Joel D. Kline
April 18, 2004
Highland Avenue Church of the Brethren
The Second Sunday of Easter
An old Peanuts cartoon shows Linus and Lucy watching an infant crawl across the floor. Asks Linus, “How long do you think it will be before Sally starts to walk?” “Oh, good grief!” responds Lucy in her irascible style. “What’s the hurry? Let her crawl around for a while! Don’t rush her! She’s got all the time in the world.” And then, after reflecting for a few more moments, Lucy adds, “Once you stand up and start to walk, you’re committed for life!”
Appropriate imagery, it seems to me, for this Sunday on which we are receiving new members into our fellowship—a Sunday in the aftermath of Easter, when we are considering the implications of the resurrection of Jesus. In many churches, this Sunday following Easter is labeled “Low Sunday.” In the span of one short week, the size of the crowd diminishes and we are tempted to view Easter as little more than an idle dream, as we settle back into the routine and the predictable. But in those churches that follow the church calendar, Easter celebration is not limited to one day; Easter is a season. And that helps us remember that resurrection is not simply something that happened to Jesus. Much more, resurrection is something that happens to you and to me.
When Jesus came forth from the tomb that first Easter, a whole new world opened, and with the first disciples, you and I discover that we can become part of an unfolding new creation. We can begin anew; we can start over; we can experience life abundant and rich in God’s grace and mercy and compassion and peace. We can stand up and begin the walk—a walk that demands commitment for life, even as it opens new possibilities for life.
Do you remember the words of the apostle Paul, written to the Colossians, in which he asserts that we have been raised with Jesus? “So if you have been raised with Christ,” writes Paul, “seek the things that are above, where Christ is…. Set your mind on the things above, not on things that are on the earth” (3:1-2). Eugene Peterson paraphrases the apostle’s words this way in The Message:
So if you’re serious about living the new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from Christ’s perspective.
In the Peanuts cartoon, did not Lucy have a similar insight, recognizing that once we stand up and start to walk, there’s no turning back? A life of action lies ahead of us. We’re committed for life! Indeed, our calling to walk with Christ is a life-long calling.
In another passage from Paul’s writings, this one from his letter to the Romans, chapter six, the apostle is speaking about baptism. “Therefore we have been buried with Christ by baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God, so we too might walk in newness of life” (6:4).
Again, the paraphrased rendering in The Message sheds helpful light on Paul’s words:
This is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land!
That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by God so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country.
Henri Nouwen speaks of the quality of life in this new country that opens before us by power of the resurrection. “Easter season is a time of hope,” proclaims Nouwen.
There still is fear, there still is a painful awareness of sinfulness, but there is also light breaking through. Something new is happening, something that goes beyond the changing moods of our life. We can be joyful or sad, optimistic or pessimistic, tranquil or angry, but the solid stream of God’s presence moves deeper than the small waves of our hearts and minds. Easter brings the awareness that God is present even when God’s presence is not directly noticed … Easter allows us to affirm that although God [at times] seems very distant and although we remain preoccupied with many little things, our Lord walks with us on the road … Thus there are many rays of hope casting their light on our way through life.
Do you hear the promise? Even in the midst of pain and hurt and struggle and sadness, the light of Christ breaks through, and the solid stream of God’s presence sustains us. Fear and brokenness and despair and loss do not have the final word; rather, the final word rests with a loving and compassionate God, and we can look forward to a time when violence and greed and warfare and destruction and pain shall be no more. In the mean time, our calling is to live now as if God’s kingdom, God’s realm, were fully present; our calling is to embrace the rays of hope casting their light on our way through life.
On that first Easter evening, the initial band of disciples cower in fear behind locked doors, disbelieving the good news shared by Mary Magdalene, that Christ is risen, when suddenly the risen Christ appears. Some would interpret this story as saying that the power of resurrection is displayed in Jesus walking through closed doors and showing the marks of his wounds to the disciples. But there is deeper meaning and experience in this story—the real power of resurrection is displayed in Jesus breathing new life into those frightened disciples. And yet today, this is the mark of our resurrection experience, that Christ’s Spirit is breathed among us, transforming us, softening our hearts, reordering our priorities, guiding us into ministries of compassion and mercy and grace.
