The Appearings
Easter Season • Sermon • Submitted
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· 2 viewsJesus speaks to his disciples and tells them what he is doing and what they're expected to do.
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Jesus Reveals Himself & His Intentions
Jesus Reveals Himself & His Intentions
**STORY** One thing I’ve come to appreciate in my adult life that I never really cared about before is presidential speeches. Some powerful truths and encouragements have been shared in them.
From Lincoln’s “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” to Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.”
I’m particularly drawn to inaugural speeches and farewell addresses. I first heard of the farewell address when I read a biography on George Washington. He encouraged Americans to stay out of foreign wars, to avoid partisan entanglements, and explained why he would only serve 2 terms. His farewell address is still the most famous, and held such weight in the hearts of Americans that other presidents avoided such an address until Andrew Jackson, the 7th U.S. president. Jackson, the first populist, shared dismay at the growing influence of shadowy money power (from banks and corporations) that threatened the liberty of regular Americans. Harry Truman, who made the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, gave his address from the oval office, warning against a future atomic war. “Starting an atomic war is totally unthinkable for rational men,” he said. Dwight D. Eisenhower gave the nation pause about supporting a military-industrial complex that drives America and Americans closer to war by its very existence. Each of these speeches served to underline the hopes and concerns of the outgoing presidents. It gives us a window into what they felt strongly about, enough to make it their final words - if not on this earth than at least in our political memory. Today we’re going to see through some of Jesus’ final words what was most important to him.
This sermon is a little different because we’re not identifying and focusing on a theme. We’re identifying and focusing in on a moment, or a series of moments, after the Resurrection.
In the opening scene of John 20, we get basically the same story as we read last week in Luke 24. The women go to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body but they find that his body is not there. They run to tell the disciples, and Peter and John run to find it just as they said. Angels, and then Jesus himself, speak to the women and reveal that Jesus is alive. Then, Jesus begins to appear to his followers. In the short passage we’re looking at today, John 20:19-23 Jesus speaks and reveals both himself and his intentions. Let’s take a look at what happened and hear afresh Jesus’ words to us.
“Peace be with you”
Jesus here is using a standard greeting, and so in the moment no doubt his disciples were too overcome with excitement, amazement, and wonder to notice it at all. But later, Jesus says it again. In Hebrew shalom aleichem, or simply Shalom, is standard greeting - still used today - simple to say hello.
**EXAMPLE** Sonia and I have a favorite Netflix show, Shtizel. The tumultuous but fascinating drama about Haredi Jews in Jerusalem has captured our imagination. The dialog is primarily in Hebrew with English subtitles. When the characters say shalom, the translation on the bottom of the screen is hello. Still, there is an undertone of a blessing on the recipient in every greeting. Think about what we say when someone sneezes - bless you. Our family jokes that when you say bless you, what you really mean is “I noticed that you sneezed and I’m acknowledging it.” While “I acknowledge your sneeze” does not the same ring to it as bless you, it also falls flat because we know that while we’re simply being noticed as having sneezed there is still that undertone of blessing in the regular response.
So while shalom aleichem can be a simple greeting, Jesus very likely means so much more. And the early disciples caught it, because John records his repetition of the phrase three verses later. The Gospels rarely record someone saying hello. Shalom, or peace, is what Jesus offered his closest companions the night before he died. In John 14:27, he says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” Later, in John 16:33 he tells them, “I have told you these things, so that in my you may have peace.”
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
This speaking of peace is a signal to the disciples that Jesus completed the work he set out to do on the cross. It affirms his claim that “It is Finished!” But more than a mere confirmation of what Jesus said, it is also an inauguration. Faithful Jews would not miss that peace, shalom, is the condition that marks the arrival of the Kingdom of God on earth. Peace it what God has always offered his people when they enter into his Kingdom. Whether it was the temporary peace of the Promised Land (no enemies on any side) or the image of Isaiah 11:6, where “the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and young lion and fatling will be together, and a little child will lead them.” This is the beginning of a new reality on earth. In Jesus ministry, he taught that the Kingdom of Haven was at hand. Now it had come!
