Whether you drive a Jeep or a Prius, whether you eat processed grains or are an organic vegan, the risen Christ invites you to come through the gate and join the flock.
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The unbelief of the disciples that we frown upon during Eastertide creeps up for many of us before the lilies and tulips of Easter Sunday go dormant for another year.
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April 8, 2018 - Mount Olivet UMC
Year B, Easter 2
John 20:19-31
The ending of The Gospel of Mark does not fit the new life, new hope feeling we enjoy each year as we use Easter to signal the return of new life in spring. On a day when we expect to feel the overwhelming presence of the risen Christ, the ending of Mark’s Gospel is entirely underwhelming.
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To challenge the empire, to be the counter-cultural voice, to put on a piece of political street theater, requires you to be willing to enjoy the carnival-like atmosphere while it lasts because if you challenge things enough if you push the empire enough the empire will push back
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Because there is so much going on in this story, and the writer of Mark wrote such a condensed account of the ministry of Jesus, and on top of that uses misdirection, we miss it. The people in the synagogue did not miss it. Yes, they were astounded by the spirit being cast aside but they knew what was going on. They saw something different happening.
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But what happens when God incarnate is the one calling us to repent and believe? It is easy to blow off the street preach as we walk out of Starbucks or to flip the channel when the slick-haired televangelist begins preaching. It’s easy to not make eye contact with someone on the street or turn off the television and go play with our kids. It is easy to write off the story of Jonah, but what are we to do when Jesus calls upon us to repent and believe?
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Year after year we see the wise men as minor characters in our children’s Christmas pageants and fail to see that for us, Gentiles, the wise men’s visit to Bethlehem signaled, just as Simeon declared in the Temple, that Christ had come for all people.
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Simeon and Anna were ordinary people. Neither of them held the title of Reverend in front of their name. Simeon and Anna were ordinary people faithfully waiting for God to move.
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The beginning of the story is great. But, the ending is missing.
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As scandalous as this story is, as unbelievable as it is that God’s favor is shown in the womb of an unwed, teenage virgin, God is empowering those who are least likely to view themselves as being favored by God. God empowers those who know it or not, are capable of miraculous tasks when overcome by the Holy Spirit.
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All of us are called to be in ministry. Each of our calls will look different. No one person will have the same call as their mentor colleagues.
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What we miss in avoiding the tension between Thessalonians and Revelation is that while it may be hard in this life we have the confidence of knowing what happens at the end of the book: God wins. We win. Christ’s holiness wins over “failure and disappointment,” “separation and abandonment.”
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Jesus is pretty clear about children in the Kingdom of God. This is one of the subjects within Jesus' teaching where it is hard to twist the meaning of His words
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What I do matters because you depend on me. What you do matters because a community of disciples is impossible without you. They way we speak of one another matters because when we speak poorly of other disciples we are showing to the world how we fail each other. We are then telling the world that our differences are bigger than the One who created and the One who was present at creation.
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Stanley Hauerwas suggests that three-part confrontation of sin that Jesus outlined was not merely a recommendation. Hauerwas said Jesus’ style of confronting sin is, “an indication of the kind of community that Jesus has called into existence.” Because we love God, and we love one another, and it is God’s love that binds us together, we must “refuse to risk the loss” of one person to sin. This is why Jesus tells us that our “Father in heaven” rejoices when one of the lost sheep returns.
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Like Moses, even when we stumble, we do our best to gather ourselves, moving back on to the path of independence, the path we have carefully charted out and are attempting to follow with laser-like precision. Even when we take a step back, either because we killed an abusive Egyptian, or because we stumbled over our best-laid plans, we can typically get back on track, moving back towards the independence we desperately desire. We often find though, just as Moses did, that God has other plans for our lives.
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