Pastor Jim's Sermon, the Second Sunday of Easter, 2013

Christ United Presbyterian Church

The Second Sunday of Easter

April 7, 2013

If you'd like to hear Pastor Jim delivering his sermon yesterday morning, click here for the audio link.

https://www.box.com/s/jw3jp4s2mdbtieshyv45 

"Why are we here?"
John 20:19-31

Do you realize how difficult it might be for Jesus to recognize our lives in our church today?  Some people come to church to be entertained.  Some come to have a social experience.  Some come to keep an eye on the money that they have given.  Some come as sort of a hell-avoidance plan for their lives.  Some come to worry; to fret; to grumble.  Rather than taking it all to the Lord in prayer they just want to complain to one another about the human failures of this life and perhaps even the church. 

In John’s gospel, Jesus’ first appearance to his disciples is when he comes to them behind closed, barred doors. They are frightened.  Their treasury is depleted.  They are hiding behind shuttered windows and locked doors.  They feel abandoned.  They’re probably complaining to one another; blaming one another. They have felt the need for the kind of security that we seek so often in this world:  a full treasury; strong doors; heavy locks, perhaps alarm systems! 

Despite the vision of the empty tomb, despite the version of the resurrected Jesus that Mary Magdalene had reported to them, the disciples were still locked down and trembling — clamped down and closed off from a threatening world. Then Jesus demolishes their security precautions and suddenly stands in their midst. All their humanly constructed security is gone. All that remains is the accomplishment of the divine promise, the risen Lord Jesus, standing before them, baring his scars and blessing them with peace.

When Jesus bursts into the locked Upper Room, he first brings “Peace.” The disciples respond with “rejoicing.” Then Jesus gives them their assignment: the mission he expects his disciples to accomplish. With peace and joy and with the promised power of the Holy Spirit that he breathed out upon his followers, Jesus summoned his disciples to follow the same directive he had been given: “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” Jesus gave up his life, and then he gave over his mission, to us who give him our faith and love.

Those nine short words “as the Father sent me, so I send you” may just be the best description of what it means to be a follower of Jesus in all of the Bible.  It’s the only reason we should be here this morning.  “As the Father sent me, so send I you.”

The most amazing realization of this proclamation is that Jesus is affirming that we are all children of God. Even as Jesus was God’s child, so we are to go out into the world as God’s daughters and sons. In this one commission on the meaning of discipleship, Jesus affirmed our divine parentage. As Jesus’ surprising entrance into that locked Upper Room testified, the first gifts of belonging to God’s family are not safety and security but peace and joy. Jesus proclaims that “Peace be with you,” and his disciples respond with great joy.

To be a faithful follower of Jesus entails more than just being filled with peace and joy. Jesus’ followers are not just “called” — we are also “sent.” Every disciple of Christ, throughout the centuries – even you and me – have been included in Jesus’ commission “as the Father has sent me, so send I you.” Every follower of Christ is admitted to the family of God, and then charged with the responsibilities of that family to be a witness to the world, even as Jesus was a witness to the world.

We are not called to save the world. We are called to show the world the way in which it can be saved. As newborn children of God, we are sent to tell the story, to show the life of God’s kingdom, and to do this while always singing and rejoicing!

We have a story to tell.  It’s the greatest story ever told.  Jesus breathed the Spirit into his eye witnesses so that they might tell the story of the Savior to the world. As Jesus’ sent ones, we have received the story and we must tell the story. Our first call is as the ones who have received the story because we must see and hear the stories of the risen Christ at work in our world. To know that he is risen, we must feel his wounds with our hearts. Are you wounded by the hurts of people? We must feel our hearts break by the very same things that break the heart of God.

  

Some people like to argue over whether we as disciples Jesus “sent” are simply to proclaim Jesus as the Savior of the world, or if we are sent to continue the human side of Jesus’ earthly ministry healing, teaching, loving, feeding the hungry and visiting the prisoners. Silly argument! The only answer is that we are sent to do both.  We must tell the story with our words and we must enact the story by continuing what Jesus is doing in the world today, through ordinary people – even us - in ordinary places – even here - in ordinary ways.

  

This is the season of Easter, when we celebrate that Christ is alive. We serve a “risen Savior.” We sing that “Jesus shall reign!”  We rejoice because our Lord is king!  We believe Jesus is “in the world today.” And how is Jesus alive in “in the world today.” He lives in you and me and in this his very body, the Church. What it means to be a disciple is to bring Jesus into you.  To let Jesus be your motivating life force.  We are called to sing his song in the world, and in the words of the old folk hymn: “How can I keep from singing.” 

Did you come here to express the joy that is in you this morning?  Do you have Christ’s music in you this morning? Have you discovered that Jesus is in you this morning? Is he alive in your life? If he is, then what Jesus said to his disciples he says to us this morning: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 

So many people want to follow Jesus thinking that that’s how they can get into the kingdom of God.  Jesus came to the disciples – and to us – to put the Kingdom of God into us.  Paul tells us that this great and glorious mystery which we are called to proclaim is that Christ is in us (Col. 1:27).  He sends us to carry God’s kingdom out into the world as we tell His story and demonstrate the joy of loving God and loving one another.

The Gospel of John ends:  “But 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.”  We are the sent ones. "As the Father sent me, so I send you."

Amen.