I’ve mentioned before: The early Christians were called people of “the way.” I love this term because it expresses that we are always moving, growing, changing. We are journeying - and that involves discovery and being discovered.
When we go on a journey, or a satisfying vacation, often a piece of the experience can make one feel new. We are not only experiencing something different, we are experiencing ourselves afresh, awash with new sensations and perceptions. We fall in love with life again because we are renewed. We may discover parts of ourselves we didn’t know before. We may find we had an interest or a gift we hadn’t recognized. Today the disciples are traveling and it can be a metaphor for our own journeys. The risen Christ accompanies them and he offers them a perspective of life and of him and of the meaning of their purpose through the scriptures. They are transported into a new understanding of the universe. They understand themselves differently, anew and they are transformed. The revelation of the resurrection transforms us. It changes our mind, our whole lives. As the disciples in Acts respond to Peter: “what should we do?” That is what the Gospel story is about. It is a story that is entirely in motion: in the motion of our response to new life as it may appear to us again and again on our path walking the way, if our eyes are opened. When the disciples ask Jesus to “stay with them.” They were acting out Jesus’ commission to them to welcome the stranger, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me….” They offer him hospitality… to a stranger on a night in a new village, as they are still in the midst of their own grief and turmoil. Their hope feels lost. They are in despair because their saviour has been killed. And yet they offer hospitality. They aren’t waiting until the time is right, until all is well, until everything feels settled. They act out of the compassion of their hearts to make another traveler safe. This is what the Gospel message is. This is Jesus’ great commission to us. Saving love. Making others safe on this life journey. And it turns us around and we start to live differently. Like the new community of Christians: how we live, how we spend our money, who we spend our time with, what values we uphold to embody a loving life. We want to be embodied. We want to be connected. We want to encounter the risen Christ along our paths. In the letter from Peter Paul says, “Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart…” Now that the disciples are obedient (Meaning they recognize the truth of that greater call to love: the meaning and message of Jesus, they will have genuine mutual love.) What should we do? It is a deep love from the heart that we are called to. In our reading from Acts today, 3000 people are baptized that day. They hear the call to love. They want it. And we still do. The disciples on the road to Emmaus offer us examples of those who are beginning to follow in Jesus’ commission: They are willing to listen; disciples who are willing to engage in conversation; willing to offer hospitality. Hospitality is not just inviting another over for dinner, but what transpires when we come into contact with one another. Hospitality is being welcoming to the other (no matter what kind of food they eat, what their traditions are (as we learn in later acts of the apostles. We will break down these false boundaries). It is also the hospitality of listening to the feelings, desires, experiences of others (even when they differ from our own). This Gospel passage, and the early Church that we read about in Acts are about understanding the resurrection through dialogue. “What shall we do?” We continue to ask that very living question: How should we be in community? How do we walk “the Way”? We are in conversation. We have been for a couple of thousand years. Today we have the added forum of social media. It is both connecting and disconnecting. It offers us a multitude of ways to understand, and yet can put us into silos of understanding (all through algorithms) that provide us with self-censoring images and ideas (unbeknownst to us often times). One of the methods the anti-racism committee for instance, offers as an alternative, is to change your feed by following others who you believe are different from you to see a new perspective. Watch a news outlet that you believe you disagree with (but have never watched). Read papers from abroad. Share books with your friends who vote differently from you. And be open. I have started watching South Korean programs on Netflix and now my offerings for cinema are very different from what they used to be. And my ability to see others who don’t look like me or speak like me, or have the same cultural references takes me on vacation (into the nuances of another culture). My algorithm changed… I see things anew. I learn about myself too. Certainly we discover easily that we all share romance, love, intrigue, betrayal, and pain. It is all universal. But I also find I had preconceived notions I didn’t even know I had. I also have delight and resonance in aspects of their culture that make me new. A new perspective can blow your mind like the disciples who believed all hope was lost. Their anticipation of a messiah doesn’t seem like what they are presented with. Of course they didn’t recognize him. But it is their action: their hospitality that enables them to see Christ clearly. The resurrection turns us around. The disciples minds are changed. They turn around and run back to Jerusalem to tell the others the good news. Their minds are not changed in terms of politics and ideologies, but rather their hearts and their minds have been turned toward the reality of a living and eternal God. The Greek term is metanoia. We turn from our old ways of understanding and operating to the new. We find and are found in this new perspective. And that helps us be connected. What should we do? It doesn’t always involve going to a new place on a new vacation, It can be in this place with a new perspective. It can start wherever we are in life’s journey. Whether we are grieving a loved one, rejoicing in a new child, or just getting by… breaking the bread in community every week reminds us that we are united in the Love of God which we are commissioned to share with others. The saving gift that calls us home to ourselves while at the same time opens us up to new forms of life and love shows up in places we don’t expect. God comes to us like he did for Mary Magdalene in the garden, and for Thomas behind closed doors, and like the disciples on our way from one place to the next. If we allow ourselves to be open. As Paul says, “Let our way and our hope be set on God:” It is this constant higher power of Love that invites us again and again through the breaking of the bread to see anew. Let God’s hospitality allow your hospitality to kindle your hearts and minds and the hearts of those we encounter on the way.
