Easter 7B

7th Sunday of Easter, Year B

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed - hallelujah!

The lesson from Acts today has much to teach us. In this lesson, there are references to 2 men who have died: Judas Iscariot and Jesus of Nazareth. While both men were part of this same group, their deaths had very different meanings, and very different eternities.

In this first chapter of Acts, Peter is emerging as the leader of the new movement, the followers of Jesus - the people of the Way, as they will come to be known. The Messiah has, by this time, ascended into heaven to be with the Father. And now the time for Peter and the Apostles to continue his work has come. But first, they must address an obstacle: they are one person short for their team.

What’s the difference between 11 and 12 Apostles? First of all, Jesus himself decided that they needed 12, and that should be enough. But 12 is also symbolic of the Tribes of Israel…the sons of Jacob. If one tribe is not represented, then part of Israel is left out. To have 12 means to represent the entire nation of Israel…and they are certainly God’s chosen people. Or perhaps from a more practical view, the workload was designed for 12 workers, and now they’re missing one of the team. Someone has to pick up his load.

Judas’ death, as it is described here, is quite unpleasant. He literally burst open, seemingly from the overwhelming evil that had welled up inside him. His innards just gushed out and the field where this happened would be forever known as the Field of Blood - not a friendly title for a piece of land, and it would appear to be forever cursed - desolate, with no one to ever live on it. Not land anyone would ever want to purchase. So Judas’ death is unclean, and it is tainted with so-called “blood money” - the price of betraying his teacher over to the Pharisees so that he could be executed. Even when Judas realized his wrong and went to return the money, the Pharisees wouldn’t take it, calling it “blood money”. Judas’ death is, in a variety of ways, unclean. It doesn’t say in this passage, but it’s unclear if he was ever buried properly or just left there in the field.

And what brought on Judas’ death? Primarily his hopelessness. Following Jesus’ arrest, he seemed to have a change of heart and wanted to undo what he had done…even if it was too late. He tried to give the money back, but it didn’t work. He had sentenced his teacher to death, and he regretted it. Why had he done it? Well, greed seems to be the obvious answer. He did it for the money. But there had to be something in his heart that would allow him to do such a thing for money…of any amount. In John’s Gospel account, we are told that “Satan entered into him” (ch 13, vs 27). It was not merely greed in Judas’ heart, but Satan at work in him, twisting him for evil purposes. Ironically, it was exactly these evil purposes that would have the greatest benefit for all of humanity.

Judas may have been one of the twelve, but he was not in unity with the twelve. He had an agenda, and he was dishonest and disloyal. He sided with the world against the Messiah. He betrayed the trust of his teacher and his friends. And he did it all for a bag of silver coins.

So that’s one of the dead men. The other, of course, is the Messiah himself - Jesus of Nazareth. Peter acknowledges Jesus as Lord in this passage, as he describes the need to replace Judas the betrayer. Prior to his arrest and execution, Jesus was their teacher and their friend. He had led them away from their jobs, their homes, and their families and had united them in faith. He had showed them what God’s plan for the world was, and how we are to live in it, the way God intended…not the way the law had been twisted and misinterpreted.

Jesus had not only united with the twelve, but he was the one who united them. He gave them purpose and bound them together as not just students, but brothers. He was their teacher and their role model. And as they learned from him, he showed them that he was also the Messiah foretold by the prophets. He did signs and wonders in their presence. He kept them together, taught them to reject the lies of the world, and gave them hope for the future, and hope even after death. Jesus did what Judas could not.

And there was one more thing that Judas could not do - and that was to rise from the grave. This is, after all, what Easter is about - Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Judas died a horrible, unclean, and solitary death. Jesus died an awful death, certainly, but he was not alone. His mother, at least one apostle, and a few other friends were there as he hung on the cross. And when he finally died, a rich man gave him a proper burial in a private tomb. His body was well-cared for after death, and he was protected from the elements and from anyone who might seek to desecrate his corpse. His followers loved him even after his death.

Jesus’ death was important. It meant that he had given the perfect atoning sacrifice for the forgiveness of the sins of all of us - every sinful human being who ever was and who ever will be. That is how complete his atonement was. But if all Jesus did was to die, then he would not have been the Messiah. He would not have been as special as he was. Death could not hold him. Death was not the end of Jesus’ story.

Even more important than Jesus’ death was his rising again to new life on the third day. Jesus *had to* rise from the dead. “If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the Christian faith is a foolish fantasy. However, if the resurrection of Christ did occur, it confirms His life, message, and atoning work. It is the basis of our hope of life beyond the grave.” [Kurt E. DeHaan] Jesus’ resurrection is THE central event in the Christian faith.

