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April 19, 2009
“The Man Who Missed Easter”
John 20: 19-30
Sunday, April 19th, 2009
On the Sunday after Easter last year I was preaching in Crawfordsville IN before the congregation there and your Pastor Nominating Committee. On that occasion I preached on the largest part of this passage and the title of the sermon was same as the sermon title today. But this will not be that sermon. This is a slightly different sermon because the situation in which I am preaching is different than the situation in which I found myself a little over a year ago. (And I lost that sermon from last year).
I have chosen a slightly larger passage this morning, one that includes more of the details of the visit to the apostles on the evening of the first Easter. On that evening we find 10 of the Apostles gathered in a locked room in Jerusalem. Jesus had appeared to a few people that day, evidently including Peter and the two disciples who had met Jesus on the way to Emmaus. Those two had returned to Jerusalem and were now with the 10 Apostles in the locked room. While they were gathered in that locked room, Jesus visited them. We don’t know how he arrived. He seems to have simply appeared in the locked room.
When he arrived, he said “Peace be with you”. That of course was and still is the common greeting in Israel and Palestine. But, being uttered on the day of his resurrection to people who were still afraid of the enemies of Jesus who had succeeded in having Jesus killed it had a special significance. Jesus rose from the dead to bring us peace. Peace in the assurance of our having been forgiven. Peace in the knowledge of eternal life. And especially peace in the knowledge that Jesus was no longer dead.
Then Jesus reminded them of their commission and their title. They were Apostles, which means the-sent-out-ones. He said “As the Father has sent me, so I send you”. The Apostles had been sent out while Jesus was alive into the villages and towns where he would be preaching. Now, after his resurrection they would be sent out into the world.
He breathed on them and told them to “receive the Holy Spirit”. Now the Holy Spirit would come officially and ceremoniously at Pentecost in 50 days, but Jesus was now preparing them for its coming and helping them to understand that the Spirit who was coming would be His Spirit or his breath.
The next thing he said has been rather troubling to some Christians. He said to those gathered, which included 10 of the Apostles and others “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Some churches have taken this to mean that only the Church, and more particularly the Clergy of the Church can properly declare that particular sins have been forgiven by God. But in order to understand what Jesus meant, you have to remember that there were others in the room who were not Apostles. I think he was addressing them as a group of believers. If that is true, then Jesus may have been saying that Christians, those who believe in Jesus, have the message of forgiveness and the God-given standards of forgiveness. In other words, we are to, and we know how to, properly instruct people to receive the forgiveness of Christ.
And I think the immediately following story of Thomas is intended to be an illustration of the power of believers to bring people to the forgiveness of Christ.
Thomas was not present on that Easter Sunday Evening when Jesus appeared and said these things. When the others told him that Jesus had appeared to them, he could not believe it. He had to see it for himself before he could believe. He said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
Now that might seem a little harsh or stubborn, but you have to remember what Thomas had been through. All of his plans for the future had been tied up in Jesus. He had believed that the future of Israel, which included he rest of his earthly life, was dependant on the Messiahship of Jesus. He also believed that his future beyond death was connected to Jesus. Then Jesus died and all of Thomas’s hopes for the future of his people and himself died with him. Sometimes a death can affect people that way.
When Theodore Roosevelt’s first wife died he was plunged into despair. His friends were afraid that he was suicidal. There he was, with more resources and abilities than anyone in his time, and he totally despaired of his future. It has happened to others.
Thomas may have wanted to believe that all was not lost, but despite the testimonies of 10 of his fellow apostles, Thomas could not believe that Jesus was alive.
Because of this statement, Thomas has been known ever since as Doubting Thomas, which I don’t think is entirely fair. Three other statements of Thomas are recorded in the Gospel of John and they show him in a better light.
When Jesus was resolved to Go to Judea and raise Lazarus from the dead, the Apostles did not want him to go. There were people in Judea who had recently tried to kill him, that was why they had returned to Galilee. As far as the Apostles were concerned, to return to Judea meant risking Jesus’ life. But when Jesus could not be dissuaded, Thomas spoke up saying, “well then lets go and die with him.” That was a rather brave remark, but Thomas was not called “Brave Thomas”.
On the evening before the death of Jesus, in the upper room, Jesus had told the Apostles that they knew the way to where he was going. Thomas stated clearly that they did not know where he was going so how could they know the Way? But Thomas was not called “Good Question Thomas” or “Bright Student Thomas”.