“As the Father has sent me...”
Jesus begins his next statement to the disciples with this preface - as the Father has sent me. These are loaded words, if ever there were ones. How has the Father sent Jesus? To answer that, we need only to summarize the book of John. I’ll do my best to do the short version here. To begin, Jesus is God and has been with god since the beginning. The Son, on other words, came from the Father as one who was fully like the Father. He was not from this world, but came here as an outsider who “incarnated” or took on flesh and blood to be like us in every way. In his baptism he was given the Holy Spirit (also God), who guided and empowered him. He was sent out of God’s love, so that all who believe in him should not die but receive eternal life. He came to save us all from our sins. He was completely obedient. He only said what he heard the Father saying and he only did what he saw the father doing. He was, in fact, obedient even unto death on the cross, wherein he completed his sacrifice as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He rose again in victory, his new life a vindication of his claims as Messiah and as the Son of God. This is how the Father sent him.
“…I am sending you”
And this is how we are sent. The followers of Jesus, who are made children of God by virtue of our faith in Jesus, are no longer “of this world.” We’ve become citizens of a new kingdom, the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. Since we are no longer of this world, Jesus sends us back into the world that he has saved us from. But we are changed. We are now like Christ…Christians being formed into his image. We are called, though in a smaller way, to incarnate or live among those we are sent to minister to. Jesus has promised us the Holy Spirit who guides us and empowers us. Because of God’s great love for the world, he does guide us by the Holy Spirit to proclaim freedom from sin and declare the resurrection of Christ for those in need of salvation. This same spirit helps to sanctify us and make us obedient to Jesus, just as Jesus was obedient to his Father.
We have the impossible, but totally achievable, mission of extending the ministry of Jesus (who still works in this ministry) to all who will receive him. Our call is to be perfectly obedient to Jesus by doing what he tells us to do and saying what he tells us to say, both by the Holy Spirit and through his earthly teachings. It’s impossible because we are not yet what we will be, and so we do not have within ourselves the resources or abilities to complete this mission. It’s totally achievable because we have the God of the universe on our side, and his job is to do all the heavy lifting! Like the young child who helps her daddy move a heavy load. Is she working? Of course! Does her help impact the outcome? No, not really. But that’s not the point. If she didn’t get in there and push as hard as she could, she would miss out on the accomplishment of the task, not to mention that she would fail to receive the benefit of getting stronger in the process.
“Receive the Holy Spirit”
In this moment after the resurrection, Jesus speaks to his followers about that promised helper that he committed to send them after he was gone (John 14: 16 and 16:7). The night before he died, Jesus said that another one like him would come, but only if he left. This helper of counselor or comforter is the Holy Spirit, the one who comes alongside us in life to assist us and lead us just as Jesus did for the 12 disciples. But this speaking is not acting. Jesus clearly said that the Holy Spirit would not come until we went to be with the Father. So this moment of speaking of the Spirit is a reminder that the Spirit's coming in imminent. Some confusion is common here, mostly because our English translations say that Jesus breathed on the disciples. As many of you know, the word for Spirit, both in Greek (pnuema) and Hebrew (ruach), also means wind or air or breath. What is often understood is that Jesus, by breathing on them, is imparting the Spirit in that moment. However, the original text says only that Jesus breathed, meaning he took a breath, and told them to receive the Spirit. This is a symbolic word that Jesus speaks to his followers as an encouragement to remember what is coming. Lest we forget, I remind you that this even took place the evening of that first Easter Sunday. The gift of the Holy spirit, at Pentecost, will not arrive for another 7 weeks. But everyone reading the book of John would have known that the gift had materialized just as Jesus said it would. Just as everyone reading would know that when Jesus washed the disciples feet, it anticipated the greater cleansing that Jesus did on the cross.
