Easter 3B April 14, 2024

Prayer

I am a crooked man

traveling a broken road, Lord

I walk a twisted mile

with shady friends who say

'surely you deserve this'

The problem

is I know I do deserve this

for sins 

my mouth is dry

my bones are dried up

I am sour with hope 

I am lost 

weak

and cut off

I am the enemy

of myself

I have crushed 

my life to the ground,

sometimes I stop 

my walking

and sit in darkness

Walk with me

Lord this dusty road

don't be appalled by me

don't turn from the dirt 

upon my feet and face

see not my sins

but my trying soul

raise me from the grave

grab my hand from

the potter's ground

Call me from my tomb

tell me again of your

saving help

show me again your world

Give me hope

in each sip and in each sup

let me partake of your offered cup

~ C. Andrew Doyle


Some Thoughts on Luke 24:13-49

"For Luke, to fulfil the hope of the resurrection is to tell the story of Jesus (testimony). That means telling what he did, how he was rejected and then vindicated, and it is at the same time to live it by the power of the same Spirit, by doing good and bringing liberation for all. This includes forgiveness of sins. It is radically simple."

"First Thoughts on Year B Gospel Passages in the Lectionary," Easter 3, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

"I believe that although the two disciples did not recognize Jesus on the road to Emmaus, Jesus recognized them, that he saw them as if they were the only two people in the world. And I believe that the reason why the resurrection is more than just an extraordinary event that took place some two thousand years ago and then was over and done with is that, even as I speak these words and you listen to them, he also sees each of us like that."

"Recognizing," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.

"Our experience of life in this world is such that we always have to keep learning what it means to have faith. That doesn't typically happen well when we try to go it alone. Faith is something that thrives and grows in the context of a community."

"It Takes a Village," Alan Brehm, The Waking Dreamer.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

This Sunday we shift from John's Easter message to Luke's resurrection narrative.  Commonly called, The Road to Emmaus, our passage this week comes in both our reading cycle for Year A and Year B.  So if you are having Easter flashbacks you are not alone; and, that may be on purpose!

Jesus appears to two disciples outside the walls; some seven miles from Jerusalem. They are talking about all the things which have happened. In this particular testimony we are watching the transition from the crucifixion and the Easter resurrection become the mission of a new community. In Luke's Gospel we must remember we are marching always towards Pentecost and Acts. We are given in today's lesson a memory of the events. We are reminded of what our story is; and in the author's own way he gives us permission to be somewhat concerned and curious about the past and what lays ahead.

If we remember that this Gospel is written that we may believe and in believing be transformed so as to offer and communicate the same Gospel for others then the purpose of the author is clear. Luke Timothy Johnson captures well the event of conversion in Lukes' testimony. Conversion has a particular meaning for Luke and his community:

The Word of God demands the acceptance of the prophetic critique and a "turning" of one's life. Conversion is an important theme in Luke-Acts, closely joined to the pattern of the prophet and the people. Jesus' ministry is preceded by the Word of God spoken through the prophet John, which called people to repentance. Acts opens with the preaching of Peter which also calls for repentance. Those who enter the people that God forms around the prophet must "turn around. (Luke, Sacra Pagina, 23)

This reception of grace and turning from the course you are walking to a pilgrimage with Jesus births faith in the follower of Jesus. After hearing one comes to believe and one seeks to mold one's life to the shape of the prophet's life - Jesus' life. Here is what Luke Timothy Johnson writes about faith:

In Luke-Acts, "faith" combines obedient hearing of the Word and patient endurance. It is not a momentary decision but a commitment of the heart that can grow and mature. Essential to the response of faith is the practice of prayer. Jesus prays throughout his ministry; and teaches his disciples to pray. Luke also provides splendid samples of prayer, showing a people for whom life is defined first of all by its relationship with God. (Luke, Sacra Pagina, 24)

In the Gospel story we are seeing these two disciples, who have converted, who are faithful, move through the enduring walk post Easter.  They are not unlike all of us wondering and maturing as we make our way with Jesus.  Just as we seem to loose ourselves from the Gospel, Jesus meets us again and calls us back.

So...they are walking and talking about all the events. They are wondering and one might even say wandering. As they do this (reminding me always of the prayer of Chrysostom, "when two or three are gathered in his name you will be in the midst of them...") Jesus is present, physically with them. He engages with them.