Instead he was called “Doubting Thomas”, which in this context wasn’t really true. Thomas did not express doubt. He expressed resolute unbelief. He was determined not to believe unless he saw and touched the risen body of Jesus. What do you do with one who is determined not to believe?
The answer based on this passage may surprise you. A week after the resurrection of Jesus, Jesus appeared to the Apostles again in that same room. This time, Thomas was there. Don’t you think that is strange? Thomas is no longer of the same faith as the other apostles. Their faith has moved to a new level and to all appearances, Thomas had lost his faith. A seemingly insurmountable chasm had opened between them. But he was still with them and they were still with him. He was willing to be with them and they would not let him go.
You might remember that on Easter morning the angels told the women to tell the apostles that they were to go to Galilee to meet the risen Jesus. Here they are a week later, and they are still in Jerusalem. How Come? Maybe they would not go without Thomas. They had lost Judas, they would not lose Thomas, so they stayed in Jerusalem and kept Thomas close to them even though his unbelief was painful to them.
So a week later when Jesus reappeared to them, Thomas was there. And Thomas discovered that his unbelief was not as resolute as he thought. He did not need to touch the wounds of Jesus as he thought he would, even though Jesus invited him to.
I said a while ago that we have 4 recorded sayings of Thomas and I only gave you three. The 4th was uttered by Thomas when he saw Jesus. He said “My Lord and My God!” Thomas was the first of the Apostles to identify Jesus as God. The others had called him the Messiah, the Son of God and other messianic and sort-of-divine titles but Thomas is the first to clearly and without reservation state that Jesus was God.
So there you have what I think is an illustration as to how the church is to administer the forgiveness of Christ to unbelievers. We are to become attached to them and not let them go. Every church has people who used to be there but are now not in any church. We sometimes let them go too easily. We need to hang on to them and continue to pray for them and meet with them until Jesus comes to them.
And Jesus said that those we would bring to Jesus would be more blessed than Thomas. We and those we bring to Jesus are among those who believe in Jesus without having seen him.
Thomas missed Easter. He almost missed the resurrection and eternal life, but the other 10 Apostles would not let him go. There are many people in our lives who have so far missed Easter. Oh, they probably gather Easter eggs and they might dress up for Easter, but they have not yet confronted the risen Jesus. They have not yet proclaimed him to be their Lord and God. We need to attach ourselves to them and love them and pray for them until Jesus comes to them through us.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at 06:01 PM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2009
“See How They Run”
Easter, 2009
John 20: 1-18
Sunday, April 12, 2009
As I cannot read or compose music, it is highly unlikely that I will ever compose a cantata about the resurrection of Jesus, but if I ever do, I think I know how the chorus of the piece describing the actions of those who first saw the empty tomb will go. I think it will go: “They do run, run, run, they do run, run.” Or perhaps, it will go “See how they Run” (Apologies to MoTown and the Beatles).
John’s account of the first Easter morning tells us that there was a lot of running going on. Mary went to the tomb early on the first Easter. She went with some other women to finish preparing the body of Jesus for burial. When they arrived they found the stone that had been closing the tomb had been rolled away and the tomb was empty. Mary then ran to tell two of the apostles that Jesus’ body had been taken out of the tomb.
Those two apostles were Peter and John. In his gospel, John often refers to himself in the third person as “the one whom Jesus loved”. Peter and John then ran to the tomb to check it out. When they arrived, John looked in from the open doorway, then Peter arrived and went into the tomb, followed by John. John twice describes what they saw.
They saw the linen grave cloths lying neatly on the stone shelf where the body of Jesus had been placed. One of the cloths is described as being rolled or folded up. This made Mary’s theory unlikely. Her theory was that “they”, whoever they were, had taken the body of Jesus. But why would they have removed the grave clothes in the tomb? Grave robbers would have quickly taken the body, cloths and all. Whoever was involved in the removal of the body of Jesus was not in a hurry and did not need to remove the burial cloths.
John tells us that when he saw the empty tomb and the arrangement of the burial cloths, he believed. But he doesn’t tell us what he believed. He does tell us that he and Peter did not yet understand that there were scripture verses that predicted that the Messiah would rise from the dead.
The Interesting thing about those Old Testament Scriptures was that they did not clearly mention resurrection. They predict that the body of the Messiah would not see decay.
