Second Sunday of Easter - United In the Resurrection

Welcome Statement

Last Week, I Spoke at Cornerstone West about Mark’s Gospel’s g +ed the Apostles do before Jesus was Crucified was they all left him. The first people to find him were not the apostles but Mary Magdalene, Mary, and <>. The church before it was a church was scattered. They found themselves already struggling in their unity and struggling to believe in God. This disunity should have destroyed the church, but we see that wasn’t the case, the least among people, a ragtag team, built one of the strongest and most loving institutions this earth has witnessed. In the first letter of John, we witness a Sermon, a powerful one, being written and addressed to a community of house churches, believed to be in Ephesus. Now this church community, was dealing with strife and division. Many people were starting to deny Jesus as the son of God, and as God incarnate, and were also generating hostility in the church communities in Ephesus. One historical context to add is the actual writer of these Gospels isn’t entirely known, so from a Scholarly point of view they are considered anonymous, they are traditionally attributed to John, but it isn’t clear if it is John of Zebedee or John the Elder, but for simplicity’s sake, I will still refer to him as John, if you wish to learn more about this I encourage you to read more about this online. The authorship on the letters can be interesting. Regardless of this fact, the letters still give us a really important insight into the early struggles that even small communities of people struggled with. We witness not just Paul struggling with disunity in his churches, this is just more affirmations of the same, people all have a dozen opinions of the past, and wish to reinterpret a consistent truth. Let us look at 1st John to remind ourselves of how much of today isn’t new.

1st NT Reading - 1 John 1:1-2:2

1 John 1:1–2:2 ESV

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My 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. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

A Repeating of the Old

Notice how it seems that much of John’s letter, is a repeat of the knowledge we already know. He is proclaiming the Good News already known in John’s Gospel. That God is Christ Incarnate and through his salvation we can be saved. He is desperately trying to hold together a community, that now has a growing faction of disbelievers who have their own ideas of who Christ is. It’s not clear if this group could be an early group of what one would call Gnostics, or a pre-cursor of them, we can only speculate. Although this group would never call themselves this term (It is a term used to identify beliefs that fall off the path of what is considered quite different from the Orthodox Christian faith), they would see themselves as just as Christian as anyone else, but regardless, who John was calling deceivers, were not in the spirit of community anymore. How often have we witnessed this struggle? In our own churches? Splits? Schisms? We hear that Resurrection story, we all agree on the Resurrection, yet we look at Christian history, and the number of Denominations and schisms are too many to count. Now I’m not here to make any claims on anything about denominations, I’m a proud United Methodist and love our heritage of piety and social holiness, but John in his words here is trying to get people to look back, that their petty squabbling is holding them back. All have sinned, all will sin, all need Christ. Every break off community is no more holy than the last, and disunity only hurts Christ’s heart more to see his body broken.

It’s crazy how often this happens too. The number of times the church has split is immesurable. We see the church at least trying to today celebrate our differences through things like ecumenicism with things like the World Council of Churches, the National Council of Churches, and even the World Methodist Council, but these weren’t the first attempts at unification. No, the first attempts we witness at unity were done by Paul, and John here. At the local level. Just trying to get local churches to agree on even the basics. Trying to get people to just simply believe in the Resurrection was why the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325 established the Nicene Creed we find in our Hymnals with these words that apply specifically to easter:

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;      he suffered death and was buried.      On the third day he rose again      in accordance with the Scriptures;      he ascended into heaven      and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Of course, this wasn’t the controversy that created this specific creed, it was philosophical debates on the nature of Christ, and the codifying of the Trinity understood from scripture from those who didn’t see Christ as God nor Divine, that started this, but this document became adopted virtually by all Trinitarian Christians. This document unifies us all. It’s what we all can resort to in our arguments with other Christians. To remember, that this is the bare necessities. We believe in a Risen Christ, as a present reality, not as a historical past, or even as a fairy tale, or some sort of mythology, it is a literal, present, reality for you and I, because nothing less, is pointless. I think many of us find ourselves missing this point, and we allow ourselves to be molded by things like the internet, into focusing more on our differences, too hyper-focused on personal opinions, forgetting those confessions we made when we joined the church, even if we find ourselves struggling to agree with or understand them all, they are what bind us in unity. John wants us all to be united by the belief in Resurrection and the belief in Jesus Christ’s divine authority. There are irreconcileable differences in some groups, this much is true, there are some groups that give up too much beliefs, there are some who do not believe as is the group described in 1st John, who find themselves in the darkness, but we aren’t there yet. Do we truly believe the Resurrection is real? Or do we see it as a fairytale? Even if we see it as an even that really happened, do we see it as a historical fact. Many people find themselves when debating Athiests, arguing over historical evidence, or archeological evidence. I’ve gotten to a point that this has become meaningless to me to a degree, because really, Christ’s resurrection is a present reality to believe in through faith. Whether or not other people believe does not affect my present reality with Christ’s Spirit in my heart.