The disciples do not recognize him, the text implies they aren't able...perhaps not allowed to know him. We do not know why, it may be that their sadness and sorrow prevents them from seeing who is with them. They are sad because they had hoped in Jesus. The words seem here to play out two meanings. The first meaning certainly is the idea that Jesus was the new Moses to lead his people out of bondage. The second meaning is found deeper in the text and is rooted in the idea the words used are of a more spiritual nature. A reluctance to believe is an inability to see the triumph of prophetic revelation in the resurrection of Jesus is a failure of heart - Jesus says.

And, he opens up for them the story. He retells the story. One can imagine if we sat and read Luke all the way through in one sitting that we would hear and rehear the teaching that Jesus had indeed fulfilled all the scriptures and in and through his death onto the other side of resurrection had delivered the people of Israel from bondage.

In this retelling of the whole story from creation until Emmaeus, in the breaking of the bread, and in his very presence with them their eyes are open to recognize him. He then vanishes, he is no longer visible. In an instant realization, and in another moment gone.  Or is he? Are they really left alone?

They then quickly tell others.  Jesus is present in a living Word though as the Gospel itself becomes sacramentally carried by the human vessel - the mouth, the action, the embrace, the love.  In Luke's Gospel the Holy Spirit is coming to help with this work.

So the work of conversion and faith begins its cyclical manifestation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Luke Timothy Johnson remarks on Luke's writing, "As people tell the story to each other, they also interpret the story." They make, in their telling, Jesus present.  And, they have the opportunity for their own lives to be held up against the Gospel message. So then both those who receive the message and the messenger are transformed.  He writes:

Luke shows us narratively the process by which the first believers actually did learn to understand the significance of the events they had witnessed, and to resolve the cognitive dissonance between their experience and their conviction. The resurrection shed new light on Jesus' death, on hi words, and on the Scriptures. The "opening of the eyes" to see the texts truly and the "opening of the eyes" to see Jesus truly are both part of the same complex process of seeking and finding meaning....Luke shows us how the risen Lord taught the Church to read Torah as "prophecy about him." (Luke, Sacra Pagina, 399)

I have leaned on Luke Timothy Johnson a great deal in this passage as I think he does the very best with it. The preacher has many opportunities for topics. I encourage you to think deeply about speaking with your people about how we have come to understand and to know the witness of Jesus both through others, and through our texts. For Episcopalians we read the text in community. It is in our prayer book, it is in our scripture readings, and in our hymns.  We read the texts of scripture on the road to Emmaus, struggling together and inviting Jesus to be in our midst revealing the truth, the way and the life that lies before us as people of the resurrected Christ.


People in church on Sunday, or reading this (like myself) know the business of life.  How many of us, like the disciples, will leave church not to think about the meaning of the good news for our life until next week.  I wonder what would happen if this week we challenged our people to walk in life this week, with their eyes wide open, looking for the risen Lord.  How many times a day will they see him this week?  How many times an hour?  Can our sermons, our preaching, praying, singing open our eyes to the risen Lord in our midst?

Some Thoughts on I John 3:1-8

"The church's integrity wells up from, and is channeled by, God's calling (3:1b; 3:3). To be a saint is to live in the same love by which God has loved us (3:16-18; 4:7-12)."

Commentary, 1 John 3:1-3 (All Saints A), C. Clifton Black, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

"We get Christian hope confused when we think that our hope is based on now nice we are, or how well we behave, or on some hidden piece of us called 'the soul' that will survive through death and destruction."

Commentary, 1 John 3:1-7, David Bartlett, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

"The author might say today: no amount of doing good deeds and no amount of having impressive spiritual experiences will count for anything if it is not connected to a real change that is relational."

"First Thoughts on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary: Easter 3," William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text 

In this second section of John's first letter to the beloved community we find that we turn our attention from the work of the pious individual to the nature of the beloved community itself. Using the ancient words we are reminded by the author that we are intended to be called the children of God the sons and daughters of Abraham - made heirs by the work of our savior Christ Jesus. God loves us and has given us this status through the ministry and work of Jesus.

We are promised, no matter what this age brings, that in the end we too will find our place wiht God in the heavenly kingdom. We will come into our fullness and hope becoming like Christ in his glory - perfected. So it is that we believe we are to live a life fitting this promise and in such a manner as it emulates the life of Christ.

The reality is that we are to be working towards the relationship with others. We are to strive for a righteous love of others and we are to undertake to follow Jesus' commandments to love God and love neighbor. We are to be reminded not to judge but to love.

Love One Another:
John 13:34-35 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." 

Believe that Jesus is in the Father:
John 14:11 "Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves." 

Feed My Sheep
John 21:15ff "Do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep."

