Sermon 6 May 18

We carry on in the passage we began last week, Christ the true vine & we are the branches & we are to abide in Him. The text today is the second half, after the pruning, it speaks of love. As God the Father has loved Jesus, His Son, Jesus loves us, “abide in my love” He says.  Above all other commandments, and concerns of any kind, we are to love one another as He loves us.

First let us look at the love God has for His Son, because it resonates with us as well. God's love towards Jesus is demanding, full of presence and promise, rich in public displays of God's power. It prunes, cleanses, molds, forms, challenges, and supports Jesus in his ministry. If we recall a few of the experiences of Jesus we know about in His ministry. There were some very tense and difficult times, like the death of Lazarus, calming the storms, patience to teach His disciples, the constant critics, His death and resurrection, God was with Jesus. This is the love of Jesus Christ in which we are invited to abide; He in us and we in Him, through all of life. 

This all speaks of RELATIONSHIP. “I also have loved you . . . abide in My love.” Keeping commandments, abiding in love, love one another, laying down your life, being a friend, bearing fruit, asking and receiving.
This is all about the close relationship of the Father and the Son, that here includes – by grace and the response of faith - the individual follower, each of us. God and Jesus through the Holy Spirit invite people into their fellowship. It is an invitation with terms, with an instructed response to begin your relationship with the Lord, and continue that life.

So how do we abide with Jesus? Unequivocally Jesus says the road of abiding consists in keeping His commandments (John 15:10). Jesus again urges His disciples to do the same as He has kept God's commandments, and the result of such abiding was apparent in all He did.

Above all commandments−one that is emphasized - is "that you love one another, as I have loved you" (John 15:12). Jesus spoke of "commandments" earlier, but here he speaks of only one: love one another. He extends the deepness and scope of this love by saying the greatest expression of love is dying for one's friends. In verses 12 and 13, Jesus speaks of love between and among friends, but what about enemies & strangers? Would you go to death for love of them as well?

In speaking of relationships, Jesus' clarifies how he regards his disciples. They are not strangers, nor are they only disciples, or servants; they are, He says, friends. And the reason He calls them "friends" is because he has shared everything all the riches of all He has with them, and His relationship with God. "I have made known to you everything...everything that I  have heard from my Father" (John 15:15). Here Jesus' offer of the intimacy of friendship is overwhelming. HE has shared and given all.  To seize Jesus the Risen Lord is to be invited into friendship with God.

Friendship is a real gift. We have all had experience with it and unlike family, friendship is a choice we make to have. Jesus calls us friends today. Friendship is a choice, He has chosen us as friends.  How do we respond to His invitation?

What are the basic elements of friendship?

 “A true friend is someone who always lets you in and never lets you down.”

I think there is a recognition of who this person is and an acceptance of that person. A friendship is composed of two people who accept each other as they are.

Do we understand everything about this person; no. Do we like everything or most everything about this person, no.

Friendship is accepting the person just the way they are, and the same in return. Then we have the basis of a friendship.

How often are our friendships based on conditions?  I'll be your friend providing your financial or social status is to my liking.

I'll be your friend providing you lead a decent life.

I’ll be your friend providing we have the same shade of skin.

I'll be your friend providing we support the same political party, go to the same church denomination, or at least go to church… and so on

People may or may not say these actual words, but that is how they think.

A woman was interviewed by reporters on her 102^nd birthday. When asked about the benefits of living past the century mark, she answered, “No peer pressure!”(peer pressure both negative-positive)

Other vital elements in friendship include respect, trust and honesty. We do need to feel that we can trust each other, share our joys and sorrows, discuss our problems, confide in each other, rely on each other's loyalty and confidence and when life falls apart you know and want that friend beside you. In many cases family may fill these rolls too & I hope they do, but that is not and cannot be the case for everyone.

A British publication once offered a prize for the best definition of a friend. Among the thousands of answers received the winning definition of a friend read: "A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out." Bits & Pieces, July 1991.

How does this definition compare to the people we call friends on face book?

To be called a friend is a true gift.

Jesus called His disciples, His followers friends but He knew that Judas would betray Him. Peter would deny Him. The others forsake Him in the hour of His greatest loneliness in the garden of Gethsemane.

Surely this was a situation when Jesus needed His friends and they were not there. 

The disciples of Jesus were far from perfect. Yet Jesus said, 'I call you my friends. I accept you just the way you are.' He offers us that same friendship, regardless of who or what we are. All that matters is that we are willing to accept Jesus.

Some people find it hard to understand how God could love them if He only knew the real me.  He knows everything about us, all our secret thoughts and actions, so it would be futile to try to hide anything from Him.

 In the Gospels it seems that the people who were most uncomfortable in the presence of Jesus were not sinners but the strict moralists, those who took way too much pride in their own goodness and looked down on others.

Jesus never invaded a person's privacy or destroyed the dignity of their free will. When the rich man for example asked what I must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus replied keep my commandments and the man replied, “I have kept all of these”; what do I still lack?” Jesus said, if you wish to be perfect, go sell your possessions, and give your money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me. When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for He had many possessions.”  

Now if that were the church today, wanting to bring more people in to fill the pews, we might have run after that man and said, don’t worry about that last part, come in anyway. But Jesus didn’t run after Him, He established the bar and left it. It was up to that man to make his own decision, not one could make it for him.  

The last book of the Bible pictures Jesus standing at the door, knocking, in. Rev. 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

That is the picture of the high regard Jesus has for us. He will never kick down the door of our lives. He Has done all He can, His sacrifice for us complete, He now offers His friendship and waits for us to respond.