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Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”
A bit easier said than done (unless we work on it)! Peace is not something we are born with, it is something we learn, and we practice. We even have to remind ourselves to practice it again and again. And it is Jesus’ message to us. It is the first thing he says to the disciples upon seeing them again. He has just been crucified, abandoned by his friends, betrayed by Judas Iscariot, denied by Peter - and yet his greeting is “Peace be with you.” Today we are invited into that teaching with Jesus and his disciples. They are still hiding out after the crucifixion. Jesus manages to appear even behind locked doors. It is in this room where we encounter Jesus, and he commissions them to go. “Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’” He breaths the Holy Spirit upon them. The Holy Spirit is considered God at work in the world. Jesus intends for them to carry on this work. Not only has he given them the gift of Peace, but Jesus gives them the the deeper knowledge behind forgiving sins. He says if you forgive them they are forgiven. If you retain them they are retained. Also easier said than done. We aren’t born into forgiveness either, it is something we have to cultivate and practice, like Peace (again and again). When we forgive we are released from our suffering. We stop the circle of tormenting resentments that suck away our life and joy. When we forgive it releases others from a domino effect of reactionary activity: “tat for tat” and "an eye for an eye.” Jesus links these two important aspects of new community. peace and forgiveness It is the new community for those who have been born into the fellowship of Christ’s body. It involves peace and forgiveness. As the collect says, The paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation. We are brought together with one another and God through forgiveness. It is not easy, but it does transform us. Jesus models this for us through his life ministry, but especially here in this locked room, We see him completely transformed post resurrection. We see him forgiving the world and forgiving his friends. Currently his friends are a bit stuck. Grief and fear have a way of doing that to us. He has come back to free them from this room, from their fear, and from their guilt. He has come to set us all free, even Thomas who thought he might be left out! What is the phrase we use today: FOMO (fear of missing out)! Thomas is experiencing that feeling in spades… And even though we associate this story with the phrase, “don’t be a doubting Thomas,” Thomas is not afraid of engaging God. Thomas is not afraid to engage with the wounds Jesus had to bear either. While we rotate our readings in a three year cycle, we read about the locked room, the fearful disciples, and Thomas every year. I believe this is so, because all of us have doubts. And this story lets us explore them through Thomas. Thomas responds reactively because he is hurt. Why would God reveal himself to my brothers, but not to me? But Thomas doesn’t leave the community because he is skeptical. Rather Thomas engages deeper with God. Thomas is not simply a model of doubt, but a model of honesty. He doesn’t remain a stranger to God. He says "it like it is." He isn’t afraid to engage in intimate dialogue with God. On Palm Sunday I spoke about Simon (the carrier of the cross) being the best part of us on our very worst day. Thomas mirrors us on a regular day; a day that requires work not to become reactionary; A day when we have to remind ourselves to be peaceful; a day when we struggle to get out and share the message of peace and forgiveness. And on those days, these regular days, we can remember that Jesus is there with his wounds. Jesus completely relates to our frailty, our suffering and our struggle. And he says touch me. Jesus says, “Blessed are those that Believe but have not seen.” This is us, and it is Thomas’s intimate relationship with Jesus who helps us into this space through our own pain and doubt. Thomas in his honesty and love delivers us into the moment. Jesus shows up as resurrected in the fullness of his spirit, of God’s Spirit. This Bodily resurrection we speak about, has to do with that fullness of Spirit…that we like Jesus will be resurrected in the fullness of our being. As Christians we are working at growing into that fullness of our being through growing in wisdom, forgiveness and as bearers of peace (as we say in our baptismal vows). As the body of Christ we also carry one another’s wounds. When we doubt, or struggle with our belief, another one of us, another part of the body can carry us the rest of the way. We buoy one another. This is Christian Community. We don’t do it alone. We live into the resurrection together one regular day at a time. Go in Peace! To love and serve the Lord! Amen. Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
