The competing god is
man
Acts 5:12a, 17-22, 25-29
Psalm 118:19-24
Revelations 1:9-19
John 20:19-31
Tim
Christoffersen
St. Anselm’s
April 22,
2001
Good
morning. Let me read again the opening verses from the gospel of John: On
the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together,
with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them
and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them
his hands and side. They were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am
sending you.
The disciples were afraid. They were behind locked doors. John says they feared
the Jews. By the time John’s gospel was written, the last of the four,
the conflict between the early Jewish believers in Jesus as Messiah and the
mainstream Jews who rejected him was intense. If we take into account all
four gospels, we can say they feared the religious and political authorities
that were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. They were clearly not
ready for prime time. They still believed Jesus was dead and they might be
next.
In the midst of their being huddled together in fear, Jesus appears among
them. This was clearly an extraordinary event absolutely outside their sense
of reality.
Jesus’ first words of ‘Peace be with you’ has the sense of
‘fear not.’ Then he shows them the wounds in his hands and side.
The disciples are overjoyed. They now ‘see’ and they believe. He
has indeed overcome death. He lives!
Now he says to them again "Peace be with you." The context this
time has more the positive sense of a sustaining or deep peace that Jesus
imparts or assures them of. This is the peace of God that passes all understanding.
And then Jesus says as the Father has sent me, I am sending you.
I believe there are both parallels and dissimilarities with this set of events
for us today. One obvious difference is that Jesus is not physically present
to us as he was to the disciples. But let’s look at several parallels.
The disciples feared the political and religious authorities and what might
happen to them physically. Many of us today live with a certain reluctance,
a form of fear or embarrassment, of being too explicit about our faith in
Jesus as our Lord with friends, co-workers, acquaintances and others. Perhaps
we are a little bit "locked away behind closed doors." As Episcopalians
with a greater sense of reserve, many of us are probably even a little more
reluctant than many Christians about explicitly sharing our faith with non
Christians. In our mainstream secular culture today, being a professing Christian
is a little out of it unless, perhaps, you are a professional athlete. It
is ok for politicians to end their speech with the closing "God bless
America" but don’t take it much beyond that. Keep it limited to
a cultural symbol that we keep on the shelf for occasional viewing or to trot
out on public occasions.
But together as the body of Christ, we know the peace of God. We experience
it when we exchange the greeting of "peace be with you" with each
other. We believe that God loves and cares for each one of us. We love and
care for one another. We want to share that love with others.
But like the first disciples we know Jesus sends us out to tell our story
to non believers. The big difference is the world or the culture into which
we are ‘sent.’ The early disciples and first century Christians
went out into a cultural setting that was characterized by many alternatives
‘gods’ and competing religions. There were varieties of mystery
religions, the neighboring worship of Baal, the ‘unknown gods’ Paul
refers to in his speech to the Athenians we read about in Acts.
Today the mainstream culture in America limits god to being an expression
of man’s deepest longings or as a cultural symbol of being a Christian
nation, but not to be a real presence in our lives who confronts us and commands
us to love him and our neighbors. Our leaders can end their speeches with
a reference to God blessing America, but man, ‘we’, is the primary
alternative to God today, not other gods as it was in the first century. In
our culture, man is the measure of all things, the ultimate judge. If man
cannot define it, ‘it’ does not exist.
Let me share a story that happened to me last Wednesday. I had lunch with
a client. He is an Iranian executive who moved here as a teenager. He has
a Ph D and is an exceedingly bright engineer. I learned he has had a deep
interest in religions and theologies since his early years. He has a deep
understanding of the Muslim faith, the Jewish faith and Christianity. He said
all religions seem to have a similar vision of heaven and it does not matter
which ‘bus’ you take to get there. He said the driver could be Mohammed,
Jesus or Moses. Since most of the behavior that each religion requires is
at least broadly similar, he said as long as you believe it, which he does,
it did not matter who was driving the bus.
In response, I said, using your images of bus drivers, I think if you don’t
believe in one of the other drivers, then you are, in fact, driving your own
bus. And I don’t think I want to be on your bus. I am not sure you will
stay on the right road!
Jesus sends us out to proclaim the good news and the availability of God’s
forgiveness and to engage non believers, but we are not given a roadmap. As
the body of Christ we have the promise of the Holy Spirit and the assurance
of reconciliation through the forgiveness of sins.
I believe as Episcopalians we have to find our own way of sharing with others
our faith in Jesus as Lord. I think for us it has to do with inviting others
into a ‘community’ where two or three of us are gathered together.
We have Jesus’ assurance of his presence through the Holy Spirit. We
are able to demonstrate our love for each other and, in a sense, we are known
by our fruits. This does not exclude individual or personal witness but I
believe it takes into account both those to whom we extend the invitation
and who we are as a gathered community, as the body of Christ.
Jesus message to us, in the final words in Matthew, remains clear and compelling:
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go
and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything
I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end
of the age.
AMEN.
