While in Their Joy: Dancing Sure

NRSV Luke 24:36b-48 Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence. 44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.

INTRO

This morning as we approach our Gospel lesson, we find ourselves the early days after Easter. Just before our Gospel lesson, we heard that Jesus had appeared to Mary Magdalene. After that, Jesus appears to the disciples on the road to Emmaus where in the blessing and breaking of the bread Jesus is made known to them. In today’s encounter, the disciples are still reeling from the aftermath of the crucifiction. Given the trauma experienced by the disciples it is not surprising that this morning we find the disciples huddled together in the upper, behind locked doors, frightened at what the Jewish leaders and Roman Empire might do to them. Adding to their fears are the report that they have heard from creditable witnesses that Jesus has been sighted among them.

They recall what Jesus told them before he was crucified. They have heard the stories from Mary Magdalene and those who encountered him, but Jesus has not yet appeared to them. They aren’t sure what to think. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Jesus appears among them. Despite the fact that Jesus speaks to them saying “Peace be with you,” the disciples are anything but filled with peace. Rather, the disciples are shocked and even fearful. Perhaps they are filled with an overwhelming sense of unworthiness and become frightened.

This sense of overwhelming unworthiness is familiar to those who follow Jesus. Time and time again we encounter this fearful reaction in scripture when individuals find themselves in the presence of the Holy. When Moses was exposed to God’s presence at the burning bush, he “hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God” (Exod. 3:6b). When God called Isaiah - the prophet proclaimed, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips” (Isa. 6:5). When we hear Job’s story, Eliphaz describes his reaction to God proclaiming, “Dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake” (Job 4:14). Encounters with the Holy tend to bring about fear and trembling, so the disciples’ reaction to an encounter with the Risen Lord is a perfectly normal response.

Perhaps, some of these fears might have been attributed to the fact that they thought Jesus was a ghost. If we think about it, this seems to be a logical conclusion. Jesus doesn’t knock on the door. He doesn’t ring the doorbell. He doesn’t send them a text on their cell-phones to say he is coming over. No! Instead, Jesus suddenly appears in the middle of a locked room. As quickly as he appears here with the disciples, Jesus is spotted “appearing” in different places around Jerusalem. The disciples know that Jesus has died, but they also know his body is gone from the grave and that his tomb was guarded by two messengers of some sort. This, coupled with an ancient understanding of the “realities” of ghosts, could lead the disciples to a logical conclusion that Jesus was, in fact, “present” among them as a ghost.

The biblical narrative wants to make it clear that the disciples misunderstood the resurrection. For Jesus, the work of ministry is an embodied one. God preformed acts of redemption through Christ’s embodied presence. For his hands reached out to those in pain, healed the sick, and with those hands children were blessed. Jesus’ feet were kissed and anointed by those in desperate need of help; they carried him from village to village and towards the cross. Surely, Christ is more than a ghost for the resurrected body of our Lord is a a means of validating of the whole ministry and presence of Christ on earth. Furthermore, just as Jesus’ ministry embodied the love of the Father, so our calling is for us to physically embody with our whole being the ministry of our risen Lord.

Interestingly, Jesus does not chastise or demean the disciples for questioning his physical presence. Rather, he encourages them to move beyond their state of fear; he wants to establish his real presence among them as he encourages them to touch his side. In turn, their fear turns to joy as they experience the real presence of Jesus among them, yet we are told they are still disbelieving and still wondering. Their doubt appears to be a precondition of faith. As they question God, the scriptures are opened to them as Jesus engages them in their doubt.

Now, it is important to note that fear and doubt are two different things. Questioning or doubting that Jesus has truly risen is natural. In some ways, to doubt is the means by which we grow in faith as we question how God calls us to respond to the world. How can one come trust something or someone if they have not first worked through their doubts. Fear, on the other hand is very different. Fear can cause second guessing. Fear can create a stumbling block. Fear can stop one from moving forward. Interestingly, Jesus engages the disciples in study, not after he rids them of their doubts, but only after he mitigates their fear. For we nor the disciples can come to the conversation with open minds if we are trapped by fear.