Jesus said, 'I have told you everything the Father told me.' Jesus believed in and practised openness with His friends.

This my friends, is Christ, He comes to us when we are not even looking for Him. He is at the door, just waiting to be invited in.

Bearing fruit means making wise choices and decisions for the work of and on behalf of God. It means acting thoughtfully over a life time; discerning what thoughts, words, and actions best serve the intentions of a loving God in this world, most clearly seen in the figure of the Risen Christ.  To know the Risen Christ is to know the very heart of God. Amen.

Sermon for April 29, 2017

Today is the 5^th Sunday in the Season of Easter. Last week we took our eyes from the empty tomb now briefly to explore our faith relationship with the risen Christ and the image of Shepherd. That Christ is like a Shepherd who cares over and protects and leads and holds His sheep, His flock, His people in His embrace and care.

We focus on having a relationship with Christ today, again with another image we all have some experience with.

But first what is involved in having a vibrant, vital relationship with Jesus Christ?”  How can we describe the union that a believer experiences between her/himself and Christ?  We talk about knowing Christ, being in Christ, walking with Christ, and loving Him.  But what does that union/relationship really involve? 

Some describe it like the relationship of two people who love each other, especially like the relationship between a father and his son, where there's mutual love and respect.

Others likened it to the relationship between two close friends or between two brothers who would defend each other to the death.

But the most graphic illustration of a believer's relationship to Christ is that of a vine and branches, given by our Lord Himself in John 15 today.

The vine nourishes the branches and once they are nourished and sustained this allows for fruit to be produced. Jesus wants us, His disciples to understand the close, intimate relationship that He desires to have with us.

Jesus uses the allegory to teach His disciples about a believer's relationship with Him and the Father.  He also explains that the person who only appears to be connected to Him is not a legitimate believer and therefore will be cut off. I can take my stick & lay it against the tree trunk, they touch but they are not connected/severed. One can pay lip service, but no commitment. We can say we are Christians but do not have a relationship with Christ the vine & branches are not connected. They are severed.

Jesus explains that the branches that do not bear fruit are taken away, but the branches that bear fruit are pruned to bear more fruit. To bear fruit simply means to grow in character — to become more like Christ and reflect the fruit of the Spirit. And this is where we come to his command to abide: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (John 15:4)

Let us just imagine Jesus and his disciples were walking by a vineyard one day and he pointed over the wall of the vineyard at the rows and rows of grape vines with their branches snaking along wooden fences. Perhaps the grapes were already forming in clusters on the branches, and Jesus could point to the fruit that the vines were producing.

As he did so, he said, “I am the vine and my Father is the gardener/vinegrower.”

 Now, this illustration had special significance because a giant gold grape vine with clusters of grapes adorned the front of the Holy Place on the Temple in Jerusalem. According to Josephus, famous historian of the Jews, the grape clusters were as tall as a man, which probably came from the Old Testament account of the bounty of the Promised Land. When the 12 spies, which included Joshua and Caleb, went to check out the promised land before the Israelites were to enter it, they brought back stories of a land flowing with milk and honey. As an example of the bounty of that land, they brought back a grape vine with a cluster of grapes so large that it had to be suspended between two men to be carried back.   (Think of the wine!)

So, when Jesus says, “I’m the true vine” he is conjuring up images of the Temple, the promised land, and of the nation itself. Some scholars believe that Jesus was saying, “I’m the true Israel.” The point being, His statement was loaded with meaning that his disciples instantly understood.

And, he said, “My Father is the gardener.” They understood that as well, for even though they were not farmers, they lived in an agrarian society. Olive groves, fig trees, fields of grain, and vineyards were mainstays of the agricultural system in Jesus’ day. The disciples understood well that vineyards required tending, and that tending included cultivating and pruning.

At this time of year, we usually, find ourselves trimming old branches that are left hanging to the plant to the vines from last year. We have to pull & trim them back so that we can more clearly see the vine, the plant underneath the tangled web of lifeless branches. Similarly we can be deeply engaged in "things of the Church" in very meaningful maybe even public ways, and yet the activities may not be truly connected to Christ. Does my faith enter into this? We may need to ask ourselves from time to time, why am I doing this? Is this about me or is this for the service the mission of Christ’ Church? If it is about ourselves or some other selfish motivation than we need to take those trimmers again & trim away more of the branches & get to the vine, the true vine, the source of what we are about.

The tangled web of branches cannot only distance us from getting to the vine, the life source, but those lifeless branches can represent our busy lives and the many things we are involved in, running here and there and involved in this and that & again, the vine gets distorted; you are unable to be nourished and sustained by it, because you are unable to find it for all the clutter/the business.  

A missionary in Africa lived in his central mission which had a small generator to supply current for his church and small rectory. Some natives from an outlying mission came to visit the padre. They noticed the electric light hanging from the ceiling of his living room. They watched wide-eyed as he turned the little switch and the light went on.

One of the visitors asked if he could have one of the bulbs. The priest, thinking he wanted it for a sort of trinket, gave him an extra bulb. On his next visit to the outlying mission, the priest stopped at the hut of the man who had asked for the bulb. Imagine his surprise when he saw the bulb hanging from an ordinary string. He had to explain that one had to have electricity and a wire to bring the current to the bulb. Sermon Writer By Dr. Mickey Anders

As a source of power of electricity in this case had to be connected to the light bulb for the light to work, the branches must be connected, joined to the vine.

So how do we abide in Jesus? What does that look like, what must we do?

There are at least three disciplines to which we need to attend.

