Resurrection is... part 1

Second Sunday of Easter. John 20:19-31

Transcript

Now, last week was Easter. Now here's the second Sunday of Easter. We celebrate Easter as the season. That's what the white represents. We celebrate it because it takes seven weeks.
We just don't do it for a weekend. We do it for seven weeks. And it leads us to Pentecost. Pentecost is the day where the church begins. The church is birthed, the church is initiated.
And so we're going to live into what we call Easter tide. We are going to ride this way for seven weeks. And it began last week with probably something that I know I have never fully done before, which is a gospel lesson that doesn't give us a whole lot of information. A gospel lesson that just tells us there's an empty tomb and that Jesus is alive. But it doesn't leave us with any other information or meaning as to what does that mean?
Is that something that is different now? What is the big to do with resurrection? And then I told you last week that for the next six weeks, including this Sunday, we are going to unpack what resurrection means, what it means for us today, what it means, as we're going to see here in this gospel lesson, we are going to see that it means peace, that it means power, and it means proclamation. That's the first thing that Jesus teaches the disciples when he encounters them face to face. This is the first time in this gospel reading that the disciples who are locked away in a room for fear of the Jews for everything that has happened, there's now this empty tomb.
There's now word on the street and rumor that Jesus is alive. But they sit in a room locked behind closed doors, cowering in fear and anxiety because they don't know what's next. And Jesus walks in amongst among them. And you would think, as I often do, getting ready to read this passage, is that Jesus is going to offer rebuke because of all the events that happened in the last couple of days. His disciples, his friends have left him, have gone astray, have retreated, have warmed their hands by a fire and by a servant girl said, aren't you a disciple?
And Peter says, no, they all fled him in his greatest hour of need. All this miracles that they've witnessed in Jesus life, all this teaching that they've cling to, easily undone the moment things get chaotic. So they're tucked away in a room now, not knowing what's next, not knowing if Jesus is really alive. Thomas doesn't believe it, and they're sitting there in fear and anxiety. But Jesus doesn't walk through that room.
And come into their presence and offer a rebuke, the first thing. And if we could take this as the first lesson of resurrection, the first lesson of resurrection, of what it means, is that resurrection now offers peace first and foremost, not rebuke. The cross offered the forgiveness, and now resurrection offers peace, a peace from the past. He comes in and says, peace be with you. To comfort them, to calm them, the anxiety, the raging that might be within them, maybe even their own guilt and shame for having betrayed their own beloved one.
Jesus, having left him, having fled the scene, now they're fearing the Jews. They're riddled with fear. Jesus says, peace be with you. And at speaking, peace be with you, he calms the room. He says, peace be with you.
The resurrection life. The resurrection Lord offers us resurrection life. And it starts with feeling peace. See, before resurrection, nobody could truly ever experience peace because still sin's in the world, unaccounted for, because there's still chaos in the world with no reality of second chance, because a resurrection had not happened. But because Jesus was raised from the dead.
It's not something that he himself only experiences, but it's something he also is offering for us to come alongside with him and experience ourselves. The resurrection life is a new life, and it begins with peace. Peace with God, a relationship restored now, peace with each other because we can extend peace to one another, because Jesus offers us that resurrection, peace that calms the storms, the peace that's actually real and not just something that's hoped for, but actually can be realized. Peace that surpasses our understanding. Without resurrection, there's no such peace.
There's only shadows and glimpses of a peace, but not the fullness. This is why maybe you have experienced it. When we pass the peace to one another, we are doing the very first thing that the resurrected Lord did with his own disciples, says, peace be with you. Peace be with you. And now, as his bride, as those who believe and trust in him, we take the peace that he has given to us and we go across to the other pew, across the aisle and in the same room and extend that peace.