In John's Gospel these are the key commandments: Love one another, have faith and see the work God is doing, and feed my sheep. Well, we all know that we will fail. We will fall short of the kingdom and this perfect life. So we depend upon God and throw ourselves back into life, confessing, accepting forgiveness, and attempting to live anew. This is what is meant by walking the way. Attempt righteousness with all your heart mind and soul. Fail righteousness. Confess. Receive forgiveness. Start over.

For human beings we tend to hear the word of righteousness and show how other people aren't doing it. We rarely immolate Christ's life of non judgement, forgiveness, sacrifice, and reconciliation. Yet this is the challenge that the Johnannine community felt was their call - their work. We must become like Jesus and work and be in relationship like Jesus.

Some Thoughts on Acts 3:12-19

"As far as I know, there is only one good reason for believing that he was who he said he was. One of the crooks he was strung up with put it this way: 'If you are the Christ, save yourself and us' (Luke 23:39). Save us from whatever we need most to be saved from. Save us from each other. Save us from ourselves. Save us from death both beyond the grave and before. If he is, he can. If he isn't, he can't. It may be that the only way in the world to find out is to give him the chance, whatever that involves. It may be just as simple and just as complicated as that."

"Messiah," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.


"God healed through the power of faith in the name of Jesus. This does leave open a very significant role for us as participants in all healing."

Commentary, Acts 3:12-19, Mitzi J. Smith, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.


"The challenge for preachers in the 21st century, then, is to break this biblical text. To preach against the blame that Peter wrongly, no matter how graciously, assigns. To preach against all the othering and blaming continues today in so many forms and so many spheres."

The Politics of Acts 3:12-19, Amy Allen, There Is Power in the Blog, 2012.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text 

Here is the set up.  Peter and John were out and about and went to the temple to pray. This was normal daily practice for them. There is at the temple, as there were most days, people in need. There is a man who is lame from birth. He is asking for alms. He sees Peter and John and asks them for alms. Peter says, "Look at us.... I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” Peter touches the man, takes him by the arm, raises him up, and he walks! The man jumps up and is walking and leaping and praising God.

A lot of people see this and the miracle that has taken place. The man is there with Peter and John in the great porch or portico and people are gathering around astonished.

Now, before we go on with the story let us be clear that part of the story of Acts up until now is not simply a story of how the Church received the Holy Spirit and became the church. It is about how the followers of Jesus, the disciples, became apostles and went out every which way and did good work among the people. They are raising the people's standard of living, they are feeding the least and lost of the community (widows and orphans), and they are healing people. All of this takes place outside the upper room where they gather and it takes place outside the temple. This is not religion as we have come to make Christianity, this is a movement of spirited relationships that is literally changing the world in which they find themselves.

Then we get to our passage. Peter sees all the people gathering around the man who has been healed. So he tells them the arc of the story. God called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to go and be a blessing of peace to God's people. Then God in Christ Jesus came and became one of us and did the same. We are doing what God's missionaries have done since Abraham and Sarah left Ur of the Chaldeans.

Being a blessing, changing the way community works, feeding, and healing people is the work of God's messengers. And, it is threatening to the powers that be.

People out in the world proclaiming the Gospel willy nilly and without any supervision, improving people's lives, and giving real food to eat with out the government's help, and healing people without the medical establishment's supervision is what the community of Jesus is all about. The powers and authorities of this world do not like it. This is why the religious and political powers of the world will react negatively to those who do the work of Jesus.

They do what they have always done - they kill the messengers of God; wether it is Jesus or the prophets or those who go and work in his name today.

Peter Continues, God raised the one who became weak, even unto death, from the grave. In doing so God  redeemed all the weak, all the lost, all the least. God did what God has been doing since the tower of Babel, God has opened up the community to more and more people. God has invited us, as God invited Abraham, to be a blessing to the world around us. God has expanded the descendants of his people to include everyone - all means all. We are in fact all invited to not only follow this Jesus but to go in his name and be a blessing of peace to the world in which we find ourselves - healing, feeding, and sheltering God's people. We are to make our communities more like God's family and more like the reign of God than the reign of worldly powers that take advantage of the weak.

"So, yes." I imagine Peter saying. "I healed this man and we do this work all the time because that is the community of God at its best. You can join us if you wish." Mic drop.