And we are risen with Christ! (as the Collect says “we live with him in the joy of the resurrection!”) As my husband likes to say, Jesus wins! The powers of darkness, injustice, deception, and oppression do not get the last word… This is the Good News of the Gospel. In this Topsy Turvey World, we hold onto the story of Jesus that tops everything and turns everything on its head. The powers of darkness tried to eradicate the healing message of Jesus, but the message was planted and the Good News has endured for centuries. As the psalmist sings: “The Same stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone!” Forgiveness, Peace, Love and Mercy, these powers are stronger than death because they are everlasting. Resurrection is not about one person named Jesus. Resurrection is about community one person at a time. Today in our story, it is Mary who shows us a way into this greater understanding of what resurrection means for all of us. She has just spent two nights in the worst throws of grief. But she also models for us a deep relationship with God, a relationship we attain to. Mary is the only disciple who follows Jesus from the beginning of his ministry all the way through his death and into the resurrected Christ. Her presence is made known throughout his ministry. She is the one they say was “healed of seven demons.”Mary’s healing by Jesus sets her on a spiritual journey. Jesus brought her back into community by healing her, recognizing her. Mary helps to show us what a spiritual path looks like… And yet! In this passage, Mary doesn’t recognize the risen Jesus at first and confuses him for the gardener. This momentary blindness in the face of grief is actually not so unusual. We walk through a fog when we are grieving. It is part of the process of healing that we begin to see things anew and frame things anew. A deep and penetrating loss has the potential to open us up completely. And Mary’s walk with Jesus helps us see the hope and the meaning of this awakening for a transformed community. Yes, Easter comes at spring time when the earth is renewed. We see new life spring! But our story with Jesus is not simply a metaphor for spring… it is about transformation for a loving world. But here we are in the throws of Grief, or in the tumultuous chaotic world of indifference, we like Mary may not recognize Jesus. Not until we are called by name, like her…. and that is when she turns! That is when we may be healed, re-oriented to the loving source. When someone knows us so deeply, or when someone affirms us, recognizes us - we are healed. As part of our walk with Christ we allow ourselves to turn like Mary to the Spirit reorienting ourselves to the source and we become more fully our whole selves. As first century bishop Iraneus famously said, “The Glory of God is a human being fully alive!” Mary’s recognition of God’s voice (Rabbouni/teacher) represents her awakening. It may be the first time she recognizes that she is Loved by the Spirit of God! Painfully, Jesus says “Do not hold onto me” (translated also as “Don’t cling to me,” “Don’t touch me”). Jesus says “I have not yet ascended to the Father.” Jesus seems to be saying that he is in a transitional state. But this command from Jesus is more than just about his transitional state. Her faith to go on to tell the story represents that this moment in the garden is precisely about their transitional state. It is relational. It is about the relationship between God and Mary (as well as about us and our relationship with God). Mary in the garden experiences for the first time, Jesus the man, Christ the Crucified God, and the Holy Spirit acting as One. Through this story, Mary is the first to encounter this three dimensional aspect of God we call the Trinity. Yet, Don’t cling to me he says…“What Jesus is really doing is redirecting Mary’s desire for union with himself from his physical or earthly body… to …his presence in the world, that is, the community of his brothers and sisters, the disciples.” (us) [1] Mary Magdalene’s witness and her prophetic voice, “I have seen the Lord” is all intended for the sake of the community. Like John the Baptist, she participates in the prophetic tradition. She becomes the voice that directs us to the risen Christ: to the incarnation that is not merely conceptual but can be acted out through mercy and love in new patterns for communal relationship. [2] In this Gospel, Mary came to the tomb while it was still dark. In another version, she sits vigil across from the tomb, and still in another she shows up with other women and spices to dress the body… Mary Magdalene models for us what it means to abide in the dark times of our lives and the willingness to make that abiding journey through to the dawn and expectation of resurrection and new life. Mary stands in this place with the risen Christ, a place we all long to stand in. It is the place we also wish to touch… And we do this ritualistically every Sunday when we take communion. When we take communion we recognize that we are seeking to join in the union of that forgiving God, that loving humanity, and that life-giving spirit in company with others. Sharing this Trinitarian understanding of God begins to set new patterns for community based in forgiveness and healing. “To abide in love with others is to live together in a community that works to overcome alienation and isolation, individualism and hierarchy.” [3] In this wold today, that is really Good News. Aleluia! Thank you to the following authors who helped lend language and depth to my inquiry: 1. Schneiders, “John 20:11-18: The Encounter of the Easter Jesus with Mary Magdalene – A Transformative Feminist Reading,” 164-165. 2. McIntosh, Discernment and Truth, 148. 3. Amy-Jill Levine, Marianne Blickenstaff, and Dorothy Lee,“Abiding in the Fourth Gospel: A Case Study in Feminist Biblical Theology,” 75. This morning feels a bit like whiplash. We enter into the bright morning crying "Hosanna in the Highest" only to find ourselves half way through the service crying and beating our breasts with grief.
