"You are Witnesses of These Things" - Redeemer Episcopal Church

 Luke 24:36b-48

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence.

44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.

God of grace and mercy, help us to understand our new identity as witnesses to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection in the world, its importance to your mission in this season of Easter. Amen. 

The very last line of this morning’s gospel text strikes me. “You are witnesses of these things,” Jesus says. It’s a statement, not a question or even a command or commission. Jesus doesn’t say, “are you ready to be witnesses?” Or “whenever it’s convenient I’d like for you to be witnesses” or “in the next couple of years, please go be witnesses.” Jesus says, “you are witnesses of these things.” It is a declaration. For the disciples, being witnesses is not voluntary, it is a state of being. It is undeniably a part of their identity now because of what Christ has done in his life, death, and resurrection. 

I remember when I was younger, I would watch my dad leave for work wearing a flight suit and combat boots— his uniform as a pilot in the army. It was part of his identity and who he was for nearly 22 years, and in many ways it is still a part of his identity. But every evening he would come home and take that uniform off and I didn’t think of him as an Army pilot, but just as my dad, who let me put flowery clips in his hair and paint his nails on the weekend. 

There are many professions that have uniforms or certain dress codes, but we don’t wear those uniforms all the time. We take off the chef’s coat or the scrubs or the construction hat or the suit and tie and we can be seen as someone other than our profession or our job. In that way, what we do doesn’t have to be who we are. On the weekends or in the evenings, whenever we “clock out,” we can be someone or something entirely different if we want to. Just by changing our clothes. 

But that is not the case with our identity in Christ Jesus. 

This is what we learn when Jesus declares, “you are witnesses.” And this is what we hear at the beginning of the second reading: we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. We are God’s children now. This is the declaration we hear in our baptismal vows— whether we hear them when we are babies and our family and friends are making vows on our behalf or later in life— we are named and claimed as God’s children. 

When the waters of baptism wash over us, and when we are marked with the sign of the cross in oil, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever. And most of us affirm these vows and this commitment to Christ again in our confirmation and every time we witness another baptism in our community. Our identity is changed forever in that holy sacrament. 

The water that has cleansed us, the oil that has sealed a cross on our foreheads is not something that can be taken off. It doesn’t matter if we wear a cross necklace some days or a t-shirt announcing our Christianity to the world. God has made a declaration to us, that we are God’s children and our new identity in Christ not something we put on and take off like a jacket. It is who we are. 

In that way, our identity as witnesses, just like the disciples, is also who we are. What we do and say, how we treat others, how we interact with the world, is all witnessing to who we are as God’s children. 

Last week, I left you with a series of questions about if the resurrection made any difference at all in our lives. And this week Jesus declares that it does. Not that the resurrection should change us or that it has the potential change us, but that it does change us. Because we are witnesses to the risen Christ, and are baptized in the Spirit, we have been changed whether we completely understand it or not. 

And because of this change— our language, our behavior, our words and actions not only witness to who we are as children of God, but also how others see God to be. Let me repeat that— the way people see us is how people see God. We are never NOT giving witness to God in the world. 

And that is important to remember as we are faced with tragedy after tragedy across our country, it’s important to remember as we re-enter the world in public witness in person, and as we care for creation and one another after so much loss and as we continue to be faced with difficult times. We are witnesses not only to the wounds that Jesus shows us in his hands and his feet, but we touch and see that Jesus has been resurrected. And we are also witnesses to the wounds of this world. We are witnesses to the wounds of our siblings and to the re-creation that God is bringing about in the world through redemption and reconciliation.

There is no season like the season of Easter to get used to this witnessing. To be continually reminded that in everything we do, in everything we say, as well as everything we don’t do and everything we don’t say, we are witnessing to who we are are whose we are in light of the resurrection, the light of the flesh and blood of our Christ who meets us here in our own wounds, in the promise of our own resurrection. Amen. 

Has it Changed Us? - Redeemer Episcopal Church

 John 20:19-31

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Jesus and Thomas

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

The Purpose of This Book

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 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.

______________

This sermon was originally preached to a certain people, in a certain place, for a certain time. But we believe in a God who transcends time and space, so perhaps this word might speak to you as well. You can read the manuscript below or listen to the sermon at this link. 

Let us pray. God of light and mercy, as we enter into the experience of the resurrection, open our eyes to a new way of living and open our lives to transformation. In the name of your son, who is the first fruits of the resurrection of all of creation, Jesus Christ. Amen. 

The gospel story this morning is one that seems to have a clear lesson: Don’t be like Thomas. It makes it easy to call Thomas the doubter, label him, and scorn him for not believing his friends when they tell him about what they’ve seen. Even though what they’re talking about seems a little far-fetched and ridiculous. The teacher they witnessed hanged on a cross, resurrected? Seems unlikely. 

