Body of Proof

“Body of Proof”
John 20:19-31
Sunday, May 1, 2011 – Second Sunday of Easter

Apparently, one of the hottest new shows on television this season is an ABC drama called: “Body of Proof.”

It deals with the efforts of a Philadelphia medical examiner to discover the truth about every case that comes across her gurney.

She is tenacious in her pursuit of every possible clue and is often the first one to solve every challenging murder case that stumps the police detectives.

Her slogan is: “The body is the proof.”

In the familiar gospel story we read today, we hear the disciple Thomas demand proof of Jesus’ resurrection before he will believe it.

For Thomas, the body is the proof of the claims the others make.

For this reason, Thomas has been branded as “doubting” for 2,000 years.

Tradition makes this a negative characteristic and tries to cast Thomas in unfavorable light.

I suggest this morning that Thomas has gotten a bad rap.

Let us pray…

            Lord, we come this morning to be illuminated by your Word.
Help us to see and hear the lessons you have for us today.
Guide us in our meditation and lead us to a deeper understanding of our relationship with you…in Jesus’ name we pray…Amen.

In our Bible study group last Monday evening we watched a video about the lives of the 12 Apostles…

Thomas was discussed in a very different way from what we are accustomed to…

In short, the video said we have been very unfair in our assessment of Thomas and his apparent lack of faith.

Consider this:

We have always heard “doubting” Thomas and assumed that’s what the Bible says…It is not.

The Greek word used in the text is “apistos,” which means “unbelieving.”

So, this is not a story about doubt as if Thomas thinks his friends are pulling his leg.

This is a story about Thomas’ relationship with Jesus…a relationship shattered by the crucifixion.

In John’s gospel, “believing” is the same thing as saying, “I abide in you and you abide in me.”

Believing isn’t about reciting a creed; it’s about a close personal relationship with Jesus.

Second, nowhere else in the gospel is Thomas portrayed as someone weak of faith.

Remember the story in Chapter 11 when Jesus declares his intention to return from Galilee to Judea where he will face certain death…

The disciples were afraid and urged Jesus to reconsider…

It was Thomas who said: “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

This doesn’t sound like a man who would then come to doubt his faith in Jesus Christ.

Maybe a better way of looking at it is to think of Thomas as a realist…

Kind of like someone with a terminal disease who has accepted his fate might react to reports of some new miracle cure…

Thomas has a healthy bit of skepticism.

Finally, is Thomas asking for anything the other disciples haven’t already received?

Think about it…Jesus appeared to the other disciples behind locked doors the week before…Thomas just happened to be absent.

We don’t know why he wasn’t there…He may have had a legitimate reason…

Sick friend, kid’s soccer practice, dinner with Mom…Who knows?

The point is, all the other disciples saw Jesus, saw his wounds, and then they believed.

All Thomas wants is the same thing they’ve already gotten – The Body of Proof.

So why has the Church been so hard on Thomas for 2,000 years?

Perhaps we have misunderstood the nature of faith itself…

Do we assume that the more faith we have the fewer questions we will ask?

I don’t think this is the correct viewpoint.

The Bible offers us a different picture of faith.

Scripture shows us that faith and doubt are actually intertwined more than we realize…

Faith, after all, is not knowledge or certainty…

Paul told the Hebrews that faith “is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

I believe that the more we learn about our relationship with God, the more we want to know…

In other words, the more we know the more questions we have.

This is not doubt or a lack of faith; it is love and a desire to grow closer to God.

Questions are not bad things.

I think the great lesson of this story comes out of Jesus’ words at the end of the scene…

(V 29) Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Jesus does not rebuke Thomas; he is no better or worse than any of the Apostles…

They all believed in the Resurrection only after they saw Jesus in the flesh.

We must not single Thomas out for unfair criticism – they were all in the same boat.

Jesus’ words in this scene are really a blessing for us and the generations of believers who have come to know Jesus never having seen him.

If we can re-visit the story today from this perspective, we can see that Thomas is not an unfaithful disciple, rather he is a model disciple – a model we can emulate…

Thomas shows us how to become a disciple…

He looks at it realistically and counts the cost…

When he decides to follow Jesus his eyes are open and he knows what he is getting himself into…

He doesn’t merely believe, he boldly confesses:
“my Lord,” – a title reserved for Caesar;
“and my God,” – the highest praise given to Jesus in the New Testament

What we need to hear in this story is that believing in Jesus and becoming his disciple is not about accepting someone else’s experience of the Risen Christ…

It is about each one of us having our own personal encounter with Christ – the Word made Flesh…God with us, dwelling among us…

This kind of encounter requires that we ask questions and find the right answers…

Doubt – honest questioning – is not the enemy of faith; it is an essential ingredient of faith…

Seeking to know the truth is not skepticism, it is an asset to vibrant faith…

We must be free to bring our questions and our insights into our Christian lives …

We must feel safe to voice our skepticism and our trust as we sit around the table…

This is the Christian conversation; it is the healthy dialogue that strengthens and deepens our faith – this is how we prepare ourselves to be faithful disciples in a world that often doesn’t believe anything it cannot see, touch, taste, or smell.

