Hope Filled Fools

Easter 3a, May 8, 2011 (Also Mother's Day)

Luke 24:13-35. Key verse ("We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel")

We had hoped: "We had hoped that everything would be OK- that the tests would come back negative – no cancer." She was speaking of her husband of over 40 years. But she couldn't completely separate him from herself. Her face was awash with tears. She went on, "We just received the test results and... they are positive. He has cancer. Oh God, if only it weren't so!"

 

We had hoped: "We had hoped that we could live and enjoy our retirement for a long time. That's why we went out and bought this new rig – a fabulous motor home. We did get to go on one trip. It was great! But only one trip. We returned home late last night. Jim went out this morning to change the oil in the rig. In only a few moments he returned, saying he felt ill. He laid down for a nap, and (she began to sob) he never woke up. Two weeks of retirement together – that's all we had. We had hoped .. for more."

 

I have hoped for peace in the Middle East, not in some abstract way, as if, wouldn't that be nice for those people? No! I have hoped for peace in a very specific way. While living there I became friends with Joseph, a young Palestinian. He is a teacher. He instructs employing 3 languages, Arabic, Hebrew and English. He has longed his entire life when all the people: the people in his village, the people in the neighboring Kibbutz and the variety of people in the nearby town could actually care for and about each other just as they are. He yearns to live long enough to see the hatred between different groups end. So too does Malcha, the young Israeli woman who lives only meters away from Joseph's village. So, they speak to each other. They visit with their friends, modelling acceptance, working for understanding and new ways of relating that bridge the gaps of generations of misunderstanding, wrongdoing and hatred. They still have hope, even though many of their aspirations have been blown to bits.  

 

Do you hope?

 

Some people have hoped. They wished that certain things would happen, could happen. But now – those wishes, their "hopes" have been dashed. The person or people they had hoped for or in, hadn't measured up to their expectations. Or, the circumstances they had dreamed about  - a promotion, a graduation, a job, a relationship they so desperately wanted, never happened or somehow ended.  Now they are deeply disappointed. They have given up on their wishes. They no longer dare hope.

 

The early followers of Jesus also had hope. When they met Jesus, travelled with him, observed him, they thought, "Finally! Here is the One  to free our country from these Roman oppressors. If we follow him, we will no longer have to answer to others. We will be free! So, they follow him.

 

And Jesus did amazing things. He ate with people few if anyone else would eat with. He touched and aided in healing people whom most others felt were beyond help. Sometimes he fed many hungry people at once. His love was genuine. He was fearless. In a simple but profound way he was pure. They had never met anyone else like Jesus.

 

So, their wishes, yes even their hope had grown. But then, Jesus had been framed. Taken by the guards, head been falsely tried and executed. He had hung on that cross like a mute dog, even as he was tortured. His voice had barely been raised, except to cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

 

Of course their truth was that they too had mostly abandoned him, forsaken him.

 

Now they can't stop talking about it. Their pain and disappointment, their sadness overflows even to this "stranger" who walks beside them. Incredibly he seems to know nothing of their Jesus nor of Jesus' death. So they tell him the entire story including the reality of their "hopes" which now were dashed, blown to smitherines. They too say, "We had hoped". Then I suspect their voices fell off.  

 

Tragically, many today have zero hope. Surveying, experiencing the disappointment of human existence: broken promises, so-called "irreconcilable" differences that surface among human beings and different groups, many have accepted the reality of brokenness, misunderstanding and even hatred as the ongoing power, the dominant forces of life. They think and feel that's the way things have been, are and forever will be. Such people then refuse to believe that anything or anyone can be changed or become different in any significant way.

 

Are our differences, our misunderstandings, our grave disappointments and pain what dominate you?

