April 26, 2009 Sermon
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Easter 3 - B
Emmanuel, San Angelo
Allan Conkling April 26, 2009
"See
what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God."
I have that verse on a bookmark made years ago by my daughter Callie, one summer when she was in Vacation Bible School. Written in a 6 year olds’ hand, colored in crayon, next to a stick figure with hair and a beard, which I assume was either Jesus or me. I come across that bookmark now and again in one of my reference books at home. I thought of it this time as I listened to the second reading for today. Here of course the writer of 1st John goes on to talk about big concepts such as sin and guilt, lawlessness and righteousness. But for children it is really enough to hear only the first line:
"See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are."
Maybe that is enough for us all.
In this season after Easter we read once again about the disciples groping for answers, how to make sense of life without their Leader. In this account from Luke, they were gathered--more like huddled in fear--listening to reports from Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter and Cleopas. The Body was missing, and yet some had seen him alive...when Jesus appeared among them and said, "Shalom," "Peace be with you."
They were startled, terrified, disbelieving and who wouldn't be! They weren't sure what it was, but they were absolutely certain of what it was not: It was not a ghost. It was not a hallucination. It was not an angel. It was Jesus. Alive in a real body. "Transformed physicality” as N.T. Wright calls it. Here, yet beyond the bounds of flesh and blood. My friend Sherm Gagnon used to say the Resurrection is like, “trying to understand a 10-Gallon event with a One Quart mind."
By the time that Luke wrote his gospel some four decades years after the event, and certainly by the time the first copies of his document were preserved, the Resurrection had become a dogma, an event predicted beforehand in the pages of Hebrew Scriptures.
"Thus it is written that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations..."
Jesus didn't say that. Luke did. However, just as with a child's memory verse written on a bookmark, it is the simple story we remember and is most important. Besides that, understanding it is less important than living it.
The 19th century German theologian Christoph Blumhardt once wrote:
"It is not enough celebrate Easter and say "Christ is risen." It is useless to proclaim this unless at the same time we can say that we have also risen, that we have received something from heaven."
(Quoted in Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter, pg 350)
You and I are here this morning because the lives of a few followers gathered in an upper room were transformed in their heart from fearful to faithful. Their message was contagious. It invites us to be engaged as well, not just for an hour, but in the world where ever we are. As Joan Chittester says,
"Every time Jesus Rises in our own hearts in new ways, the resurrection happens again."
Christ is here among us now. In a very real way Christ stands among us. What Good News this is to those who are searching; to those who feel lost, hurt, or broken. Come to the altar today and you will receive the holy food, spiritual sustenance. We don't have to have all the answers. A child-like faith will do.
"What is God’s kingdom anyway," asks Christoph Blumhardt?
"Certainly not Christian causes or institutions. God's kingdom is the power of God. It is the rulership of God. God's kingdom is the revelation of the divine life here on earth, the birth of new hearts, new minds, new feelings, new possibilities. This is God’s kingdom." (ibid., pg 352)
"See
what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God."
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