Just that simple word, peace be with you, might have calmed somebody's storm this morning, might have made them feel more at home, might have allowed them to take a breath that they've needed to take, Allow those words could have removed the anxiety that this world seems to every conversation. You almost hear, like, oh, I'm full of anxiety. Well, good news for you. Because Jesus has risen from the dead, you can now experience peace, peace from your past of the guilt and shame that you yourself, being a sinner, can now experience. The forgiveness of sins because of the cross of Christ.
But not only peace from your past, peace for the future, the resurrection life offers you that. A new life, a second chance. Many of us I know, me and everybody I've ever listened to in a conversation at some point in their life says, I wish I can do have a do over in my life. I wish I can go back and relive this moment in my life. I wish I can have have done things differently.
Maybe for a lot of us, I'd like to redo this whole entire life, or maybe it's just a section, but either way, all of us have the sense that we would like to redo our lives. Well, good news, Resurrection life gives you the peace for the future, saying, you can now have life, a brand new life to live. You don't have to live in the exact same way. You can have a second chance. The second chance means that we ought to treat each other like second chances exist.
But often we treat each other like no, that person can never be reformed. That untrustworthy person can never be trusted again. That one deceiving person can never be honest again. According to resurrection life, second chances are realities. People that once lived this way can now live this way if they take hold and receive the resurrection life from the resurrection Lord himself.
And that gives us peace for a future. Knowing that it's not the end, knowing that everything you're facing for whatever reason and for however long isn't going to remain that way. It's going to be different because there's resurrection and it's a life that you can experience. So the first thing that Jesus offers by way of understanding resurrection that his disciples need to know is that there's peace. And he says it twice to them.
Peace be with you. Peace from your past. Peace be with you. Here's peace for the future as we move forward into the newness of life. And that's the second thing that he offers his disciples.
Not only peace, but he offers them power. See, you can't white knuckle your way through this new life that you are about to experience in resurrection. You can't work the same way you did in your previous life. You have to approach the resurrection life with only the power that is fitting for it, and that is the power of the Holy Spirit. And so Jesus breathes on his disciples and he says, receive the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is key to living the resurrection life.
It's one thing to have A new life. But if you try to live it in the way you've always been living it, that new life is going to quickly turn to resemble the old life you once lived. The only way to live and move forward in a new, resurrected life, a new second chance. As if you operate by a different power that's not your own. Guess what?
Jesus, the resurrected Lord, offers and gives freely to those who believe. The power to live this new life. The power to take hold of this new life and to live it rightly, to experience in this present time what it means to live like Jesus. A lot of us often talk about our lives as, oh, I can't wait for the new heavens and the new earth, and it's going to be glorious. All of us will say, well, I'll just wait for that to be ushered in when Jesus returns.
And you completely neglect the fact that Jesus says, resurrection life doesn't wait for that. It begins now. You can begin living a new life now, and not in the old ways that you're used to, but in new ways. By the power of the Holy Spirit, I give you my spirit, the one that empowered my ministry on earth. As you read the Gospels, we're reading about Jesus life and all the wonderful things that he's done becomes ours.
And our capability to bless other people and to love other people around us the way he did, by power of the same spirit that possessed him, now possesses those who believe, believe and trust in him. So we live by new power. And it's a present reality. It's not some kind of future hope now. You won't receive it fully now, but isn't it good news that we could begin living it today?
That right now Maybe you've been living in the old way of life. Maybe you've been trying to figure these things out. Well, okay, that didn't work. So I'll try it again this way. Well, then I'll try it again this way.
I do this all the time. Melissa can attest to it. I don't like things to overcome me. I like to think there's more than one way to skin a cat. And I'm just going to figure this thing out and I'm going to subdue it and I'm going to make it do what I want it to do.
When I hang pictures in our house, it's the most frustrating thing to me because no matter if I have a stud finder and I make a line on both sides of that stud and I go in and I try, tried to nail the nails I hang that picture on. Sure enough, that screw and nail misses the stud. I don't know how, but here's the thing. This is why I am a pastor and not a home builder, because I can't even find studs with stud finders. So all that to say is like, I tried to work it, like, oh, okay, well, we're just going, I'm going to put a nail every inch until I find that stud that's going to work.