• Service to God through public worship and support of the church.  (God)

• Service to others, in particular service to those in need of support and assistance. (others)

• Service to self through personal prayer, devotions, and scripture study. (self)

Fruit was an important source of food for the people of Jesus’ day. It was also an important cash crop. A good fruit-bearing tree (one that grew abundant fruit) was a blessing to the owner of the vineyard or orchard. Good trees enhanced his standing in the community, and bad trees could lead to his impoverishment.

In this verse, fruit is a metaphor for the fruits of disciples living—Christ-like living. That kind of life gives glory to the God, because Christ-like lives manifest themselves as faithful, hopeful, and loving. As 1 Corinthians 13:13 says “Faith, hope and love abide, these three, and the greatest of these is love.”. People are drawn to people with those qualities., We should emulate the character of Jesus, and especially his love. A branch should have the same DNA as the trunk. If God is love, then we should so love.   

The real measure of our lives is not all about what we believe, but to whom we are connected. The better we are connected to the vine the more we are transformed by God providing the nutrients we need to get a grasp on our downfalls that too often can  control us. We can’t do this kind of pruning by ourselves. We need the gardener/vinegrower, to give us the strength and the will to want to change. We need the Holy Spirit to help us cut out the dead wood and to grow beautiful fruit. That’s why it is ever so important that we are connected to the vine. From the vine, Jesus, we receive the nourishment we need to live as his disciples.

Thomas Merton, in one of his taped lectures to the novices at Gethsemane monastery in Kentucky talked about abiding in Christ this way. “It’s like you’re trying to catch a plane. You’re late. You hop in your car and speed to the airport. Every delay gives you ulcers. You reach the parking lot, grab your stuff and race down the corridor to get to the right gate. You rush onto the plane, flop down in your seat, and heave a sigh of relief. You made it. In one sense you’ve reached your destination. Then the plane takes off, and you’re on your way to other places, going higher, faster than ever before, but now you are not frantic or worried. Now you can take a deep breath and know you are there- you are on your way – you are connected. what

We are still in the Easter season. Because the vine lives, so do the branches. The life of Christ flows to us though the Word and Sacraments. As Jesus said,“I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, bears much fruit…”– the fruit of faith and good deeds. May the life-giving sap of Christ’s love make us all fruit bearing branches.                Copyright 2006, Vince Gerhardy. Sermon Writer John 15:1-8.

Working Preacher - Susan Hedahl - Professor Emerita of Homiletics Lutheran Theological Seminary Gettysburg, Pa.

Sermon Writer Commentary on John 15:1-8

Copyright 2006, Vince Gerhardy. SermonWriter. John 15:1-8

By Dr. Mickey Anders Sermon Writer
ChuckWarnock.com: A Lesson From the Vineyard

The True Vine - By Dr. Mickey Anders – ) “Illustrating text and theme.” Lectionaid 8 (02): 72 (LectionAid, Inc., P.O. Box 19229 Boulder 80308 – 2229) May 2000. Quoted in a sermon by Jerry Fuller posted on PRCL May 17, 2000

Are You Securely Attached? BibleTrekToday.com

 (4)  The True Vine By Dr. Mickey Anders

Sermon for April 22, 2018

Last week we would have been exploring Jesus resurrection from the Lukan gospel (freezing rain – churches did not hold services) & now we move away from the tomb to explore our relationship with the risen Christ. One of the most familiar images of relationship with Jesus is the image of the Good Shepherd; the Lord is my Shepherd. As the New Creed say we are not alone, in life, in death, in life beyond death, We are not alone. Thanks be to God.        The shepherd is with us.                     

In this text today, Jesus is still speaking to a mixed audience. The Pharisees were there. Also, the man born blind, who Jesus healed, was there, along with other believers. Jesus’ words here were aimed at warning, instructing, and assuring them. He warns them about false shepherds so that they will not follow them. He instructs them about Himself as the good shepherd and what He provides for His flock.                                                                      The Shepherd image runs throughout the OT & NT, but no OT text characterize the shepherd as one who will sacrifice himself for the flock to the point of death.

That being the case, this text is an image already tested by the death and resurrection of the Christ. The reality of death has been withstood and conquered by the shepherd. Compare the Good Shepherd then to the hired hands described in vs 12 and 13 Today the hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³ The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. The hired hand runs abandoning the sheep where there is any sign of danger, but not the good shepherd.

¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Just as Jesus knows God and God Jesus, the same genuine knowledge of Jesus is found in those who recognize that basic relationship. To know God is to know Jesus, and that is the mark of the flock which recognizes the shepherd as their own.

When a friend calls you, how do you know it isn't just a prank caller, tele-marketer? How do you know it's not your mother, father, brother, or neighbor? You know because you know your friend. By spending time with your friend, you know how they talk—you know the expressions they use, the tone of their voice and the changes in their pitch when they're doing well and when they are sad. That's the way it is with God: —so well that you recognize Him/presence and his involvement in your life. God invites us to know more than just His voice; He invites you to know him.

One of the most fascinating realities of this text which is not emphasized, is listening; listening for the sound of the Shepherd’s voice. (verse 16).

Entrenched in this statement is a basic fact recognized and studied in the field of speech communication: listening. Prior to recognizing and responding to a sound, one must listen. I wonder how many times a teacher asks the class to listen in the course of a day. How many times does a parent ask their children to listen to what they are saying not only when they are small but when they are adults too?  How many times do spouses say that to each other “are you even listening to me? “So many things distract us. So many ear buds & ear phones in people’s ears now a day to that no matter what people are doing: another person can feel downright silly trying to make conversation with someone who has no idea you are having a one sided conversation with them. You could be walking down the street or in the grocery store or the gym. Ear buds, ear phones wonderful, tiny little devices that are well hidden. There is the visual distraction of screens in front of our eyes, this has the ability to prevent our ears from hearing others speaking to us and be out of touch with what might be going on around us.