The Passion Narrative takes us through the trial of Jesus as the awful events unfold. It is a familiar story to us. Yet it is always painful as we reenact the betrayal of Jesus, the mob mentality, the complicity of Pilate to cave to the crowd (even as both he and Herod found nothing in Jesus worthy of the death sentence) and finally the withdrawal of the apostles. The utter abandonment. It is unfathomable. Where is the sympathy and compassion that Jesus held out to so many? It is a complex story with many facets and many characters. But there is one character, seemingly a stranger, I want to focus on: Simon. Who is Simon? Simon is mentioned in Mark, Matthew, and Luke. Simon is employed to carry the cross for Jesus when Jesus is perhaps at the frailest expression of his humanity. But by the time this Gospel story is shared, its original audience, and we, know that Simon also carried the cross for our risen Christ. Simon both carries the cross to help a particular human Jesus… And Simon carries the cross following behind the Christ, in its cosmic scope: He carries the cross for God and for all of humanity. Simon is yanked into the now: Into the particular horrific suffering of the crucifixion…But we know this burden is also his privileged participation in God’s unending story of resurrection. Simon arrives late into the city for the Passover festivities. And he was not at the last supper. We don’t know whether he was a follower of Jesus when he arrived in the city. Mark’s Gospel tells us he was the father of Rufus and Alexander well-known to the Christian community, leaders by that date… (probably about 40 years after the crucifixion). Did Rufus and Alexander become followers as children because of Simon? Was Simon converted to a follower by carrying the cross for Jesus? Was his family converted? All we know is that on that day he entered into Jesus' human suffering… Suffering at the hands of other humans. Who is Simon? We are Simon… Either through birth or conversion, whether through infant or adult baptism we have been called to carry this love for humanity ...and to not be filled ourselves until this universal sacrificial love is shared with everyone. Simon doesn't ask for this. Simon is drawn in by the divisive and unjust worldly powers (manifested in the Roman guards). Simon shows us active participation in overcoming these worldly powers on behalf of God, for and with God. He reminds us that this burden is also a privilege… …to act in ways to help one another through each particular suffering. Doing this requires us to enter into immediate relationship, to meet the human frailty in one another. Like Simon, we are transformed from observer into participant. To follow the cross means, we agree to be yanked into the NOW: into relationship when we encounter divisiveness and suffering. It isn’t always comfortable and we don’t always want it. Our society tells us to protect ourselves and to be tough and independent. But Christianity asks us to be open, communal, to meet the suffering in others. This past week the horrific school shootings are also the anniversary of another School shooting and teacher’s death. A few years ago in this same season, she went into work on her day off for a quick meeting with other school social workers. A gunman came to the School and shot and killed her. Her name was Christine. We had never met, but she was very close to a friend of mine; a friend who told me all about her over a series of conversations. At the funeral the friends and family shared stories of Christine’s generous spirit. One unique story was from someone Christine had met at her favorite "take out" spot. They stuck up a friendship from that first night when this particular woman was devastated and could not even control her weeping at the restaurant. Christine didn't know her, but apparently was moved to go to her. The woman had recently been diagnosed with an illness and her husband had walked out on her. Christine went over, sat down and listened. She entered into relationship with someone she didn't know, and who was obviously suffering. The woman said at the funeral, by connecting with her at this vulnerable time, Christine literally saved her life. These healing moments of connection, personal recognition, recollect the miracles of Jesus ministry (his other passion): The miracles that Jesus demonstrated over and over again by engaging with particular people not just some idea or philosophy… Participating in Resurrection life is a daily undertaking. It isn’t just about going to church, engaging in theological pursuits or working on your prayer life. It is those things, but above all, like Jesus, it is about engaging sympathetically and compassionately with others, one person at a time, re-collecting us all into the body of God… Simon reminds us of our call into the now- to bear the burden and the privilege of participating with God - to counteract the divisiveness of our society and unjust world, the indifference, the meanness, the sense of abandonment by engaging the suffering. We can do this at anytime. It is never too late. We can show up, even late like Simon. Who is Simon? We don’t know very much. But I love this character who appears in each of the passion narratives. I love this stranger, because to me Simon represents us at our best. |
AuthorThe Rev. Heather K. Sisk Archives
July 2024
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