Easter 5B April 28, 2024

Prayer

As a Vinegrower, O God, you have grafted us onto Christ, that we may abide as living branches joined to the true Vine.  Bestow on us the comforting presence of your Holy Spirit, so that, loving one another with a love that is sincere, we may become the first fruits of a humanity made new and bear a rich harvest whose fruits are holiness and peace.  We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.


From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.


Some Thoughts on John 15:1-8


"There’s not a lot of agency for us in this text. God prunes us."

"Vines and Branches?" Nadia Bolz Weber, The Hardest Question, 2012.

"In the promise of an 'abiding' presence God's Easter people find not some abstract speculation about a distant or imaginary Trinity, but an invitation to experience the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as a saving and liberating presence in the midst of our day-to-day world."

Commentary, John 15:1-8, James Boyce, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"Like the good shepherd of last week's text, this week's image of the vine is another extended metaphor, which also borrows from and adapts Old Testament imagery for Israel."

Commentary, John 15:1-8, Meda Stamper, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"I think one of the difficulties of living in our age is that we're offered a lot of things as substitutes for honest-to-goodness relationships, and while they may be pretty good at what they were designed for, they're finally not actual relationships."

"Getting Real," David Lose, Dear Working Preacher, 2012.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

Last week, the church experienced Jesus as the Good Shepherd. This week, we are offered a theological reflection on God as a vine grower.

God in Christ Jesus is the source of living water, he is the bread of heaven that gives life, and he is also the vine, and we are his branches.

This passage comes after Jesus has prophesied His suffering, death, and resurrection and promised to return and not leave His followers alone. Our passage, like the Good Shepherd passage, is a teaching about life in God and in Christ.

The image is of God, the vine grower and the gardener. Jesus is the vine, and we are branches bearing fruit.  The vine is trimmed, and this certainly has eschatological (end time and judgment) implications, but this is not the stress nor focus of the teaching.  This image offered to us is about abiding and remaining.  The image of the vine grower, vineyard/vine, and branches is one about the living Word existing as the lifeblood of those who belong to Jesus.

Raymond Brown, in volume II of his work on John's Gospel, says that this passage is about the disciples remaining in Christ.  In our current culture, we talk about following Jesus and leading to a virtuous life. However, in the abiding language of John's Gospel and in Jesus' words, the notion that Jesus + me = a virtuous life is simply not present.  The abiding leaves a notion of being, not the more modern idea of becoming.  God is, Christ is, we are.  A virtuous life is a life lived in God in Christ.  Raymond Brown points out that this is not quite the notion that Matthew's Gospel offers.  Nevertheless, this Sunday, we are preaching Jesus and the living Word; we are preaching about abiding.  I don't want to get off track. So I asked myself, what is this abiding?

I am reminded of St. Augustine's sermon on the Ascension, wherein he writes:

Christ, while in heaven, is also with us; and we, while on earth, are also with him.  He is with us in his godhead and his power and his love; and we, though we cannot be with him in godhead as he is with us, can be with him in our love, our love for him. 

He did not leave heaven when he came down to us from heaven; and he did not leave us when he ascended to heaven again.   His own words show that he was in heaven while he was here: 'No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven.' 

He said this because of the unity between us and himself, for he is our head and we are his body.  The words 'no one but he' are true, since we are Christ, in the sense that he is the Son of man because of us, and we are the children of God because of him. 

For this reason Saint Paul says: 'Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is also with Christ.

We abide in God in Christ Jesus unless we are abiding in something else. John's gospel describes a life of virtue that gives us a sense of what life abiding in Christ is. Abiding/remaining in Christ is love, and it is living in tune with God's commandments.

What do we see then if we are abiding in Christ? We see a life that forms a world around itself where God is central.  Not the false gods created by our ego desires, but God.  As Episcopalians, we describe this abiding life this way.  We would say (as we do in our Book of Common Prayer) that an abiding life is one where:

We trust our lives in God, and others come to know him by our life.  Nothing is put in the place of God, least of all our ego and projections of desire.  God is respected in our words in our actions, and in the results of our actions.  Life is lived out in an ever-flowing experience of worship, prayer, and study.  As we abide in God, we abide in our true selves and in the thin space between heaven and our soul.