Opening our ears to hear is not so obvious as opening our mouth to speak!  But true listening requires great attention and energy.  Ask any counselor, doctor who has just spent a long time listening to troubled people; it is very focused and demanding work.

I hope we have all experienced times when you felt truly heard. To be truly heard by another person is something rich and all too rare, a great source of comfort of affirmation, a gift.  It requires much of the listener and gives something real to the person who is heard.

There is nothing more catching then hearing your name being called.

Jesus does not call us in some general, abstract, impersonal way: “Hey, you!”  “Yo!” Rather, he knows who we are, what we need, and the person we are coming to be.

The sacredness of who we are is secure with Jesus because it is a reflection of His own sacredness. We are made in His image. He knows us, and bids us to know and accompany Him.  To do that it is necessary that we listen; otherwise the voice of Jesus goes unheard.

So, the skill of listening is not easy.  Yet it is the foundation of discipleship.  Like all true listening, listening to the Shepherd comes at a cost.  But while listening to other people may sometimes drain us–it is our gift to them–listening to the Shepherd always leads to our enrichment.  The Shepherd has nothing to gain, while we have everything to gain.

Why is it so hard to listen to the Shepherd’s voice?  Because we haven’t listened enough to be able to identify His voice. Real listening leaves us accessible to be touched and changed by the truth of what we hear.  That’s risky business!  So often the truth, if we hear it, overturns our prejudices, challenges our self-image, shakes up our view of the world.  Most of us are at least a little uneasy about having our boat rocked.

Listening is also hard because much of our society is arranged to keep us from hearing deep truths.  Many people are paid to make noise so that we do not hear the true music the true voice.  Maybe we have become so accustomed to noise, we no longer know there is true music to hear.

Listening takes practice.  But the saving grace is the Shepherd never ceases to call us.  There is no shortage of messages that come from Him, and each one we are to hear is addressed to us by name.  There is no situation where he does not speak.

What we do in Christian worship is to listen to the Shepherd’s voice.  We hear that voice, or at least have opportunity to hear it, through scripture and sermon and sacrament, in peaceful moments through the music, through the prayers & through the caring of one another.

We hear that voice, or at least can hear it, when we worship together, but something more is involved: we are here to be equipped to hear and recognize the Shepherd’s voice when He speaks during the other hours of the week, and in situations where we may be surprised to find him.                                         

In John 11 we have the Passion story, and before Jesus is crucified we have Caiaphas the high priest saying to those around him that it’s expedient for one man to die for the people. [John 11:48-50

Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

‘What are we accomplishing?’ they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.’

⁴⁹ Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, ‘You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰ You do not realise that it is better for you that one man dies for the people than that the whole nation perish.’

What he intends is a callous political calculation.  He prefers to see Jesus nailed to a cross than have the upsetting career of this one man bring down the wrath of the Romans on the entire nation.

Yet there is a larger sense in which what Caiaphas says is the truth of the Gospel.  It is beneficial for one man to die for the people, because God so loved the world that he gave His  only-begotten Son–that whoever believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life. [John 3:16.]  So, in the suspicion of Caiaphas we hear another message, one he never intended.  Through his words we recognize a second and opposite voice, the voice of the Shepherd calling us to life.

The same process can happen to us this week.  We find ourselves in some situation of sorrow or loss or crime or despair, and the air itself appears tainted and dark by the words people say.  But through it all the Shepherd speaks, inviting us and those with us out of death and into life. We act upon the words of the Shepherd.  We can trust the Shepherd to speak.  But we must be good listeners.

The Shepherd speaks in bright moments as well.  He speaks some word of blessing in these transient joys and successes; he wants to whet our appetite for the true blessings, the ones that never grow old.                                                                                                       Discipleship requires that we listen, and we follow him because we trust Him.

Thanks be to God our Good Shepherd risen from the dead, the tomb is empty, and the Good Shepherd is calling us to abide with Him. Thanks be to God. Amen. John 10:11-18 The Good Shepherd Sermon Writer Copyright 2014, James D. Kegel. 

Susan Hedal – Working preacher – John10:11-18

(Working Preacher – Meda Stamper ) – John 10:11-18

Listening for God's Voice - God doesn't always shout to get your attention.

Margaret Feinberg - Christianity Today

Lesson 56: Why Follow Jesus? (John 10:11-21)O Bible.Org  - Steven J. Cole,

Sermon for April 08, 2018

We begin at the empty tomb today in the darkness of that first day of the week, Mary, Peter, and the beloved disciple did not know what had happened. Had the body of their teacher and friend been stolen? It would be a day filled with an empty tomb, heavenly messengers, and the news that the man they had watched be crucified on a cross; the man whose dead body had been laid in a tomb, was now walking and talking to their friend Mary. How could they make sense of what was happening to Jesus; or to them? What were they to believe? What were they to do?

As evening sets on this same day, the friends and followers of Jesus to whom Mary brought the message that she had met the risen Christ. But what are they doing as this day darkens into night?  They are huddled behind locked doors, they are not celebrating. In fact they have locked the door in fear that what happened to Jesus will happen to them.

All is   quiet in the room, then in a moment of fear and surprise, Jesus comes with a message of comfort, "Peace be with you." A message he repeats again, the first time when they see this figure suddenly appear before them. Once again after they realize that they, like Mary before them, have finally met the risen Christ. But notice here that they neither recognize him nor rejoice until Jesus shows them his hands and his side. Thomas is the only disciple absent;

Maybe you have had the experience: one of your friends, family members, comes back from seeing a movie, or going to a concert, or visiting a beautiful place and says to you, “You have got to see this!”

