The Way Home

Jesus assures us in our gospel lesson this morning that he is our Way home.

Christ Finds Us

Like Mary Magdalene on that first Easter morning, many of us have been frustrated because no matter how much we search for Jesus we cannot find him.

The Resurrection story reminds us that it is not we who find Christ, but rather it is Christ who finds us.

Just like he came to find Mary as she stood weeping in the garden that first Easter morning.
And just like he came to find the disciples as they cowered in fear behind the locked door.

Our Resurrected Lord comes to find us.

• Acts 10:34-43  • 
 
• Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24  • 
 
• Colossians 3:1-4   • 
• John 20:1-18

The Tie That Binds Us

• Acts 16:16-34  • 
 
• Psalm 97  • 
 
• Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21  • 
 
• John 17:20-26

There Is No Plan B

• Acts 16:9-15  • 
 
• Psalm 67  • 
 
• Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5  • 
 
• John 14:23-29

Peace Be With You

“Peace be with you”.  Jesus calms his disciples with these words three different times in this story.

Most of us come to worship this morning needing God’s peace in our lives in some measure.

Perhaps we’re uncertain about our future; wondering about our jobs or marriages; wondering about the meaning of life, and why we’re here, and what I am supposed to be doing?

Perhaps we’re going through turbulent times; struggling with a diagnosis concerning our health, or with a loss that has deeply impacted our life.

Whatever the situation is, we all know what it’s like to be in turmoil and to long for peace.  And the risen Jesus brings us that peace with his presence and with his words.

That doesn’t mean we won’t have problems and difficulties in this life.  We will.  But the Christian message is that in the midst of struggle and grief and pain we can still experience the peace of God; the peace that passes all understanding; the peace that allows us to experience serenity and hope even in the midst of struggles and pain.

It’s important to remember that unlike our wonderful celebration last week. The first Easter was a scary time for the disciples.

And we see that in our gospel today, as the disciples are gathered behind locked doors on that first Easter, they’re worn out from the emotional rollercoaster they’d been on all week.  They were tired, uncertain and afraid.  They thought the authorities may come for them like they’d come for Jesus.

And suddenly, into this tense scene comes Jesus. "Peace be with you!” he says.  And then he shows them his hands and feet and his punctured side and instantly they’re overwhelmed with joy.  They’ve seen the risen Jesus and they believe.

There’s one disciple who’s not there, though. The bible doesn’t tell us where Thomas was.  We just know that he wasn’t there.  And so when the disciples told him that they’d seen Jesus, Thomas refuses to believe.

“Unless I see the holes in his hands,” he says, “and put my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

And because of this, history remembers Thomas as “doubting” Thomas.  But, really, he’s not asking for anything more than the other disciples had already been given.

He wants to see the risen Christ just like Mary Magdalene had seen him in the garden, and how Peter, James and John and the other disciples had seen him in the locked room.

None of them believed until they saw the risen Christ and that’s all Thomas wants, too.  He wanted to see Jesus alive and well.

And so now in verse 24, it’s a week later.  A week after the other disciples had seen Christ.

And again, they’re gathered in the locked room.  And this time Thomas is with them.

Again, Jesus enters the room just as before.  And again he says, “Peace be with you”

This time it appears that his appearance and his words of peace are specifically intended for Thomas.  He comes to Thomas right at the point of his need.  He doesn’t judge Thomas for his doubting.  Instead he encourages him to believe by giving him the proofs he needs.

“Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”

Jesus generously gives Thomas what he needs.  And Thomas’ doubts disappear; “My Lord and my God,” he cries

At different times in our lives, you and I find ourselves in Thomas’ shoes.  We need something from Jesus, some assurance that he’s really there in the midst of our struggles.  Some proof that he has a purpose for us and that life makes sense.

And just as Jesus came to Thomas in his moment of doubt so, too, does he come to us.  Like Thomas, when we acknowledge our doubts and tell Jesus what we need, and how we need his peace; when we pray the prayer from scripture that says, “I believe, help my unbelief” …  Christ will come. He will help us.  Just as he came to help Thomas.

No matter how many doors may be locked, or how strong our doubts and unbelief may be.  If we ask Jesus to help us believe, he will.

And that’s what Jesus is referring to in the words of blessing he speaks at the end of our lesson today.

He says to his disciples, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

He’s talking about us there, and all the Christians who’ve lived since that first generation of disciples.  Because unlike Peter, James and John and Mary and Thomas, we’re not able to see the risen Christ the way they did.

And so for us, and for the billions of other Christians who’ve believed in the risen Christ down through the centuries, we must rely on something else.

And that “something else” can take several forms.  We have the Word of God; the bible.  And we have the particular words and testimony of the early disciples like Peter and John who saw the risen Christ.

