RonBlog

Sunday 1st May, 2011 Second Sunday of Easter

Sentence
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

Collect
Almighty and eternal God, the strength of those who believe and the hope of those who doubt; may we who have not seen have faith and receive the fullness of Christ’s blessing; Who is alive and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever. Amen

First Lesson Acts 2: 14a & 27 – 32

Peter rose to speak : “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say…… Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know-- this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.
For David says concerning him, 'I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will live in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.'
Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, 'He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.' This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.

Psalm 16

Preserve me O God: for in You have I taken refuge.
I have said to the Lord, You are my Lord: and all my good depends on You.
As for those who are held holy on the earth: the other gods in whom people delight,
Though the idols are many that they run after: their offerings of blood I will not offer,
nor take their name upon my lips.
The Lord is my appointed portion and my cup: You hold my lot in Your hands.
The share that has fallen to me is in pleasant places: and a fair land is my possession.
I will bless the Lord Who has given me counsel: at night also He has instructed my heart.
I have set the Lord always before me: He is at my right hand and I shall not fall.
Therefore my heart is glad and my spirit rejoices: my flesh also shall rest secure.
For You will not give me over to the power of death: nor suffer Your faithful one to see the Pit.
You will show me the path of life: in Your presence is the fullness of joy, and from Your right hand flows delights for evermore.

Epistle 1 Peter 1: 1 – 12

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood: May grace and peace be yours in abundance. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith--being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours made careful search and inquiry, inquiring about the person or time that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated when it testified in advance to the sufferings destined for Christ and the subsequent glory. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things that have now been announced to you through those who brought you good news by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven--things into which angels long to look!

GOSPEL John 20: 19 – 31

When 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." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So 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." A 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." Then 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." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But 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.

© New Revised Standard Version of the Bible
Copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission. All rights reserved
NOTES ON THE READINGS ….
First Lesson
This section of Peter’s address after the Resurrection should be very well known to all who are likely to read this. It may be best to read the entire address to get the full gist, anyhow. This recitation of the events leading up to the resurrection are interesting, especially from the point of view of the understanding of Peter (and Jewish people) of the time. There is the constant reference to Scripture and even the reference to the Psalmist as a prophet. At the same time, Peter was not averse to laying the responsibility for Jesus’ death – murder actually – right at the hands of the Jewish authorities. But there was ever the emphasis in the whole issue to the authority of God. That, seems to me, is the over-riding emphasis.

Psalm
The use of this psalm as we celebrate Easter is interesting: originally it was the outpouring of someone in the distant past who had undergone considerable trauma - and apparently at the hands of people who misunderstood the truth of the situation. It is remarkably difficult to undergo such experiences, when others are convinced that you are in the wrong – especially when your opponents may well be lying their heads off. But – at an outcome that vindicated the sufferer, there is the glad relief of praise to God: truth itself has been vindicated –as in the Resurrection of Jesus.

Epistle
It would repay some research on your part to discover quite where the Apostle Peter exercised much of his ministry. Quite some of the ground he covered was parallel to St. Paul, as both Acts and Paul’s letters indicate. (One wonders whether they managed to get under one another’s skins somewhat!) It is somewhat justified to regard much of Peter’s ministry was to Gentiles, being as he was the first major Apostle to minister to them. Mind you, reference to the Diaspora would tend to mean the Jewish aspect of that wide spread of those people.
However the emphasis in this passage lies in Peter’s recognition of the change of status, I guess one would say, of those who believed and followed Christ. It is almost flamboyant language in a way, although the author had his feet on the ground as he recognized that being a disciple in such cultures meant difficulty more often than delight.
Obviously Peter was writing to people who had not seen Christ in the flesh, though comparisons with those people who had such experience did not mean that the learning curve was any easier for those who had physical contact. This point is quite important when considering today’s Gospel.

GOSPEL
There are two important issues to consider in this passage: the first is John’s description of ‘Pentecost before Pentecost.’ There can be no doubt that John was doing other than almost pre-empting the Lukan version. Here the Spirit is poured out in the Eleven, and the authority of absolution given as well.
I still feel keenly to debate those who will persist in laying a failure to believe in Thomas the Twin. I always I point people to consider the evidence not only of this passage, but of all the other references John makes to this disciple’s responses to Jesus. In each case, Thomas shows up as the one way ahead of the other in perceiving the direction Jesus was taking, or asking the sorts of questions no one else would, for fear of revealing their inability to catch sight of what was going on. In particular, at the raising of Lazarus, Thomas was the only one aware of the enormous danger when Jesus indicated His intention to move towards Jerusalem. Even then, Thomas was prepared to go to certain death rather than break solidarity with his Master.
Here, then is the clear evidence of someone not prepared to take someone else’s word for the Resurrection. For an issue as hugely significant as this there needs to be tangible evidence – and please note that Jesus gave it to him. Please read on:
a. If the tale of any resurrection was not true, then absolutely nothing in life – and death – had changed one iota. So the story needed checking for that reason alone. But there is another greater reason
b. If the resurrection is real, then all the goalposts in life have moved, all the old verities are hugely enhanced, and not only can life never be the same again, but also everyone’s hopes for a new life for love, truth, justice and integrity have received such a massive endorsement that confidence, trust and assurance are guaranteed.
So please do see that this questioning of Thomas’ was not a lack of faith, but a very profound awareness of the complete and utter change to life and living that Jesus’ rising has made. Certainly John’s Gospel makes sure that those, whoever they are, who have not seen and yet believe are to be honoured, but they and we too need positive reassurance of the veracity of the event, and its significance. Never again put Thomas down.