You listen with interest, even as you are trying to picture what it would be like and distinguish between what is hype and what is real.

It is not exactly right to say that you don’t believe the testimony of your friends. It is more that you don’t have the experience of your own to compare to theirs. To experience and to know fully what you believe about what they are reporting, you will have to go to the movie, or the travel destination yourself to that particular spot. In order to offer your own personal testimony, you need to have your own experience. (1^st hand experience)

The evangelist, John, knows this. John’s gospel exhibits a pattern in which someone hears about Jesus and needs more -- and then receives what they need to come to their own experience of the life Jesus is embodying in the world. (more proof!)  In Chapter One  of John, we have the first recording of this action occurring  when Philip says to Nathaniel, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth” (John 1:45) Nathaniel replies with skepticism: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” All Philip can say in reply is, “Come and see.” Nathaniel will have to experience Jesus and draw his own conclusion, which, in fact, he does. Within three verses, Nathaniel is saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

When the woman at the well goes into town after her meeting with Jesus and says to her neighbors, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!” John says that many of them believed on the basis of the woman’s report, and many more believed because they heard Jesus themselves. The story ends with some of them saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world” (John 4:42).

Moving forward to Easter morning. Mary tells the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” John does not tell us if they believed her testimony or if they tried in any way to verify it. He merely continues the story by saying that on Easter evening, they were behind locked doors, afraid that the forces that had conspired to bring about the crucifixion of Jesus might come next for them. Instead, Jesus comes into the secured room, saying, “Peace be with you.” He shows his hands and his feet to them demonstrating that the Risen One will be forever recognizable as the Crucified One. The disciples rejoice to see him. They tell Thomas what Mary had told them: they “have seen the Lord.”

Thomas replies with the post-resurrection equivalent of, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46), or the Samaritan woman’s “Sir, you have no bucket and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?” (John 4:11), or Mary’s “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away” (John 20:15). Bearing Nathanael’s skepticism and Mary’s broken heart, Thomas needs proof he needs more!

Thomas will not be shamed into believing or shamed into at least keeping his unbelief to himself. Neither will Thomas ignore what he knows in order to believe something he does not know. Thus, Thomas’s journey to faith is important for the people, the would-be believers for whom John writes.  His words in vs. 31of our text today says: ³¹ But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Thomas openly doubts, & questions He’s not satisfied with second-hand reports and wants to see for himself. He was, present and  & witnessed the beatings and whipping of His dear friend, His Lord’s crucifixion and has probably been trying to get his life back together & figure out what to do next. This may be the cause of his absence when Jesus appears.

Thomas encounters Christ himself when Jesus reappeared again, Thomas stating, “My Lord and my God” He experiences a resurrection of his own. No more doubting Thomas; now believing Thomas. But that comes after he has a chance to voice his doubt. And sometimes faith is like that – it needs the freedom of questions and doubt to really spring forth and take hold. Otherwise, faith might simply be confused with a repetition of creeds or giving your verbal consent to the faith statements of others. But true, vigorous, vibrant faith comes, I think, from the freedom to question, wonder, and doubt. It is work effort, like a boomerang – question things  let it go – & it come back to us in  a way that makes sense, that we understand)

It is believed that John’s gospel ended as did our reading today at 20:31 & chapter 21 was added later on. With this conclusion, unlike Luke who opened his gospel with the explanation for his writing of his "orderly account," John, the author and narrator, finally steps into the scene to explain why he has written his gospel in the closing sentence. The risen Jesus, John explains, did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. These are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in His name. John recorded these stories so that people like ourselves, future readers and generations to come may read and "come to believe that Jesus is the . . . Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name."

This makes Jesus resurrection, just that much more visible, more real. John offers us his experience to reassure us that we did not have to be there in person. We did not have to walk the paths with Jesus. We did not have to witness the miracles first hand. We did not have to be locked in that upper room. Through the reading of John's message John shares the stories and experience so that we can come to believe, and, in believing, we may have life eternal.

From the opening of John’s Gospel “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Big bang opening to the final intimate moments of comfort and assurance, John wants us to know that we did not have to be there in person to believe and come to know Jesus. In John’s gospel the gift of the Holy Spirit comes immediately, whereas unlike in Luke’s gospel the gift of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost comes 50 days after the resurrection.  The presence of God, not matter what, in Risen form or Spiritual form is with us.

We didn’t have to be in the room with the disciples or with Thomas to meet the Risen Christ or to witness His Risen presence. Christ meets us, comes to us, wherever we may invite Him to be with us in His Risen Spirit.Through these readings we understand Christ more vividly- & know that HE is undefeatable, ever present, in human/divine form, risen form, spiritual form, we are NEVER Without HIM. He is always with us.

As we experience the story of Thomas, we are invited to trust that Jesus will keep showing up, alive, and with a body that holds together the worst that has happened to him and his risen life. He is eager to reveal himself, not only through appearances but also through the written word.

Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.” These blessed ones have come to belief. Jesus does not require perfect faith from the start. What he asks for is an open heart, one not closed to belief, but not closed by belief either. He asks for this open heart, so he can lead us, and keep leading us, from honest doubt to honest faith and in so doing come to know and understand more fully our Risen Lord.                               