As time passes and we get further and further from the actual events described in the gospels it becomes easier for the skeptics to make their case.

We live in a culture where people still doubt the United States space program and the facts of space flight, moon landings, and space exploration.

We live in a world where some people can deny the Holocaust and find a sizable group of people who believe them.

Every day we hear new conspiracy theories, denials of global climate change, and people who ignore the facts placed before them in certified government documents.

Is it any wonder that so many people have a hard time believing that two thousand years ago a young carpenter from a little town in Palestine worked miracles, died on a cross, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven to be ruler over everything?

It really doesn’t surprise me in the least bit.

Just as those first disciples demand and received their Body of Proof – the resurrected Body of Christ, our world is seeking the same kind of proof…

That’s where we come in – WE are the Body of Proof…

WE are the Body of Christ, redeemed by His blood…

We put ourselves out there every day and let others put their fingers in our wounds and their hands in our sides…

In the midst of their pain and suffering and grief, we walk with our brothers and sisters in the world and show them that Christ is standing with them no matter what.

Imagine what a difference we can make when we can help the skeptics begin to recognize Jesus without having seen him…When all they can see is US – The Body of Christ…

If we are to follow the splendid example of Thomas we must be prepared to boldly confess our faith as he did and stand up as the Body of Proof in a world that desperately wants and needs something in which to have faith.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…Amen

Easter is an Earthquake

“Easter is an Earthquake”
Matthew 28:1-10
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Easter Sunday

I’ve never experienced an earthquake first-hand.

I’ve read about them and seen their aftermath on the TV news.

The recent stories about the devastation in Japan 

certainly show us how horrible these events can be.

But, unless you have actually lived through a major earthquake, I wonder if you can really understand what it’s like.

If you lived in Oklahoma in 1952 you may recall the “Great El Reno Quake” of April 9^th that year…

Measuring 5.5, this quake was felt in seven states…

Chimneys were knocked off homes, plate glass windows were shattered, and damage amounted to several thousand dollars – according to the US Geological Survey.

Pretty minor stuff compared to the big ones that measure 8 or 9 and level entire cities

I imagine that rebuilding after a major earthquake would be a pretty daunting task…

It seems to me that a major quake might change the landscape so completely that you could never really put things back the way they were…

My guess is that the people and communities affected by major quakes like Japan, Indonesia, and parts of California would find that everything has changed so much that there is no way to back to the way things were.

V2: “And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.”

Suddenly the world is changed forever because of one survivable earthquake that moved a single big stone and rendered a few Roman soldiers speechless.

Suddenly, nothing will ever be the same as it was and we can never go back.

Let us pray…

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, Almighty God, my strength and my Redeemer.

Amen.

Matthew’s gospel is the only one to mention this sudden earthquake…

Mark, Luke, and John are content to tell us that the stone was rolled away and leave us to speculate as to how it happened.

There may be a danger in leaving this to our imaginations because there’s no telling what we might dream up…

Maybe Jesus was abducted by aliens!

Matthew doesn’t want us to wonder…

He wants us to be absolutely sure that this was a deliberate act of God designed to show everyone that the tomb was empty BEFORE the stone moved.

God raised Jesus from the dead and God didn’t need to move the stone out of the way.

The only reason the stone needs to be moved is so that we can see inside and testify that the tomb is empty.

It isn’t necessary for us to know HOW it happened, only THAT it happened.

So Matthew gives us an earthquake…

He leaves no doubt about the message here…

First, the women FEEL the message…

Then they SEE the message and the messenger – Angelos in Greek – the angel of the Lord, a divine messenger…

Finally, they HEAR the message:
“Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.”

This message becomes a never-ending after shock – “Go and tell.”

We don’t get to hear the conversation between the women and the other disciples…

Matthew tells us that, while they’re on their way, Jesus appears to them and repeats the angel’s command to, “Go and tell the disciples.”

I’m not quite sure why this appearance is needed here…the women were pretty convinced as it was…

Maybe this confirmation is used to add drama to the scene or credence to the angel’s words…

Whatever the reason, the women apparently do go tell the others what happened because later in the story they all travel to Galilee and meet up with the resurrected Jesus there.

