Shadows of Jesus

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Christ is Risen!

In our world, we have this desire to want to be our own person, we want to discover our own passions, we want the ability for people to know us by our own achievements and successes. For example, those of you will siblings may have heard this growing up: Oh, you are so and so - older brother aren’t you? Oh isn’t your sister the person in the school who this state award? Or maybe those of you who are married - aren’t you so and so wife? Or aren’t isn’t your wife the one did this big project at our work? Or maybe some you are asked - are you so and so wife - you must be so lucky to be married to her? Or perhaps some of you have had questions like this when it comes to your parents. Aren’t you John’s kid - he is such a great guy? Aren’t you the son of Barb - she is the best person? When we hear comments like this from other people - although they are true; it can be difficult because we want to be our own person - we don’t want to be recognized only be someone else, we don’t want to find ourselves living under someone else’s shadow.

In our text today, we have Peter and the rest of the disciples carrying out the mission of God. In the book of Acts, at this point Jesus is already resurrected back to heaven, the disciples have experience Pentecost - the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and they are sent forth to do the mission of God in the world. In our text, we find Peter and the rest of the disciples doing the signs and wonders of God among the people. Our text says that they were in Solomon’s Portico - which was in the temple, in Jerusalem. In our text, there people who filled with such awe, filled with such wonder that other groups of the Jews where afraid to meddle with them. And the numbers of God’s people continued to grow, believers in Jesus continued to grow as they saw the powerful signs of the disciples and heard the powerful proclamation of the disciples. And the text gives us a clue of how highly they thought of Peter, that they were willing to carry people who were sick, those who were afflicted, in order that they might find themselves under the shadow of Peter in hopes that they would be healed just by touching the shadow of Peter. And many people found themselves healed, they found themselves restored, through the power of the word - through the Gospel hope of Jesus. The people saw power - the words of Peter; they saw results of Peter’s proclamation; they desired to experience this for themselves, so much - they wanted to be found in under the shadow of Peter to be healed from these great, horrible diseases that they dealt with.

In our text, today - the people in our reading that were afflicted with diseases and sickness and as they heard the disciples preach and teach - there were hoping to find themselves close Peter’s shadow. But you and me have a God today, that isn’t content with you being that far away our distant - but instead He calls you to come near to Him and His words of life. Maybe some of us today feel like we are dwelling in the shadow of sin - we feel like we can’t escape the power of guilt and shame, but Jesus invites you to find comfort under the shadow of the cross. Where your sins were taken away and you are forgiven. Or perhaps some of us as we gather - today we feel like we are living in the shadow of death; as we experience the death of loved one, and grief and sadness that comes with that, but Jesus invites you under the shadow of His power - which has conquered death to give you the victory over the grave for you. Or perhaps today, you find your self dwelling in the shadow of difficult times and moments. You find yourself stressed, worried, completely overwhelmed. But Jesus today - doesn’t just stand by, but He comes near to you. He invites you to dwell in the promises He has for you; promises of life, promises of provision, promises that He is always with you! Jesus today comes near to you - not like the text where people are hoping to just touch the shadow of Peter, but Jesus comes near that you may be His.

Just like the disciples of Jesus, as people who know the love of Jesus - we are invited not to just dwell in the shadow and power of Jesus’ love, but also we are to be shadows of Jesus for other people in this world. We are to model, the love of Jesus for other people to find refuge in Him. What does that look like?

First, it’s about telling the word. Peter and the rest of the disciples- were there in the temple in Jerusalem preaching the message of Jesus -and there were mixed results. There were some as we have talked about who revered, feared, and believed the message of Peter - as he was preaching Jesus. Then there were others who filled with anger, jealousy, and wanted this message to stop. It says in our text - that there was a group of Sadducees, that went and arrested the apostles, and put them in prison because they wanted this message to stop. But that night in prison it says, that an angel of the Lord came and opened the prison doors, gave them instructions to, “Go and stand in temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”Go and speak these words of life about Jesus - just like you were doing. Go and do the thing - that put you in prison again, go and preach the words of life. For us today, as a shadows of Jesus - may we continue to preach the word of life. We aren’t doing it for results or praise of others, but we are carrying forward the mission of God. Because the words of Jesus truly bring life! We are called to bring forward this words of life - being faithful to what our Lord has done!

Living under the shadow and being a shadow Jesus in this world, it means finding time to be close to Him. A shadow can’t be disconnected to the the things that cause them. For example, if your light source is on one side of the room and if you stand on the other side - you won’t cast a shadow, because you are too far away from the light source. Jesus Christ is our light source, He is our hope, and in order to be a shadow of Him for other people to see, for other people to experience His love, for other people to see Jesus in us, we need to be close to Him. This means spending moments hearing what He has said, this means spending time in praise and reflection of what He has done. This means living in the reality of the victory that Jesus has won for us on Easter!

Lastly, as Peter experienced a great group of people flocking to him to hear his powerful words and find comfort in them. The power really doesn’t come from him. The power of their healings isn’t this great working of Peter - but it is the power of Jesus; it is the power of the message in which Peter was proclaiming. It was all about Jesus. For us today, as live as Shadows of Jesus - it’s not about us. We aren’t Jesus. We aren’t the Savior of the world. And for us today, as we strive to be like Jesus - we know we can’t be exactly what He is. But our hope is that people will see Jesus in us. Our hope is that others will see Jesus and His love reflected through us. It’s not about our power, but we hide ourselves in Jesus that they may Him - the One we are pointing to.

May we today not just live for ourselves, but may we find ourselves living under the shadow of Jesus!

Now may the grace of the peace of God which surpasses all understanding may it guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.