Jesus himself had been much more clear as he spoke about his resurrection, but we are told that the apostles did not understand what he was saying when he spoke about rising from the dead. So on that first Easter, no one was expecting Jesus to rise from the dead. That was why there were at least 3 people running around in the early hours of the day trying to figure out what had happened to Jesus’ body.
But the empty tomb is only the first and lesser part of the story of the first Easter. Before the day was too far spent, the resurrected Jesus began to appear to his followers. Mary was the first to see Jesus on that day. She met him in the garden and clearly was not expecting him, even though angels had by that time appeared to her. She thought he was the gardener or someone who might know where the body of Jesus was. So she asked him if he was the one who had removed the body of Jesus, would he please tell her where he had placed him so she could take him elsewhere. Ironically, the one to whom she was speaking was the one who had removed the body from the tomb. He was in that body. It was Jesus in the body of Jesus who was standing in front of her.
The empty Tomb and the appearances of Jesus form the basis of an important fact of Christianity. Jesus physically rose from the dead. The body that rose had some different features than the one which was killed. It could appear and disappear at will. But it was a real, human body. The risen Jesus was not a ghost or a spirit, His resurrected body could be touched, you could see it and feel it.
The physical resurrection of Jesus is important to us for at least 2 reasons. It is the evidence that God accepted His sacrifice for our sins. God raised our savior from the dead as a sign of his approval of his work for us.
In other scriptures we are told that after we die, those of us who believe in Christ will be raised in bodies similar to the one Jesus had when he was raised from the dead.
So on Easter we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus as a guarantee that God has accepted His payment for our sins. We are no longer regarded as sinners by God. Jesus has paid the price for us by his death on the cross.
We also celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus because it is a promise that we, too shall rise from our deaths with bodies that will be considerably improved. And so shall our loved ones who have believed in Jesus.
I mentioned earlier that when Jesus saw the empty tomb and the way the burial cloths were arranged in it, he believed. But as I said then, John did not tell us exactly what he believed at that point. Did he believe that the tomb ws empty, or that Jesus had risen from the dead. We don’t know.
What do you believe? Do you believe that Jesus was physically raised by God the Father from the Dead? Do you believe that Jesus has forgiven you sins and made you an eternal citizen of his eternal kingdom? Do you believe that you will one day rise from the dead in a body similar to the one Jesus was given on the first Easter? All this can be true if you believe and repent of your sins and ask Jesus to forgive your sins.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at 06:00 PM | Comments (0)
April 05, 2009
“Hosanna’s, a Donkey, and Lazarus”
John 12: 12-19
Sunday, April 5, 2009
This passage is John’s description of the events that transpired on what we call the first Palm Sunday. As we look at it, we need to remember that none of those involved had planned to be participants in something called Palm Sunday. They were on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover Festival. A celebrity named Jesus was also on his way there. Some of them joined him on the last part of their journey, others greeted him as he arrived in Jerusalem
Earlier this morning we sang a hymn that referred to the children singing loud Hosanna’s to the king. Our text this morning does not mention the children’s participation in the events of the first Palm Sunday. They appear in Matthew’s account, not during the procession into Jerusalem, but after his arrival into Jerusalem and into the Temple. Some children were shouting Hosanna in the Temple. The priests didn’t like it and protested to Jesus.
As I said, John does not mention the children. Nor does he make any reference to the Apostles being sent to fetch the donkey.
John does however give us some important details that are lacking in the other gospels. The other gospel writers tell us that the people who went out to meet Jesus cut branches off of trees and waved them and put them in the road as he rode to Jerusalem. Only John tells us that they were the branches of Palm Trees. Without John’s testimony we might not be able to call today Palm Sunday. Perhaps we would have called it Branch Sunday or Tree Sunday, neither of which sounds as nice as Palm Sunday.
But there is a significance to the Palms that would have also been missed if it were not for John. The waving of Palms and the placing of them on the road in front of a procession was a practice to celebrate the victorious arrival of a king or other ruler.
This procession has other symbols of kingship in it. The people who welcomed him on the way shouted “Hosanna!” which means, Save Us, We Pray! But their shouts of Hosanna does not mean that they understood what it meant.