And then, of course, we can feel really good about ourselves because Jesus says that we are blessed because we have not seen the resurrected Jesus in the flesh and yet we have come to believe. Instead, we have been given these stories passed down and interpreted, we believe through tradition and the witness of the disciples. 

But I think there is something to be said of Thomas’ doubting. He wants to experience Jesus himself. I don’t blame him. He wants to see these things with his own eyes— perhaps he’s a little jealous that Jesus would come when he was away. But I don’t think it’s uncommon for a person to ache to experience something in person. 

We do this, right? We ask for signs, some kind of deep knowledge that God is near and listening… we hear other people’s stories when they have experienced God and we value the interpretations of scripture, but often times we don’t fully understand the impact of God’s grace until we have had a first-hand experience with it. At the camp where my husband spent several summers as a counselor, they called these “mountaintop moments.” Some of us can point to those moments in our own lives, right? Thin places, when we have experienced God so clearly that God’s presence was undeniable. 

So I don’t think there is anything wrong with Thomas wanting to see Jesus for himself. We want to see Jesus for ourselves, don’t we? 

And just like the disciples who were hidden away and afraid, and Thomas who longed to see his teacher one more time, Jesus knows what we desire in our moments of need. And God is ready to be present with us in those moments. 

The challenge is, then, what we do with that experience. When we have those mountaintop moments, where God shows us who God is, when Jesus reveals his wounds and allows us to come close to touch him… Does it change us? Does it create something new within us? Has the experience of the resurrection done anything to change us? 

When we see that the tomb is empty, do we run to our friends to proclaim that Christ is risen? When Jesus presents himself to us, do we shout “my Lord and my God?” Or do we stay quiet, keeping things to ourselves? Do we proclaim the resurrection of Christ Jesus when we have witnessed it ourselves or do we just continue on with our lives? 

For the disciples and for the first Christians, walking with Jesus all those years and witnessing his death and resurrection changed not only their actions but their very identity. 

We hear in the first reading about the kind of community they formed because of Jesus’ example and how they wanted to witness to the resurrection. They lived as if they were of one heart and soul, not claiming anything for themselves but keeping everything in common. No one was needy among them because they all sold their land and homes and everything was distributed to those who had any need. The resurrection changed them. 

In the second reading, we hear again that Jesus' disciples are changed by their experience of him. They come into fellowship with one another, striving to be good and kind and, as they put it, walk in the light. And when they stray from that, they bear their sins openly and go to Jesus with confession, knowing that they are forgiven. The resurrection changed them. 

Their personal and communal experiences with the resurrected Christ change them completely. Not just as individuals, but how they act as a community, how they understand their place in this world and as advocates for one another and for those who are in need. 

So the question is, then, the week after this wild proclamation of Easter, that death is defeated and Jesus lives now and forever— that we have eternal life in Christ— this week, we ask “so what?” 

Has anything changed? Have we changed? Are we going to change? Has our community changed? What has our experience of the resurrected Christ done in our lives? Anything? 

Have we truly come to believe what John implores of us? That Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, and that through believing we may have life in his name? When we experience the risen Lord in this place, at this table, does it change anything at all? Amen. 

"Resurrection" - Episcopal School of Jacksonville

Several weeks ago, I was asked by the Episcopal School of Jacksonville to preach for their two chapel services. I joked to several people that they must have asked all the Episcopal priests and they all said no to preaching the week after Easter Sunday. So they asked me, the Lutheran posing as an Episcopal priest. I was told that chapel services have themes... this week would "resurrection!" Ha. I suppose that makes sense. So here we heard the story of Mary Magdalene meeting the risen Christ at the tomb: 

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Let us pray: God of new and ever-present resurrection, be with us as we seek to understand what the resurrection of Christ Jesus means in our lives and in the whole world. Amen. 

On Sunday morning, I drove my two year old toddler to church for Easter morning worship. “You’re going to hear a new word today,” I said, “it’s ‘Alleluia.’ When you hear that word, you get to yell it as loud as you want. Do you want to practice? Alleluia!” 

“Whadda whadda!” He responded. I tried again: “Alleluia!”

“Whadda whadda!” He screeched back. There were too many vowels and consonants. This word meant absolutely nothing to him. It wasn’t like “ball” or “truck,” two of his favorite words right now— there was nothing to point to, to say “there it is.” 

That’s sometimes what the resurrection feels like to me. We have these words, these stories, but there is nothing I can really point to to say “that’s the resurrection.” We have pretty images like flowers blooming and the sun rising, but those don’t really do it justice. 

Often on Easter morning, we tend to be unprepared for the message of the resurrection— even for those of us who grew up in the church our whole lives, we don’t fully understand what Jesus’ resurrection means in our lives. We feel like toddlers learning a new abstract concept. Resurrection. Okay, it’s something that God did. *shrug* It somehow changed the whole world.  