 

How about that "stranger"? Does he ever come along side you? We might think that's all there are – strangers, someone others have talked about, even one who may or may not exist. Or we may have come to the conclusion that no one can really understand the things in our lives, those things that matter so much. But then one day or one night, when we least expect it, He encounters us. It may even be while we are eating seemingly ordinary bread, or when we have thought that we have absolutely everything we need or nothing that we need that He encounters us. In that moment our eyes are opened. We begin to see him – to see truth not in an abstract way, but in a profoundly personal, all encompassing way.

 

To be sure Jesus has died. Our hopes, our dreams, our wishes, if we ever had any, have been dashed again and again. But, Jesus comes to the middle of our living, our pain, our anger, our fear even our despair. He comes, not as One who is dead, but as One who has died, who has suffered, who is alive. Jesus comes, God in the flesh. Jesus says to you, to us, in a variety of ways, "I Love you. You are mine!"

 

Then He embraces us, sometimes in a very physical visible way, but often in ways that are real, but which may not be visible to the physical eye, in ways that defy mere explanation or logic. He lives with us, among us. He comes very aware of the death, destruction, hatred and jealousy that run amok in our lives. They are real. But so is He. He has died. He is alive. And because He lives we too can live in the midst of whatever is happening with hope. Because He loves even those who took his life and tortured him, we too can be moved beyond hatred to love. Death and all of its forms do not, cannot control us as Christ meets us.

 

The last word, the controlling word is not death, nor despair, nor even "irreconcilable differences". Christ is the ongoing Word to us and for us, the very Word of God.

 

So, what are we doing? How are your living?

 

Will we dare to hope in the face of all that shatters us, our wishes, our dreams, our supposed reasons for living? Will we live now experiencing the presence and power of the One who has died but who lives, Jesus Himself?

 

Or, will we throw in the towel, struggling simply to keep on keeping on, as if there is no hope?

 

Are our eyes opened, our minds receiving? Do we see that even now Christ is risen? (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!) Amen.

Wounded Hope, Pregnant Breathing

Easter 2a, May 1, 2011 - John 20:19-31 with I Peter 1:3-9 and Acts 2:14a, 22- 33 in the b.g.

I invite you to take a few moments right now to be honest with yourself. You will need to detach yourself from all the other stuff that tempts us to escape from any moment – distractions like our minds whirring, the beautiful baby Ariel right here at the front, thoughts of what happened or didn't happen last night – or even what may occur when you leave this place. I am inviting you to be present, here and now – to listen to yourself, to listen for God. With God's help you can do it – we can do it. And no that's not a campaign promise.

 

I want to ask you a 3 pronged question:  What do you long for? Whom do you absolutely trust? What is your hope?  I ask you these questions because they are important. Out of these questions is revealed what we understand to be the purpose of our lives, our reason for being.

 

I suspect that those of us who know a bit of the Biblical story see the early disciples as heroes of the faith. I mean many if not all of those early disciples, save Judas, eventually end up giving their lives to proclaim the truth of their conviction, the reality of their experience, that Jesus is risen from the dead. Underneath that conviction is the belief that God can and does overcome death and evil, hatred and apathy – all the forces of empire that conspire to suck the life out of so many while elevating only a few.

 

In some ways the early disciples end up being heroes of faith. They eventually establish priorities while being  pulled along by a tidal wave of what really matters. Everything else is of secondary importance to their seemingly simple confession:  Jesus is Lord.

 

But as we watch and listen to today's Gospel reading we have to know that it wasn't always that way – not even after Jesus' resurrection. Did you notice where the disciples are on the evening of the first day of the week, that very first day of resurrection? That's correct – they are behind locked doors for fear of those who had opposed Jesus and initiated his death. The disciples are afraid. They are convinced that they have nothing to offer anyone. They are more concerned about their own lives than anyone else's including Jesus. Oh, yes they had already heard about Jesus' resurrection – but somehow that reality hadn't take root in their minds and beings. They were so afraid.