Several years ago, the Presbytery I belonged to chartered a new congregation on Palm Sunday. I was on the New Church development committee of the Presbytery so I went to the chartering service. The Associate Executive Presbyter was there. His daughter Anna had recently fallen and broken her arm, so when I saw him after the service my first words were “How’s Anna” He looked puzzled for a minute, then he thought I was rejoicing on Palm Sunday and said, “Yes, Hosanna”. I said “No, How is Anna.” Sometimes you might say something that seems significant without realizing the significance.
According to John the crowd on the first Palm Sunday also said “Blessed is the one who comes in the Name of the Lord – the King of Israel.”
The term “one who comes in the name of the Lord” means one who comes with authority from God. One who represents God.
The donkey also has significance. The Prophet Zechariah had prophecied that Jerusalem’s great king would ride into town on a young donkey. In selecting such an animal, Jesus was proclaiming himself to be that king. But Zechariah in making that prophecy was saying something significant. Victorious kings, kings that had won their way to the throne or kept their throne by fighting battles or wars always rode into cities on horses after their victories. Kings rode donkeys or mules during a time of peace. When a king rode into town on a donkey or mule it meant he came to lead gently in peace, he did not come to rule with an iron rod.
Palm Sunday was the day when Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem as its king of peace. All of the symbols involved in the procession tell us this. But there is some doubt that the people who were in that procession really understood what they were doing. We aren’t sure that the people who used those symbols of palm branches and shouted Hosanna understood what they were doing and saying. It was God’s will that Jesus be welcomed as king into Jerusalem, it was not necessary that those involved understood what they were doing.
John tells us that “His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him”. The disciples and apostles probably did not understand the significance of what they were doing until Jesus rose from the dead on Easter and perhaps not until his ascension into heaven 40 days after that.
In the movie “Back to School” comedian Rodney Dangerfield played a successful businessman who decided to go to college in his late 40s or early 50s. He took his chauffer and limosine with him. He tried to accomplish everything with his check book, so he hired Kurt Vonnegut to write a report on “Slaughterhouse Five”. He got a failing grade because he missed many of the significant symbols that the professor insisted were in the book. Rodney’s character fired Vonnegut because he did not know the symbols in his own book.
The people who rejoiced and welcomed Jesus as a king on Palm Sunday did not fully understand the significance of their acts. And that is the way it sometimes is when we work for God. Sometimes we do not understand the significance of some of the things God wants us to do. Our duty is to be obedient and do what we are told and let God use our behaviors or acts or words for his Glory and to make the things we have done significant.
Another detail that John alone gives us about Palm Sunday is the significance of Lazarus. A few months or weeks before Palm Sunday, Jesus had raised his friend Lazarus from the dead. This had occurred in the village of Bethany which was only 2 miles from Jerusalem. John tells us that those who had witnessed this miracle had continued to tell others about it. It was because of their testimony that many others came to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem. This crowd is a different one than the one that had come out to see Jesus on the road. This crowd came out of Jerusalem and the surrounding villages. The resurrected Lazarus made an impact on the reception Jesus received in Jerusalem.
After he was raised from the dead, all Lazarus had to do to honor Jesus was to show himself alive. For some of us who have been somewhat miraculously delivered from death, all we have to do is give God the credit for our deliverance. Some of us used to be known for walking in the ways that are referred to in the bible as the ways that lead to death. Now we have put away those deadly practices and live lives that come much closer to pleasing God. Live your holy life openly and publicly. The change in your life is cause for others to honor God and the changing, life-giving power of God.
I love the ironic way that John concludes this passage. He tells us that the Pharisees who were planning to have him killed briefly gave up on Palm Sunday. When the saw and heard the crowds, they may have recognized the significance of what was said and done better than the crowds or those who followed Jesus. They said “You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!” Five days later they would have succeeded in having Jesus put to death.
But in spite of their supposed success, their words eventually turned out to be true. The world had not yet gone after Jesus, but within a few hundred years it would begin to. Not everyone in the world, but a considerable portion of the world would hear about Jesus and many of them would believe.
In some of those places, the numbers of believers has declined in our day, but the world is still going after Jesus. In parts of Africa and in parts of China multitudes of people are going after Jesus. And even in our own neighborhoods there are people who might be willing to go after Jesus if we tell then and show them the way.
On Palm Sunday, the people who were in and around Jerusalem were proclaiming in word and deed that Jesus was the King. Some of them might not have understood what they were doing and saying. When you proclaim that Jesus is your king, do you understand what that means? Do you obey him? Do you honor him? Do you follow him? Do you tell others who he is?
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at 02:28 PM | Comments (0)