First Reading: Acts 4:32-35
32Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. 33With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34There 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. 35They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
Psalm: Psalm 133
How good and pleasant it is to live together in unity. (Ps. 133:1)
1How good and how pleasant it is,
when kindred live together in unity!
2It is like fine oil upon the head, flowing down upon the beard,
upon the beard of Aaron, flowing down upon the collar of his robe.
3It is like the dew of Hermon flowing down upon the hills of Zion.
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing: life forevermore.
Second Reading: 1 John 1:1–2:2
1We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—2this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—3we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
5This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
2:1My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
Gospel: John 20:19-31
19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
26A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
CHILDREN’S SERMON: Sleeping Beauty
One of the childhood stories made popular by Disney is “Sleeping Beauty.” The beautiful Princess Aurora is born into royalty and the entire kingdom gathers to celebrate, including three good fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Suddenly an uninvited guest, an evil fairy, appears and curses the baby. She announces that before Aurora turns 16, she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel’s spindle and die before sunset on her 16th birthday. The good fairy, Merryweather, softens the curse so Aurora will not die, but only fall into a deep sleep instead until she receives love’s true kiss. All the people in the castle would go into a deep sleep also so she would wake with friends. The parents try to rid their kingdom of spinning wheels but Aurora does indeed find one and pricks her finger. 100 years later the handsome prince arrives to cut through the brambles that have overgrown the castle and kisses Aurora. True love awakens the princess to happy ever after.
Let’s pray. Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, my Rock and my Redeemer.
SERMON
Last Sunday was Easter. We are now in the Easter season. For the next 40 days we will focus on the proofs of the reality of the resurrection. Last Sunday the women went to the tomb to anoint the body only to discover it was not there. Angels told them “He is risen!” Those three words have echoed through history with different explanations given. Was the body stolen? Was it exchanged on the way to the tomb and Jesus never really died because God can’t die? All the other resurrections recorded in the Bible have the resurrected person at the scene of the resurrection. Elijah raised the son of the Shunamite woman and presented him to his mother. Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus and presented her to her parents. Jesus raised the son of the widow of Nain in front of the whole community. And Jesus raised Lazarus after Lazarus was in the tomb four days and had the people unwrap the cloths binding him. The women last week came to the tomb and found no body. Houston, we have a problem.
Many people saw Jesus in the days between the resurrection and his ascension but as they told their experiences they were met with doubt like that of Thomas in our text today. “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” Locked doors are like locked hearts that respond to the message of Easter with fear and doubt until faith grows. Mark ended his gospel last week with an angel telling the women who went to anoint his body that Jesus was risen and they were to go and tell the disciples. They left terrified and did not tell or were not believed. Our text today continues and it is Easter evening and the followers are gathered behind locked doors, scared.
During the Easter season we look at the proofs that confirm to us that Jesus is alive and active in our world today. Each gospel offers the experiences of different eye witnesses to this resurrection. As we travel through the Easter season we will grow each week into a deeper and deeper understanding of what resurrection means. Our text today comes from the gospel of John and it is the evening of Easter Sunday. In the passage Jesus appears and three times says, “Peace be with you.” Princess Aurora and the people in the castle who are all asleep all seem to be at peace because they are not aware of the thorns growing around them and insulating them from their dire state and it is only as the Prince arrives and the kiss of love is given that they awake to reality and true love.
- “Peace be with you.”
Peace from fear without
The followers were meeting behind locked doors that first Easter Sunday evening for fear of the Jews. These people had seen all the gore of the crucifixion and had heard the words of the women but somehow it just didn’t add up. Peter and John had also gone to the tomb and found it empty. They had seen Lazarus walk out of his tomb recently but they still did not understand and did not believe witnesses reporting. Princess Aurora and her parents have lived in fear of the curse for 16 years. Just like the princess, we live under the curse of death and resurrection is hard to get our minds around. It takes a leap of faith. We try to eat the right foods, do the right exercises, and live as safely as we can and yet all too soon death comes knocking at our door. Perhaps we are not afraid of the Jews — the alien, or of the Romans— the government, but we know life is fragile and our bubble of security can break at any moment. Trusting Jesus’ promises of eternal life is hard. And then one day Jesus enters our fears and says, “Peace be with you.”
Let me just confess. I have control issues but the truth is that I cannot control curses. Life reinforces that truth. Most of us have had to face that disappointing moment when all our faith did not make life turn out the way we wanted. Prince Charming did not propose. We lost a job. A beloved person died. Finances got stretched. Evil and suffering are so real and God seems like Prince Charming — off in some other kingdom.
We also live in a world of multiple options. Many think that all roads lead to Rome. We may feel like we are standing in one of those game shows with multiple doors and behind one of them is the grand prize and we are challenged to choose. Common precepts seem to be foundational to all world religions. So many people surf churches the same way we surf the Internet for a church service that pleases us. We can find information about the resurrection but we may not meet the resurrected Jesus and most likely will not form a relationship with the body of Christ nor with the risen Christ himself. Jesus needs to step through the glass of the TV into our lives and say, “peace.”
The door formed a barrier between the terrified followers and the enemy. Today, it is often hard to identify the “enemy.” We are insulated in our materialism. Many think of our country as having Christian roots and so as politics heat up this year we might be confused about issues. All candidates claim to be good people who will deliver a better, fairer life just like Jesus. We are not sure just who we are afraid of. Efforts to help the poor and needy have been institutionalized by society and so we now demand the government care for the needy rather than accept it as the role of faith. The platform of actions that differentiated Christians from society in the first century and in times of crisis has disappeared.
We look to the government rather than faith to protect us from the fears of danger from outside ourselves.
