March 30, 2008
Second Sunday of Easter
Pastor Lynne Lorenzen
Acts 2:14a, 22-32; I Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31
Grace and peace to you from God: Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit. Amen.
The emphasis last week on new life in Christ is followed this Sunday by an emphasis on hope. John is concerned that this little community is living under threat from both the Jewish religious leaders and from the local Roman powers. These Christians have been separated from the Temple and so are now on their own as an illegal religion in the Roman Empire, subject to persecution. They have established passwords to enter the worship service. “Christ is risen,” was the greeting when you approached the worship place. If you did not answer, “Christ is risen indeed,” you would be quickly moved on your way away from the group. We are beyond the need for passwords, yet we each still have fears that maybe the result of religious or government disapproval.
Earlier in John, Jesus has told of his coming death and resurrection and promised his followers that they would not be left alone. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter would be sent to accompany them and to lead them into all truth. What is happening in this text is that Jesus is returning to deliver this promise. His greeting, “Peace be with you” is repeated twice. This is a word of comfort in a very scary time whether it is the time in the story immediately after the death of Jesus or the time of persecution when John is writing. The disciples are afraid that perhaps they made a mistake. The Romans may come after them also because they are followers of Jesus. Is what Jesus was doing so important that it would be worth their lives as well?
Jesus breathes on them and says, “receive the Holy Spirit.” This breathing is an act of creation just as God breathed life into Adam. The disciples have now become animated by the Holy Spirit. This is Pentecost for John. The Holy Spirit that has been encountered in Christ is now given to the disciples so that they may carry on the work of Christ in the world. AS an example, they are given the power to forgive sins, which has been something only Jesus has done up to this point. This is the fulfillment of the promise that Jesus made earlier. The community would not be abandoned. The Holy Spirit is now present to guide the followers of Jesus. Thus the Spirit is referred to as the Comforter, the one that relieves the fears of the followers. This presence of the Holy Spirit is the source of hope for the early church. They will still be led but now by the Spirit of God.
Jesus also tells them that as he was sent by God, he is now sending them and he again says, “Peace be with you.” The disciples were gathered together in a house with all of the doors shut because they were afraid. They have been given their vocation. They are to go into the world as Jesus did and make changes that liberate people especially those who are oppressed by the structures of the culture they live in. But how do you do that? It seems to depend on what you think Jesus was doing. If as we heard last week Jesus was indeed subversive, this means working against the principalities and powers of the Roman government to bring about justice for people on the margins of the culture. As the disciples were only too aware this can be a very dangerous undertaking. Yet that was what they were being called to do.
The reason Jesus kept saying peace be with you is because peace is the goal. Peace in Hebrew is a large concept, Shalom. It means not only the absence of war ( that would be good), it also means good health, meaningful work, caring relationships. Plus justice including economic justice, everyone should have enough, no one too much and no one should be poor. This is the manna way that the people of Israel learned while they were in the desert. Jesus is calling Israel back to the values of the prophets before him, liberating people from ritual practices that got in the way of actually helping people in need. These disciples will be challenging the government and the religious leaders of their time and turning away from their families.
Jesus understands that these followers need a word of comfort and reassurance that they are not alone. They need to know that the Holy Spirit will always be with them to provide that word of hope that is necessary to carry on in the face of adversity. Without this hope, the community could fall apart and the movement would be over.
We are not so different from that early Christian community. We also walk by faith and not by sight. We trust that the Holy Spirit will give us the courage and hope to work for a better life for all people. For us some things are accomplished through political means. If justice is to be achieved in terms of health care, all people need access to health insurance. If justice is to be achieved economically, the tax structure needs an overhaul and people who want to work need to be able to work for a living wage, not a minimum wage that is less than half of a living wage. If justice is to be achieved in housing, affordable housing needs to be available for all. If justice is to be achieved in education, all people need to have access to a good education.
None of these acts of justice will happen if we do not have hope that they can happen. Our hope is vested in the God of Jesus who did not prevent his death, but vindicated his life. It is the presence of this trustworthy God in the person of the Holy Spirit who continues to accompany all of us now and into the future which is precisely why we can have hope that justice is not out of reach. As the disciples were sent by Christ into the world, so are we to be a voice of hope for other people in the world and for the earth.
Let us pray,
Gracious God, may the constant presence of your Spirit give us the hope needed to have the courage to work for justice and peace in all of your world. Grant this we pray in Jesus name. Amen.