrected.  500 years later, the Roman Empire collapsed.  This had a huge effect on the church and caused it to shift in many ways.  500 years later, the church experienced “The Great Schism” and split into Eastern and Western branches.  500 years after that, in 1500, we had the Reformation.  Since we are at our 500 year mark people have been predicting another major transformation for a decade or so. 

How will the Christian Church change this time?  There have been a lot of theories—many have even predicted the end of the institutional church.  Then came COVID when most churches completely stopped worshipping in person.  This led to further speculation about the demise of the traditional church or even institutional religion as a whole.   This speculation didn’t start in the 21^st century.  People have been increasingly negative about the institutional church over the years. They like the idea of Jesus.  They might even love Jesus, but the church---not so much.

            I get it.  It is a lot easier to love someone who lived 2,000 years ago, than an institution that survives to this day.  It’s a lot more convenient to love a man who was perfect, than an institution that is maintained by flawed human beings.  But in my opinion (and I know I am a tad biased), you can’t separate Jesus from the church.  Jesus gave us the church.  That was his last gift to his followers.  He didn’t say, “I give you the church.” It was a little more subtle than that.  Plus, it would have been hard for him to give them something they had not yet created.  What he did say was this, “the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sin is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses to these things.”

            Often in the church, we describe Jesus as the head, and the church as the body.  That is why we refer to ourselves as the body of Christ.  For a long time this metaphor was a little lost on me.  I had heard it so often, that I never really considered what it meant.  A few years ago, I came across a sermon by Augustine of Hippo, one of the greatest theologians in the history of our church.  He wrote that the disciples could see Jesus, but they could not see what he was promising.  What he was promising was not just his presence with them, but a church dedicated to him that would extend throughout the world and throughout all time.

Jesus was asking his disciples to take his message and the story of his life, death and resurrection to all nations….the world.  They could not do that with just the 11 of them.  He was aware that.  Therefore, they would have to spread the word. They would have to create networks.  They would have to create doctrine.  They would have to complete a canon of scripture.  If you put that all together, it looks a lot like a church.  I am sure it seemed a little overwhelming to the disciples.  No wonder they were joyful and disbelieving at the same time.

            I believe they knew what and who they were looking at. They were looking at the resurrected Christ.  They were looking at the very man who they had followed for years and worshipped.  They were looking at the man who had died and rose again.  While I am sure all of that was shocking, more than anything it was joyful.  The truly frightening thing was what it meant for them and their lives.  Think about it---he did not ask them to touch his face.  He wanted them to touch the places where the scars were, where the pain had been.  This was not just so they could recognize him, but so they could recognize their own place in the future of the church---a future that would include tremendous joy and pain at times.  He wanted them to not only believe in him, but believe in their own potential as witnesses to him, as leaders of this church that they could not yet fathom.

            In many ways, we have the opposite faith crisis than the disciples did.   They were able to see and touch the resurrected Christ.  They were able to watch him eat, and hear his familiar voice.  However, there was also something they had to take on faith, and that was their future, their future as leaders of a church that had not yet been created. For us today, the problem is quite the opposite.  We have seen the proof of the resurrected Christ in the existence of the church, but we have not seen the resurrected Christ in the flesh. We have not eaten with him. We have not heard his voice.  We have not touched his scars. 

Or have we? Do we not eat with him every week when we share the Eucharist? Do we not hear his voice every week when we hear the scriptures read?  Do we not touch his scars when we witness the injustice and the pain that surrounds us?  That is what the church (the flawed and sometimes hypocritical church) is trying to do, help us all experience the resurrected Christ, and live out the commission he gave to his disciples.  It is up to each one of us to carry out this mission that Christ gave his followers. 

We have a much bigger head start than the disciples in that we have this long history of the church.  This is both a help and a hindrance.  Because along with all the good the church has done, it has wounded many as well. It is our job, not to walk away from the wounded, but to help them find healing, help our church find healing.  There might always be scars, but if Jesus could live with them, so can we.            

While the pandemic brought more pain and strife than I have the capacity to fathom, it has also given the church an opportunity.  Being online, we have a greater mission field than Jesus and his disciples could ever imagine.  And I think losing 9 months of in person worship has shown many of us how incredibly precious this community is. We can see ourselves and the church with new eyes.

The last line of our Gospel reading is Jesus telling his disciples, “You are witnesses to these things.”  He was referring to his life, death, resurrection and the forgiveness he showed to his disciples.  We have not witnessed those things directly, but we have witnessed so much in the last year. Let’s take this time of regathering as a time of renewal.  We could go back to the way things were a year ago, or we could do better and go back to what Jesus asked of those disciples after his resurrection.  Spread the Gospel to all nations. Be the church that Jesus asked his disciples to create.  It’s not too late.

 

---

[1] Phyllis Tickle is typically associated with this theory as she wrote about it in “The Great Emergence.”  However, I don’t believe the theory is unique to her.

So What? April 15, 2018

Luke 24: 36-48                                                                                   
Year B, Easter 3                                                                                 

 

Alleluia. Christ has risen

The Lord has risen indeed. Alleluia.