[A NOTE: This passage and others like them in the bible have been used to do violence against the Jewish people and others. I chose a long time ago to refer to the "powers" and "authorities", "religious" and "political", rather than using words like Peter does. Part of this is because of the terrible record Christians have in doing violence - a violence which is not of God. Part of it is also to help us understand that it is the powers and principalities in every age that seek to keep the people subjugated. This is not a new story and it is present in our own society as it was in the land that Noah leaves. The Gospel reverses the way of the world of religious and political exchange. The Gospel reverses power and greatness and instead offers service and leastness in their place - as the highest models of sacrifice. When we put this story in words that lead to the demonizing of a people, or use a people to scape goat we disassociate ourselves from our present day realities that all of God's people face (Jewish, Muslim, Christian) and we allow the world of violence and memetic sacrifice that is not of God to continue. We allow religion to be a pawn in the game of violence and oppression. Does Peter miss this? Maybe. Maybe he is forever intombed by his context and language. The real issue though is that religious leaders and political leaders make dangerous companions that usually have very little to do with their faith or ethnicity and most often serve one thing - a principality's power. This is true for Christians as it has been for every world religion that has decided the state was a friend. So, to sum it up...no scape goating a people or other religions. Keep the main thing the main thing.]

Previous Sermons For This Sunday

Abundant, Unqualified Generosity

St. Andrew's, Pearland, Easter 3B, April 15, 2018

You Shall Be Witnesses of the Second Adam 

Sermon preached for Easter 3b, 2015, at St. John the Divine Houston, St. Mary's Lampasas, and Holy Spirit, Waco.

Easter 2B, April 7, 2024

Prayer

I am the nonbeliever,

the skeptic 

even a deceiver

I am the two faced Christian 

the Sunday morning faithful

and the weekday skornful

No,

Jesus

You 

Touch my wounds

seen and unseen

feel the broken skin of my hands

worked to the bone

see my broken legs

tired of the weight of the world

my pierced side 

from the back stabbers knife

I am the man 

the woman 

the child

who calls in the night

silently cries out

and weeps for loss

Give me faith

because I cannot touch

Give me faith

because I cannot feel

Give me faith 

because I cannot see

Give me faith

I am not the blessed

but the damned

the lost

and the weak

You are the one I seek

help me hear your words

your invitation

your grace

help me Lord Jesus

see my reflection 

in your wounds

my hope in your death

my life in your resurrection

~ C. Andrew Doyle


Some Thoughts on John 20:19-31

"What is more, he keeps showing up. As he came back a week later for Thomas, Jesus keeps coming back week after week among his gathered disciples -- in the word, the water, the bread, and the wine -- not wanting any to miss out on the life and peace he gives."

Commentary, Elisabeth Johnson, John 20:19-31, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2014.

"Even though he said the greater blessing is for those who can believe without seeing, it's hard to imagine that there's a believer anywhere who wouldn't have traded places with Thomas, given the chance, and seen that face and heard that voice and touched those ruined hands."

"Thomas," Frederick Buechner, Buechner Blog.

"In the end, this is not a story of absence and doubt. It is the amazing message that the good news of Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is able to break through locked rooms, through the limits of time and space."

Commentary, Lucy Lind Hogan, John 20:19-31, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012

Oremus Online NRSV Text

Of Course, this text appears regularly after Easter in our lectionary cycle. Furthermore, it also appears as the pre-story to the Pentecost lesson from John.  There is a lot in this week's text for consideration. The preacher's challenge is to fix on one of the narrative pieces and preach fearlessly the cross and resurrection.  Be careful and remember in John there is no resurrection without the cross. This is key to the passage. 

Below  I am offering a little about everything for you to think and ponder, ending with a few thoughts.

Every time we arrive at the text for this week, I am mindful of the prayer of St. Chrysostom, which may be prayed as part of our daily office:

Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.

So I cannot begin to think and ponder John’s Gospel and Jesus's appearance in the midst of the disciples without also thinking of the risen Christ in the midst of gatherings of people, how he is present, and what he encourages us, as faithful followers, to undertake on his behalf.

Jesus loves gatherings. God loves it when people sit and eat and share. We might be tempted to steal the Gospel here and think that our churches are the only place where God is present in the gatherings of people. But that would be to miss the point. God is present in various gatherings, and it is more visible when we remember him and gather in his name. Nevertheless, the God who created all things is present in the space between people - especially when they face one another and dine together.

Also, I am mindful that this appearance and the appearance to Thomas a week later occur on the “first day of the week”. This suggests the presence of Christ on our day of worship and in the midst of the community gathered for prayer and a meal, the Eucharist in our current practice. Raymond Brown and other scholars quickly remind us of Isaiah 3.6: “My people shall know my name; on that day they shall know it is I who speak.”

