In the name of the Risen Lord. Amen.
Often
this Sunday is referred to as “Low Sunday” because, well, after the highs of
joy and attendance last week, today seems rather low. And while I wish that every Sunday
had the church packed like it did last week, that’s just not the way it works.
Mountaintop experiences are great and wonderful, but you can’t stay there. And
so, for me, the question for today isn’t “where did everyone go?” or “do people
really think that Jesus wants us to show up on Easter and then forget about
church until Christmas?” No, the question to be asking today is “so what?” The
Lord is risen, but so what?
What
difference does it make that Easter happened? Even without the Resurrection,
Jesus taught us about God and faithful living through parables and his cross still
exalted him and showed us the depths of love. But I think we all know that the
Resurrection is the event that defines Jesus as Lord instead of simply a wise
teacher from the past. What the Resurrection enables is relationship.
Throughout the Resurrection appearances in scripture, Jesus is found in the
midst of life- whether it is walking along a road, at table breaking bread, or
in a locked room. It is not just that the disciples of Jesus had memories, but
they had experiences.
You’ll
remember that last Sunday, the angel announced to the women at the tomb that
Jesus had been raised, saying “he is going on ahead of you to Galilee, there
you will see him.” But notice that the angel does not say “you will find Jesus
in heaven” or “you will again see Jesus on the other side of death.” No, you
will find Jesus in Galilee, your hometown, in the midst of life. The
Resurrection is a present reality as much as it is a future promise. The
Resurrection enables relationship with Jesus to take place right here and right
now.
This
morning, we have the joy to welcome Rachel Tinsley fully into the Body of
Christ through the Sacrament of Baptism. And as we do, in the Baptismal
Covenant, I will ask you “Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your
Savior?” And you will respond, “I do.” Now I know that some of us are perhaps
uncomfortable with the language of having a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ. That idea has been co-opted by a particular brand of Christianity that
is more associated with a political agenda than it is following Jesus’
teachings. But that does not mean we should throw this baby out with the
bathwater.
Faith
is about relationship, and we see this nowhere more clearly than in the gospel
according to John. According to John, discipleship and belief have nothing to
do with what you think, or even what you do, but rather your relationship
status with God. You’ve, no doubt, heard today’s gospel passage before
described as the “Doubting Thomas passage.” But for once and for all, let’s
exonerate Thomas of a sin that he never committed. Thomas did not doubt. The text
of John does not say, as our translation this morning did, “do not doubt” but
rather “do not be unbelieving.” And remember, belief is John is the code-word
for being in relationship with Jesus.
Thomas’
problem is not that he is lacking the intellectual capability of thinking that
Jesus is alive or that he needs proof, but he is, understandably, struggling to
be in relationship with a man whom he thought was dead. As we explored last
Sunday, the Resurrection of Jesus really is a joke because it is rooted in impossibilities
and illogical conclusions. The other disciples are talking about how they’ve
seen Jesus, and even had conversations with him. But Thomas can’t be in
relationship with the Risen Lord because he has not yet had an experience of
the Risen Lord.
The
invitation that this encounter offers to us is to consider how we are, or are not,
in relationship with Jesus. In the language of John, are you believing or not
believing? To answer that question, we might want to consider what some of the
signs of the Resurrection are. In the reading from Acts, the text says “Now the
whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed
private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in
common… There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or
houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the
apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” The best way
to know if you’ve experienced the Risen Lord to look at your relationships with
others. Are they transformed?
The
Resurrection is not an event to explain, it is a reality in which to live. And,
at least for a brief moment, the early Christian community was living in the
light of the Resurrection. Is it socialism, is it communism? I’ll leave that
designation to the political scientists, but what they were doing is loving
their neighbors as themselves. They had a relationship with the Risen Lord, and
that transformed all of their other relationships. Though, this is an example
of the power of the Resurrection, but not a blueprint to follow. In the very
next verse after the Acts reading ends, someone in the community tried to keep
some money for themselves. There was no “golden age” of Christianity when everything
was pure and perfect. It is not that we’ve simply corrupted the message or
gotten off track, but that the followers of Jesus always have been, and always will
be, imperfect humans. What this story shows us is not necessarily how we should
structure our government, but rather how we should order our relationships.
This story shows us what is possible when our relationships are influenced by
the power of the Risen Jesus.
But
there remains work to do. Martin Luther King noted that we are “tied together
into a single garment of destiny.” Knowing what is possible through the power of
the Resurrection, this is a holy challenge that is issued to us. 19% of Rowan
County’s population falls under the poverty line and 29% of children in North
Carolina live in situations in which they are not sure where their next meal is
coming from. If the Resurrection is an event that happened some 2,000 years ago
in a city that is 6,000 miles away then what good is to us? If the Resurrection
is only about what happens to us after we die, then perhaps it is reassuring
news, but it is not Good News.
Throughout
the gospels, there are many examples of the way in which the different senses
are engaged. But today we see the power of touch. When Thomas touches Jesus, he
comes into relationship with him. It is only then that he is able to make the
profession of faith, “my Lord and my God.” In touching him, Jesus becomes
personal to him. In our seeking of a personal relationship with Jesus, we would
do well to pay attention to our touch, and what we don’t touch. Do our hands
have a bit of dirt on them from doing the work of the Gospel? When was the last
time you, literally, lent a helping hand?
When Jesus begins his
public ministry, he announces “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he
has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the
oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” That is the Good
News of the Resurrection, that salvation is a present possibility. This is what
it means to have a relationship with the Risen Lord. We will find Jesus in the
Galilees of our lives doing these things. If you want to have a relationship
with the Risen Lord, feed the hungry, visit those in prison, work for justice
and equality, love your neighbor. Because as Jesus plainly told the disciples “just
as you do it those in need, you do it to me.” If you want to have a
relationship with Jesus, have a relationship with your neighbor. The best
testimony to Easter isn’t a sermon, it isn’t an Easter dress, or trumpets
playing “Jesus Christ is Risen Today,” it is how we treat each other and relate
to the Risen Lord who is in our midst. Because Jesus is risen, we can take part
in his victory and liberation from fear, so that we might be more ready to
follow his teachings of love and service.
Maintaining these Easter
relationships though can be a challenge, because that’s not the way most of the
world operates. Resurrection is easy on Easter Sunday. With the special music
and the full pews, it’s easy to have a relationship with the Risen Lord. But
today, Low Sunday, the Easter candy is on the discount rack. So thank you,
Rachel Tinsley, for reminding us by your baptism that Easter is about
relationships. Living an Easter life is about saying “I do” to a relationship
with Jesus Christ. The light of the Resurrection is manifest in the way we
relate to each other. That is the difference that the Resurrection makes- that
Jesus lives not in only in blessed memory or future hope, but is with us always,
even unto the end of the age. Amen.