This reading of the moment, that Jesus was only reminding them that the coming of the Holy Spirit was imminent, does not diminish in any way the gravity of what Jesus was doing.
**EXAMPLE** It’s like at a graduation ceremony. Whether from high school or from college, they say they are conferring a degree on you during that ceremony. After you worked very hard for 4 years, the moment finally comes. They hand you a folder that has your official graduation papers inside. But no, you usually don’t get your diploma or degree in that little folder they hand you as you walk across the stage, especially if you still have some minor requirement to complete. You usually get an empty binder, but you know the real thing is coming. And standing there, shaking hands with the president of the university or the principal of the school means something real. It has weight. And the fact that your getting that piece of paper later does not detract from the fact that an important figure in the school personally shook your hand, congratulated you, and handed you that folder.
Jesus was preparing his followers to receive the gift that he had promised them was coming. He was laying the groundwork for the reception of the one who would make it possible for us to be sent as Jesus was sent. Jesus could send his Church - his brothers and sisters - into his mission if we don’t have the resource we need to accomplish it. The Holy Spirit is the resource. He is the one who is like Jesus and therefore able to help us do what Jesus wants us to do. This gift is also necessary for Jesus’ next statement to be true.
“If you forgive…they stand forgiven”
This statement is another that is often misunderstood. Here Jesus makes the grand claim that whoever the disciples forgive is forgiven and whoever they do not forgive is not forgiven. But rather than seeing a power bestowed on the disciples actually confer or grant forgiveness, what we should see here is a mission and ministry that reveals forgiveness. Without getting too deeply into the Greek text here, it is important to understand that the phrase we read as “their sins are forgiven” or “they are not forgiven” are just 2 words and 1 word, respectively. The verbs represented here are passive verbs, meaning the action is not done to them by the subject.
In English, we might say “the ball was thrown to Mary.” There is nothing in the sentence that says who did the action. We know the ball was thrown but we don’t know who threw it. Likewise, in this Greek sentence, we know that people are or forgiven or not forgive, but we don’t know who did it. Except we do know who did it. It is God who forgives or doesn’t forgive. And we already know from John how this happens. In John 3:18 we read
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
In other words, the role of the followers of Jesus is to proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to a world caught in the slavery of sin. This message is the hope of salvation for those who believe, but it is also condemnation for those who do not. To accept the sacrifice of Christ and his forgiveness of sins is to be forgiven. To reject this message is to reject that forgiveness. If anything more need be done by the followers of Jesus in this process, it is simply to recognize that which Jesus has already taught. When the Gospel is proclaimed, those who reject it can be told “you are not forgiven.” But to those who accept it, the disciples can joyfully proclaim “you are forgiven!” In the whole process, it is the promised Holy Spirit who helps us proclaim and embody this gospel message. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of sin. It is the Holy Spirit who breaks down strongholds and makes a pathway for belief. It is the Holy Spirit who applies the forgiveness of Christ to repentant sinners or refrains from absolving the unrepentant.
If the presidential farewell address give us insight into what was important in the thinking of our national leaders, these words of Jesus give us insight into what is still most important to him. Jesus made it clear that what was most pressing in his thinking was the Kingdom of God, the mission of God, the Spirit of God, and the People of God fulfilling what Jesus had started during his lifetime, particularly in his death and resurrection. Our goal is what we have already said. We must carry on the mission of Christ and extend it through cooperation with his Spirit to a hurting and dying world. Jesus, and his Spirit, will do all the heavy lifting. In the end, the people we love will find salvation through the forgiveness of sins. That’s a goal worthy of a farewell address.
Takeaway:
Takeaway:
When Jesus appeared, he made clear what he had done for us and what our purpose should then be. He gave us the peace of God's Kingdom and the Holy Spirit. As such, we are able to be sent as he was and declare the Good News of forgiveness of sins to a desperate world.