Seen, Felt, and Declared

 The first Sunday after a couple bought a new car, they parked it as far from the entrance of the church as possible, not wanting to be seem like they were showing it off. While talking with friends after the service, the husband accidentally hit the panic button on his electronic key. Immediately the car's horn blared and its lights flashed. Watching him fumble with the button, his friend teased him, "Wouldn't it have been in better taste to ask the pastor to put a slide into the announcements?" Do you remember show and tell from when you were a little kid? There was the excitement of being able to take something that was special or new to you to school and show it to your classmates and tell them what was so special about it. Sometimes it was a favorite toy. Other times it might simply be a brightly colored fall leaf, a shiny rock, or a souvenir from the previous summer's vacation. Still other times, especially in the Spring of the year, it might be the box turtle that was crossing the road that you convinced your parents to stop and save or it might be the garden snake that your mom wouldn't let in the house. Regardless of what it was, it was something that was so special, something that brought so much joy, that you knew that it would make you happier if you could simply tell someone else about it so that they might have the same sense of joy and happiness with you. We tried to capture a little bit of that excitement this morning during the children's message. Adults have not graduated from this concept of show and tell, they simply do it with pictures and slideshows...whether we are talking slideshows as I grew up with on that carrousel projector (where you had to work to make sure the pictures were in there right side up and facing the right direction). In today's world you all you have to do is pull out your phone or simply post them on Facebook. If this kind of joy and happiness can be found by sharing such common things as toys, leaves, rocks, shells, turtles, snakes, and pictures, how much more powerful would be the experience and joy of sharing something so unique and so powerful that nothing else could ever come close. Just imagine the experience to sharing a risen Savior. The disciples had been gathered together in that upper room with the doors shut tight and windows closed. They were in hiding. They were afraid that the same thing would happen to them that happened to Jesus, and they didn't want to hang from a cross. Then something amazing happened. Not just once, but on at least two occasions. There in their midst was Jesus, risen from the dead. Oh what a wonderful and powerful experience. It was not something that they could keep to themselves. We know that after the first time Christ appeared to them, they went out telling everyone of the experience, for how else could Thomas have doubted unless he had been told about it. Moreover, when Christ appeared to them again, he said to Thomas and the others, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." For others to have believed without seeing means that Mary Magdalene and the disciples had been going around declaring to everyone their experience with the risen Christ. They wanted everyone else to know of and experience the same joy they had in this great event. In fact, the author of the gospel wants everyone to know and share in the experience and joy of knowing a risen Savior. He closes out the twentieth chapter by saying, "these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name." This same feeling is echoed in the Epistle of 1st John: "We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete."i Somewhere our society has gotten the notion that we are to get as much as we can and keep as much as we can. The idea has crept in that if we share what we have that it will be depleted and we will have no more. The problem is, that most of the folks we see living out this miserly attitude seem to live sad lives that are constantly trying to obtain more to find that elusive happiness. Even worse is that this kind of thinking has led us to keep to ourselves any wonderful experiences that we may have because if we share a special experience and everyone else experiences it, it won't be special anymore-like our favorite fishing spot or a quiet secluded retreat. Praise be to God that the disciples didn't feel that way. They knew that the experience of the risen Christ was one that had to be shared-in fact they realized that until they shared this experience with others and brought others into the fellowship of believers that they could not be completely happy. In much the same way that a child's joy in finding that turtle could not be complete until they shared it with someone else or the joy of a trip is not complete until all of those pictures have been show around to everyone, the disciples knew that their joy would only be complete as the message of the promise of eternal life in the risen Christ was spread to everyone. The love of God and the joy of salvation work just the opposite of the money in your wallet. If you were to pull out your wallet right now and start giving out all the money in your wallet, bill by bill, soon that wallet would be empty (maybe it already is since place your offering in the plate as you come in), but more bills are not going to just magically appear in that wallet as you empty it in giving the money away. I'm not saying that there won't be more or other rewards down the line. I'm not saying that you might not be the recipient of someone else's generosity, I'm just saying that as soon as you hand out the last bill, the wallet will be empty. The love of God, though, and the joy of a living relationship with our savior, is just the opposite. The more we give away, the more we have. The more we share God's love, the more love we will find in our lives. The more we share the story of God's salvation with others, the richer their lives become, and the richer our lives become as they come to Christ and surrender their lives. Think of it this way: Last year we dealt with a pandemic; we dealt with masks and physical distancing. We deal with executive orders. We dealt with governmental elections. Most people had no trouble making known how they felt about the issues. There were, often heated, discussion There were signs put up, flags raised, bumper stickers put on our vehicles, even parades were held. Each one was to declare what we felt was in the best interest of our community, our country, and the world. The views we would freely share are what we thought would save families and save lives. My brothers and sisters, when we share the Gospel message, when we declare to the world that our Savior lives, we are providing the only true lifesaving news there is. Only God can save their lives, but we are the instruments of proclamation based on our experiences with the saving grace of Jesus Christ. The experience of Christ in our lives is not an experience that we are to keep to ourselves or keep quiet about. It is a message that we are called to share with everyone. If the experience of Christ in our lives has been something significant or special, then we need to share that experience with others-we need to declare to others what we have seen and felt. For as it was with the disciples, it will only be as others come to know Jesus, as others become our brothers and sisters in Christ, as others join us in worshipping and sharing the news of the Risen Christ, that our joy will be complete. Amen. i 1 John 1:1, 3-4 --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 1 Seen, Felt, and Declared John 20:19-31 / 1st John 1:1-4