The Eye-Witness Was Not Enough

In the Gospel of Mark we find three version of the Easter story.  The one used in the Common Lectionary, assigned for the Saturday of Easter, is Mark 16: 9-29.  

Mark, being the most historical of the four Gospels, bring us the account of Jesus resurrection by combining the other three Gospels. 

In a very short - concise - way Mark give us a clear truth.   The truth that an eye-witness account of an event does not necessarily hold weigh; especially  when it comes to the most extraordinary event in history.

It is just too challenging for the logical mind to grasp -- to believe. 

When you have witnessed, for yourself, that Jesus hung nailed to a cross.  And you watched as he took his last breath.  You may have even witness them taking him to this grave.

How can life — breathing, walking, talking life — be possible?

So when the women came and said:  “He Lives.”  What is one to believe?   Sight, seeing and hearing, is not necessarily good enough.

So   ¹⁴Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.

This appearance of the Risen Christ was most surely the harshest, reported in the New Testament.  Jesus a is clearly not at all pleased with this friends.    

Very little, if any, grace offered. 

And then he sends them out into the unbelieving world to do the very same thing Mary and the two walking to Emmaus had tried to do.  

He told them: 

“Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. ¹⁶The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe:

It was now their turn to tell the unbelievable story to others who will refuse to listen — refuse to believe.

Witnessing, to the doubting world about the most precious truth in history; is no easy trick.   And those who attempt it will certainly to be humiliated by the experience.

The disciples will now have to stand in the shoes of folks like Marys  — and the ones who were walking on the road, away from Jerusalem, towards Emmaus.

We are all called to bring the truth of God, born in Jesus, to those who do not know.  To those who have known but have lost their faith.

It is a most humbling of calls.

It the most difficult of calls; but oh so worth it.

And we, like those who have gone before us,  do not have the privilege of speaking the truth with harsh judgment.   Yes, Jesus did speak a harsh word when he appeared to the eleven.  However Jesus had the authority to do so.

We don’t.

We -- you and I --  are now asked to walk in the disciple’s shoes; not so much telling — speaking — what we believe.  But instead living our lives as ones who are blessed with the privilege of being Gods’ grace and forgiveness in the world.

Regardless of the out come.

⁹Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. ¹⁰She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. ¹¹But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

¹²After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. ¹³And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

¹⁴Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. ¹⁵And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. ¹⁶The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

¹⁹So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it(Mk. 16:9 - 20)

"What Does God Call Us To Do Now?"

The Gospel readings, for the Friday of Easter week, are  taken from John 21.   It is the story of Jesus’  third appearance to his disciples after Easter morning. 

As I read it this morning my mind went to a question I read from the Upper Room on March 24, 2020: 

“The present is the only moment when faith can take action.  What does God call us to do now?”  

For clarity, the question asked had nothing to do with John 21.  

However, it is interesting to me what the disciples decided to do after Jesus’ death the resurrection:

²Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. ³Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’

They went fishing.  Don’t you find that intriguing?

I certainly do? 

These men were charged to continue Jesus’ purpose:

As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ (John 20)

But they went fishing.

Now honestly it was a perfectly normal, human, thing to do.  After all it had been a stressful time.  Their world had been turned up-side-down.  They needed a break.

Any of us can understand that.  

I am guessing that Jesus understood it too.

So what did Jesus do?

He joined them on the beach.  He made breakfast for men that had had a disappointing night with no fish to show for their efforts.

And he did something more.  He gave them an amazing catch to begin their new life.

And then after a nice breakfast, sitting together on the beach, the lessons began.  He took Peter aside and told him exactly what he expected from Peter and the others.

You can read that in the rest of chapter 21.

There is a great lesson in this short little chapter about how we use these “moments” in our lives today.  Today, in 2020, when we are all a bit lost as to what to do and how to live in this totally new reality.

We like Peter have things to do with our faith and trust in God/Jesus.

We like the disciples are offered God’s Peace.  

He has breathed on us the power of his Spirit.

And He has sent us — asked us — to do as he had done.

Yes, even in the worst of the worst situations we are unexpectedly faced with.

“The present is the only moment when faith can take action.  What does God call us to do now?”

Pray,

   smile,

     call a friend,

send a card or text,

  Share God’s grace even in the tiniest ways,

    Take a walk and breathe the air and give thanks. 

And pray some more — pray a lot.

TwoAfter these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. ²Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. ³Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’ They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. ⁵Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ ⁶He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. ⁷That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the lake. ⁸But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. ¹⁰Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’ ¹¹So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. ¹²Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord. ¹³Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. ¹⁴This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.(John 21)

Wonder Part 3

Yesterday I left you with this question:

                                                         Where am I in this parable?  

What I have learned, through all these years as a Pastor, is that it is very  difficult impossible as a matter of fact to fool God.  

And, in my simple reality, God is only impressed with what I do or say that truly honors him.

As I am writing all of this a saying of my mom’s comes to mind: “Don’t insult my intelligence by lying to me!”

God wants total honestly, genuine conversation with us.

What follows from that is God’s desire, in my perception of course, that we continue an honest posture and  conversation by living out our lives in genuine attempts to honor others in God’s name.  

God's Name,   

                   not our own names.

We do this by focusing on how God would have us think, feel and act.  By focusing on how God would speak to, and treat, our fellow sinners.  

Now that is tricky. Focusing on the way we think — think — about God is tricky. 

Tricky  because our understanding and God’s understanding, according to what scripture and Jesus tell us,  are very, very, very different!  “As far as the East is from the West.”(Ps. 103:12)

However, what occurs to me is that we actually have been told how to focus on God/Jesus’ ways.  Paul tells us clearly, in Philippians 2, how God chose to live, work, speak, act and relate to others. 

It goes like this;  by emptying himself of all power and authority.  By becoming like the tax collector with no list of accomplishments, no position, no authority, no honor.  

EMPTY — that is, not full of ourselves. 

The Pharisee was full of himself.

   

The tax collector was not.

I invite you to really think about that. 

Being “empty” void of all prideful identification to feed our ego and importance before others.
                     Our bucket turned up-side-down — drained.

An extremely powerful concept.  

Now, if we truly think about that, it can make some good sense.  Because, when we are void/empty of all our self importance, all our thoughts and opinions, with all of our stuff gone.  Then we are able to be filled.  Filled with God’s hope for us.

When we are full of ourselves there is no room for God to work within us.  No space for different.  Different opinions, or points of views.  

No space for change or growth or possibility.

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. (Phil. 2)