To the other, we are faithful as well – treating neighbours with love as we experience God's love for us and love ourselves; to love, honour, and help our parents and family; those in authority are honoured, and we meet their just demands.  We, as Episcopalians, believe that life that is abiding in Christ is one that shows forth respect for the life God gives us; work and prayers for peace are always present; malice, prejudice, or hatred is not born in our hearts; and kindness is shared with all the creatures of God.

Life abiding in Christ is a life where bodily desires are not used to fulfil our ego needs but rather are lived out as God intended for the mutual building up of the family of God.

We live lives that are honest and fair in our dealings. We seek justice, freedom, and the necessities of life for and with all people. We use our talents and possessions as people in a relationship with God. We speak the truth and do not mislead others with our silence.

Life abiding in Christ resists temptations to envy, greed, and jealousy and rejoices in other people's gifts and graces. We share in our fellowship together as we all abide in Christ and, therefore, as St. Augustine points out, with others, with God, and with the saints who are in heaven.

Here is the thing, though: We humans love to substitute something else for the vine. We like to think that sex, money, power, or some other thing will work just as well as the True Vine. The truth is, they really don't. We know it, too.

Abiding in Christ is, in some very real way, accepting our true nature as sinful creatures and then living in, remaining in, Christ, being Christ's own forever - as our baptismal liturgy tells us.  Accepting our chosen ness by Christ (despite our behaviours) and abiding in love, which then abides with others.  And giving up our ego's desire for control and rather, live a life that is birthed in grace.

Some Thoughts on I John 4:7-21

"Who knows how the awareness of God's love first hits people. Every person has his own tale to tell, including the person who wouldn't believe in God if you paid him."

"Salvation," Frederick Buechner, Buechner Blog.

"Much of the anger that erupts within the church under the banner of loving God and defending God's truth often seems to grow instead from love of self and of the power that comes from winning the argument, even at the expense of the church's unity in love."

Commentary, 1 John 4:7-21, Brian Peterson, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"'Love' is an abstraction and a quality of God's own self. 'Love' is personification and God is person. Love is something. God does things, sends a Son, atones for the sins of the world, and gives commands."

Commentary, 1 John 4:7-21, David Bartlett, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text 

The beloved community is built around faith in God as revealed in Christ Jesus and revealed in the loving members of the community. The Holy Spirit's work enlivens this faith and love, bringing about a rebirth into a new creation.

God, who is love and is bound to us in love and through the loving work of Christ, is also at the centre of the beloved community. The beloved community members love one another because of this God who is love. God is love, and we learn to love all those we meet in God's community. This is outward flowing of the inner life of the Trinity. 

This outflowing of God's love is also at the world's transformative center. Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, enables those of us in the world to find a path not only into the beloved community but into the life of the Trinity itself. 

This means God is working on the individual as they journey. The work of the Christian, the member of the beloved community, is to love those as they enter our community and point the way to God. In this, we have an example of and an outward illustration of love. Our love for one another as they journey is evidence of the Holy Spirit within us. 

Many people believe there is an important "but" that goes in here. We love you "but"...Whenever we get into the "but" business, what is taking place is that we are working less on our path to God and more on other people's paths. We are undermining the fraternal love we are supposed to illustrate. We are, in fact, not fulfilling our invitation by the Holy Spirit, and in the end, we are eroding God's beloved community.

The natural response to the above paragraph is fear, anxiety, and concern.  The disciple is clear: if this is present, then we do not believe in our inter-related nature with our brothers and sisters. Then, we do not believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to work. Then, we do not believe in the power of Christ Jesus to save. 

The fact is that our intolerance for one another is an example of not living in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. "But" they....you will say.

I am afraid that there is no "but" in the Gospel of Jesus.

If we are members of the beloved community, if God's Holy Spirit is with us, and if we are doing the work Christ has given us.. then we will be in the midst of love.

One cannot love his fellow humans and not love God. One cannot love God and not love his fellow humans.

We might add one who does not love their fellow human does honor the love of God and one who does not love God will not love their fellow human.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”—Martin Luther King Jr.

Some Thoughts on Acts 8:26-40

"So Philip baptized him, and when that black and mutilated potentate bobbed back to the surface, he was so carried away he couldn't even speak. The sounds of his joy were like the sounds of a brook rattling over pebbles, and Philip never saw him again and never had to."

"Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog. "Conversion," Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words.