 

But Jesus comes to them, through the locked door.  He gives them shalom, that is peace. And he commissions them, sending them out into their world with the news that He is no longer dead, but alive. Death could not hold him. Now death cannot hold them.  He shows them his wounds. Then he does something amazing: he breathes on them giving them the Holy Spirit, his spirit. He tells them that there is a purpose for this. They can forgive sins – letting go of what people have done to hurt others, to hurt themselves, to deny the power and love of God. You would have thought that this would have been enough. But  it isn't. They remain hesitant impeded by all kinds of walls, doors and locks separating them from others. 

 

We know this because our text fast forwards one week. There they are again in the house. But now they are all present including Thomas who had been absent a week ago. They had mentioned to Thomas that they had seen the Lord, but he wasn't  convinced. Maybe it's because they hadn't been trustworthy before . Or maybe it was because their lives weren't showing any difference. Or maybe Thomas was a pure sceptic.  Prove it baby. Whatever the case the risen Jesus again appears to them now showing Thomas his wounds. He even invites Thomas to touch those wounds, to cease unbelieving, to move towards trusting Jesus.  Somehow Thomas does. Notice his statement of faith, "my Lord and my God." The text doesn't tell us that Thomas actually ever touches Jesus' wounds. But the text does tell us that Thomas is moved to trust. And the Christian church in India now claims Thomas as its first missionary.

 

So, do you remember how I began our conversation today? I asked you a 3 pronged question: What do you long for? Whom do you absolutely trust? Where is your hope?

 

At times today's church is seriously despairing. Our "numbers" are down, way down. Churches that once were referred to as "mainline" churches are now at best sideline churches. In fact churches here on the West Coast are viewed irrelevant by a very significant portion of the population.  Although disappointed I am not surprised. So many Christians, myself far too often included, are like those early disciples. We lock ourselves away from the rest of the world and gather behind closed, even locked doors. Oh, we say we are welcoming claiming to be in mission. Sometimes we even try hard.  But often we are overcome by fear, fear of our shrinking bank accounts, of declining numbers, of placing any real expectations upon those who show up on some Sundays: in terms of a discipline in following Jesus, like praying, studying, fasting, tithing. Then we end up offering only what some service clubs offer – a helping hand, education about ongoing issues in the world. Not that this isn't important. It is. But thanks be to God there are many service clubs.

 

However even now, especially now there is good news. The risen Jesus refuses to leave those earliest disciples behind their locked doors despite their fear and scepticism. He comes through those doors. He comes bringing the reality of peace. This is not an escape from the world but the sense of his abiding presence as He commands them to live in the world. So it is that when He comes He breathes on them, gifting them with His Spirit. And only then are they moved to get up off their duffs, to face their fear and to venture out into the wounded world. They do this not by their own power or only with their "own" resources, but enlivened by the Spirit to hear, to see and to care for others who are wounded, broken, empty just like them.

 

So what are you longing for? Whom do you absolutely trust? What is your hope, beyond any wish or dream? I want you to know dear people that this same God who creates and is creating the universe,  also has become human in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus lived, loving and caring for all whom he met. Jesus lived honestly confronting the powers that be, which claim to be god – powers such as greed and military might, powers like death and fear. Jesus confronts these powers by giving himself over to them. He suffers greatly. He dies! To be sure he dies. But because of him we are not alone in our suffering or death.

 

But oh dear people, also know this: this Jesus whom we somehow put to death, also rises. He is alive!  He wills to come through all the doors and walls of our fears, wherever we are caught or bound. He comes bringing us peace. This is a peace that refuses to cover our heads with blankets or bury our heads in the sand. This a peace that sends us with real hope and joy to share his love, his story, his forgiveness in our world. This is a hope transcending but involving sight, understanding and logic. But his is a hope that is real steadfastly outlasting any and all other temporary "victories" – which in a year or two pale in comparison or worse yet completely fade away.

 

So, oh dear people, let us long for, let us trust, let us be open to the presence of God in the breath of God's Spirit as being conveyed to us through the life, death and the resurrection of Jesus.

 

For Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Amen.