A challenging word comes from the blogosphere via Brian Stoffregen [Exegetical Notes (Easter 2 ABC) by Brian Stoffregen at CrossMarks Christian Resources]

The purpose of this resurrection appearance is not so much to prove the resurrection as it is to send the disciples as Jesus had been sent. Easter is not just coming to a wonderful, inspiring worship service, it is being sent back into the (hostile) world, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to bear witness to the identity of God as revealed in Jesus.

So there is a sense of a coming, a witnessing, a filling or receiving, and a being sent or going. Similar to Leonel Mitchel's thoughts, liturgy is always about drawing people deeper into Christ and the community of Christ at work in the world. Certainly echoing this liturgical theology and missional challenge are Raymond Brown's (New Testament and Johannine scholar) thoughts on this passage. His notes follow below from page 1019 of vol. 2 of his reflections about John’s Gospel for the Anchor Bible Dictionary. Here, he suggests traces of ancient Johannine communal liturgy.

The disciples assemble on the Lord’s Day. The blessing is given: “Peace to you.” The Holy Spirit descends upon the worshipers and the word of absolution is pronounced. Christ himself is present (this may suggest the Eucharist and the spoken Word of God) bearing the marks of his passion; he is confessed as Lord and God. Indeed, this passage in John as been cited as the first evidence that the Christian observance of Sunday arose from an association of that day with the resurrection – an idea that shortly later Ignatius gave voice to: “No longer living for the Sabbath, but for the Lord’s Day on which life dawned for us through in and his death.” (Magnesians, ix 1). (R. Brown, John, vol 2, p 1019).

So, with these thoughts, I turn and think more closely about the Gospel for this Sunday. This is a Gospel that clearly provides some marks along the pilgrim road. John gives us a sense that there is a reality to our being part of a community that gathers, receives the witness of Jesus Christ's resurrected, and then is sent to bear that witness out in the world.

And there is something stale in a community that gathers for itself only and does not go out into the world to see where God is gathering with others.

Our Gospel reading for Sunday begins with the disciples hiding behind closed doors because of their fear. Perhaps they are afraid of the authorities or of those who might accuse them of stealing their messiah’s body. The doors are locked. Jesus comes and stands in their midst, right in front of them.

Jesus says to them, “Peace be with you.” Shalom. Shalom Alekem. Yes, this is a greeting. It is also an ancient form of saying to the listener or hearer of these words that there is about to be a revelation. They are about to see, hear, or receive a revelation of God. The revelation (as with Gideon in Judges 6.23) is that the Lord is present, the Lord brings peace, and you will not die.

It is more particular still. It is a blessing of peace. It reminds them that they are to be a blessing to others. Just as Abraham and Sarah were to be a blessing, so God comes into their midst to send them out to be a blessing to the world. 

Jesus then shows his disciples his wounds. He shows them the very place of them. While there is some argument between scholars about the different wound sites shown and the different terms and placements between the Gospel of Luke and John’s visitation, we nevertheless see that it was a powerful recognition of the Christ crucified. I am mindful that the disciples and those who experienced the resurrection had not only a real experience but an understanding that Jesus was himself more fully present than before. The reality of these wounds and the powerful vision they must have created for those whose eyes fell upon them quiets me.

Here, the author and narrator use the resurrection title, “the Lord.” While I have been using it, we notice its first use here in the narrative. Jesus is recognized but recognized as the risen one, the first fruits of those who have died.

He is also here in vs 27 from our Acts lesson. Jesus is referred to as God's holy país - son or child. He is Lord, but by his woundedness and by becoming the least among them...a child. Yes, the woundedness reveals that it is the Lord but a particular kind of Lord different from the Lord of this world.

Jesus provides a vision of resurrection. He is present. He gives them a mission: "Just as God sent me, I am sending you." We may reflect upon the previous chapters, his priestly prayer, and his ministry. Jesus was sent by the Father to glorify God. Jesus now sends his followers to do the same.

And Jesus gives them the Holy Spirit. As if from Genesis, we have Jesus breathing over the new creation, new breath to the new Adams and the new Eves.