In all honesty, I think it’s okay that we don’t totally understand the resurrection. From the stories we have heard on Sunday and today, it doesn’t seem much like the disciples understood the resurrection either. And we’ll hear next week that some of them even doubted it, asking for proof over and over again. 

I think that’s okay too. Because when we don’t understand something, we are invited to listen more closely, to listen again and again, to ask more questions, and be honest about our doubt. 

Jesus’ resurrection from the dead on Easter morning is the turning point in our Christian history, an absolute upside-down-ness of the whole world. Something that takes more than one day to explain and something that will take, perhaps, our entire lives to understand. 

The comfort is that in this place, and in our home congregations, and as we continue to feed our faith with questions and doubts and research and devotion, we will have countless opportunities not only to hear the story of the resurrection over and over again, but to tell it. And in telling it, like Mary did, we might come to better understand what it means for us in our own lives and for the whole world. 

And that is the good news of the resurrection— that, because Jesus has defeated death and is creating a new world in the resurrection, we have our whole lives, we even have eternity, to be in relationship with one another, with all of creation, and with God. This is only the beginning of the good news. Alleluia. Amen. 

Maundy Thursday 2021

This sermon was preached to a particular people in a certain place, in a certain time. But we believe in a God who transcends time and space, so I hope that it might speak to you here and now. You can read my manuscript below or listen to the audio recording (with infusions from the Spirit) at this link.

I read something on Facebook a few years ago… it was one of those things that you know probably isn’t actually true, but it kind of makes you go “awww” and feel good anyway. I did try to look it up and see if it was true, but I wasn’t able to find anything. In any case, it’s something that I have thought about quite often over the last few years, and especially during Holy Week. 

Here’s what it said: a recent study showed that the three things people most want to hear from their loved ones are “I love you,” “I forgive you,” and “supper is ready.” 

I love you, I forgive, and supper is ready. 

It strikes me, then, that on Maundy Thursday, we hear the story of Jesus and his loved ones gathered around in his very last moments with all of them. And in an incredible and sure sign of love, he undresses himself and washes their feet, like a servant would do for their master. And Simon Peter, recognizing exactly what kind of act of love this was, insisted that Jesus wash all of him— love me even more, he seems to plea to Jesus— not just my feet but my hands and my head also— pour your love so fully out to me. And Jesus insists, oh I have, dear one. You are clean. I love you. 

And we hear that even Judas was present at the gathering, the one who would betray him. The one who would trade in his Lord and Savior, his beloved teacher, for a couple pieces of silver— Jesus even allowed him to stay with them there, washing his feet and eating dinner. Before the betrayal even happened, Jesus seemed to say to Judas, “I forgive you.” 

And then, what we celebrate each Sunday morning and especially tonight, we hear about Jesus sitting with his disciples for a meal. He is there at the table with his closest friends and institute a new ritual with them— one centered around the dinner table, one gathered around food. Of course, this was already a common ritual for Jesus’ time and for he and his closest friends— they were Jewish and there were all sort of beautiful religious holidays and gatherings that centered around food. But this was a bit different… this is how you are going to remember me, Jesus said… with this food and this drink. This is me, Jesus said… the bread and the wine is my body and blood. And he created something new in these last moments, something that would nourish them for centuries to come. “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” Supper is ready. 

These are the words that carry us through these next three days… on Maundy Thursday, “supper is ready.” On Good Friday, as our savior hangs upon a cross, listening to those who mock him, beat him, scorn him and he says, “I forgive you.” And then, in the silence and the waiting and the anticipation, we can hear the soft sure whisper of “I love you.”

These are the words that we hear every week when we gather together in this place. Through the readings and the sermon on Sunday mornings, we hear God say to us, “I love you.” In our confession and God’s proclamation of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we hear “I forgive you.” In the invitation to this holy table where we feast on the body and blood of our Lord and Savior every single week, we hear “Supper is ready.”

And these are the words that Jesus commands that we proclaim to the ends of the earth when he gives us the new commandment on this night: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. It is no small thing that Jesus gives a new commandment to his disciples at the Passover— it’s explicit and intentional. He knows that over the next several days and truly for the rest of their lives, they will need something concrete to hold them together, to give them identity. So much was bound up in their relationship to him, now he would bind them in relationship to one another. In the same way he does for us. Love one another, he commands. 

And we demonstrate that love in the same way that Jesus did throughout his life and in his last days, by inviting people into this relationship with our savior, by providing for them their deepest needs in the words we long to hear. So come and eat, come and be forgiven, come and come and be loved. And go out into the world to declare it to the world: “I love you, I forgive you… supper is ready.” Amen.