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Introduction: Table Presence
You may have seen the story this week… hundreds of cars stuck on I-95 because of the snow in Virginia.
Among those who were stuck in the snow were a husband and wife from Maryland.
Casey and John had been sitting for hours, stranded on 1_95.
Casey and John hadn’t eaten for 37 hours when they saw a bread truck among the vehicles stranded.
Casey and John called the company’s customer service and asked if they could have some of the bread in that truck.
They were surprised when they heard back from the company giving them the OK.
When it was over, the bread truck driver and some other good samaritans emptied the truck and fed passengers in more than 50 vehicles stranded on their section of I-95.
Bread for the hungry in the midst of a crisis.
Review: Seeing Jesus
We are spending the first three weeks in 2022 reaquainting ourselves with what it means to be the Table.
What Casey and John are doing with bread on I-95 in the middle of a snowstorm is what we have been doing the past couple of years here in Los Fresnos.
We are loved by Jesus for the love of Los Fresnos.
As we think about 2022, we are entering our third year of existence.
Two years of our existence has been in a pandemic.
Right now, the numbers are off the charts again here in the RGV.
And yet, Jesus has seen fit to bring us to this point.
What will The Table be in 2022?
What does Loved by Jesus for the love of Los Fresnos look like in 2022?
I began this last week.
I want us to think in terms of Table Presence.
What does it mean for the Table to be present in Los Fresnos in 2022?
In many respects, the Table will continue doing what it has always done in connecting people to Jesus.
So as we think about this, we find ourselves in the Gospel of John chapter 20.
We read the text a few moments ago.
Last week we suggested that Table Presence in 2022 begins with Seeing Jesus.
When Jesus rises from the dead, seeing Jesus becomes a big deal.
And it is still a big deal.
Seeing Jesus in His Word, Seeing Jesus in His Sacraments, and Seeing Jesus in His people.
Seeing Jesus leads to Being Jesus
But there’s something else going on in this passage that we need to see.
Again.. after Jesus rises from the dead, we find the disciples huddled together in Jerusalem behind locked doors.
It’s not just the 11.. there are many followers of Jesus who are self-quarantining.
They are sheltering-in-isolation because they are afraid.
It’s been three days since their best friend was executed by the Roman authorities in Jerusalem.
These men and women are in hiding.
John goes out of his way to note that they are on lockdown because they are afraid that the same crowd that had executed their prophetic rabbi would be coming after them shortly.
But there is come confusion and hope.
3 people in that room showed up with strange tales.
Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’ best friends, says Jesus is alive.
She has seen him.
Peter and John talk about seeing an empty tomb.
As they consider what these three are saying, their world is turned upside down when Jesus shows up in the room.
Jesus shows them his hands and his side.
And they believe.
They have seen Jesus.
Jesus is alive.
but Jesus isn’t simply showing himself.
He has come to instruct.
One of the most fascinating things about this account of Jesus with his followers, there is no talk about how it all happened.
I love crime shows on TV.
When I have time to binge watch, which is very, very little these days, I’m going to watch a crime show.
I love the science and the forensics and the who done it stuff.
But all good crime shows swing on the question of “how”.
If Mrs. Peacock committed murder in the library, we want to know how.
Was it with the rope?
Was it with the candlestick?
We’re never satisfied with the great questions in life unless we know “how”.
There’s no discussion of “how” in John’s story.
In fact, in the whole Bible, the discussion of “how” Jesus was raised from the dead gets very little space.
Instead, the first words out of Jesus’ mouth are these:
Peace
John 20:19 Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
The first thing.
And he repeats this after he shows them his hands and feet.
Peace be with you.
This is the main message of Christ’s appearance to his best friends.
He's not simply giving them a greeting.
This is the point.
It's as if, in the midst of all of their joy, Jesus wants them to hear him say "Peace be with you."
If you missed it the first time, in all of the hub-bub… please hear me say it again… Peace be with you.
It is very easy to look at this phrase in this passage and immediately see the Christian greeting.
The other writers of the New Testament incorporate this into their greetings.
But Jesus, throughout this story in John, has been talking about peace the whole time, especially in the last week.
Before he died this is what Jesus told his friends:
John 14:27 ““Peace I leave with you.
My peace I give to you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.”
Before Jesus’ resurrection he had promised them peace.
Now, as they huddle in fear, his first words are “peace”.
Jesus is giving them the peace that he had promised.
It’s not as the world gives peace.
The world gives peace with artifical truce.
Jesus gives peace through saving sinners from their sin.
Jesus gives sinners peace from the war between the Creator and creatures because of sin.
Jesus gives peace in giving eternal life.
These disciples are hunkered down in fear.
They have self-quarantined, afraid that they are next on the hit list of the religious authorities.
When Jesus appears, what is the first thing you want to hear from him?
What is it that you need to hear from him before anything else is said?
Peace.
Peace.
They need to hear that all is right with the world.
Jesus is alive and he is bringing peace with him.
His presence is peace.
His word is peace.
The context for what has transpired in the last 72 hours for Jesus' followers is violence.
War.
Darkness.
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