I'm going to do it. And Melissa's just shaking her head and just letting me go. And I just am ornery about it. And I sometimes just want to force my white knuckle it and go, I'm going to subdue this and I'm going to make it work in my own strength. And Jesus says, now, okay, the resurrection life won't work like that.
You'll have a new second chance and it'll be ruined. And you're going to need a third if you do it that way. Second chance, the resurrection life has to be lived by the power of the Holy Spirit. You have to grow in the Spirit. Where's the Spirit?
How can I, Pastor Bruce? How can I get more of the Spirit, this fuel, this empowerment to live this new life and second chance so that I don't live it the way I once did? Be present where the Holy Spirit is. The Holy Spirit is always among God's people. It always accompanies God's word.
That's where we find the Holy Spirit. We can start there. We can start there by gathering together on Sundays like we do, to have that Holy Spirit once again power our lives, reminding us, you need me, Holy Spirit. We need you, Holy Spirit. Listen to the word of God as God reveals.
So you have this power. You may not know how to use it. Let me teach you through my Word how to grow in it and use it. And all of a sudden, you begin to experience presently this resurrection life, this new life that you've been afforded that's fueled with a power that's not your own. Praise be to God that there is something outside of myself that I can rely on to help me live my life.
I was reflecting upon this. I preached this sermon twice, two other times. Yesterday at Food Pantry and then at Chainbreakers. And as I was preaching it, I discovered that a lot of people don't know anything about resurrection. And this becomes a very important topic because we have Christians all over the place who are claiming faith in Jesus but can't give me an answer about resurrection life.
They don't understand what it means for them presently. They don't understand how this works out. They don't understand how they can grow into it and experience it. And then I invite them and I come. But we got to surround ourselves by those places where the Holy Spirit is.
And it's a very important thing. And we're going to be unpacking this for the next several weeks. But resurrection is peace, resurrection is power. But also resurrection is proclamation. Because of the resurrection, we finally actually have something to tell the world.
And we offer solutions to the world that aren't policies or strategies or anything political. We can offer to them real, tangible life, a new life experience through resurrection. But we have to proclaim it. That's the reality. Did you notice what happens to Thomas when he will not believe the disciples, hey, Jesus is risen.
It's like, I'm not going to believe it. And you almost get this feel like he's trying to wiggle out of ever having to believe it because he doesn't believe. He goes, no, no, no. Not until I see the imprints of the nails. Not until I touch his wounds will I believe.
So Jesus shows up the next week and he does just that for Thomas. And what does Thomas proclaim? My Lord, my God. Not just that Jesus is Lord and Jesus is God, which is a profound proclamation. My Lord, my God.
That's what is proclaimed. And the thing about resurrection life that we're learning is that when Jesus offers resurrection life, he offers it through proclamation by Thomas declaring, my Lord, my God, by seeing the evidence of the resurrection Lord. That is how resurrection life is spread throughout the rest of the world. This is where you and I come in. See, Jesus stepped into the room to proclaim to them resurrection life that resurrection life is offering peace.
The resurrection life is offering power that resurrection life is offering, finally something that's true for the world to change and be transformed. And then he says, just as the Father sends me, so now I send you. I think we all can agree that the people outside in the world absolutely need new life. And Jesus has said the way to new life is through the resurrection. The only way they will experience resurrection life is if you proclaim it to them.
You have to tell them that's how it's going to work moving forward. Jesus comes back to walk among his disciples, to proclaim to them what resurrection is. And then he is going to commission them and says, now go and offer resurrection that I have purchased to everyone in the world. And this is how it's to be done. You need to go Tell them that it exists.
You need to go tell them that I'm alive. You need to go tell them about the peace they can experience. You need to go tell them about the power they can have to live this new life. They don't have to do it the old way. You need to go tell them.
