In the Hands of Grace: Living as Easter People

Testing Patience

Today’s scripture begins with a festival of lights. Some may know this as the festival of dedication or Hanukkah.

This was a time for the Jewish community to recall the reclaiming of Jerusalem through the Maccabees rebellion.

It is a time of joy and celebration for the people.

Jesus strolls through the Portico of Solomon during this festival of lights.

This would have been a familiar place for Jesus to stroll through, as this was a traditional place for teaching and engaging in dialogue.

Just as Jesus is enjoying his stroll, the text tells us that a crowd begins to surround him.

At this point in the scripture, we know that Jesus has healed a blind man… we know Jesus has claimed to be the good shepherd.…

We know some understand this miracle, this teaching to mean he is the Messiah. Some have dropped everything to follow Jesus.

But… but… some people don’t quite understand this miracle or the teachings of Jesus...

This crowd gathers in on Jesus… well, some genuinely seek to know who Christ is—they want to understand, they’re frustrated…

…they don’t get it; they’re searching, they’re seeking for the right wavelength to get on board...

Others… have more malicious intent and want him to make a direct claim so they can reject him.

This crowd moves in on Jesus, and someone pipes up…

…I imagine the instigator of the group asks Jesus... “How long will you test our patience? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

Now, I don’t know about you… But there are times when I can recall that my brother and I would get that question from my mother at a time or two or a dozen...

“How long will you test my patience...”

There once was a boy named John...

From the moment he could talk, John had been fascinated by big words, strange words, and words with secret meanings.

One might say… messianic meanings.

He didn’t just speak; he crafted sentences like an artist paints landscapes. The problem?

His parents weren’t prepared for their son to communicate as if he were delivering Shakespearean monologues in everyday life.

One evening, as John sat at the dinner table, his mom asked him if he wanted more mashed potatoes.

Instead of a simple "yes" or "no," John dramatically placed a hand on his heart and declared, "Mother, while the sustenance is indeed divine, I find my stomach teetering on the precipice of excess! Alas, I must decline, lest I fall victim to the tyranny of overindulgence!"

His parents exchanged glances.

"John, you could just say you're full," his dad muttered.

Undeterred, John continued his linguistic escapades. When asked to clean his room, he sighed wistfully, gazing at the ceiling.

"Ah, what is cleanliness but a fleeting illusion? Does not disorder breed creativity? Can one truly live in structured perfection?"

When his mother asked him to stop leaving books scattered across the house, he responded, "But dearest mother, must not knowledge be freely accessible to those who seek it?" His mother finally exhaled sharply and groaned:

"John, how long will you test my patience?"

Sometimes we just don’t understand each other—we’re in our teenage years while our parents are in their parenting years...

Now, for the most part, we grow out of our teenage years, our parents discover new ways to get through to us, we mature… and our relationship moves beyond that testing phase.

It might take many, many, and in my case, many years.…

Many years of experience… as any good Methodist.

Experience

Part of our tradition is to emphasize the importance of experience as we interact with Scripture.

This intersection of experience and scripture allows us to interpret our experiences in light of biblical truths.

Through doing.…, we authenticate the truths revealed in Scripture, enabling us to claim the Christian witness as our own.

Children just don’t blindly develop trust with the women who have influenced, guided, and encouraged them throughout their lives...

... instead, this trust is developed through their experience of interactions with them.

Our scripture today, I believe, is an invitation...

...an invitation to move beyond the need to compartmentalize God into plainly spoken words…

...an invitation to move into the experiential part of walking the talk.

Jesus tells them: “My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me.”

They follow me… it’s not just the simple act of hearing and knowing; it is to follow...

To follow is to take action; it’s a response to an awakening of their spiritual senses...

It’s a response to this grace that Jesus has touched them...

It’s to align one’s heart with actions that embody the very love that Christ exudes in his care for creation!

Jesus is appealing to these siblings who have swarmed him in the Portico… “I have told you, but you don’t believe.”

If you can’t understand the words coming out of my mouth...

...then look at the “works I do in my Father’s name, let them testify about me,” Jesus tells them...

Yet they still don’t believe…

The lesson here, I believe, is that Jesus' role and identity can’t be confined to mere titles, not mere boxes… it must be experienced!

Just like a child…who develops trust with the women who have influenced, guided, and encouraged them throughout their lives...

...so do sheep! They experience a loving and trusting shepherd and their care for the flock through actions, through consistency, through that everlasting prevenient grace that reaches out...

...and when they realize that grace, they follow…

They convict themselves of their sins, align their hearts with the love Jesus embodies… and follow and experience...

Snatch Game

Yet… some still do not get it.

It is no mistake that Jesus is placed in the Portico of Solomon during this important festival of dedication.

By placing the ministry of Jesus in the festival context, John not only elevates the status of Jesus but also questions the ongoing power of the traditional festivals.

Why is it that people don’t just get it yet?

Is it because they are afraid of losing their power?

Is it because of this upside-down paradigm that Jesus is proposing where

    “Happy are you who are poor,

     because God’s kingdom is yours.

    Happy are you who hunger now

     because you will be satisfied.

    Happy are you who weep now

     because you will laugh. 

   But how terrible for you who are rich

     because you have already received your comfort.

    How terrible for you who have plenty now

     because you will be hungry.

    How terrible for you who laugh now

     because you will mourn and weep."

Some people are afraid of change…

... fearful of prosperity for all and what that takes away from them...

When people fight, argue, and get entangled with the words about God, what the Messiah is, what the hope and vision of God is...