It looks like Matthew’s version of the story is really about that first announcement that becomes a continuous chain of announcements with one messenger repeating the message to the next, down through the ages:
“Do not be afraid; he has been raised from the dead, just as he said.”

New Testament professor Donald Juel, reflecting on the Resurrection stories, wrote:
“None of the Gospels can really end the story of Jesus. The whole point is that it continues…and that its significance continues.”

Easter is an earthquake because it shifts things so much and changes everything so significantly that its message results in endless aftershocks…

This is a story that is “to be continued” in you, and in me, and in every life that is ever touched by the power of the good news that, “He is risen, just as he said.”

The history of the world literally pivots during this sudden earthquake and there is no way to ever go back to the way things were before.

Under “frequently asked questions” on the US Geological Survey website someone asks:
“Will California eventually fall off into the ocean?”

You’ve heard the old joke: “I’ve got ocean-front property for sale in Arizona.”

The short answer is: “NO.”

It seems that the way the tectonic plates line up along the San Andreas Fault cause the Pacific Plate to shift slightly northwest with respect to the rest of North America.

This is happening roughly at the rate your fingernails grow – pretty slowly.

Earthquakes are caused as the plates stick and slip past each other from time to time.

So, since the plates are moving horizontally past one another, California is not going to fall into the ocean.

However, Los Angeles and San Francisco will one day be next door neighbors!

Like the earth’s crust, Jesus is full of surprises.

The world’s uneasiness in the presence of the Risen Lord is fully justified.

He will not be bound by the traditions that define human life;
even death could not hold him for long.

The end of the Gospel story really only marks the beginning of the story – the beginning of the Good News that Jesus, the one who challenges us to give up our lives so that we might live, becomes the source of our life in the midst of an earthquake.

It is only fitting that this story cannot contain Jesus any more than the tomb could contain Jesus.

Jesus is not bound by the end of any story told by human beings…

Jesus continues into the future that God has planned for Creation…

In the meantime, there is only The Word, the Bread and Cup, and the promise that we do not need to be afraid…

Easter is an earthquake…

As disciples and witnesses for Jesus, we are the aftershocks…

We must go and tell…

We must expect to see him just as he said…

We must trust that one day God will finish the story, just as he promised…

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…Amen

Upside Down Picture

“Upside Down Picture”
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday offers us two important stories that warrant our attention…

First, we associate this night with The Last Supper…

Celebrated for centuries as the institution of the Sacrament of Holy Communion, The Last Supper is probably the event most often commemorated on Holy Thursday.

Second, this night tells the story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet…

This act of humble service comes with a new commandment as Jesus tells his followers to love one another in the same way he has loved them.

Both of these stories run contrary to what the disciples expect and present a picture of the Messiah that seems to be upside down.

I read an article the other day by an artist discussing his approach to his paintings. He says:

“When I've spent a zillion hours looking at one of my paintings, I turn it upside down, and suddenly I see things that weren't there before. If the perspective doesn't work, I suddenly see why; if someone's head is too big or a hand too awkward, I suddenly notice it. If it's a good composition, it looks good upside down or right side up. It's a great trick to shake up my vision, show me things I didn’t see before and even to reassure myself that it's good.”

It’s amazing how, when you look at something from a different perspective you often notice things that you hadn’t seen before.

Turning a picture upside down, looking at it from a different angle, or even putting in a different location in the room can suddenly reveal new ways of appreciating your artwork; it may even change your opinion of whether the painting suits your taste.

I wonder if that is what Jesus had in mind when he turned things upside down for his disciples…

Was he deliberately trying to force them to see things from a different perspective?

Was he revealing a new way of looking at God’s Messiah?

John begins the second half of his gospel here in Chapter 13…

For the next five chapters John prepares us for the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.

Key to understanding John’s account is found in the first words of this section: 

“Now before the festival of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

You see, the meal that John describes is not the Passover meal…

John’s gospel is designed to have Jesus die on the Day of Preparation for the Passover…
in fact, in John’s account Jesus dies at the exact moment when the Passover lambs are sacrificed…For John this is vital symbolism.

In John’s account this night is not about a new Passover meal, it is about a new commandment and a new way of looking at Jesus’ relationship with his disciples that is shaped by the example he sets.

John’s gospel tells us two very important things…

First, Jesus is in control of the situation…

John doesn’t see the Passion as a tragedy; he sees it as the fulfillment and climax of the earthly mission of God’s Divine Messiah.

Second, Jesus’ actions and his mission are based in absolute, unconditional love.

