Rev. Christine Dudley

Let us quiet our minds and open our hearts to God, in prayer...

Gracious and loving God,
your love and peace was known to the disciples
in the midst of their fear and confusion.
When we are tempted to close the door of our hearts,
for fear of caring too much and being hurt,
reach out to us, as Jesus does,
and offer us your peace which surpasses our understanding
and helps us to grow in the amazing power of your life-giving spirit.
May we, knowing ourselves to be loved and blessed,
have the courage to open the doors of our lives
and share your blessings with those we meet each day.
With thanksgiving for the risen Christ
who lives within, and among us, we pray. Amen

On Easter Sunday, in John's gospel, we heard about Mary's surprise and confusion when she went, early in the morning, to Jesus' tomb and found the stone had been rolled away and Jesus' body was gone. In her fear and confusion Mary brought Peter and another disciple to witness what had happened. Not understanding the significance of the empty tomb the men went home but Mary stayed and wept bitter tears of grief and loss. While she was weeping she turned around and saw a man standing behind her. The man asked Mary why she was weeping but she did not recognize him as the risen Christ until he called her by name.

Later that same day, in the evening, we hear from today's gospel account that the disciples (despite the empty tomb and Mary's experience of the risen Christ) huddled, in fear of the authorities, in a locked room. Then, "Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you'." And, in case they were uncertain that it was really Jesus he showed them his wounds and repeated again the Sabbath blessing, "Peace be with you." But, that's not all. Not only did Jesus assure the disciples of the blessing of his continuing presence with them but he also commissioned them to continue his ministry. Jesus told them that God had sent him and now he was sending them and in an act of ritual empowerment Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit".

This must have been a powerful experience for the disciples. However, it took more than one experience to transform this frightened band of followers into the courageous group of apostles who braved the threat of arrest and persecution to continue spreading the good news of Jesus Christ in their words and actions. John tells us that one week later the disciples gathered in the same room behind closed doors (he doesn't say the doors were locked so there may be some progression from the intense fear the disciples felt the week before). Again, Jesus appeared to the disciples, and said "Peace be with you."

Today's gospel story ends with what some believe was the original ending of the gospel of John, "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 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." (John 20: 30-31, my emphasis)

It is important to remember that the gospel of John was translated from oral tradition into written form toward the end of the first century. John was writing to people, like us, who had never met Jesus in person or had firsthand experience of his ministry. However, the transformative nature of the disciples' firsthand experience had been a powerful catalyst in the formation of Christian communities and it was due to the witness and example of these early Christian communities that inspired others to experience the risen Christ in their midst.

Barbara Brown Taylor, speaking about today's gospel story says,

"...believing is all the Holy Spirit needs to bring us to life, breathing on us the same way Jesus breathed on his disciples. The story is already alive, with or without us. God wants us to be part of it...to be part of Jesus Christ's risen life on earth - so that the brave, fragile testimony goes on being heard: 'We have seen the ...[risen Christ]!' In the flesh' No. In the story' Possibly. In our lives together' Absolutely!" (Home By Another Way, pgs. 118-119)

On Easter Sunday we don't say, "Christ has risen" (past tense) but rather, "Christ is risen" (present tense). The risen Christ continued to be experienced by Christians centuries, and now millennia, after all the original eyewitnesses to his death and resurrection were long gone. Easter faith is not simply about believing in the resurrection of Jesus. It is also a bold proclamation that love is stronger than hatred; that courageous faith is stronger than fear; and that the oppressive powers of our world, which seek to dominate and control many for the benefit of a few, will not prevail.

When we "pass the peace of Christ" to each other on communion Sundays, it is not simply a static warm fuzzy kind of greeting. Given the gospel imperative, found in today's reading from John, we can understand this ritual in a more profound way. Christ offered the Sabbath greeting of peace to his disciples, in the midst of their fear and pain, and he also inspired them to respond with courage to the risks of living their faith in the actions of their lives. He called them to open the doors that they huddled behind, in fear, and step outside and become the risen body of Christ in the world. Christ calls his disciples still, he calls us this day, to move out of our prisons of fear and move past the closed doors of our church building to greet the outside world with faith, hope and love.