Then the Lord charges them to forgive. Forgive the sins and know that those you hold will be bound by them. If you release them, you open your hand, and they disappear. If you hold them, you hold your hand closed, and they cannot go. It seems important to reflect on this for a minute. Jesus' words here are very different from his legal words in Matthew’s Gospel. Here we have kerygmatic words. Brown writes:

Thus the forgiveness and holding of sins should be interpreted in the light of Jesus’ own action toward sin…The Gospel is more concerned with the application of forgiveness on earth, and is accomplished in and through the Spirit that Jesus has sent…more general Johannine ideas about the Spirit, relate the forgiveness of sins to the eschatological outpouring of the Spirit that cleanses men and begets them to new life… the power to isolate, repel, and negate evil and sin, a power given to Jesus in his mission by the Father an given in turn by Jesus through the Spirit to those whom he commission. (John, vol 2, 1040-1044)

This is a re-creation in action. The disciples are given power by the Holy Spirit to do the work of freeing people to and into the new created order.

Thomas, our dear brother Thomas, missed this historic revelationary moment. As we arrive at this time every year, we know he will not believe it no matter what is said. He is so emphatic that he will not believe it unless he “throws” his fingers into the wounds themselves. This is a dramatic call for proof if there ever was one.

The disciples continue their stay in Jerusalem and find themselves with Thomas again in the upper room one week later.

Again, Jesus appears, and he calls to Thomas. The Lord invites him to see and feel his wounds so that he can reach out and touch them. Some scholars have spent time wondering how this could be if Christ wore clothes. Was it a loose-fitting garment? These suggestions give rise to one of my favourite Brown quotes, which almost caused me to fall out of my chair when I read it. Raymond Brown writes, “The evangelist scarcely intended to supply information on the haberdashery appropriate for a risen body.” (1026)

Jesus also tells him to stop or quit persisting in his unbelief by these actions. While Thomas was a follower of Jesus was a believer in the risen Christ? He is challenged here to change.

What has always struck me, but few preachers have ever remarked on, is the fact that Thomas doesn’t touch the Christ. I have pondered this a great deal. What is it then that changes him. Thomas’ faith is adequate without the proof. That seems the deeper point of the story. One scholar even remarked that John seems himself somewhat skeptical; perhaps not unlike our Thomas. Yet...Thomas comes to believe.

We often get so focused on what it takes to convince ourselves of God and then project it upon Thomas that we miss the narrative’s truth. Thomas believes without proof.

Brown writes of all four episodes in chapter 20 of John’s Gospel:

Whether or not he intended to do so, the evangelist has given us in the four episodes of ch xx four slightly different examples of faith in the risen Jesus. The Beloved Disciple comes to faith after having seen the burial wrappings but without having seen Jesus himself. Magdalene sees Jesus but does not recognize him until he calls her by name. The disciples see him and believe. Thomas also sees him and believes, but only after having been over insistent on the marvelous aspect of the appearance. All four are examples of those who saw and believed; the evangelist will close the Gospel in 29b by turning his attention to those who have believed without seeing.” (John, vol 2, 1046)

Thomas’ words, “My God and my Lord,” are the last words a disciple speaks in the 4th Gospel. They are the culmination of the Gospel proclamation for the faithful followers of Jesus. This statement brings him fully into the covenant relationship with the new creation.

Now that the disciples' witness is concluded, Jesus' words are for us. The last and final Beatitude is given for those who would come after. Blessed are those who do not see but have believed. Here is Jesus, with us to the end, offering the last words in the Gospel. We have the opportunity to join the new covenant community, be new Adams and new Eves, participate in the stewardship of creation recreated, and take our place in the midst of the discipleship community. We do so through baptism. We also embrace the kerygmatic Word and live a resurrected life. We live by making our confession: My God and my Lord. We live life on the one hand, bearing witness to the ever-present past of crucifixion and the ever-present future of the resurrection life.

We make our witness as pilgrims of Shalom, of peace in the world. We become the least (like our Lord), and we serve the world in his name. We go out to feed and witness and to find God gathering with others in the world around us. We go out to discover the marked children who are persecuted in our day and wear the wounds of Christ.

This passage is not merely a passage about what is supposed to be our experience in Church but is a passage that speaks about what our experience is to be from the Christian community - how we are to go out and discover God's suffering in the least and lost.

Some Thoughts on I John 1:1-2:5

"Certainly it would have been an exciting period full of fresh revelation, miracles, and the rapid growth of the church. However, texts like 1 John bear witness to the first century of Christianity also as a time of strife and the splitting of some Christian communities over differences. "

Commentary, 1 John 1:1-2:2, Nijay Gupta, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"The church need not gaze wistfully for a "someday" to come in order to possess the fullness of its identity. There is no need to wait until there are more members, or more resources, or more of whatever we might believe is necessary to be a good, or faithful, or missional (choose your favorite adjective!) church. "

Commentary, 1 John 1:13 (All Saints A), Audrey West, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2014.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text 

There is a lot of debate about the authorship of this text. I remember from seminary that the text is meant for general reading instead of for a particular community and context. I also remember that it is likely that the author of this particular Johannine text is closely related, if not the very same editor, as the one associated with the final edit of the Gospel of John. 