No matter how bad things seem to be, Christ still exists because he’s sovereign over every blade of Grass. If we still find ourselves wishy-washy, let us look to the Gospel of John, to the struggles with the Apostles.

2nd NT Reading - John 20:19-31

John 20:19–31 ESV

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And 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 withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, 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 in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, 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; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, 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 believed.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Belief through Evidence? Or United in Faith?

Do you have to individually believe in Christ through evidence of Christ personally coming to you in a ray of clouds, through some sort of divine Miracle? Or will you believe simply because a community of faith has provided evidence of the fruit of the spirit, and what it means to truly follow his two commandments? Let’s be more radical, even if there was never another Church on earth that ever produced another fruit of the spirit, would you still believe? Or do you need to see Christ before you, and poke the wounds on him? Do you have to see the wounds? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. I have struggled for so many years trying to accumulate evidence philosophically, logically, and scientifically for Christ’s existence, and while I still do becuase I find it interesting, and know it can help people who need that extra step, I know that only a changing of the heart, can ultimately help someone, that prevenient Grace that warms hearts, that fiery spirit that warmed John Wesley at Aldersgate. We must not be like Thomas. It’s okay to fail and find yourself like Thomas, I was once like Thomas, and Christ swept me out of that mess, but not with a divine ray, not with a cloud of smoke, but with a gentle pressing of the heart that I could not deny. I need to be clear though, that experience will be different, and it could even be gentler, or less obvious for someone than it was for even me. But even if you don’t feel that Spirit, you can feel the warmth physically through a community, this is why individual relationships with Christ is not enough, a united community of faith that continues to thrive after big events, throughout spiritual dryness, is important, that is able to maintain some semblance of normalcy and consistency. Even if it’s just as simple as coming to Church and Sunday School, that’s enough, but sometimes we have to think outside the box, to make our Churches more welcome and more united with our communities. We are witnessing our communities disunited through social media, political rifts, false idols, and extreme senses of narcissism due to people not having a sense of what the real meaning of life is anymore. This isn’t a uniquely new problem, although this flavor of it is new due to the technological problems we face are. And so instead of trying to carry this burden ourselves all the time, we need to be like the Apostles, who finally found themselves surrendering to Christ when they realize they were in the wrong, when they realized they couldn’t keep up their act, that they were wrong to not wholly surrender to God. A Community of Christ can only continue when everyone submits to Christ in humility and loves him deeply and dearly. This isn’t to say that Christ’s Church is fragile, it’s not, but it works it’s best when everyone is connected and involved, it’s why the United Methodist Church is Connectional. So Today, let us reflect on Why Christ didn’t simply leave after the Resurrection, he stuck around, to make sure people understood their purpose. Even after he arose and ascended into heaven. He presently reigns as our King, he is sovereign over all nations, all kingdoms, everything, even if he isn’t directly influencing political affairs and decisions, he is certainly in control, we just need to continue to trust him, and be prepaired for what that means to trust him, it is not easy, but it requires a complete relinquishing of our own thrones, our own control. We must give up our own thrones for the sake of unity in Christ’s Church. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Lord, we thank you for the Lessons learned about unity of the House Churches in Ephesus, that we might remember why we have our beautiful church community here, to spend time together to worship you, do work in your name, to spread the Good News, and remind people why creation is inherently Good, why the world doesn’t have to be blind in darkness, but be opened up to the beauty of your light. Help us to not be tempted to wait until your 2nd coming to believe, but to believe today, to believe truly, without delay that you reign, as real and as physically as the people in this room. Let us have that true belief of your existence, so we can stay united in you, and do the work you’ve called us to do and be your representatives here on earth. I say this in your Bright and Beautiful name.

Amen.

Doxology / Benediction / Closing

As you go out this week, reflect on how Christ has kept your life together. Reflect again on his Resurrection, what it truly means that he has arose, and not simply disappeared but stuck around for all of his children. Think about that this week, reflect on how we might all be peacekeepers, and claw back disunity and build unity in our communities and churches, for a brighter tommorow in Christ’s Kingdom.

May you Have a Blessed Sunday, and rest of your Week! Amen!