And we also have the words and testimony of the Christians we’ve known who’ve shared their faith with us personally: our parents, a Sunday school teacher, a spouse, child, or friend.  Through the faith and testimony of these saints, Christ comes to us to strengthen and restore our own faith.

And what’s more, Christ also comes to us in his sacraments; in the waters of our baptism and the bread and wine of Holy Communion.

And so in the same way the risen Christ invited Thomas to reach out and touch him, so too can we reach out and touch him each time we receive communion.

And each time we dip our fingers in the baptismal waters and mark ourselves with his cross.

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”  This is Christ’s pledge and promise to us.

His promise that through all these things we will know that the risen Christ is present with us; that he has come to us just as he came to Thomas; and that he comes to bring us peace –

“Peace,” he says to us through his holy Word.

“Peace,” he says to us through the faith and testimony of others.

“Peace,” he says to us each time we kneel to receive him in Holy Communion.

“My peace I give you.”

And so may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus forever.

Christ Is Risen! Alleluia!

When you think about it, the whole reason we’re here this morning is because of three little words.  Three little words that were spoken some 2000 years ago. 

In fact, the whole reason the church exists, and the bible was written, and the whole reason Christians have been getting together every Sunday morning for the last 2000 years is because of these three little words.

 

Three little words spoken by a handful of obscure men & women some 2000 years ago which have acted like a pebble cast into a pond.

From the first time these words were spoken they have rippled further and further out echoing across the centuries and around the world, until once again they fill our ears this morning.

And of course, those three little words are, “Christ is risen!”

The grave couldn’t hold him.  Christ is risen from the dead!

And on that first Easter morning 2000 years ago, as soon as the women had heard the angel speak these words and seen the empty tomb, they raced back to tell the other disciples.

And the rippling-effect began.  “Christ is risen!” they told them.

And at first, the disciples didn’t believe them.  They thought the women were telling idle tales.

But then Peter decides to go check it out And once he’d run to the tomb and seen that it was true.  Then he started to echo those words,   “Christ is risen!”

And over the course of the next few days, more disciples met the risen Christ; at the seaside, inside the locked room and on the road to Emmaus.

And each time they saw him, they repeated these 3 little words to their friends, “Christ is risen!”

And then their friends told their friends, and their friends told their friends, and on and on it went down through the centuries until finally their friends told your friends and your friends told you.

And now here we are today echoing these same three words the angel said to Mary some 2000 years ago, Christ is risen!

And once we get past the sheer surprise of the whole thing the whole idea that someone who was dead isn’t dead anymore, the question is, What does it have to do with you and me?

Well, I think the best way to answer that question is to ask a different question first.  What did it mean to the first disciples?

What did those 3 words mean to Peter and James and John and all the rest?

Well, think about where the disciples were when Jesus died.  They were as far away as they could possible get!  They’d all abandoned him.  Judas had betrayed him. Peter denied him.  And everyone else had fled.  They’d left Jesus to die alone.

And so of course it would be good news to them; to hear that he is risen!

They wouldn’t have to live with the bitter taste of shame in their mouths.  They could beg his forgiveness and be reconciled with him.

And then who were the first people the disciples told about the resurrection?  Of course, all the people who were in Jerusalem.  The same people who’d demanded his blood who’d shouted, “Crucify him!”

And so it would’ve been good news for them, too to hear the Christ is risen!  Because they could be reconciled with him, too.

And so what we begin to see is that the first people who heard these words were the very people who’d had a hand in Jesus’ death in the first place.  And so the words had a personal connection for them.

They were words of hope. But more importantly, they were words of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Because again only a risen Christ could offer these folks the one thing they could never have found on their own; his forgiveness.

In fact, his very first word to the disciples after the resurrection was, “Peace.  My peace I give to you,” he said

And again, like that stone splashing into the sea those words of peace and forgiveness also began to spread.

And folks began to realize that the forgiveness offered wasn’t just for the sins of those who’d been in Jerusalem when Jesus was killed.  No, the peace and forgiveness he was offering were for the sins of the whole world.

“Everyone,” Peter tells us in our first lesson this morning, “Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”  That’s the good news contained in these 3 little words.

And there’s even more good news.  Not only do these three words mean the forgiveness of our sins, they also guarantee our resurrection, too.

Christ’s resurrection is our resurrection.  Because as Paul says in our second less this morning, “All will be made alive in Christ.”

And in fact, those of us who have been baptized are called to live in newness of life now.  We’re called to live a new life in which all our words and deeds declare these same three words: Christ is risen! Sin is forgiven. Death is destroyed.

And so now, 2000 years after that first Easter we gather here to celebrate the forgiveness of our sins and the promise of our eternal life.  And to be reminded of the fact that it’s now our turn to share these 3 little words with others.