We hear this love expressed in the words:
“having loved his own…he loved them to the end.”

John offers us an incredible story…

It is at once beautiful and terrifying; it is inviting and confusing;
it is not what we – not what anyone – expects to see…

This picture of Jesus is upside down and we don’t know what to do with it.

Salvation comes through God’s presence in a hostile world where Jesus’ death on the cross is not a tragedy – it is a moment of triumph and glory!

God’s grace is revealed in suffering…

God’s power is displayed in apparent weakness…

Glory is disguised as humiliation…

Jesus reveals a God who shows up where we least expect to find God in ways that we simply aren’t prepared to recognize.

God comes to redeem us in the midst of our misunderstanding.

No wonder Peter resists Jesus’ efforts to wash his feet – he doesn’t understand how The Messiah could come in the midst of humiliation and servitude.

Jesus tells him – and us – that we must revise our expectations, re-orient our perspective, and receive God hidden in humility.

If we are to be disciples of this Jesus we must embrace this upside down view of God,
of grace, of salvation, and of service…

We must let Jesus cleanse us so that we might cleanse others…

We must realize that our status as disciples doesn’t come from power; it comes from servitude as modeled by Jesus himself.

The question for us tonight is: Can we do it?

Can we see the grace of God embodied in the form of a man hanging on a cross?

Can we step into this upside down picture Jesus offers us of discipleship
and abundant life?

Can we live a life that is gained not by grabbing but by releasing; not by hoarding,
but by giving; not by ruling but by serving others as we have been served?

On Sunday I said that this Holy Week journey was not for the faint of heart…

It isn’t easy for us to walk beside Jesus on the road to Calvary and give absolutely everything in His Name…

It isn’t easy for us to see how a life of discipleship fits into a culture where giving is not the first inclination for most people…

It isn’t east to understand how different God’s perspective is from our own when it comes to living a life that follows the example of the only perfect human in history…

But, then, Jesus never told us it would be easy to be his disciple.

Tonight we hear a promise in the gospel…

A promise that we are, in fact, those whom Jesus has called and, if we follow his story to the end, we will be redeemed to new life in this world and the next.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…Amen

Trust, No Matter What

“Trust, No Matter What”

Psalm 31:1-5, 13-17a
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Passion/Palm Sunday

Today is more than Palm Sunday…

The Lectionary calls it Passion/Palm Sunday…

We begin with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem…a real celebration…

But, as we get closer to the end of this service, we begin to realize that this is just the beginning of the most solemn week of the Christian Year…

Today we begin Holy Week – That annual journey that inevitably leads to the passion and death of our Lord…

This is a time that many would rather skip over, but we cannot jump to the glory of Easter morning without first passing through the horror of Calvary…

You cannot have The Resurrection unless you also have The Crucifixion.

Psalm 31 brings us face-to-face with the reality of human suffering…

But it also proclaims God’s faithfulness in the midst of everything…

This psalm calls us to trust God, no matter what.

Let us pray…

Lord, guide us into your scriptures this morning.

Help us to hear your love within the lament of this psalm.

May our meditations on your word be truly pleasing to you.

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Each gospel writer offers us a glimpse of Jesus’ execution…

Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus cries out to God: “Why have you forsaken me?”

This is a quote from Psalm 22.

Luke adds the story of the repentant thief on the cross next to Jesus.

Luke also has Jesus quote Psalm 31 as he takes his last breath:
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

John gives us an image of the completion of Jesus’ purpose on earth as his last words are:
“It is finished.”

These “Passion Narratives” are so familiar to us that we can recall them with little effort…

What we see here is that Jesus – at the lowest, most painful time in his life – recalls the Scriptures of his childhood and finds comfort in them.

We might imagine that Luke’s tale is incomplete…

It is possible that Jesus prayed all of Psalm 31 from the cross that day…

There’s no way to know for sure.

Listen again to the passage Luke quoted: “Father, into your hand I commit my spirit…”

Then continue the verse: “you have redeemed me, Oh Lord, faithful God.”

I think we can imagine that even Jesus trusted God with his whole being, no matter what…

Jesus never stopped trusting God even as he felt utterly abandoned
hanging alone on that cross.

We began this morning by remembering Jesus riding into Jerusalem…

The crowds threw down their coats and waved palm branches as they shouted: “Hosanna!” to the king…

But Jesus rode through the crowd with a much different understanding
of what was to come…

He wasn’t interested in the crowd’s praise – his only concern
was to be faithful to God’s will.

Later in the week we will hear Jesus pray that God might remove the cup of suffering from him…

Sounds a lot like Vs 4of our psalm: “take me out of the net that is hidden for me.”

