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Sunday 8th May, 2011 Third Sunday of Easter

Sentence
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins may be forgiven and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2: 38-9

Collect
Gracious Father, Who in Your great mercy made glad the disciples with the sight of the risen Lord; give us such awareness of His presence with us that we may be strengthened and sustained by His risen life, and serve You continually in righteousness and truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

First Lesson Acts 2: 14a & 36 – 41

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……Let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified."
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him." And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.

Psalm 116: 1 – 4 & 11 – 18

I love the Lord, because He heard my voice: the voice of my supplication
Because He inclined His ear to me: in the day that I called to Him
The cords of death encompassed me, the snares of the grave took hold on me: I was in anguish and sorrow
Then I called upon the Name of the Lord: “O Lord, I beseech You, deliver me!”

How shall I repay the Lord: for all His benefits to me?
I will take up the cup of salvation: and call upon the Name of the Lord
I will pay my vows to the Lord: in the presence of all His people.
Grievous in the sight of the Lord: is the death of His faithful ones
O Lord, I am Your servant, Your servant and the child of Your handmaid: You have unloosed my bonds.
I will offer You a sacrifice of thanksgiving: and call upon the Name of the Lord
I will pay my vows to the Lord: in the presence of all His people.
In the courts of the house of the Lord: even in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord.

Epistle 1 Peter 1: 13 – 25

Prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.
He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.
Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. For "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever." That word is the good news that was announced to you.




GOSPEL Matthew 28: 8 – 15a

The women left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, "You must say, 'His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.' If this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day.

© 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
It is really a great pity that apparently people’s patience would be stretched if the entire passage of Acts 2 was set to be read in a single sitting. Had that been done, rather clearer sense would be available. (We really must get past the idea of hour-long services.)
The outcome of Peter’s address, that mass confession of sins and their forgiveness, is worth closer attention. Here is no search so much for personal internal sins, so to speak. This event needs to be seen in terms of Peter’s command. ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ That generation, not unlike our own, was one where justice, truth and integrity were covered over by absolute aversion to those qualities. When we talk of spin in government, for instance, we acknowledge the extent to which today truth is being discarded. So Peter’s challenge was for those people to move away from such falsehood – and what a difference to life that would have made…..

Psalm
And the Psalmist, long centuries before, was aware of the relief and ‘breath of fresh air’ that emerges when the ancient verities are responded to. I am amazed constantly, at the extent to which the Faith is rejected, usually on the most spurious of grounds. Christian Faith is far from silly or shallow! The outcome of following Christ along the lines of truth and integrity is always enormously beneficial even to people around about!

Epistle
I have a sneaky suspicion that when Scripture talks about ‘being holy as Your Heavenly Father is holy,’ that readers think, either, that this is an impossible dream, or that they are expected to be so like God that they are out of this world. The word ‘holy’ seems to have all manner of implications for us. Actually it means ‘different,’ different from human. Reference has been made before often enough of the difference between Adam and Christ. That difference is really between the self-obsessive, and self-giving. So it is all a matter of direction and emphasis. I can never be holy in terms of being pure and sinless; nor does God expect that of me. But I can operate selflessly and in that respect, Christlike. Does that make some sense?

GOSPEL
For me, the saddest thing about this passage is the cover-up attempt on the part of the authorities to avoid the realities of the resurrection. Whenever I cover up the truth with a lie, I have precluded myself from any real response to whatever has happened. And I try to blind you as well. I might protect myself for a little while, but apart from anything else, liars need to have excellent memories – which is rarely the case. Even that will not rescue you from corners into which you paint yourself.

NOTES FOR A SERMON

I am getting old so this may be somewhat dated, but on the other hand, there needs to be some movement ahead for old time pulpit-bashers. It is this business of repentance, or more particularly its abuse in some circles.

It was the funeral for a lovely faithful old soul whom I had know – at that stage – for something like 40 years. She was simple and even naïve, as was her whole family, a lovely, inoffensive person of great faith and faithfulness. Her family had belonged to an old but tiny sect of Christendom, rarely heard of at all. At one stage, in the Outback they had all been part of our Anglican congregation. When they moved in closer settlement, they also attached themselves to a charismatic group. It was a previous pastor of that group who demanded the right to address the gathered mourners, and he did so with great panache. It was no panegyric for the deceased; it was an impassioned, old-time altar call for those present to repent and believe the Gospel. The harangue continued for some time, to the embarrassment I suspect of the then pastor of that group. It was appalling, and – to my mind – disgusting. However I had encountered such before, not from a small group as on that day, but in a Presbyterian funeral. Same harangue, same emotional and moral blackmail really. Also speaking at that funeral was a retired Bishop, brother of the deceased. He was not happy, as you might imagine.

It is that rather distorted concept of ‘repentance’ that is the issue. Do you ever read of Jesus twisting the arms of his listeners, demanding confession and repentance? No you do not. Do you encounter any resemblance of the guilt pressure from our Lord? No, you do not.

So what is repentance, and from what anyhow?

One clue (already mentioned in the notes,) stems from the first reading. And it is important to notice, for few of the ‘old time religion’ preachers see past sins other than moral. And sin is rather more encompassing than that. In fact it is very much a widespread failing.

When Peter had all those people respond to him at Pentecost, those 3,000 or more, just look at what he had to say: it was not just a matter of remembering all those naughty bits you might recall. It was a matter of ‘saving yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ The question is ‘of what was that generation corrupt?’ And with the crucifixion in particular so recent, the answer is not all that hard to find. When a society is so corrupt that it executes the innocent in place of the guilty, it is obvious that there is something rotten ‘in the State of Denmark.’

That something rotten included the Jewish hierarchy; it also included the Roman authorities; in fact one of the most appalling comments to come out of the trial of Jesus was that question of Pilate’s ‘what is truth?’ It would seem that so far had that Roman figure moved from reality that he had no idea where reality actually was – or was certainly not prepared to head in that direction. Seems it is a common experience of those who are involved in matters judicial or consular or diplomatic. Everything turns into shades of grey, and it becomes a matter, not of truth but of saving face. Spin; double-talk, or dare I call it by its plain Australian name?

This is, increasingly, the situation in which we find ourselves these days, and the slow disintegration of society and relationships displays itself as a result. A simple, straightforward, and obvious result.. Trust goes out the window, because none of the normally valid canons of reality are visible any more. ‘Not one stone shall be left on one another.’

And that does require repentance. That does require a radical change of heart, of direction, of mind and intent. And that is what repentance really is. The Greek word in the New Testament is metanoia. A turn around in mind. In direction. In intent, In action. A refusal to tamper with truth. Not only does that cover the sorts of areas we have been considering, but it also deals with more personal and private issues. When I refuse to tamper with truth, then you and the whole world of people are safe from me, and safe with me. And that is a radical departure from what has become the norm.

Repentance. It is not a matter of religious significance. It is a matter of total significance, for believer or unbeliever. And it can change the world. Bring in the Kingdom.

Ponder that for more than a moment eh!