The goal is right teaching focused primarily on a high spirituality with a low anthropology. The spirit is good and the flesh is bad. If the spirit is indeed living in us, proposes the author, then we will see the good works as an outflowing sign of God's saving work.

As we pick up the argument in this first chapter, we know that the text tells us there is a debate on the incarnation. Did Jesus truly become human, and did he really suffer? Or, as God, was it all an act?  

The author is clear. Christ has existed as the Word since before the beginning. This living Word has been present in all of God's creative acts. At the same time, this Word comes in very real flesh, and it has lived and suffered with us. In this, we have a very real fellowship with Christ Jesus and the Father.

At the same time, the author continues that while the Word is truly human and was tempted in every way as we are, he did not fall prey to sin as we do.  

The author says one cannot live ethically as Christ does and do evil things. God's perfect sacrifice removes all sin from us, and so we achieve holiness of life. When we do fall and confess our wrongdoings, God will forgive us. We are sinful even though we are redeemed. Nevertheless, our goal is to live a Christian life, an ethical life as Christ did. Given our sinfulness and ability to always fail at this, we are grateful for God's forgiveness. 

For those who believe, follow Christ's example, and confess when we sin, forgiveness and union with God are ours through the gift of Christ Jesus on the cross. 

God does not promise that life will be easy, that we will be sinless, or that temptations will not come to us. God does promise forgiveness of sins to all those who truly call upon his name. 

The difficulty then becomes the human ability to point out other people's sins rather than focusing on our own. This is our way of dealing with this today. We would rather enter the confessional with our neighbour's list than be about our own business, repent, and attempt an honest life of living out our forgiveness. When we are tempted to take the other person's inventory, we avoid our own sinfulness by resenting others. The author is clear - God forgives. The ethical follower of Jesus is the one
focused on their own living of life rather than upon their neighbour's.



Some Thoughts on Acts 4:23-37 (Acts 4:32-35)

"The portrayals of Christ-following community in Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-37 raise red flags for many Euro-American readers."

Commentary, Acts 4:32-35,Margaret Aymer, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2017.

"The Resurrection calls and enables us to perform powerful tangible acts that coincide with human need."

Commentary, Acts 4:32-35, Mitzi J. Smith, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"Reading this text as a chiasm may suggest that the 'spiritual' qualities of the community (one heart and soul; witness to the resurrection; grace) leads to the 'social' qualities of declaiming ownership, sharing, and liberality."

"Two Ways of Reading the Early Church," D Mark Davis, raw translation and questions, Left Behind and Loving It, 2012.

"But 4:34 offers the clearest reason why they found it necessary to hold all in common; they were primarily concerned that there be no one needy among them."

"Holding All Things in Common," John C. Holbert, Patheos, 2012.

Oremus Online NRSV Text 

Religion is over. This passage reveals further that the passage from 1 John and John's Gospel are not about religious affectations that take shape within the Christian community but that God's Gospel mission of peace, of Shalom, is to take shape out in the world among God's people.

Peter and John are released from captivity. They can't believe it! They don't understand why the world has rejected their message. They see that power will fear a Gospel of peace where the Lord of lords is the least - the child - the servant. Their Gospel makes the world and its values topsy-turvy.  They state that the power that came from this servant made the powers and authorities afraid. They are praying to receive a spirit that will hold fast to the truth of the Gospel in the face of such powers in their own time. They are filled with the Holy Spirit and speak the truth of the God who became least, lost, weak, and even dead so that others may have life. They spoke boldly and powerfully.

The passage then tells us that they shared much among themselves. This is not to say that everyone became poor. But it reveals that in this particular Christian community people shared what they had so that all might have what is needed. They held things in common. "There was not a needy person among them." 

...for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”). He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

The Gospel proclamation takes root in action by the community. It is a Gospel that is not about supporting a church but about supporting people and their common life together. 

Excerpts from my book Vocatio:

The church of Acts wastes no time pontificating about growth or obsessing over the health of their institution. Instead the Church of Acts puts its energy into going, sharing, caring, and serving in peace.