...they sometimes forget what it’s like to walk in the ways of God.

Today is no different than Roman times… Today, we have corporations and political forces who don’t walk in the ways of God because they’re too concerned with losing their protected status...

A United Methodist Bishop in the Nigeria Episcopal area was recently attacked because he represents a denomination of inclusivity.

Our siblings throughout the continent are having their homes burned and families beaten, all because they believe in a God who loves all for who they are and walk on a path that experiences a Christ who loves rather than excludes.

These are people who are scared of what this inclusiveness might do to their privilege and are trying to snatch them up!

We see governments halting food trailers en route for distribution to the poorest neighborhoods in our community snatched up!

We see children snatched from their families.

We see immigrants who have escaped harsh and dangerous environments seeking safe harbor snatched up!

We see immigrants whom we have clothed, fed, nurtured, and cared for snatched up before our eyes...

We see corporate greed snatching up our youth by manipulating them into consumeristic behaviors that dictate how they should look and live to fit in...

We see our green spaces being snatched up by developers who need to expand their carbon footprint or dump hazardous waste...

But my friends… Jesus takes a hard stance on this snatching game we see at play.

Jesus tells them that those who believe “Will never die, and no one will snatch them from my hands.”

This salvific image that Jesus gives us—

takes a stand against the empire

takes a stand against bullies

takes a stand against greed

You can pierce my hands with nails—never will those who believe in me be snatched by empires, bullies, or greedy corporations and governments...

...because Jesus so plainly says: “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Easter People

Just as Easter is proof that Jesus is ultimately in the hands of God, not in the hands of Caesar or the hands of death...

…so can we, too, celebrate that we are in the hands of Jesus and not in the hands of those who would oppress us.

Friends, what does it mean to be Easter People? Let us turn to Acts 9: 36-43.

“In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas). Her life overflowed with good works and compassionate acts for those in need. About that time, though, she became so ill that she died. After they washed her body, they laid her in an upstairs room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, when the disciples heard that Peter was there, they sent two people to Peter. They urged, “Please come right away!” Peter went with them. Upon his arrival, he was taken to the upstairs room. All the widows stood beside him, crying as they showed the tunics and other clothing Dorcas made when she was alive.

Peter sent everyone out of the room, then knelt and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up. He gave her his hand and raised her up. Then he called God’s holy people, including the widows, and presented her alive to them. The news spread throughout Joppa, and many put their faith in the Lord. Peter stayed for some time in Joppa with a particular tanner named Simon.”

To be Easter people means to be shaped in our baptism through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It means to live our faith in Jesus Crucified and Risen by imitating Him in daily life in the way we

speak,

think and

act.

It means to believe that the cross transformed all suffering and pain, and the Resurrection secured the promise of eternal life.

As Easter, People feel compelled to bring compassion and care to our neighbors and to have a passion for justice.

In this scripture passage, we have Tabitha, a female disciple with great importance to the early church, to be named in scripture by both her Greek and Aramaic.

It is so important that the community sends two people after Peter to come and bring her back to life.

It is so important that a cloud of community prays for her and cries out for her.

The importance of Tabitha to the early church and indeed to us today demonstrates what it means to be Easter people to model our actions and right our hearts in joyous love.

When we unlock our spiritual senses, grow in our knowledge of Jesus, accept that grace extended to us, and respond just as Tabitha did, we tighten our stance in the hands of Jesus, where eternal life is granted.

This biblical narrative after the resurrection demonstrates that God is still active and working today.

Community

You’ve heard me talk before about how one of the greatest miracles or gifts that Christ gave us was community.

This community we hear about in Joppa was praying for the healing of one of its members, hoping to make her whole again.

This starkly contrasts Jesus’ siblings, who swarmed him at the festival of dedication, asking him to speak plainly.

This is in stark contrast to those who would snatch and oppress creation.

You see, friends, there is a tendency within us when faced with fear to self-isolate, to pull in, and to go private.

When our backs are against a wall, we tend to lash out or create policies that hurt others to protect ourselves...

Joppa takes a different route… they take a Jesus route...

They pull together as a community, open themselves up to vulnerability, put aside individualism, and pray and hope…

Communities are powerful healing partners in helping us overcome illness and brokenness.

My nine months here at Covenant have shown me what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

You have taught me what it means to love and imitate Christ by providing radical hospitality and welcome to all whom God brings into this faith community, reflecting the universal and inclusive love of Jesus Christ.

You have taught me what it means to be in a Christian Conference with those who might disagree with my theology and what it means to identify areas of alignment and consensus. What it means to stretch myself...

These past nine months have helped to shape and form my pastoral framework, which is rooted in five principles:

People are made in the image of God,

People have the resources within themselves,

People have a positive intention in their behaviors, 

People are always trying their best, and

Transformation is inevitable.

These principles often position me in a pastoral role that is more facilitative than directing.

The opportunities you have afforded me to provide a ministry of presence… is one where I can step into the worldview of those who come through these doors.

To journey with them and to stand in solidarity with them.

Emmanuel Lartey claims, "God is relational and is to be encountered within the relationship matrices of our human life.”  

Just as Tabitha clothed and cared for her community… I see that same embodiment in you.

You, Covenant, are my Tabitha, and I will carry you forever and always in my heart as I follow the pathway God calls me upon.

Come, Let Us with Our Lord Arise, Let our joyful hearts and voices raise, and fill his courts with songs of praise.

In the name of our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.