Fear is often contextual and even personal. Some of us fear medical diagnoses such as cancer. Others of us fear the loss of a job or the loss of relationships. Still other fears are communal, such as the discontinuance of our church or the possibility of violence erupting in our cities and towns. Some of us feel fear on a national or international level such as fear of Covid-19 or fear of a terrorist attack. Underneath many of our fears is one that we tend to avoid talking about: the fear of death. Fear hold us captive. It prevents us from moving forward in life, in mission, and in ministry. This is why Jesus worked to move the disciples beyond their fears.

In moving the disciples beyond their fears, Jesus offered them peace. From the time of his greeting, “Peace be with you” to his instruction and opening of the scriptures to them in the later portion of this morning’s gospel lesson, his intent was to dispel their fears with peace. However, we must acknowledge that peace is not security. And, in fact, our call is not to security but to be a people who take risks. One theologian writes that the disciples were “led…forth to great risk, witnessing to the risen Christ. Jesus did not bing them security. Rather, they risked all in following his call. For they had come to understand that Jesus had conquered the ultimate threat, death itself, and their fears were groundless.” In other words, the peace that Christ brought became manifested in their hearts. In moving past their fears, in receiving Christ’s peace, they were empowered to trade security for risk in following after their risen Lord.

In following after our risen Lord, we and the disciples alike, begin to understand our identity. Our identity is not as citizens of Rome or the United States of America. Our identity is not as citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia or Pittsylvania County. Our identity is not even marked by our last names. Rather, our identity is found as Children of God. In our epistle lesson this morning, we are reminded that our identity is grounded in God’s love for us.

Much like ancient times, we tend to understand our identity through our father. This is why we customarily see wives take their husband’s last names in marriages. However, as followers of Jesus it is not through our earthly father that we come to understand our identity. Our identify as God’s children affirms that we are called and loved by God and our understand of who we are is found in God. It reminds us of God’s faithfulness. It reminds us of the transformation that is offered to us in our baptisms and reaffirmed for us along the way.

In accepting this identity we must begin to examine our lives. We are a sinful people. Yet, our call is to more than just accepting this identity. If we accept our identity as God’s children, we must begin to live into that identity through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. You see, if we genuinely give our allegiance to God, if we truly choose to follow Jesus, then we must begin embody the likeness of Jesus. We must move further and further on our journey toward christian perfection as we push ourselves toward, what one theologian writes, “moral excellence, toward lives without sin, toward lives characterized by love of God and others.” In other words, if we accept the peace that Christ has to offer, if we move past fear, if we continue wrestling with doubts, if we move closer toward God, we must begin show it in the fruit of our lives. We must show others that we are Christians.

Part of that following after Christ is showing others that our call is not individualistic nor is it an isolated faith. We need to be in community, we need to gather as a community, we need to be accountable to the community. Jesus did not appear to each disciple individually in our gospel lesson this morning. Rather, the disciples were gathered together in community, as the church. We must come together as the church to struggle together and to witness together to the love of God in our lives, to our claiming as Children of God. In our witnessing we have what one theologian has coined the thinnest of all portfolios. “The church has no weapon, no credentials, no powerful allies, no fancy remedies or quick fixes; it has to offer only what it has seen and heard in Jesus.”

If we are honest with ourselves, is this not what the world really needs? The world doesn’t want some complicated guide on how to be perfect nor does it want rules upon rules. The world does not want something fancy. The world wants something simple: honest, courageous disciples who still stand up and share the truth with the world. The world needs us, especially now, to stand up and show them the love of God. To show them that they have an opportunity to be named and claimed by God. To have the opportunity to have their fear removed. To have the opportunity to be loved and to love others. This is our peace. This is our hope. This our joy in the midst of uncertainty. This is how we dare to dance again.