SERMONS 5 & 6 – SUNDAY 22 APRIL

SERMONS 5 & 6 – SUNDAY 22 APRIL - St. John's Church Winterslow / St. Mary's Parish Church, West Dean (A Shorter Version of this was delivered as Sermon 5 at St. John's)

Luke 24:36-48; Acts 3:[1]-19

Those of you who study the Church of England’s liturgical calendar, the lectionary, will have spotted that today’s readings were somewhat different to what was printed – the Gospel reading came first, instead of second and the reading from Acts 3 started at verse 1 and not, as prescribed, verse 12.  If you didn’t spot it, then don’t worry, hopefully it made perfect sense to you when it was read out.

When I sat down to prepare this sermon, I started by reading and reflecting upon the first of the passages prescribed from the Common Lectionary, the Acts reading, which, at verse 12 starts – “Peter addressed the people, ‘You Israelites, why do you wonder at this or why do you stare at us…’”  My immediate reaction, was, what on earth is going on here?  Wondering at what?  What was there to stare at? Peter certainly seems to have gone off on one!  It was only by going to my fuller bible and reading and trying to understand what had gone on immediately before, that complete sense could be made of the circumstances surrounding Peter’s seeming outburst – not that Peter was unaccustomed to such behaviour.  But I’ll come back to the Acts passage later as even more sense can be made when one reads Luke’s Gospel a take the two readings chronologically.

The fact that these two passages have been linked in the lectionary is no co-incidence. They follow logically.  The apostle Luke is acknowledged to be the writer of both the gospel which bears his name and the Acts of the Apostles and both of these readings were probably written very closely together and clearly have a significant link. 

Last week we heard John’s gospel in which Thomas, not having been present at Christ’s first appearance to the disciples, needed clear factual evidence to support the news that Jesus had indeed risen. “I will not believe it unless I see the scars and put my hand in his side”  A man whose emotions were led by his head – logical thought.  According to Paul in 1 Corinthians [15:6], Jesus appeared to about 500 people at the same time yet it must still have been a enormous test of their faith – having seen their leader, their rabbi murdered on the Cross.

Our gospel reading, itself, immediately follows the revelation of Christ to the disciples on the road to Emmaus.  We read that the disciples were in turmoil, their leader had been cruelly executed, his body disappearing from its grave and hearing strange unbelievable stories of him having been seen around town and in the country.  The disciples from Emmaus, in particular were enthusiastic with their news and were probably greeted by their colleagues with cries of “O yeah!  Pull the other one!”  When Jesus appeared, clearly they must have believed it was a ghost that they were seeing as Christ, having supernatural powers of walking through locked doors, has suddenly and unexpectedly appeared in front of them. Jesus asks  “Why are you frightened and why do doubts arise in your hearts?”  He might even have said “You look as if you’ve just seen a ghost”.  In a symbolic act to prove that he is indeed flesh and blood he shows them his hands and feet and asks them for food to eat.  A ghost doesn’t eat food.

I am always amazed, that despite all the miracles which were observed over the three years or so of Christ’s ministry, and all the teachings and discussions that took place over that time, Peter and his colleagues took so long to “get it”.  But, on this occasion, they finally did as Jesus, in the same way he did with the two on the road to Emmaus, painstakingly goes through scripture, the Old Testament, and points out to them the various prophecies which talk about his death and resurrection.  But the most important thing he says to them is that they are “witnesses” of these things.  They have been chosen to be a part of the big story set out in scripture. 

Luke ends the narrative (which again is not included in our reading) by saying that he wants the disciples to go out with power from God (the Holy Spirit) to witness to all that has happened.

Today, the evangelicals, both within our own church and the more charismatic churches, use the term “witness” to mean mission and it is clear that Jesus has plans for the eleven (soon to be made up to twelve again) after Pentecost to be witnesses, missionaries, in the Father’s name. Having witnessed, the living resurrected Jesus, and after having received the Holy Spirit, they will be able to speak with authority and power.  Quite a transforming meeting!  From doubting to clear empowerment.  If only some of our church meetings were so transforming!

It is therefore with the benefit of understanding this that we turn back to the reading from Luke. 

In a similar manner to Jesus demonstrating his resurrection as a man (albeit with super powers) by eating broiled fish [fish always seem to feature in my sermons for some reason!] so the newly empowered apostles, Peter and John, demonstrate their witness or mission by healing a cripple at the Temple Gate in Jerusalem.  An act which echoes back to Christ’s own ministry when he healed the blind man on the Sabbath and drew a large crowd of Pharisees and officials. It certainly seems to have had a similar effect with a crowd of Israelites.  Peter has a huge audience.  What a great opportunity for mission.  

Amusingly, Peter then asks the crowd the same sort of question which Jesus asked the eleven in the locked room – “Why does this take you completely by surprise” as it is put in The Message.  Why the wonder? Why the staring?  Peter more than anyone else should understand their position! Peter then, after berating the crowd for having allowed Jesus to be put to death by the Romans, (not sure Peter still does get it as the death and resurrection, he has been told, was all part of God’s big story) repeats what Jesus had said to the disciples by explaining the ministry of Jesus in the context of the Old Testament.  Wow, what a turn round – from wonder and disbelief on the part of Peter and his colleagues to a strong unequivocal testimony of faith – all in a few weeks.

Well this is all very interesting, you say, but where does that place us today? 

I don’t know how many of you use social networking sites – I do.  Although they can be time wasters they can also be extremely good and simple ways to communicate news and views.  However there are quite a lot of games and quizzes on Facebook and in an idle moment – and I don’t get many of those these days - I decided to fill in a questionnaire entitled “Which Biblical Character are you most like?”  Just a bit of fun you realise, of course!  As I filled it out I wondered whether I would turn out to be King Herod, Pilate, David, Elisha, or perhaps the talking donkey!  The result for a moment surprised me yet then it didn’t surprise me – it was Peter!  And yes I can identify with him – frequently getting it wrong, jumping in with both feet, saying the wrong thing at the right time or the right thing at the wrong time.  And he also came from a family of fishermen too! 

These passages today, remind me that we can all be like Peter.  We can doubt, we can deny, we can try and hide, we can ignore, we can try and rationalise, we can be impulsive, we can be indolent – Peter was all of these things at one time or another – yet he became the rock upon which Christ’s church was built. Today, as members of his church, we continue to be Christ’s rock – his living stones.

As Jesus’s living disciples we are required to witness – to go out and do his mission.  The Holy Spirit is around and in us.  Those of us who have made a commitment to Jesus, although we have not been in a room where he has physically appeared, have been given access to the most powerful thing on earth – the Holy Spirit which in turn has given us different gifts.  It may not be the gift of healing, as in the Acts passage, it may not be the gift of prophecy, it may not be the gift of teaching, it may not be readily discernible to us but each and every one of us has been given a gift by God to witness to his love in giving us his Son to die on the Cross and resurrected, and to be a light to the world.

Recently I heard a wonderful phrase – that we should let God’s light shine through us like a light in a cracked pot  No, let me emphasise, not as crackpots but as cracked pots.  Full of flaws and imperfections but still able to shine as true witnesses to God’s light.  Jesus gave this responsibility to those first disciples in the locked room.  He gives it to us now, here, today.

Amen