We are cursed from without. We are all sinners and will die. We are exposed today to religions from all over the world that have similar precepts of being good people. We are numbed by our present culture that offers to meet our needs and focuses on the solutions politicians offer. Like Princess Aurora we know there is a spindle somewhere that is dangerous and upon which we might prick our finger but we are just not quite sure what it looks like or how it works. Anxiety works on our gut and we need Jesus to come through the locked door and say “Peace be with you.”
Martin Luther describes the locked door that is meant to keep fear out and keep us safe within by the words of explanation for the second article of the Apostle’s Creed. “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” By grace we are saved through faith, it is a gift of God and not of works. The Prince cuts through the brambles to kiss and free Princess Aurora. Jesus came to this world to cut through death and kiss us with love. The prince finds us.
- “Peace be with you.”
Peace from doubts within.
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe,” said Thomas and many of us who doubt. Jesus came through locked doors of fear of that which frightened his followers from without. He then appeared to the followers who did not believe Mary. He showd them his side and his hands. Other Gospels say he invited them to touch him and he asked for fish to eat. The resurrected Jesus appeared, three dimensionally. It is only as the followers encountered Jesus that they were able to come to terms with their internal doubts. “Peace be with you,” Jesus said and breathed on them the Holy Spirit.
I find it interesting that Jesus goes through locked doors twice. The first time he appeared to the group, the community of believers. The next week he appeared to Thomas. Individually. Princes Aurora is asleep but so is her community. All are under the spell. Our faith is important to the body of Christ, the church, but it is also individual, changing our lives.
Thomas has become famous because he was absent from this appearance of Jesus. He doubted the reports. Thomas did not want second-hand faith but demanded the real thing. Many like Thomas want to encounter Jesus for themselves. Jesus invited him to touch and feel. Jesus appears in many ways to dispel our doubts. For some it is music and others it is nature and for many it is in the written Word. We share our stories to encourage others in the spiritual journeys and to help each other through hard times of doubt and pain. Thomas needed the personal experience of touching and feeling Jesus. Even we need to know that God cares for us as we are. The princess had to be kissed but the community was impacted.
- “Peace be with you.”
Peace to be fully you.
But I note something else. Jesus breathes peace on the followers and then says two things. Jesus sent the followers out to represent him in the world even as he himself was sent by the Father. Next he breathed the Holy Spirit on them and he commanded them to forgive each other. Those are two challenges we cannot face when we are full of fear and doubt. Like Princess Aurora we are asleep, immobil and unable to do anything until we are kissed by true love. Once kissed by the love of the Prince, by the resurrected Christ, the followers became changed people that changed their world. They were not to stay behind locked doors and they had to forgive the people they feared.
They became brave representatives of Jesus facing the people on the other side of the door of fear. Before they were at peace, they were paralyzed by fear of judgment, criticism and rejection. When we are blinded by hatred and prejudice, we will be tempted to see people as enemies. The Peter of Pentecost is not the Peter of the trial a few days earlier. Nicodemus who went to Jesus by night changed and went to Pilate to ask for the body for burial. Saul who killed followers became Paul the evangelist. There’s a difference in their lives. 1 John 4:18 challenges us, ”18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.” Loving people who are different from ourselves and who have different values and different ways of doing things, is just plain hard. But Jesus sends the followers and us even as he was sent by the Father. We are sent like sheep among wolves. We are sent like Jesus who was often misunderstood and often rejected but he changed the world as he loved the unloveable, touched the untouchable, and raised the dead. Princess Aurora awakes after the kiss to live a life we can only imagine.
The flip side of the coin is that each one of you is important. Maybe you are not the preacher or the teacher but you are the voice, the hands, and the heart of Jesus in this world. People will know that Jesus is risen because they will see him living through each one of us.
Secondly Jesus tells his followers and us to forgive the sins of others. That is just plain hard and needs the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts to truly forgive. The followers are huddled behind locked door because they had seen the horribleness of their leader beaten beyond recognition and nailed to a cross. In order to move forward in life they had to forgive those who so greatly abused them. We call that forgiveness but we also call it “speaking truth to power.” Sometimes that might mean turning the other cheek but sometimes it means being willing to care for sick neighbors during the plague, building hospitals and schools. The truth of the risen Jesus is seen in the lives of the people who reach into the ugly places of life to love and care.
Thomas was invited, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas believed and proclaimed, “My Lord and my God.” History has it that Thomas became a missionary to India and died a martyr’s death. I met a care attendant for an Indian woman and the man claimed he came from the mountain where Thomas was martyred! He was a real person, from a real place, talking about a Biblical person I knew about. He was not Internet information.
Faith starts like a tiny seed. It begins with the kiss of love from the Prince who seeks us out. It starts with the resurrection of Jesus and like Thomas realizing Jesus is his Lord and his God – alive and active in our world, we too join in testimony. I like Thomas’ response to realizing Jesus is risen. He says, “My Lord and my God!” Those words imply that Jesus is not only the creator and provider but Jesus is also the master, guiding and directing in ways Thomas may not always like. Jesus is the counselor, the source of wisdom for the journey. Take a moment and ponder the title you give Jesus in your heart. Is he your Lord, your Savior, your Good Shepherd, or maybe your Friend?
The text concludes, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. 30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”
We are the people John is talking about and we are the receivers of these testimonies. Jesus is the one who cuts through the briars choking our lives and who is willing to kiss us back to life. He loves us not because we are like a beautiful princes asleep but because we are his creation, his children. He wants to live with us for eternity. May the seed of faith be growing in your heart this Easter season as we learn more and more what it means that Christ is risen and wants to be our Lord and our God.
Let the people of God say,
“The Lord is risen. The Lord is risen indeed.”
On the Way to Wonder 