After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his followers and showed them that he had authority over death and the grave. He showed them the plan that the Father has for all of us on the Last Day. He showed them that everything he told them he would do had come true. And he helped them to understand what he had been teaching them all that time.

This past Thursday was the actual date that we celebrate Jesus’ Ascension to the right hand of the Father. As he ascended, he left behind a group of mere sinful human beings to carry on his work and teaching. He left behind a ragtag group of fishermen, tradesmen, and even a tax collector - none of whom were “properly” trained in the Law or the Scriptures, but who gave up everything to follow Jesus and learn from him. So he provided their training. Can you imagine…learning at the very feet of the Messiah himself?

And so we carry on the tradition that was begun in this very passage in Acts. The church as a mission to carry out, and it must have enough workers to do the job. What difference does Jesus’ resurrection mean to the church today? It means that we can know and believe that God keeps his promises. It means that we have been given a story and a promise that we are called to share with those who don’t know it or haven’t heard it. It means that we are called to live a life that reflects the teachings of our Lord and Savior, and that means looking more to others than we do to ourselves.

If we are to follow Christ, we must understand why his resurrection is the most important event in our faith. His resurrection is at the center of our beliefs, it is the very reason that we are who we say we are. His resurrection means that we don’t have to fear the scariest thing in the history of humanity - death. Because Jesus was resurrected, we know that death is not the end, and that Jesus has power over it.

Jesus’ resurrection sets him apart from all other human beings - Judas included. His resurrection reminds us that if death can’t hold him, then it can’t hold us, either. And if death can’t hold us, then neither can sin. Any sin we’re guilty of…any sin we’ve committed, Jesus’ death has bought our forgiveness for that. We can be forgiven because of him. Not because we deserve it, not because we can earn it, but because he took care of it on the cross.

I can’t help but think of the Apostles, watching their Messiah…teacher…friend being lifted up in the clouds and disappearing before their eyes. It must have been difficult to see him leave and think that he was no longer with them. We can, I think, empathize with that. We don’t see Jesus. And because we don’t, it’s easy for us to feel like he’s just somewhere else, away from us…apart from us. But that’s not the case. He *is* with us. In His Word and especially in His Sacraments. They are a constant and consistent reminder that He does remain with us.

Again today we will celebrate Holy Communion. We will receive his body and his blood as he reveals himself to us. As we receive those elements, we remember what he gave up for us, what he endured for us, and what he conquered for us. And we remember that because we have been baptized, we also died with him, setting us free from the sin which weighed us down.

Now that we know what his death and resurrection mean for us, now that we know what grounds our faith as Christians, what are we to do about it? How are we to respond? My friend Pastor Hefner teaches that “the first thing faith says is ‘thank you’.” So today, as we come near to the end of the Easter celebration, we come to the Lord’s Table and say “thank you, Jesus” for all that he has done for us. And as we go out from this place today, as we depart the House of the Lord, let’s all remember what he has done for us, and remember that we do not follow a dead man, but one who was raised from the dead. One who unites us all. One who has promised us an eternity with him because of a victory that he’s already achieved. With our eyes on that prize, everything else seems a bit less scary, doesn’t it?

“Little Philip, born with Down's syndrome, attended a third-grade Sunday School class with several eight-year-old boys and girls. Typical of that age, the children did not readily accept Philip with his differences, according to an article in leadership magazine. But because of a creative teacher, they began to care about Philip and accept him as part of the group, though not fully.

The Sunday after Easter the teacher brought L'eggs pantyhose containers, the kind that look like large eggs. Each receiving one, the children were told to go outside on that lovely spring day, find some symbol for new life, and put it in the egg-like container. Back in the classroom, they would share their new-life symbols, opening the containers one by one in surprise fashion. After running about the church property in wild confusion, the students returned to the classroom and placed the containers on the table. Surrounded by the children, the teacher began to open them one by one. After each one, whether a flower, butterfly, or leaf, the class would ooh and ahh.

Then one was opened, revealing nothing inside. The children exclaimed, That's stupid. That's not fair. Somebody didn't do their assignment."

Philip spoke up, "That's mine."

"Philip, you don't ever do things right!" the student retorted. "There's nothing there!"

"I did so do it," Philip insisted. "I did do it. It's empty. the tomb was empty!"

Silence followed. From then on Philip became a full member of the class. He died not long afterward from an infection most normal children would have shrugged off. At the funeral this class of eight-year-olds marched up to the altar not with flowers, but with their Sunday school teacher, each to lay on it an empty pantyhose egg.”

[http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/r/resurrection.htm]

We know it to be true because … Christ is risen! He is risen indeed…hallelujah!

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.