Resources

Lucy Lind Hogan – Working Preacher on John 20:19-31

Mary Hinkle Shore - Working Preacher on John 20:19-3  1

Honest Doubt, Honest Faith John 20:19-31 By The Rev. Charles Hoffacker 

Sermon for Easter Sunday 2018

Sermon for Easter Sunday 2018

Open our minds to understanding, our hearts to loving, and our wills to carrying out your mission. In the strong name of Jesus our Christ. Amen.

Poem - Written by Ann Siddall – beginning of the poem

Think of a moment when someone that you least expected to see suddenly stands before you.

A moment when something you’d lost is found again and you can scarcely believe your eyes.

Think of a moment when your fear was suddenly proved unfounded and you were surprised by joy.

This morning is such a moment. We resign ourselves to the worst, and suddenly life turns around.

John tells us it was the first day of the week and it was still dark outside, no hint of dawn at all.

It was a darkness that covered everything—not just a physical darkness, but a darkness of grief, disappointment, confusion, fear. Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb alone. Her loyalty to Jesus leads her to begin the week in prayer at Jesus tomb. She didn’t come to give Jesus a proper burial, Nicodemus had seen to that and gave Jesus a very lavish burial with many spices. What could Mary do but return, if only to pick up the pieces of her life and try, squinting through the darkness, to make some sense out of what was left? She wanted to start there, in the last place she’d seen Jesus, ground zero of whatever life she was going to have to rebuild, all the while frantically wishing for everything just to return to the way it had been before.   

Once she got there, though, she could see clearly that the foggy recollection of days just past were real memories, and that, in fact, the nightmare had just gotten worse.

All the care and love put into entombing Jesus’ body had been upset, the stone moved, the seal of the tomb broken, the grave clothes piled there and no body to be found at all.  John tells us Mary runs to tell the disciples—this was a serious turn of events, the looting of the grave—and Mary, John tells us, couldn’t stop crying.

Until two days ago she’d finally known who she was: Mary Magdalene, disciple of Jesus.  Now, in the darkness, she didn’t recognize that Mary, the one she’d become since she met Jesus . . . and she couldn’t see through the darkness to know who on earth she was supposed to be now.

The two men run to the tomb. Both men “believed” Mary, but what did they believe? Both men entered the tomb & saw Jesus grave clothes there.

They did not yet believe in the Resurrection. They merely believed that yes, His body was gone and they did not know where it was. “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he (Jesus) must rise again from the dead” (John 20:9). Again we find the claim that Scripture has been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. The men went home depressed.

Mary remained & stood there, by the grave weeping. She met a stranger in the garden.  This man must be the gardener, she thought.  He looked at her with compassion—she was obviously distraught—and asked her why she was crying, but how he could help her, if there was someone she had lost.

“Yes!” she sobbed.  “If you have moved his body for some reason, please, please tell me where you have laid him and I will take His body and care for it.  Please help me.”

“Mary.”  Her name.  That was all he said, but . . . then she knew.  She knew.  His voice pierced the foggy, befuddled chaos of her brain and she looked up in sudden recognition and said, “Rabbouni!” (Teacher)

In the moment when Jesus called her name her whole world shifted and she knew in an instant: nothing would ever be the same again.

The appearance of Jesus to Mary is the beginning of the Resurrection faith. Mary’s emotions raw; but her devotion unshaken. She does not recognize Jesus when He speaks to her, because she does not expect to seem again.  

 Often in life, good things come our way, but we do not recognize them or appreciate them because we do not expect them, or we are looking for something else.

Of course, we grieve when we lose a loved one. In many cases, we will feel the loss every day for the rest of our lives. It’s not wrong to weep over such losses (John 16:20). But the Bible says that although we grieve, we do not grieve as those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13). The hope that Jesus is risen and that He is coming again to take us to be with Him and with our loved ones who have died in Him, comforts us through our tears. Whatever our loss, we must process our sorrow in light of the sure fact that Jesus is risen and thus His promises are true! Those promises give us hope in our sorrow.

Perhaps the risen Lord is asking you the same question that He asked Mary: “Why are you weeping?” Maybe, like me you are inclined to think that that seems obvious doesn’t it? Her loved one has died & now His body is missing? But, there’s a second important question that the risen Lord asks Mary (John 20:15): “Whom are you looking for?”  He asks it even before she has a chance to answer the first question, because the answer to why she is weeping is found in the answer of whom she is seeking.

2. If we will seek the crucified, risen, and ascended Savior, He turns our sorrows into hope.

Mary was seeking a dead Lord (John 20:13, 15). Her love for Jesus is commendable, but really, what good would it have done for Mary to find Jesus dead body and perhaps add a few more embalming spices? Only a living Savior who has triumphed over the grave offers hope for our sorrows.

A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art. When the Viet Nam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.

About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, "Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art. The young man held out his package. "I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this."

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. "Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It's a gift." The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.

The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection. On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel.

"We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?"

There was silence. Then a voice in the back of the room shouted. "We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one."

But the auctioneer persisted. "Will someone bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?"

Another voice shouted angrily. "We didn't come to see this painting.. We came to see the Van Gogh’s, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!"

But still the auctioneer continued. "The son! The son! Who'll take the son?"

Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. "I'll give $10 for the painting." Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.

"We have $10, who will bid $20?" "Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters." "$10 is the bid, won't someone bid $20?" The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded the gavel. "Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!"

A man sitting on the second row shouted. "Now let's get on with the collection!"

The auctioneer laid down his gavel. "I'm sorry, the auction is over."

"What about the paintings?"

"I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who took the son gets everything!"

God gave His son 2,000 years ago to die on a cruel cross. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is, "The son, the son, who'll take the son?" Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything.

For Mary now, the unconceivable could now be thought. Jesus has been resurrected from the dead.