"God who raised Jesus orchestrates unlikely relationships that the status quo does not otherwise permit for the transformation of marginalized individuals."

Commentary, Acts 8:26-40, Mitzi J. Smith, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"A friend of mine gives away bumper stickers of a favorite phrase of his: 'Keep Church Weird.' By that my friend means church—or any gathering recognizing God’s lovely, strange people—is a place where we might break out of our ordinary expected un-weird culture and be, well, weird."

"Castrating Our Customs," Rev. Adam J. Copeland, Day 1, 2012.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text 

Now, this is a great passage. It only comes up once every three years, so it is time to preach it. You will get "abiding" passages from John a bit more.

This is a great passage that gets heisted by the church. So, let us look at the pure structure of the story again for the first time.

First, it is a missional story. Why? Because Philip is sent out. He goes where God tells him to go. Sometimes people say, "What does missional mean anyway?" People also like to try to make a church congregation's work inside the building missional. Well, that isn't what it means, and you can't be missional if you stay inside the church. Missional means to go outside the church, to go outside the boundaries of religious norms, to go. This is a missional story, so don't preach about the work Christians need to do inside the church. This is a story about going out.

So, Philip goes out. He heads into the wilderness outside of Jerusalem. This is important! He doesn't just go out and then travel to his friend's home. He is invited by God to go to the very place where robbers and evil and the devil dwell. Go out to that road that goes down. It goes down from the holy place to the lowly place. That place you don't think anything good can come out of...that place you don't walk alone...that place you have heard stories about. Philip gets up and goes. Literally, "he got up and went."

As he comes along the road he meets an Ethiopian eunuch. Don't get tripped over this business about him being a court official. Let's parse this bit out... He is Ethiopian. He was a foreigner and a Jew. He was reading the scriptures, and the text said he came to worship. Travel to Jerusalem for religious reasons was more common than trade. But he was on his way because of Candace, the queen, and he was the treasurer. He is on his way home and stopped by the side of the road.

So here we are with a few types of importance regarding our conversation. Philip is sent to meet someone who is not a follower of Jesus and from another country. And the spirit sends Philip to join "it". This is important too. While he was a treasurer a jew, and a member of the court...he was not considered a part of the community. Why? Because they could have no heirs and, therefore, no loyalties. They made good servants, slaves, and advisors because of this. So, the Ethiopian eunuch is more of an "it" than a "he". Eunuchs are mentioned several times in the bible, and you may not have known that at all. In fact, they are mentioned in both Esther and Isaiah...and maybe others, though those are debated.

Now, before we go much further, you need to know that the religion of the day understood this about eunuchs...they were not welcome in the kingdom - even if they worshipped God! Deuteronomy 23.1. "No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord."

So, people reading the passage may think that Eunuch is reading from Isaiah. Because we are in the Easter season, he is reading about the suffering servant, which we have been steeped in over the last few weeks. We see, in fact, that he is reading from the part about how the sheep will take on the suffering without a word.

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”

But, there is another passage from chapter 56:3-5 of Isaiah, which goes like this:

Let no foreigner who is bound to the LORD say,
“The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.”
And let no eunuch complain,
“I am only a dry tree.”
For this is what the LORD says:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose what pleases me
and hold fast to my covenant—
to them I will give within my temple and its walls
a memorial and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that will endure forever.

Here is what seems very important...remember Deuteronomy... Isaiah's vision is radical. It says, look these people are not part of the kingdom, but when God comes a new kingdom will be created. Creation will be reformed and this reign of God will be catholic - universal. That all people will worship God, that it will embrace the whole of the cosmos and world. As part of that prophecy, Isaiah says that even Eunuchs will inherit the kingdom. 

It is a story about moving from being outside the community to being received into the community of God's reign. 

Philip goes up and asks if he understands. They get into a conversation—not one where Philip tells him how it is but one of equal footing. It is one where Philip guides him. We help him understand that through the suffering upon the cross, Jesus has, in fact, brought about enough grace that all people, including eunuchs, will inherit the kingdom of God. Through the work of Jesus, Isaiah's prophesy has come true.

