Sermon (Click Link to Listen)
SERMON 15.04.2018
Focus Scriptures: Acts 3: 12-19., 1John 3:1-7., Luke 24:36-48.
This is one of those Sundays when all three readings sparkle with the captivating light and the attractions of ‘easy access’. But that brings its own problems ….What to include and what to omit.
Unfortunately today John gets the briefest mention…though it is a rich letter, crammed with spiritual realities that can quicken us in our faith journey with Jesus, our Lord.
But read him today and grasp the supernatural nature of our DNA.
”See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are…
Beloved, we are God’s children now;
What we will be has not yet been revealed.
What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.
The readings from Luke and Acts ( Luke Vol.2 The Acts of the Holy Spirit) though they describe two very different events and situation have one message. Repentance.Forgiveness.Witness.
In the Gospel extract we hear the resurrected Jesus, just prior to His Ascension, say to His disciples:
‘…repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in my/his name to all nations…
You are witnesses of these things…..
The reading from Acts mirrors this teaching. When addressing a crowd, at the temple entrance, Peter says::
‘…To this we are witnesses…Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out,………
that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord …’
We are the current generation of Christs disciples. In a nutshell we have here our basic roadmap and job description.
Repent…Receive forgiveness and Witness.
Relevant then, relevant now.
The context of our Gospel reading sets it in the closing section of Luke’s final chapter; and deals with the resurrected Christ’s sudden appearance to His closeted and terrified disciples.
The passage opens with the phrase;
”While they (the disciples) were talking …”
+The Gethsemane arrest…the Crucifixion…the possibility of more arrests.
+The women finding the tomb empty and being terrified by the appearance of 2 men in dazzling apparel saying,
‘ He is not here, but has risen’.
+ Mary Magdelene’s meeting with Jesus.
+ Then the unexpected return of Cleopas and his friend from Emmaus recounting their encounter with the risen Jesus and being told by folk in the upper room:
‘The Lord has risen indeed,and has appeared to Simon.”
It appears from the reactions that maybe no one, in that room, was really expected Jesus to rise from the dead.!
Then without warning;
Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.
They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
Jesus asking this question makes me smile : )
The disciples had been terrified in Gethsemane and scattered in panic….
were presently bolted up in a room…..scared for their lives….expecting to be hauled out a rabid mob and stoned to death for blasphemy.
When the security of their safe space is shattered by someone they initially don’t recognise, suddenly appearing among them saying ”Peace/Shalom”.
They fail to recognise Jesus. Why? It is because there is definitely something different about His resurrected body.
This happened to Mary M at the tomb… until Jesus spoke her name.
The same with the Emmaus travellers; though in their case it was in the breaking of bread that;
‘…their eyes were opened and they recognised Him’.
The same with this gathering of apostles and disciples.
”They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
The initial reaction was it’s a ghost. Appearing out of nowhere.
However, by the end of the encounter…cruciall things are witnessed and confirmed.
1. They saw his body.
2. They heard him speak.
3. They handled him.
4. They saw him eat the piece of fish and honeycomb.
Their physical senses were on high alert.
For despite their grieving and and elements of PTS cautiously , with Christ’s help, cautiously abandoned themselves to the unbelievable truth. Jesus had risen and had come back to them. Experiencing the truth of this event radicalised the disciples…many of whom would died rather than deny it.
As with the Emmaus Road disciples;
”…(Jesus) opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them…..repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be
proclaimed in (MY)his name to all nations.
You are witnesses of these things.’
Repentance and forgiveness of sin is at the heart of Christ’s world saving agenda. Only in this way shall the world be truly
transformed. No -ism no matter how laudable, plausible or smartly marketted can achieve the fundamental change needed to transform our humanity. As Jesus said…we need to be born again.
Luke’s Gospel finishes with the disciples , after the Ascension,
‘… returning to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God.”
And it is at the temple our reading from Acts starts ….soon after Pentecost…with Peter and John, en route there ”at the hour of prayer’ .
Just as both were entering the temple, a man lame, from birth, asked for alms:
Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said,
‘Look at us’. And he fixed his attention on them…Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk!’And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.”
This event attracts an astonished questioning crowd, and Peter, the once cowardly thrice denier, of Jesus, steps forward addresses the curious crowd.
“… why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?….
The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus…
To this we are witnesses.
”…by faith in his name,— his name itself —has made this man strong… and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you”.
True then,true now.
Our life’s responsibility is to dig into the great wonders that are OURS in our Saviour. But like Peter, and Jacob, before him we like the believers who went before us, must, with the grace of God, ask, seek, strive, sit, wait and wrestle.
The sooner we realise, like Peter, that our power and piety is at brittle consequence…the better it will be for us. We cannot point self righteous fingers at anyone, just because they sin differently to us.
Only when we make space for God’s transforming Holy Spirit, who ‘lightens our darkness’, can we grow into faith and produce the fruits of His Spirit….thus, almost inexplicably, enriching all who encounter us.
He is our power….We witness of Him …
‘…by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man,woman,child strong…
Let us lean into Jesus…resulting in unbelievers developing a jealous hunger/passion to ‘taste and see that the Lord is good”.
Remember……To this we are witnesses.
Amen.