Mary returns and tells the men; her devotion now has a new zeal “I have seen the Lord she said and told them He had said these things to her.

Many of us have lost loved ones—fathers, mothers, husbands, wives—even children—that is the hardest—the children. But Easter is God’s promise that the stone that stops the mouth of the grave is never great enough to block the resurrection.

As Frederick Beck said,

“The stone at the tomb of Jesus
was a pebble to the Rock of Ages inside.”

Herbert Booth Smith put it this way. He said, “The biggest fact about Joseph’s tomb was that it wasn’t a tomb at all—it was a room for a transient. Jesus stopped there a night or two on his way back to glory.” In other words, Jesus’ tomb was really nothing but a place to spend the weekend.

And, because Christ broke the bonds of death, the grave is not the end for your loved ones. One day we will reign eternally with Christ, reunited with those whom we love—and able, finally, really to love completely.

But the Good News of Easter is not confined to the resurrection of the dead. Christ is the Lord over death, but he is also the Lord of life.

Copyright 2008, Richard Niell Donovan

So come this Easter morning, to be shaken from your conviction that nothing can change your situation.

Come if you look at the world and feel overwhelmed by its chaos or disillusioned by its promises.

On this morning we remember how Mary went to anoint a corpse and was greeted by a Saviour.

Come to worship prepared to see your life and the world through new eyes. For Christ is risen,                                                                                             he is risen indeed. Hallelujah!                                                                                

  Written by Ann Siddall, and posted on the Stillpoint Spirituality Centre website

John 20:1-18 Thomas B. Slater Working Preacher

John 20:1-18 Karoline Lewis – Working Preacher

Opening verses~ written by Ann Siddall and posted on the Stillpoint Spirituality Centre website. 

Rev. Amy Butler Sermon Writer 2008 “Called By Name” John 20:1-18

Copyright 2008, Richard Niell Donovan Sermon Writer Easter Sunrise

Sermon 25 Mar 18

Sermon

Like a roller coaster ride, today is the beginning of a week that takes us up and down and  leaves us changed. This Holy week requires and deserves our full attention and commitment. The week at times will be very difficult we will arrive back differently than when we started. It is a week of very personal inner searching.

We enter Jerusalem today with Jesus; and I wish to share with you a little of what Michael K. Marsh. Shared in a sermon he wrote for Palm Sunday

“Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is then, in reality, his entry into the depths of our life and being. This is never more clear or challenging than it is in Holy Week. It is not about choosing between life or death, palms or passion; but about choosing life and death, palms and passion. That’s the tension of this day. The challenge is to remain fully embodied and present to that tension, not as spectators but as participants, not just this week but every week. Jesus was not quick to resolve the tension, nor should we be. It is out of that tension that new life will ultimately be birthed. There is, however, no birth without pain.

To stand in the tension means we must choose to empty ourselves of anything that might keep us from fully embracing the events of this week and the life of God. That’s what Jesus did. He did not use his status as God’s son as an escape or something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself and chose obedience to the point of death. In so doing he fully embodied God’s life and, consequently, human life.”

As you study the life of Jesus on the pages of the four Gospels, you discover that much of the material about the life of Jesus focuses on the last week of his life. The writers who told  the stories of Jesus were saying that the most important part of the revelation of who he was, and who he is, is revealed in the last week of his life. In fact the last six chapters of Mark’s gospel describe the final week in the life of our Lord. In other words, these seven days are so important for humankind that a third of this gospel is devoted to them. 

The words that describe the experiences of the week include a series of emotions that signify the roller coaster week of ups and downs. We know them: hosanna, confrontation, betrayal, denial, trial, scourging, crucifixion, tomb. Then the most electrifying sentence ever uttered—"He is not here! He is risen!"

Palm Sunday is at best, says Wallace Viets, "a day of temporary triumph." At worst, it is an illustration of the "fickle nature of the voice of the people." “Not only the fickleness of people, but as Jerusalem is one of the most troubled places in the world; a place of division, struggle, conflict, and confrontation. Jerusalem, however, is not located only in Israel, but within every human heart there is a Jerusalem a place of struggle, conflict, confrontation.’  (Fr. Mike and Interrupting the Silence.)

Holy week starts very uplifting with shouts of praise, followed by an abyss of denial and betrayal, the duplicity of Judas, and the unfaithfulness of Peter. We see betrayal and the weakness of all of the disciples who flee the city, the ambivalence of Pilate, the agony of death between two thieves nailed to their crosses—one who curses Jesus, the other who asks for His forgiveness. The bleakness of the "final things" at a borrowed tomb; 3days later, the glory of Easter and Jesus resurrection.

  Many scholars believe, that Jesus  planned his own parade. Until this day He had specifically avoided public acclaim and publicity. It was Passover time. The city was jammed with pilgrims from all over the world. He entered Jerusalem in a way that would focus the whole city on his arrival.

Ever wonder why Jesus chose to ride a colt into Jerusalem? The gospels tell us numerous times that Jesus walked wherever he went. Why would he suddenly decide to ride? We may miss the point, but you can bet that the first century faithful knew exactly what Jesus was doing. They were well acquainted with the words of the prophet, Zechariah, who centuries before had said, “Shout aloud, O daughters of Jerusalem! Your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a colt, the foal of an ass.” (Zechariah 9:9)

Jesus secured a beast of burden; in a most mysterious way.  There would have been donkeys and colts near- by as they were a very common animal. But Jesus offers specific instructions to His disciples to retrieve a colt, never before ridden, at a certain place, outside of the path Jesus is about to take. As the nervous disciples retrieve the colt, neighbours did not question their actions or accuse them of stealing it. This is an example of God planning knowledge ahead to the future in the most detailed of ways through the Holy Spirit; God is active in this event. God directs everything & it occurs as Jesus has announced beforehand.                                                                   An unbroken beast of burden was regarded as sacred, and so that made it appropriate for a king; Everything is ordered and purposed by Christ alone. The timing of everything is planned so that he will enter the city on the first day of the week and be crucified on the Friday when the Passover lambs were being slain.