So what?  That is what I want to ask sometimes.  Our liturgy offers such succinct and elegant ways of articulating what we believe.  This liturgy has been honed over 100s or even 1000 years.  The benefit is that it’s a constant.  We can always fall back on the words of our liturgy and the words of the Book of Common Prayer.  When we do not have the energy or perhaps even the faith to create our own prayers, or talk to God, we can always turn to what we have in front of us.  But the problem is that we do not always think about what we say.  We say it because it is written and we have always said it that way.  Sometimes I wish we could adlib a little and after  you say, “The Lord is risen indeed!” I could say, “So what?”  Why does it matter that he is risen indeed?

Let’s consider the way the disciples reacted to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We know that after his death they ran and hid.  They thought it was over.  They were probably just trying to figure out where to go next.  They could not stay in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the scene of failure and death.  It was the end of a movement that they had dedicated their life to.  And while Jesus had told them he would be back, they did not know what he meant by that.  Thus their initial reaction to the empty tomb and accounts from those who claimed to have seen Jesus alive was doubt and incredulity.  Those are fairly logical reactions to news that a dead person is back. 

In today’s reading, the disciples aren’t just dealing with an empty tomb or stories of the risen Christ, they are actually seeing Jesus alive in front of them.  He came to where they were. He opened with a greeting that should have eased their anxiety.  “Peace be with you.” That is the kind of opening you would expect from Jesus.  They did not break into tears. They did not run to him and fall at his feet. They did not say, “The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!” They were startled and terrified.  They could not process what they were seeing.  He was supposed to be dead. 

Jesus’ first reaction to their stunned silence was to ask why they were frightened. He knew why they were frightened, but he still had to ask.  The next thing he did was a little strange.  He showed them his hands and feet.  Now most of us do not identify people by their hands and feet.  If we are trying to recognize someone, we look at their face.  Or we can identify someone by their voice…but the hands and the feet.  That’s just odd. 

Of course we have all seen portrayals of the crucified Jesus. His hands and feet were nailed to the cross.  We know that.  Most likely his disciples would have known that  as well.  But why would Jesus want to draw their attention to his wounds?  He could have turned water into wine.  He could have transfigured before them as he had before.  He could have made them believe.  There were so many things he could have done that would have been a lot more divine and godly.  But no…he showed them his wounded hands and feet. 

The crazy thing is that was fairly effective…mostly effective.  They reacted with joy and disbelief.  They were joyful because they really recognized him.  They knew this was not some mirage. This was the man they had lived with…the man who was tortured and killed, the man they loved.  Yet despite this recognition, they could not quite believe because it was too much…too much to take in at once. 

Jesus understood this and so he did another odd and undivine thing—he asked them for some food.  “Have you anything here to eat?”  This line amuses me every time I read it because I picture Jesus looking around at these bewildered men trying to make them understand the unfathomable.  I imagine ideas running through his head…what can he do to make them believe and his solution is to ask for some food. Is that the best he can do??

There are theories about why Jesus chose this moment to eat some fish.  Most assume it was so he could show them that he was flesh and blood—not a ghost.  Yet I wonder if it was something less cerebral.  Perhaps he really was hungry or maybe he was just doing that thing you do when you get together with friends, you share a meal together. He let them take care of him---take care of one of humanity’s most basic needs (food) which is amazing given that the disciples had done such a horrible job of caring for him when he needed them the most.

Ironically, it was Jesus’s humanity and vulnerability that helped his disciples believe and see him, finally see him for who he was, not just any god, but the God. The God who suffered like all humans suffered, suffered even more than most suffer, the God who still carried the wounds of that suffering, the God who forgave them despite the fact that they had abandoned him, the God who loved them to the end, the God who died and came back from the dead just to see them again.

I can be fairly certain of how you would react when I say, “Alleluia, Christ is risen!”  We will be saying that every Sunday during the Easter season.  I hope that during this season, you will consider how you would react if Jesus actually came to your home and said, “Peace be with you.”  Would you know it was him?  Would you want to see his hands and feet or would you want to see him perform a miracle? Would you want to fix him dinner, or would you want some evidence that this really was the risen Christ? 

I believe that the way Jesus interacted with his disciples is exactly how he wishes to interact with all of us today.  He wants to be real.  He doesn’t just want to show us his scars.  He wants to see ours.  He wants to know our joy and our pain.  He wants to be part of our everyday activities, like eating and spending time with friends and family.  I love our liturgy--the beauty and majesty.  Our liturgy is a wonderful way to worship God and God wants to be worshipped.  God wants this time with us when we are entirely devoted to him.  But God also wants to see us when we aren’t wearing our robes and Sunday best.  God wants every part of us.

Why does it matter that Jesus was resurrected? He was resurrected to prove that death is not the end--that while he was the first one to be resurrected, he will not be the last.  Living the reality of the resurrection does not mean that we forget the crucifixion.  Our faith is one that embodies the whole human experience.  It is anxiety and peace.  It is pain and joy.  It is death and resurrection. It is real. It matters that Jesus was resurrected because it gives us hope that we will see the risen Christ and when we see him he will open our eyes to all the mysteries of life and faith.  Then there will be peace, real peace and it will be real.