The Apostles of the Church of Acts are not professionals. They are not climbing a career ladder. When apostleship becomes a career, we turn the Church into a principality or a power--an infection of violence that begins in the subtlest, most innocent of ways. Institutionalizing apostleship is a faithless means of ensuring survival. Stringfellow warns that institutions shape leaders more often than leaders shape institutions. In an institutionalized Church, authentic apostleship and the impulse for mission are the first casualties.[i] For the church to truly undertake its vocation, it must produce disciples whose apostleship looks like Jesus’s own, as opposed to bureaucratic paper pushing. The Church should always look outside of itself for means of reform. It must use the tools of vision and mission to reconnect with the narrative arc of the community of peace. While we must accept, as Stringfellow does, that the Church is a principality, we read Acts so that we might reform it in every way possible, in hope that it may become a most "exemplary principality."[ii]

NOTES

[i] Stringfellow characterizes how the institution works in this way: "In truth, the conspicuous moral fact about our generals, our industrialists, our scientists, our commercial and political leaders is that they are the most obvious and pathetic prisoners in American society. There is unleashed among the principalities in this society a ruthless, self-proliferating, all-consuming institutional process that assaults, dispirits, defeats, and destroys human life even among, and primarily among, those persons in positions of institutional leadership. They are left with titles but without effectual authority; with the trappings of power but without control over the institutions they head; in nominal command but bereft of dominion. These same principalities, as has been mentioned, threaten and defy and enslave human beings of other status in diverse ways, but the most poignant victim of the demonic in America today is the so-called leader. Stringfellow, "Acolytes of the Demonic Powers," Keeper, 274.
[ii] William Stringfellow, "Acolytes," Keeper, 274.

AND

The last quality of the apostolic shalom community worthy of note is their practice of sharing what they had. They shared the good news of Jesus’s resurrection and of the community and reign of peace. They shared the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14) They did mighty works to be sure. (Acts 3:1-7) All of this required no repayment. It was free to those who desired it, for those willing to be a member of the peace community and reject the dominion of violence and a world where fees were charged for service. There was no enrichment to be had in this endeavor of mission. We do know that this mixed community of the poor and the wealthy came together to share what they had so that all might have what is needed to live. Those who lived together in community (which may have been the twelve and their families) shared things in common. (Acts 2:42) We are told that everyone in one community sold all their possessions and this was placed in a common purse for the good of the community. (Acts 4:34-35) We are told that this was a key ingredient to belonging to the community in Jerusalem. So much so that they confronted those who did not trust the community or God fully and did not give over all that they had. (Acts 5:1-11) This is important because the community in Jerusalem as a paradigm understood that everything must be pooled together in a common purse and used for the good of the whole. It had to be redistributed. In still other parts of the movement different ways were used to take in money and redistribute it for the good of all. In the case of Lydia or the Centurion in Acts no requirement is made that they sell everything. At the core was an understanding that it was good to give and share what one has and to do good works. (Hebrews 13:15-16) Those who followed God in the community of shalom rejected the norms of consumption, wealth, and the oppression of the poor. The economic system of the day was rejected in favor of a community of peace where there was no hunger. The care of the needy among the Church was so important that the first “ministers” called into the fledgling community were tasked with caring for those who could not take care of themselves - the widows and orphans who were being neglected in the distribution of food. (Acts 6:1-6) The early Church’s rule of life was a direct indictment of the practice of the religious authorities. But the early Church wasted no time telling the authorities that they should feed these people. They simply fed the people. When the community of peace shares what they have with those who are going without they undermine the powers and authorities which prey upon the weak, needy, and vulnerable, holding them up as scapegoats for society's problems.

Previous Sermons For This Sunday

Touching and Seeing Jesus

This is a sermon on John 20.19-29, the Second Sunday of Easter.  I preached the sermon at Christ the King, Alief.  In my prayers and study, I was interested in the human desire to deal with our doubt by seeing and touching, and then wondered where is one of the places the risen Lord is present in our lives.

The Revelation of Christ

This is a sermon on John 20.19-29, the Second Sunday of Easter at Texas city 2022.

Refiner's Fire

Sermon Preached in Spanish at at Santa Maria, Houston, Easter 2A, 2014

A Challenge to Change

Sermon at St. John the Divine, Houston on 2nd Easter, John 20:19-29, Year C.

Touching and Seeing Jesus

This is a sermon on John 20.19-29, the Second Sunday of Easter.  I preached the sermon at Christ the King, Alief.  In my prayers and study I was interested by the human desire to deal with our doubt by seeing and touching, and then wondered where is one of the places the risen Lord is present in our lives.