If you find this unconvincing, please read again right through John’s Gospel. Please note that at the beginning, in his prologue to the Gospel, John makes some astounding claims about the nature and person of Jesus. However, he does not expect you to believe because John has told you. His writing goes on to provide all the evidence to establish the case, to prove those comments, chief amongst those elements are the Seven Signs for you to consider.

NOTES FOR A SERMON

For me, all of these readings provide some answers to the question that runs something like ‘what do you mean by ‘faith,’ or ‘what does it mean to believe?’ And the answer to such a question is just as important now as it was back in New Testament times, or even the Old.

I have commented before a couple of times of a great banner that was put up a few short years ago in the church of a charismatic group. Whilst I am not having a shot at the group, I certainly am at the poster they displayed, and hammered! The poster read ‘Reason and logic are the enemies of faith!’ I kid you not.
Now that might once, long ago, been something of a populist view, ---- and with all due respect it is that which encouraged non-believers to regard religionists of any sort as naïve, stupid and terribly easily led up the garden path. And they were quite right. In reality, that attitude needed to be turned on its head, for if it was ever a necessity to commit intellectual suicide to be a Christian then I would have departed long ago. Your Creator gave you a good dose of grey matter in there back behind your eyes for the very good reason that you are expected to use it. And whilst few humans have any difficulty with doing so in most areas of endeavour and effort, some still have considerable reticence in employing that ability when it comes to matters of the faith.

Part of that difficulty, I suspect, lies at the feet of that remarkable and very odd (to me at least) popular approach of today that seems to rely on ‘feelings’ to establish the sense or nonsense of anything. Emotions, surely, are the least reliable of human capacities, and it has always seemed a total nonsense to turn in that direction to find significant answers to anything! I can tell you a few stories about people who followed that route and ended up in disastrous outcomes.)

So why is it, when it comes to dear old Thomas, do people have shots at him for expressing the need for stable and tangible evidence of the Resurrection of Jesus?

I have long had great and profound respect for this rather little known Apostle, for the Gospel of John in particular show him to be a remarkably aware member of the Dozen, in several incidents. What followed after the end of the Acts of the Apostles - whilst tradition, with strong evidence – has this man travelling as far as the western coast of what we call India, founding Churches along the way. Many centuries later, Christian missionaries were stunned to find the Mar Thoma Church existing and thriving 17 centuries after the resurrection. (I had the honour of knowing and working with one of their priests when I was training in College. He was quite a man!)

You will notice, if you dare, that what Thomas asked for, was granted him. Thomas, a person of his age, but not one to be swayed by others, was not prepared to take anyone else’s word for something so life- and world-changing as Jesus back from the dead. Whilst we may be well aware of the story, it was a rarity back then. And the point of Jesus’ resurrection was far, far more significant than say the raising of Lazarus. That event was simply a pointer towards this far greater thing.

And I have to go along with Thomas. He, like many before him, was an inquisitive, searching, exploring sort of person. No pat answers would satisfy this bloke. Be fair dinkum or forget it. And Jesus would have been completely aware of that capacity in the man. And the reason Thomas needed solid answers was because Thomas, along with Jesus, was aware that if the resurrection was real, then not very much in life – or death – remained as before. The goal posts had shifted; the entire atmosphere had been lifted. Death, and evil, and other ugly things were defeated; and the beaut things in life were restored – love is now invincible, justice likewise. Truth can be suppressed but not destroyed. Previously, everyone’s experience was that evil people could control everything, just as they had tried with Jesus’ execution. But He left them all in His wake. And Thomas needed clear evidence that this was so. And Jesus gave it to him. No ifs, no bits, no ‘naughty man, why can’t you believe?’

So this is what faith is. Finding the truth and reality – and living one’s life on the basis of that discovery. Or as I often put it to people, ‘faith is the direction you take on the basis of the evidence in front of you.’

So please put the ‘doubting Thomas’ business to rest.
And stand on solid ground. Apart from any other evidence, is it not so patently obvious that truth is far superior to falsehood, love superior to hatred, integrity better than its opposite? And whilst these may not be the most tangible of life issues, it does not make sense to reject them because of that.