Now, they are going along the road. This is very important. Philip did not go out and get the eunuch, bring him back to Jerusalem, put him in a classroom, or instruct him. He is guiding him and listening and talking. And he is walking with him in the wilderness. They are going together in the same direction. So often, we think that missional is about going out and getting them to come in here and walk with us. This passage reminds us that missional is about going out and walking with others in their life, upon their road, heading in the same direction.

This is when the eunuch asks Philip to baptize him. And he does so. And, then he continues his journey, and Philip is taken away to Azatus. He goes to the next place. He goes - being sent by the Holy Spirit. 

This is the final piece of what seems essential. This baptism (like all the others) clearly does not end with the eunuch entering a community of faith. Let me say that again. The baptism is not about and does not result in, the eunuch entering a community of faith. Instead, it results in the eunuch being sent. He goes - being sent by the Holy Spirit. 

This is the first individual baptism described post Easter and, interestingly, it makes no mention of it being an entrance into any community. Instead, it is a pure acceptance of God's gift through the crucifixion and a part of being sent out to share the good news. One is baptized into the catholic community of Christ - as a sign of what has already occurred in Golgotha. It includes the promise that one also receives with sure and certain hope what happened on Easter morning.

This is a great passage to preach...but don't heist it for the institutional church. 

Previous Sermons For This Sunday

The Dude Abides

May 8, 2015, Sermon on Easter 5B 2015 at St Davids Austin and Trinity Marble Falls

Easter 4B April 21, 2024

Prayer

Creator God, you make the resplendent glory of the Risen One shine with new radiance on the world, whenever our human weakness is healed and restored.  Gather all your scattered children into one flock following Christ, our Good Shepherd, so that all may taste the joy you bestow on those who are the children of God. We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on John 10:11-18

"This is part of what it means to be the Body of Christ -- to remind each other of God's promises and speak Jesus' message of love, acceptance, and grace to each other."


 "Abundant Life," David Lose, Dear Working Preacher, 2012.

"Jesus’ sheep are drawn into the unity of love and mutuality of knowledge between the Father and Son."
Commentary, John 10:11-18, Meda Stamper, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"Who are those whose trusted voices showed you what it is to listen for and reflect the Shepherd's Voice? What messages did they offer which stay with you still?"

"Listening for the Shepherd's Voice," Janet H. Hunt, Dancing with the Word, 2015.

"Then Jesus said, "Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep;' and you get the feeling that this time Peter didn't miss the point. From fisher of fish to fisher of people to keeper of the keys to shepherd. It was the Rock's final promotion, and from that day forward he never let the head office down again."

"Feed My Sheep," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.

Oremus Online NRSV Text


This week we have the Good Shepherd from John's gospel.

It comes as part of an overall scriptural unit.  Chapter 10: 1-21.  Most New Testament scholars break our reading up into two sections. The first section is made up of verses 11-16 where in the reader discovers the nature of the shepherd.  The second section is made up of verses 17-18 wherein we read about the specific work of this Good Shepherd.

Jesus is the model of the good shepherd because he is willing to die for his sheep - this is a unique johannine theology amongst the gospellers.  This model is a shepherd who cares for all the sheep and for their very lives. This shepherd is willing to lay down his life for all; and all means all.

The hired hand and the wolf prey on the sheep. They care only for themselves.  They steal and consume the sheep.  What is interesting here is the parallel drawn by scholars to those religious leaders who betray their flock.  Certainly, in the early tradition there is a notion of being sent among wolves.  In Acts Paul reminds church leaders they are to feed their sheep.

I think that the next section is important as a defining boundary for the care and tending of sheep.  The shepherd here does not only know his work, but also knows his sheep intimately.  He knows all his sheep my name.  They recognize the shepherd's voice.  And, there are sheep who are being added to the fold (the gentile mission).  Therefore the shepherd knows his sheep and knows sheep who are to be gathered in.

This tradition falls in the long line of prophetic witness wherein the leaders of Israel have been seen as shepherds of their flock.

As I read through a number of texts on this passage (including my own preaching) I am ever mindful that the Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep; and that God takes up his life for him when his work is done.  Resurrection, new life, transformed life, comes to the shepherd who is willing to lay down his life for his sheep - those in his fold and those without.

Today we live in an age where we protect ourselves at all cost. We do this by projecting out into the world our own desires. We disguise this protection by gathering around us like minded people.  So we get our cause (political, religious, social) and we gather with people who have the same interest in maintaining ego protection on any given topic.

