Is It So Hard to Do What Is Right?

Is It So Hard to Do What is Right? 

1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48 

We spend our lives, pretty sure of who we are and what we are about. But over time, the line between our work or vocation and our private identity may become blurred. We can lose our self in our relationship to God. We pray for what we want, but stay in the practical. Annie Dillard wrote in her Pulitzer Prize book the Pilgrim at Tinker Creek “I was still ringing. I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck.”

So much of the scriptures seems to be simple stories, until we reach the great and miraculous ones, where the characters in the story seem  bewilderingly human, and you and I, aided by centuries of interpretation and preparation, marvel at the player’s inability to recognize what is going on. And then, we put our own names in those stories, we face the reality of living the faith. 

Last week we considered the appearance of the resurrected Jesus to the doubting Thomas in the gospel of John. That episode - singling out Thomas for his lack of faith - only occurs in John’s gospel. Today, we have a vaguely similar episode from the gospel of Luke. This episode does not have any parallel in the other gospels. 

There are great diversity and differences in the gospel stories of the post-resurrection Jesus. There are plenty of theories about why these stories are so diverse. The most likely of course, is that Matthew and Luke were written following the outline of Mark, and the original ending of Mark left us with the disciples stunned and silent at the announcement of the resurrection. Since the master framework was left incomplete, the faith communities were free (or forced) to save their own traditions in their own words and memories.

I usually call the gospel of Luke, the Pot Luck gospel. It seems every time you turn the page in your Bible reading Luke’s gospel, Jesus is having dinner with someone else or some other group. Community, and the extraordinary welcome of Jesus, are core themes in Luke’s gospel. 

So then it makes sense that in Luke’s community Jesus would appear and ask, “Hey, what have you got to eat?” The intention is to prove that the resurrected Jesus has a real body, and he is not just a ghost. How better to prove it than eating with friends? How better to prove that he is “their” Jesus, than to ask for a snack? How better to prove he is the same today, though resurrected, as he was before?  

For Luke, faith and faith community are inseparable. The Christian who finds their identity most closely related to Luke’s gospel will be drawn to the church in public worship, in community action, and of course, the never ending string of Pot Luck meals. 

When we intentionally sit together in community, we create the opportunity to break through the barriers of isolation. We still need to do the work. On a Sunday coffee hour, we need to survey the room and talk with whoever might be on the sidelines, too shy to initiate a conversation, but wanting company enough to stick around and create the possibility. We prove we are real by eating half of a donut, and sipping some coffee or juice, and then building the community.  

The resurrected Jesus brings his battered and scarred body with him to be in the community. Have you ever noticed that none of the New Testament writings, especially the gospels, ever mention what Jesus looks like? Nowhere does it say Jesus is tall or short. We do not know if he was light or dark skinned, although it is very likely he was dark skinned. They never say if he looks too thin, or has a bit of a belly. I suppose the picture of Jesus in Luke’s gospel he would have at least the beginning of a belly, and full cheeks, since he was always eating and hanging out with friends and the curious. 

Today he is in the company of the closest disciples. Again the announcement “Peace be with you,” terrifies those who should be overjoyed to see Jesus. Last week we noted just how terrifying the appearance of the resurrected Jesus was to the disciples in John’s gospel. 

Today’s gospel is still another story today about doubting disciples after Jesus arose from the dead. Here Jesus is present, in the flesh. The same body, damaged by nails and a spear during his execution is present with them. This was just a room full of frightened people, but now, they have the presence of risen Christ. 

Can you feel how Jesus is trying to help these people he loves, make peace with this crazy idea of life after death? He is more the same as he was - than he is different. He seems to pass through locked doors or walls, and he did not used to be like that, but otherwise he is the same. This is a cause for celebration, but it is hard to recognize, because the divine script is not like our human imaginations design. Jesus is calling a dance in direct opposition to ‘le danse macabre,’ where the spirits of the dead lead the haughty into death. In this complete turnabout, the resurrected Jesus leads the humble faithful to a life of abundance. Wouldn’t you love to get in line and get a hug from the risen Jesus? 

Jesus is preparing them to go into the world, aware of his spirit being present, even when his bodily presence has gone on to heaven. Jesus is right there amongst them, asking them to acknowledge the truth of his presence, and live as he lived! 

Today we hear that repentance and forgiveness of sins is made clear in the resurrection. And Jesus said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” 

We have wrestled with repentance before. We know that repentance means to change our ways. We know, change is hard. We do not usually choose to change, until it becomes so painful to hang on to the old ways that in desperation we agree to try something different. 

I have seen institutions deal with structured change by offering rewards for achieving new milestones, in an attempt to overcome resistance by providing positive feedback and incentives for changed behavior. 

Like the disciples in Luke’s gospel, we are being encouraged to believe in the resurrection of Jesus, even when we cannot explain how it works. We are encouraged to trust that because Jesus lives, he is able to offer eternal life to us. We are encouraged to celebrate these promises when we are ecstatic - when we are terrified - and when we are calm; we behave like believers; when we are in a church full of believers - or at the Secretary of State’s office. 

So I hope that you will try to be aware of the presence of Jesus all of the ordinary places you go this week. Fully in touch with the wonders of the resurrection. At peace with the way that God does things we cannot explain, like raising Jesus from the dead, and sending his Holy Spirit to be our guide and companion - as we bring hope into very ordinary places, where hope so often seems out of place.  The epistle of First John tells us, “3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.” We know we can do this, we simply behave like Jesus behaves. 

The gospel may as well tell us, that Jesus is now, just as he ever has been. He is among the faithful, and making what is good, blessed. Jesus is  now, just as he has always been, delivering the peace of God to the places where confidence is wearing thin. Jesus is among us now, encouraging us to follow his model, and be a blessing, be the Kingdom, bring the ringing sound of the truth of the ages into ordinary places. 

You were made for this, to be like Jesus, in life and in the resurrection. You were made to resonate with truth of Creation. You were made to be like the Christ, in life and in the world to come. “I was still ringing. I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck.”