The heart of the story is found in verse 21, when Jesus says to the disciples, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” And what is it that Jesus sends the disciples forth to do, but to continue Jesus’ work and ministry. It is a call to live and proclaim life in the kingdom or realm of God, a call that echoes to us through the centuries. For Jesus not only breathed the Spirit upon those earliest disciples; Jesus, even now, breathes the Spirit upon you and me, equipping us with gifts and with power to continue the work God sent Jesus to do. In John’s Gospel, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the call to mission, to continuing the work of Jesus—these are inseparably connected.
How is it that you and I are being called to witness to the very identity of God as revealed in Jesus? Is it not by seeking to embody Christ’s way of self-giving love and servanthood, doing those things that make for peace in the name of Christ, making place at God’s table for all manner of people, embracing, welcoming, inviting the lost, the broken, the seeking—those like you and me who yearn to taste and see the goodness of God?
Elie Wiesel, the great Jewish storyteller who writes so powerfully of Holocaust experiences, has written a commentary of stories about the Hebrew Scriptures. In one such story he envisions a truly righteous person coming to the city of Sodom. Horrified by the greed and corruption and cruelty in Sodom, the visitor begins to picket and protest and cry out against the injustice. Everyone ignores him, but the righteous man is not deterred.
Finally, after some years, one of the residents takes pity on the protester and says, “Don’t you see that you are wasting your time? No one is listening.” To which the righteous one responds, “You don’t understand. When I started, I picketed and protested in order to change things. Now I picket and protest so that they should not change me.”
It is no easy task, living and serving as God’s lonely voices for peace, justice, and compassion, God’s ambassadors of a new way of living based upon self-giving love, servanthood, and hope. But that is our calling, that is our mission. And the good news? The good news is that Christ breathes the Spirit upon us, renewing, redeeming, encouraging, empowering us for service. Come, let us stand together, walking the road of commitment to Christ and Christ’s ways of living and serving, sustained by the solid stream of God’s presence. Amen.
Holy God, deep in our souls is a longing to be known by you and to know you. Deep in our hearts is a desire to love and serve you, to walk in the ways of peace and wholeness and abundant living, as modeled and lived by Jesus.
O God, all around us we experience your good gifts—gifts of relationship, of family, friendships, and life together in this community of faith; gifts of beauty as the spring season unfolds with budding trees, greening grass, and vibrantly colored blossoms; gifts of your grace and encouragement, sometimes expressed in the care of one another, sometimes surprising is in moments of quietness, sometimes experienced in the wonders of creation. Hear us now, O God, as individually we express our gratitude for your good gifts…
God of us all, in our hunger to know and be known by you, we confess that we often fear the very things we yearn for. We are prone to go it alone in life, fearful that life with you at the center will demand too much of us. We confess that we frequently live with suspicion of the stranger, that the way of peace seems elusive, that all too often we cling to past resentments and slights and hurts. O loving God, bring healing to our souls. Forgive our foolish ways, and reclothe us in your righteousness.
Hear us now as individually we seek your healing and wholeness…
Lord God, we pray for those in our circle of family and friends and church community who are in special need at this time of your comforting presence. Hold each in your light and love…
God of peace, you who desire that all humankind, all creation, live in harmony, you who are pained to see us continue the cancer of warfare and who grieve as we place trust in weapons rather than in you, continue to speak to us and show us the ways of peace. Grant us your Spirit of strength and compassion, that we might anticipate the coming of your reign of justice, peace and compassion. In the name and spirit of the One who came among as Redeemer, ruler in peace, blessed example, loving Lord—Jesus the Christ. Amen.