Paul Zahl reminded me in a recent podcats (PZ's Podcast available on Itunes) that one reason why when people accomplish what they set out to do on any given agenda and they usually feel unfulfilled is because they set out based upon ego protection and not based upon their own true nature's need for salvation, grace and mercy.  They set out to change the world because they were sure everyone else was wrong not because their own heart needed transformation.

The shepherd is in need of resurrection when a life is laid down; this mimics the Good Shepherd's own death and resurrection.  The individual who truly lays down their life and loses it will in the end find it.  But it is real life that is lost, a costly ego death, that must be allowed to take place.

This means more frequently a non-heroes death and/or the failure of perfection. 

What does it really mean to be one of the good shepherds, serving the One Good Shepherd?  It will mean being shepherd to all.  A leader must lead and be a shepherd for all the sheep.  All the sheep include: those who agree and those who disagree; those who love you and those who hate you; those who are pleased with your action and those who are pounding down the doors of your fortified ego castle; and the unseen sheep not in our fold.

There more though theologically bubbling beneath the surface. Theologian and NT Scholar Robert Farrar Capon writes "his death is the operative device by which the reconciling judgment of God works - that the crucifixion is God's last word on the subject of sin, the final sentence that will make the world one flock under one gracious shepherd." (Kingdom, Grace, Judgment, p 376) The authorities, religious and political, have been trying to put this back in their box of control ever since the cross and resurrection.

So as I prepare to preach this week I have a lot of questions running through my mind.  None of these questions have much to do with the loving shepherd finding me in the darkness and carrying  me off to the sheepfold.  Rather, the questions I am asking are based upon that redemption already underway:  What part of myself must die in order for me to be shepherd (in the mold of the Good Shepherd) for all the sheep?  How shall I lay down my life for them?  Am I willing to die a hundred thousand deaths (not as vanquishing hero) but as a lonely herdsman in the midst of a valley of wolves and thieves? 

Ah yes, perhaps that is the real work after all.  You and I if we brave this sacred journey we should be prepared for the silence, the lack of followers, a shameful death, and...and...in the end God's hand snatching us from the grave.  It is the silent waiting of the dead in which God's love, grace and mercy resides.  That is the meaning of life as a good shepherd; would that we had a church full of such men and women!

Some Thoughts on 1 John 3:16-24

"Unfortunately, there have been trends and crosscurrents of debate and division that have led to a problematic bifurcation that can easily become distorted into a 'faith vs. works' mentality."

Commentary, 1 John 3:16-24, Nijay Gupta, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"The whole idea behind this week's reading from 1 John, and indeed the entire book, is that in the sacrificial love of Christ we see and experience God; in doing so we are compelled to live out that love in word and deed."

"What's the Catch?" Sharron R Blezard, Stewardship of Life, 2012.

"The writer clearly envisages a relationship with God where people are not diminished but encouraged to stand on their own two feet with confidence."

"First Thoughts on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," Easter 4, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

So it has been a while since we have been in the letters of John. I remember that these come out of the johannine community and that some scholars believe the author of this particular letter may in fact have been the redactor of John's original notes and manuscripts. That really is neither here nor there. Needless to say, it is a more general type of writing than other letters - especially Paul's. These appear to have been intended to be read aloud to communities in general. Early evidence shows that a number of other congregations had the letter. 

The goal of the message? Well, to deal with different ideas that did not coincide with those held by the leadership of the Johannine community - it is meant to combat heresy. There is a bit of heresy in the letter too...it errs on the side of a kind of Manichaeism whereby the spiritual world is good and the world of matter is bad. or fallen. This of course would be ruled quite out of order in the third century. But that was too late to keep it out of bible and after all it adds a little flavor.

We start off well. A reminder that the community saw itself as part of the arc of the community of shalom working to undermine the sibling rivalry that infected the world by Cain's act of jealousy. We are to love one another. That is very clear. 

But interestingly we discover that here in the text we begin already to see that this is the rule for the brother and sister in the community and maybe not those outside of it. It is a kind of reversal of the good Samaritan story. It allows for neighbor to be rerooted into  community from Jesus' original message that neighboring is part of those who follow him do to those who are outside their own community. The text has it right: for a Christian to hate is equivalent to murder. Jesus is clear on this. But, Jesus is clear about not distinguishing this action between those inside and outside the community.