Clip, clop, clip, clop,

The crowds respond as Jesus rode along, some may truly believed, that this man was their King, to save them from their oppression, to release them from the bonds of their political chains. To others Jesus represented a new face, a temporary focus to forget about their Roman oppression; the majority of the crowd saw Jesus joining them for the Passover feast in their wonderful temple. He was with them on pilgrimage. They didn’t see His entry as that of the Messianic king. For the children it was like a parade, they could climb the trees and snatch off branches and wave them in the air. Whoever the guy was on the donkey it didn’t matter, He waved, they waved back, it was fun; people seemed happy… that was all that mattered.

Clip, clop, clip, clop

“For the last stretch of the journey, as the road sweeps down to the valley of the Kidron, the crowds were vast. There was probably not a house in Jerusalem in which his entry was not known and talked of that evening. “The Lord Jesus had come to Jerusalem to die, and he desired that all Jerusalem should know it . . . He drew the attention of the rulers, and priests, and elders, and Scribes, and Greeks, and Romans to himself.  The eternal Son of God was about to suffer in the place of the fallen humankind; the great sacrifice for sin was about to be offered up; the great atonement for a world’s sin about to be made. He overruled things in such a way that the eyes of all Jerusalem were fixed on him, and when he died, he died before many witnesses” (J.C.Ryle, “Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Mark,” p. 227).

He who had spoken and the storm and sea had obeyed him, spoke not a sound to tone down their cheers. In fact he said, “If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.”

As we travel along I share with you now, some words & thoughts of Pastor Bob Deffinbaugh – that I find to be very challenging and insightful. As Jesus continues to wind His way through the city streets of Jerusalem, clip, clop, clip, clop, have a look at the faces of the people. Anyone you recognize?

Pastor Bob writes “writes “As I have considered this passage, from Mark 11 several distressing conclusions have occurred to me. It was not pagan Rome (ultimately) that rejected and put the Savior to death, but the pious religion of Jesus’ day. Without any hesitation, I will agree that Rome had a hand in the death of the Savior, but it did not instigate His death; it only apathetically went along with it (cf. John 19:12)  From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”.

He goes on to say “All too often we concern ourselves with loudmouth atheists who boldly refute the truths of Christianity. These people are a problem, but the most dangerous of all is the religious deceiver. Religion is the opiate of the people—the kind of religion displayed at the triumphal entry. Christianity and religion are diametrically opposed to each other.

While true religion (Christianity) must express itself in social concerns, that is not its essence. Today, even as 2,000 years ago, religious leaders are deceiving countless religious people into supposing that religion is to focus upon revolution and reform, upon political activism, rather than upon repentance and renewal.

My friend, may I ask you this question with all sincerity? Are you a Christian, or are you just religious? A Christian recognizes that God has shown every man (and me, in particular) to be a sinner. A Christian trust not in his own religious activity or good deeds, but in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was bruised for our iniquities; He bore the penalty of our sins. His righteousness makes us acceptable to God. May God spare us from religion.

I am now convinced that Jesus was not put to death only by the religious leaders of His day. It has finally occurred to me that it was not just the religious leaders of Israel, but the multitudes who were responsible for the death of Messiah. Over and over we have seen in the gospels that the religious leaders desired to put Jesus to death but were helpless because of the popular support of the masses. That support appears to be greater than ever in the ‘triumphal entry,’ but in fact, it is shown to be ill-founded, temporary, and illusory. As the real character of the King and His Kingdom become clear in this last week of the Savior’s life and public ministry the support of the crowd begins to diminish and disappear. Their support was based upon their own pre-conceived conceptions of the Kingdom. They wanted nothing to do with His Kingdom. When it becomes apparent that He will not rise up against Rome; when it is evident that Jesus is angered more at their religion than with Rome, they will stand aside and let the religious leaders have their way with Him.

I am convinced that this is also characteristic of our own time. Yes, there are many false prophets with false messages, but the sad reality is that people are attracted to them because they proclaim what the masses want to hear:

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

(3) Finally, be on guard to any religion that receives the acclaim of the masses. The multitudes heralded Jesus as Messiah, but they did not receive Him as God’s Messiah in the final analysis. My friend, there are many today who have nice words for Jesus, a good man, a great teacher, a wonderful example, a social reformer, but the masses do not regard themselves as sinners, nor the Lord Jesus as the suffering Savior. Here is what separates the men from the boys, the sheep from the goats, the saints from the synthetic: our response to the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ.

22nd August 2004 GEOFF THOMAS Copyright © 2018 Alfred Place Baptist Church Theme by: Theme Horse Powered by: WordPress                                                                         

Intro to Sermon a Palm Sunday by W. Frank Harrington “A Day of Applause” Luke 19:28-43

Emptying and Embodying from Mark l11:1-11 A Sermon for Palm Sunday; Mark Fr. Mike  (Michael K. Marsh).and Interrupting the Silence. AN EPISCOPAL PRIEST'S SERMONS,

O Bible.Org Bob Deffinbaugh - Robert L. (Bob)Deffinbaugh 27. The Triumphal Tragedy Mark 11:1-25 

 (J.C.Ryle, “Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Mark,” p. 227).