Demonstration Please

Easter 3b, April 22, 2012 (Luke 24:36b-48)

Are you ever truly frightened?

 

Do you ever experience your minds being so agitated that you find yourself experiencing a whole variety of thoughts and concerns?

 

I have often been afraid for my children's well being. When my wife was carrying them in utero and after they were born and still so tiny in body, I wondered, I worried, "Would I be able to provide for them properly - physically, emotionally and spiritually? Then whenever my wife traveled alone with them, I worried, "Could someone abduct our children and do horrible things to them?" Now, that they are adults I sometimes still worry – will they find their way relationally and spiritually.

 

Before I was married, I wrestled with what kind of husband I would be. Would I be able to "honor, love and cherish this woman 'til death do us part.' My previous record in male/female relationships was anything but stellar in terms of length.

 

I often wondered and sometimes still do wonder, "What is God calling me to do/to be? If I hear the call and respond faithfully, how will that all turn out?" Will I end up standing alone, that is by myself? Would I, will I fail in my calling as Pastor, father, teacher, friend – whatever that may be? Some days all the agitation, questions, fear, paralyze my being.

 

There are other times when what I refer to as cosmic fears wash over me. Will there be an earth, or will we damage it beyond viability? Certainly that fear was real as the arms race escalated and the nuclear clock neared midnight in the 70's and 80's. Would we, will we through our human greed and indifference, so alter this earth that God has entrusted to us, that we will permanently destroy her? Will the lakes, the rivers, the forests, as I have known and experienced them be killed?

 

The earliest followers of Jesus experienced this kind of agitation with good reason. For years their lives have been dedicated to following Jesus of Nazareth. They listened to him speak with great conviction and amazing power. The message of his words frequently soared to heights that led them to experiences beyond their simple comprehension. At other times Jesus' words, his touch led him and them to the depths of their being. They watched Jesus act again and again: touching people no one else would touch; healing people for whom others saw no hope; confronting the exclusive religious ideology of their age with great compassion and truth. In the light of Jesus' actions and words those disciples had hoped. Oh God, how they had hoped – that Jesus was the One, the One of God, the One their people had been anxiously waiting for over 500 years.

 

Then, together, they had moved up to Jerusalem. There Jesus had been wrenched away from them. The forces of evil gathered together to resist Jesus, his being, his message. A trial of sorts had followed. It had been a farce.! Jesus had been condemned. He was crucified!... Jesus, Jesus, Ah holy Jesus!

 

Who wouldn't have been agitated, upset then? All kinds of thoughts, feelings swirled around, over and within them, beating like wave upon wave, huge breakers on the seashore of their existence.

 

To add to their agitation, their confusion, their questions, now some of their women and two men claim to have seen Jesus ALIVE... The disciples' wonder, fear questions are racing, running over.

 

At the height of their minds racing, their questions, their doubts, the risen Christ appears to them. He asks, "Why are you doubting?"

 

Could it be that the risen Christ asks us the very same question?

 

Not that there shouldn't be agitation or doubt. The reality of evil, of suffering, of death is ever with us. God knows. Jesus knew firsthand. We must never belittle any of that suffering, pain or death.

 

But Christ comes into the middle of our suffering, into the middle of our experience of evil, into the midst of death to us. He comes reminding us that He does not now, nor has He ever removed Himself from such suffering, pain and death. He does not run from the confrontation with evil. To make His point to those early disciples, Jesus says, "Look at my hands and my feet." Make no mistake, the One who speaks to them is the risen Christ, the One who has suffered. We have no grounds to say to him, "What do you know about our suffering, our agitation?"

 

To further ensure that they are "getting it" Christ eats with the disciples as He had so many times before. They share fish.

 

Following that meal, Christ instructs them from their holy writings. They begin to glimpse that God had a dream, from the get go. God's desire has been to bring humanity back into a deep and close relationship with God. God has always been deeply interested in enabling humanity to overcome the obsession with ourselves, our natural affinity for violence and hatred towards each other. God has tried many different means to accomplish this: miracles, prophets, signs. They have met with varied success. Now God sends the Son to earth. Yes, God becomes a human being. God in the flesh, this Jesus reaches out to include, to love, to care for, to transform those He meets, everyone. He is killed in his efforts.

 

But death, hatred, envy, greed, evil in all their forms, cannot hold him. God raises the Son from death. This Son, Jesus the Christ, speaks to the early disciples, eats with them, teaches them.

 

What about us? Do we not also experience fears, terror, doubts? Look around and see – the wonder, the miracles of life. There is birth. There are new beginnings in all kinds of relationships. There are humanitarian efforts we contribute through the auspices of Canadian Lutheran World Relief. Nor, are we alone in such efforts. Millions of people are involved. Look and see the wonder, the miracles that are occurring.

 

But also gaze around and see: the power of death and evil. Diseases rage. Some are treatable. Others are not. Words like AIDS, malaria, cancer, heart disease, Parkinson's disease, Lupus, M.S., Huntington's, ALS, different forms of dementia, may conjure up not just symptoms, but people we love.

 

I think of our culture which often attempts to put all of these realities into the background. We are told over and over to get all you can while the getting is good. There is a true implication here: we won't always be able to get. But the deeper inference of that statement is that our life is what we "get" – well that is a lie.

 

Christ interrupts all of this. He lives. He confirms truth: we won't always be able to "get". But he also underlines the most profound truth. He gives Himself. He then speaks "Peace be with you." He would also open to us the Scriptures: "Beloved, you are children of God." My, oh my. Can we see his hands and feet? Are we witnesses to His suffering love for all humanity, for all creation? He calls us to live following His way – not hating and hateful, not hoarding and paralyzed by fear. He calls us to have eyes, ears and minds, wide open, open first to Him and then to others.

 

He comes to us in the most extraordinary and mysterious as well as what we might also see as "normal" the everyday. Christ comes to be present with us in the bread and wine. He promises to give us Himself therein.  Christ comes to commune with us as we hear and read the words of Scripture and give voice to hymns. Christ promises to hear us. And Christ through the Spirit covets the opportunity to speak with us, to influence our lives.

 

Christ says to those early disciples and through them to us, "You are my witnesses". We are to go and so live.

 

Will we be, are we being Christ's witnesses in our daily living? What a privilege! What an incredible responsibility. For Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Amen.