The text goes on to say that Jesus was an example of this having laid down his life for us. This is the kind of love we are all to have for others. The idea is an active love towards the other. If we are truly God's followers in Jesus Christ, then we will act for the other and on behalf of the other. 

It is only this abiding love outwardly shared that reveals within whose community we are belonging. When we abide in Christ and he in us we are loving and not refusing help to others.

What is very difficult about this passage for Westerners is that they see people as individuals then relationships. This text is written in a moral universe where the community is first and the individual is of second consideration. 

What happens when we don't parse this out...(see Jonathan Haidt's work) we miss the fact that we are constantly reorienting the text into a Western version localized on the individual first and their own set of rights and privileges vs. the good of the community which seems to be at both the johannine core (even if it is Manichean and internally focused) or Jesus' own teaching about neighboring.

Some Thoughts on Acts 4:5-12

"The establishing, negotiating, and naming of power and acts of power is inherently political and very often religious."

Commentary, Acts 4:5-12, Mitzi J. Smith, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"How can good come out of corrupt, callous institutions? Answer: because God remains faithful. Good comes because God refuses to let human rejection have the last word."

Commentary, Acts 4:5-12, F. Scott Spencer, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

"If only the Common Lectionary had gone on just one more verse! Stopping shy of verse 13 deprives us from seeing one of the great passages of the Bible. Because it is there that the ruling authorities ”who are seeking to hush up the apostles” find themselves powerfully impressed that the people doing all these things are, all things being equal, hicks and unlettered rubes."

The Center for Excellence in Preaching, Scott Hoezee, resources from Calvin Theological Seminary: Comments & Observations, Textual Points, illustration ideas, 2015.

Oremus Online Text 

The truth about preaching this Sunday is that most everyone will gravitate to the Good Shepherd text. Why not? It is a great text and you can preach on it a lot and never get to half the good stuff that is in there. Another reason for doing so is to avoid this text altogether. Why? Well because unless you are going to make it about something else it requires that we hear the story as religious leaders and not try and scape goat the past leaders.

So lets take a look and see what we might hear for ourselves that would be important in this missionary age.

Whenever there is really interesting, creative and mission work going on that doesn't look like what we think of as "church" then religious leaders tend to shut it down. We will kill it either by ensuring it gets no funding, support, or attention or we kill by actually telling people to "stop". This is true at the episcopate level but it is also true at the local congregational level.

This is what happens in the passage. The Gospel is being preached, people are being fed, and the Holy Spirit is moving BUT these people have not been properly trained, they are acting strange, and they are doing things that make us look bad - like we don't care about the poor.

They round them up and ask, "By what power or by what name did you do this?" Of course the response isn't particularly helpful to the religious leaders cause. Peter says, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth." Ooops. Mic drop. Bad news for the religious leaders.

Peter then goes on to remind them (and us) that religious leadership, powers, and authorities are threatened by the Holy Spirit, and God's continuous breaking open of the boundaries of relgion. It has been true throughout the arc of the Old and New Testaments. Jesus was no different. He was in fact one of a long line of people who God sent and was rejected. This has been true since the time of Jesus too. Religion and its authority doesn't like it when people color outside the lines. Peter reminds them, and us,  "This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.”

Then, Peter drops the real anti-religion bomb. He says, "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved." 

This is big news because it means that God doesn't need religion to save people. God doesn't need religion to save God. God is perhaps a bit suspicious of how religious institutions go about their work. 

I think the issue for people who inhabit congregations and dioceses and who are stuck within a model of religion based upon the Constantinian era, and haven't figured out it is over,  have a real problem with the Gospel for this very reason. Religion doesn't do well when it comes up agains the real God in Christ Jesus who left us with a message that undoes the powers of this world - including the religious powers of this world.

Previous Sermons For This Sunday

You Will Know Our Religion By Our Lives
This sermon was preached at St. Alban's, Waco on John 10.11 and following. This is the Good Shepherd teaching by Jesus.

No Childhood Good Shepherd Here
Sermon preached at Resurrection and St Michael's churches in Austin on Easter 4b 2015.

The Enduring Voice of the Good Shepherd Sunday, Easter 4 A
Preached at St. Albans and Good Shepherd, Austin, 2011.

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.