Jesus says: “not my will, but yours be done…”

The psalmist says: “into your hands I commit my spirit…”

These two prayers are the same: whatever God wants is what I want,
as hard as that may be.

This image of being in God’s hands literally means being held up by God; being in God’s power and control.

The psalmist places himself in God’s hands and thanks God for keeping him out of the hands of the enemy.

The beautiful line in verse 15: “my times are in your hand,” affirms that our very life is upheld by God when we faithfully commit our spirit into God’s hand.

To feel that one’s life and times are in God’s hands is to capture the essence of perfect serenity.

For Jesus, this prayer proclaims that, even though his enemies may seize him, they do not have power over him…

They may take him away to death, but they cannot hold him because their power is no match for God’s.

Psalm 31 is about struggle…

It helps us to imagine what Jesus was going through…

First he struggles to continue living…

Then, as he is dying, he struggles to keep trusting God.

Is this not a struggle we all face at one time or another?

We all struggle to keep going in the face of hardship, disease, broken relationships,
and grief…

We struggle to understand why life happens to us in such a painful way sometimes.

It seems that no one is on our side…

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Then we struggle to relax into trust that God’s plan is not our plan and God’s ways are not our ways.

We struggle to grasp the words of hope and encouragement we hear in this psalm:

“I trust in you, O Lord…”

“I say, you are my God…”

“My times (my life) are in your hand.”

“Take courage and wait for the Lord.”

It’s really no surprise that so many people want to skip over this week and run joyously to the Empty Tomb…

The Passion of our Lord is not for the faint of heart…

It takes courage to walk with Jesus through Holy Week…

To contemplate Jesus’ suffering is to admit our own…

To watch Jesus die is to face our own death as well.

But this is the journey we must take to find the very roots of our faith…

For it is only by faith that we can say: “I trust in you, O Lord, no matter what…You are my God; my times are in your hand.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…Amen

Out of the Depths

“Out of the Depths”
Psalm 130
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Fifth Sunday in Lent

I read a story this week about a group touring Jerusalem who went to visit the chapel at Hadassah Hospital…

The attraction of the chapel was a set of stained glass windows created by the artist Marc Chegal.

The windows are set in a domed ceiling that leads the worshiper’s eyes toward heaven.

The group also noticed that below the windows the floor was sunken and in the middle of the depressed area was a pulpit.

Curious about this architectural feature the group questioned their guide.

He explained: “The floor beneath the windows was made this way because we believe all prayer should be offered ‘out of the depths’.”

“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.”

This is what we hear the psalmist say this morning.

We are reminded that authentic prayer in Scripture often comes ‘out of the depths’…
we often hear petition and complaint in biblical prayer.

This is the nature of biblical lament…a form of prayer that assumes a covenant relationship between God and God’s people.

It seems that the church in North America has lost its appreciation for this form of prayer and, as a consequence, has lost much of the genuine covenant conversation with God.

Lament is a form of speech that allows the worshiper to complain about injustice and to call on God to hear the cries of those who suffer, as our biblical ancestors did.

Because lament grows out of our covenant relationship with God it is also a powerful form of praise – 

It gives evidence of a faith worked out in the midst of hardship, hurt, and loss…It gives God the glory for relief.

As we listen to the words of Psalm 130, we realize that this cry to God carries with it a statement of confidence and faith…The psalmist believes that God is present in the depths.

This is part of the beauty of the Psalms for us…

If we listen to them and take them to heart, they will always help us to recognize God’s presence with us in any situation…

The Psalms offer us songs of praise, joy, lament, and thanksgiving…They are all about our covenant relationship with God.

While there is no specific confession of sin or admission of guilt in Psalm 130, we are reminded that all humanity lives under the shadow of sin…

Verse 3 and 4 of the psalm also declares that God does not count our sins,
but rather God offers forgiveness…

This is crucial to our understanding of right prayer and right relationship with God…

We go to God acknowledging our sinfulness and the fact that nothing we can do is good enough to earn God’s love, and then God responds with unconditional love and forgiveness.

The psalmist says: “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.”

This waiting is to live expectantly, aware of what God has done in the past and anticipating what God is about to do…

This guide of expectancy doesn’t come from despair or hopelessness;
it grows out of a relationship based on hope and trust.

There is certainty in our waiting, not despair.

“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.”

This is a right attitude for prayer…

From the depths of my soul I come to God…

In the midst of whatever is happening in my life, I trust that God is with me…

Though I don’t deserve God’s care, I receive it…

I wait because I know that God’s love is steadfast and that only God has the power to make our relationship whole.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…Amen