The Appearings
Notes
Transcript
Jesus Reveals Himself
Jesus Reveals Himself
This sermon is a little different because we’re not identifying and focusing on a theme. We’re identifying and focusing in on a moment, or a series of moments, after the Resurrection.
In the opening scene of John 20, we get basically the same story as we read last week in Luke 24. The women go to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body but they find that his body is not there. They run to tell the disciples, and Peter and John run to find it just as they said. Angels, and then Jesus himself, speak to the women and reveal that Jesus is alive.
“Peace be with you”
Jesus here is using a standard greeting, and so in the moment no doubt his disciples were too overcome with excitement, amazement, and wonder to notice it at all. But later, Jesus says it again. While Shalom may be the standard greeting - still used today - simple to say hello but also indicative of a desire for a blessing on the recipient, Jesus very likely means so much more. And the early disciples caught it. Shalom, or peace, is what Jesus offered his closest companions the night before he died. In John 14:27, he says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” Later, in John 16:33 he tells them, “I have told you these things, so that in my you may have peace.”
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
This speaking of peace is both a signal to the disciples that Jesus completed the work he set out to do on the cross. It affirms his claim that “It is Finished!” But more than a mere confirmation of what Jesus said, it is also an inauguration. Faithful Jews would not miss that peace, shalom, is the condition that marks the arrival of the Kingdom of God on earth. Peace it what God has always offered his people when they enter into his Kingdom. Whether it was the temporary peace of the Promised Land (no enemies on any side) or the image of Isaiah 11:6, where “the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and young lion and fatling will be together, and a little child will lead them.” This is the beginning of a new reality on earth. In Jesus ministry, he taught that the Kingdom of Haven was at hand. Now it had come!
“As the Father has sent me...”
Jesus begins his next statement to the disciples with this preface - as the Father has sent me. These are loaded words, if ever there were ones. How has the Father sent Jesus? To answer that, we need only to summarize the book of John. I’ll do my best to do the short version here. To begin, Jesus is God and has been with god since the beginning. The Son, on other words, came from the Father as one who was fully like the Father. He was not from this world, but came here as an outsider who “incarnated” or took on flesh and blood to be like us in every way. In his baptism he was given the Holy Spirit (also God), who guided and empowered him. He was sent out of God’s love, so that all who believe in him should not die but receive eternal life. He came to save us all from our sins. He was completely obedient. He only said what he heard the Father saying and he only did what he saw the father doing. He was, in fact, obedient even unto death on the cross, wherein he completed his sacrifice as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He rose again in victory, his new life a vindication of his claims as Messiah and as the Son of God. This is how the Father sent him.
“…I am sending you”
And this is how we are sent. The followers of Jesus, who are made children of God by virtue of our faith in Jesus, are no longer “of this world.” We’ve become citizens of a new kingdom, the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. Since we are no longer of this world, Jesus sends us back into the world that he has saved us from. But we are changed. We are now like Christ…Christians being formed into his image. We are called, though in a smaller way, to incarnate or live among those we are sent to minister to. Jesus has promised us the Holy Spirit who guides us and empowers us. Because of God’s great love for the world, he does guide us by the Holy Spirit to proclaim freedom from sin and declare the resurrection of Christ for those in need of salvation. This same spirit helps to sanctify us and make us obedient to Jesus, just as Jesus was obedient to his Father.
We have the impossible, but totally achievable, mission of extending the ministry of Jesus (who still works in this ministry) to all who will receive him. Our call is to be perfectly obedient to Jesus by doing what he tells us to do and saying what he tells us to say, both by the Holy Spirit and through his earthly teachings. It’s impossible because we are not yet what we will be, and so we do not have within ourselves the resources or abilities to complete this mission. It’s totally achievable because we have the God of the universe on our side, and his job is to do all the heavy lifting! Like the young child who helps her daddy move a heavy load. Is she working? Of course! Does her help impact the outcome? No, not really. But that’s not the point. If she didn’t get in there and push as hard as she could, she would miss out on the accomplishment of the task, not to mention that she would fail to receive the benefit of getting stronger in the process.