One person, whose article I read this week, says, "The resurrection places Jesus on this side of the grave - here and now - in the midst of this life. He is not standing on the shore of eternity beckoning us to join him there. he is standing beside us, strengthening us in this life. The good news of the resurrection of Jesus is not that we shall die and go home to him, but that he has risen and come home with us... On the morning of the Resurrection, God put life in the present tense, not in the future. God gave us not a promise but a presence. Not a hope for the future but power for the present. ...The proof that God raised Jesus from the dead is not the empty tomb, but the full hearts of his transformed disciples. The crowning evidence that he lives is not a vacant grave, but a spirit-filled fellowship. Not a rolled-away stone, but a carried-away church." (Clarence Jordan, Seasons of the Spirit, Easter 2, 2006)

This carried-away church is exemplified in the very early Christian community as described in the Acts of the Apostles. Some debate whether there was ever an early Christian community which lived collectively and shared of their resources for the common good. I believe this did happen. And, even if it only lasted a short time, this compassionate concern for the good of all is important for contemporary Christian communities to strive to exemplify. One author, in the resource, Feasting on the Word, says, "The image of a community so at one in heart and mind that not even physical possessions would be spared in face of need, shows the contemporary world an absurd picture of a people whom many would accuse of naiveté, communism, or plain stupidity and poor judgment. But that is how resurrection...in radically caring community, will always look to a world that lives in fear, isolation and individualism. "(André Resner Jr., Year B, volume 2, p.393)

For me, personally, the most significant contemporary story of the power of resurrection faith is exemplified in the life and death of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador. Having received numerous death threats, Archbishop Romero remained steadfast in his conviction of God's call for Christians to respond to injustice with faith-filled action despite personal risk or cost. Shortly before his assassination, Oscar Romero said, "...our Christian faith requires that we submerge ourselves in this world. The course taken by the Church has always had political repercussions. The problem is how to direct that influence so that it will be in accord with the faith. ... My life has been threatened many times. I have to confess that as a Christian, I don't believe in death without resurrection. If they kill me, I will rise again in the Salvadoran people. ...Better of course, that they realize they will be wasting their time. A bishop, will die, but God's church which is the people will never perish." (Friends of God and Prophets, p. 254)

Fear is the tool that oppressors have used throughout time to keep people from rising up and claiming their rights and dignity as human beings. The Roman Empire was skilled at using persecution and torture to keep the masses under control. What they called Pax Romana (Roman peace) was merely a ruthless campaign of violence to quell civil unrest and disuade those who would challenge their authority. Crucifixion was a common way for Rome to create fear by putting the slow and painful death of subversives on display as a warning to others. When faith replaces fear, the power of oppressive forces will eventually fail. When Jesus was crucified his followers were afraid but faith empowered them to move past their fear and continue their shared ministry despite persecution and threat of death. So too, after Romero's death, El Salvadorans were unified in the struggle for justice for which Romero had dedicated and sacrificed his life.

I pray that we, in whatever ways we can, will strive to be the embodiment of the risen Christ in our words and actions. With this hope, I offer words of affirmation by Dorothy MacRae-MacMahon:

We believe in God
who takes our smallest moment of hope
and grows it forth
like a tree with spreading branches
for the sheltering of new life.
We believe in Jesus Christ
who walks tall among us,
seen in our faces, felt in our hearts,
planted deep in the longing of our souls
for all that is true, just and full of hope.
We believe in the Holy Spirit
who waits on our moments of openness
and springs into the unknowns
with joy and delight,
that we might be called on
beyond where we thought we could go,
where every step is walked on holy ground.

May it be so, this day and always