And this is how resurrection will spread through the world. See, leading up to resurrection, before Jesus was ever resurrected and there was an empty tomb, everything was, don't touch me. Don't touch death. Don't touch the sick. Keep them away.
Death is spreading everywhere in the world, and it had been for generations. This is why you always had to go through a cleansing ritual. You can't touch. The sick, can't touch because their death is going to get on you. It's going to make you sick and you could potentially die.
Death was spreading. Death was spreading. Now, after resurrection, guess what? Life is now spreading. Everything's dead and is dying.
But because of resurrection, now everything gets to live. But it has to be proclaimed. Jesus has to be proclaimed into the lives of others so that they can come into resurrection life. So you might be denying people the second chance that they need in their lives. Because you never open your mouth and talk about resurrection Jesus to them, like Bruce.
That's not fair. I mean, I'm not denying anybody this amazing opportunity for resurrection life. If it has to be proclaimed for them to hear about it and to receive it and you're not proclaiming it to the people around you, then I'm afraid you have to swallow your pride and say, maybe I am withholding second chances from other people by not telling them about Jesus. And maybe you just believe like the people I meet at the grocery store and the gas station. That's just random chance.
I mean, I don't know those people. God doesn't work randomly. He works intentionally. Every person you encounter in your life, each and every day is an opportunity to give them a second chance. That is the power that's been wielded to the church, the people that believe we are the only ones that possess power of resurrection for the world to be transformed.
And if we only keep it to ourselves and we keep our mouth shut, then you are most to be pitied because you're denying the very thing that somebody needs to transform their lives. Peter understood this in our other lectionary reading. Did you pay attention? The Sanhedrin, the leaders, tell people, keep your mouth shut. Don't talk about Jesus, his teaching or anything.
Keep your mouth shut. Peter and the disciples can't. And they say we have to obey God. We're not going to obey you. That's what the people we have to be.
Resurrection means that we proclaim. Now, you don't worry about the person's response to what you're proclaiming to them. That's God's business. Salvation's of the Lord. But proclamation is our work.
That's what God says. You go and tell and then invite them to come and see. And let me just make this note, because I think there's a lot of churches that have this understanding that, hey, let's just invite people to church. And that will be the evangelism that we offer people. Just invite them to church.
That's non evangelism. When we gather here on Sundays, it is for worship. To worship the one true God, where you offer yourself as a living sacrifice to worship the one true and living God who has given you resurrection life. It is out there in your life that you proclaim. We are always told to go and tell.
And then when we go and tell and the Lord causes people to be reborn, then they come and experience the new life among new people who are worshiping God. Now, people will walk in this door and hear the gospel because we read it and proclaim it every worship service. But they will not be familiar with our ways. This is the kingdom of heaven in here. This is the people of God here.
And people could come through our doors and they can experience that kingdom, but they may not understand it. But those that you have gone to and proclaim to and then invite to come in, that's how we ought to be doing things. Rightly. Inviting people to church isn't evangelism. You proclaiming resurrection life to people, you speaking about Jesus to others in your life, that's evangelism.
And then invite them to come and be a part of the resurrection people. That's what we see. So the question is, what is resurrection? And we just begin to open it up. It's peace.
Peace that surpasses all understanding. Peace to calm every one of your storms. It's also power. Power to live into this new life. And it's also proclamation.
It's what we're called to do. We've been given a job and we can transform the world if we would just simply proclaim it. Do you need peace? Come to the risen Lord and receive resurrection life. Do you need a new power, the Spirit's power to fuel your life, to live it rightly?
Then come to the risen Lord and receive resurrection life. You need something to proclaim and tell others that would help them out of their situation, give them a new reality. Then come to the risen Lord and receive resurrection life. Lay hold of the new life that Jesus is offering. Come back and see what more resurrection has to offer us in the next weeks.
But it's important that we always extend peace to one another and it is a part of our worship. And just like it's been proclaimed this morning, we enjoy that moment and it's offered to you today. Christ has risen and he's offering us to be alive and resurrected to a new life as well. Let's pray.