“Receive the Holy Spirit”
In this moment after the resurrection, Jesus speaks to his followers about that promised helper that he committed to send them after he was gone (John 14: 16 and 16:7). The night before he died, Jesus said that another one like him would come, but only if he left. This helper of counselor or comforter is the Holy Spirit, the one who comes alongside us in life to assist us and lead us just as Jesus did for the 12 disciples. But this speaking is not acting. Jesus clearly said that the Holy Spirit would not come until we went to be with the Father. So this moment of speaking of the Spirit is a reminder that the Spirit's coming in imminent. Some confusion is common here, mostly because our English translations say that Jesus breathed on the disciples. As many of you know, the word for Spirit, both in Greek (pnuema) and Hebrew (ruach), also means wind or air or breath. What is often understood is that Jesus, by breathing on them, is imparting the Spirit in that moment. However, the original text says only that Jesus breathed, meaning he took a breath, and told them to receive the Spirit. This is a symbolic word that Jesus speaks to his followers as an encouragement to remember what is coming. Lest we forget, I remind you that this even took place the evening of that first Easter Sunday. The gift of the Holy spirit, at Pentecost, will not arrive for another 7 weeks. But everyone reading the book of John would have known that the gift had materialized just as Jesus said it would. Just as everyone reading would know that when Jesus washed the disciples feet, it anticipated the greater cleansing that Jesus did on the cross.
This reading of the moment, that Jesus was only reminding them that the coming of the Holy Spirit was imminent, does not diminish in any way the gravity of what Jesus was doing. He was preparing his followers to receive the gift that makes all that we just discussed possible. Jesus cannot send his Church - his brothers and sisters - into his mission if they do not have the resource they need to accomplish it. The Holy Spirit is the resource. He is the one who is like Jesus and therefore able to help us do what Jesus wants us to do. It is also necessary for Jesus’ next statement to be true.
“If you forgive…they stand forgiven”
This statement is another that is often misunderstood. Here Jesus makes the grand claim that whoever the disciples forgive is forgiven and whoever they do not forgive is not forgiven. But rather than seeing a power bestowed on the disciples actually confer or grant forgiveness, what we should see here is a mission and ministry that reveals forgiveness. Without getting too deeply into the Greek text here, it is important to understand that the phrase we read as “their sins are forgiven” or “they are not forgiven” are just 2 words and 1 word, respectively. The verbs represented here are passive verbs, meaning the action is not done to them by the subject.
In English, we might say “the ball was thrown to Mary.” There is nothing in the sentence that says who did the action. We know the ball was thrown but we don’t know who threw it. Likewise, in this Greek sentence, we know that people are or forgiven or not forgive, but we don’t know who did it. Except we do know who did it. It is God who forgives or doesn’t forgive. And we already know from John how this happens. In John 3:18 we read
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
In other words, the role of the followers of Jesus is to proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to a world caught in the slavery of sin. This message is the hope of salvation for those who believe, but it is also condemnation for those who do not. To accept the sacrifice of Christ and his forgiveness of sins is to be forgiven. To reject this message is to reject that forgiveness. If anything more need be done by the followers of Jesus in this process, it is simply to recognize that which Jesus has already taught. When the Gospel is proclaimed, those who reject it can be told “you are not forgiven.” But to those who accept it, the disciples can joyfully proclaim “you are forgiven!” In the whole process, it is the promised Holy Spirit who helps us proclaim and embody this gospel message. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of sin. It is the Holy Spirit who breaks down strongholds and makes a pathway for belief. It is the Holy Spirit who applies the forgiveness of Christ to repentant sinners or refrains from absolving the unrepentant.
Our goal is what we have already said. We must carry on the mission of Christ and extend it through cooperation with his Spirit to a hurting and dying world. Jesus, and his Spirit, will do all the heavy lifting.The
Takeaway:
Takeaway: