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April 23, 2017
John 20: 19-31
I Pet. 1:3-9 – living in the hope of Christ
Acts – God has made him lord and Christ
Hope
Where do you find hope? Where do you place your hope? What is your hope in? Is your hope an everyday hope – like “I just hope I make it through today” – or a longer term hope that you live into, or is it a hope like a wish that seems always to be just beyond your reach?
What the heck is “hope?”
That’s the question following last week’s celebration of Easter Sunday. Where do we go from there? Sure, there was lots of fun, and music, and examination of the claims of Christ Jesus and the witnesses. It’s a whole new ballgame now. Look with me at what was happening right after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
John 20:19-31 Page 1136
Friends, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of Christian faith. (REPEAT) Without the resurrection – we’re toast. Simple as that. That’s why I spent a good deal of time last week noting how important it is for the church to recognize the truth that Jesus did not die in vain. That he WAS raised by the power of God the father and appeared to so many, confirming that he conquered death.
If Jesus is not raised from the dead, then our faith is in vain. What are we doing here? No hope.
Sure, the alleluias may have begun to fade, the lilies have wilted, congregational attendance may have even faded a bit. This in “pastor-talk” is sometimes referred to as a “low Sunday.” To be in worship today may feel a bit like showing up at a party after most of the guests have left and those still there turn to you saying, “What a great time you missed by coming too late.”
Hope? Jesus is still alive. The Christ is Risen, he is risen indeed is still very real. Every Sunday is Resurrection Sunday – the Sunday after Easter Sunday is still Resurrection Sunday for us. Like our opening song – Easter People Raise Your Voices – sung to a tune you might have remembered from Christmas – “Angels From the Realms of Glory” we turn to become Easter People with the first stanza which seems to echo Charles Wesley's "Christ, the Lord, is risen today." Wesley states, "earth and heaven in chorus say." The writer of “Easter People,” William James proclaims, "sounds of heaven and earth should ring. The triumph of the Resurrection over evil is the theme of "Easter People." In stanza two, the poet reminds us that the "fear of death" cannot stop us from doing all we can to overcome evil "here below." The final stanza insists: "Every day to [Christians] is Easter" because our God is one who "rights the wrong."
William James' ministry and his 97 years of life reflected his belief in the power of the Resurrection to make a difference in the lives of those whom he served to give them hope – that Christ is alive and we will be resurrected too some day because Jesus lives and promises us life eternal.
But we have to be a people of hope – a people of faith – who sing about events we weren’t eyewitnesses to. We weren’t there, we can only hear the reports of the resurrection. We can’t see and touch and experience it for ourselves. But we are still Easter people each and every week – because of our hope and our trust and our faith.
The Psalmist writes, “I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand. My heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure. You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
You’ve all been to a funeral before, right? One writer offers “after my father’s funeral, my mother shared all sorts of memorabilia with the family. Among the things were the seersucker sport coat and the white bucks that fit my older son (no one wears white bucks anymore, do they? I only used to wear them as part of my high school band uniform and quickly discarded them after graduation…but that’s another story) The writer continues there was the collection of baseball caps, the photographs of my father as a young boy, riding a scooter with his constant companion, Skippy, a Boston terrier. There were letters and notes and even sermons. Then, he said, my mother showed me a few typewritten pages that took my breath away and made the tears flow. On those pages were the words my father said at the grave of my stillborn sisters. My mother had carried the twins full term before it was clear that something had gone wrong. What had been a growing wave of joy in the family came crashing down when the girls were lost to us even before they were born. It was different in those days; there was no funeral or even a time of prayer with the family. But my parents refused to allow the hospital to dispose of the bodies. Instead, my father took the girls to be buried in the family plot. Only one dear friend accompanies him. Though it was only the two of them, there were things that needed to be said. For all of the pain in my father’s heart, the writer continued, all he could do was give thanks for the goodness of God – the God who welcomed my sisters home, the God who held our lives in divine hands, the God whose faithfulness is beyond measure.” HOPE.
I’m thinking, after the celebration of Easter Sunday….sometimes the reality of life sets in…..in tragic ways. A man randomly chooses to shoot an innocent man on the streets of Cleveland and a nationwide manhunt ensues until he is surrounded and, seeing his fate is hopeless, turns a gun on himself; a Newcomerstown police officer with ties locally admits lying that he was shot by two suspects in a failed possible suicide attempt of his own; a man calling himself Black Jesus kills three white men in Fresno, California and when arrested screams out “God Is Great”; one of our own goes to work this week and sees the sign on the locked door of the company for which he was working – the business has closed. Your job is gone.
Where’s the hope in all this?
The I Peter passage we recited earlier and the gospel passage I just read give me hope against all that evil….and I pray it helps you as well.
In most funeral services I conduct I use the words of I Peter. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”
Friends, my desire today is to remind you that you are made for hope, for joy in hope…..on low Sundays and big Sundays alike. You were made for hope, and joy, and l love and the peace Jesus offers saying, “Peace be with you.” If I could eliminate all the hurts of this world – all the pain, all the grief, all the disappointment, I would certainly do it. But we still live in a fallen world, where Satan pulls his strings and the rug is pulled out from under us way too often.
But. But. The hope of the resurrection is still there – very much alive – it’s a LIVING hope. Jesus has left us an inheritance that is “imperishable, undefiled and unfading,” Scripture tells us.
Jesus passed along two important things to his disciples before departing: peace and joy, bundled up in a package called hope. Hope that because Jesus lives, we will live as well. We may taste death…but as we close our eyes in death with faith in Jesus on our lips, we will just as quickly open our eyes to the joy of Jesus. Hope in the resurrection will be confirmed for all who believe.
Do you believe that church?
Most people understand hope as wishful thinking, as in "I hope I’ll get a hit in the ball game today. I hope mom makes meatloaf tonight. I hope my dad doesn’t eat all my Easter candy.”
This is not what the Bible means by hope. The biblical definition ofhopeis "confident expectation."
Confident expectation……not unrealistic expectation…..confident expectation.
Hope is a firm assurance about things that are at times unclear and maybe even unknown. Hope is a fundamental component of the life of the righteous person. Without hope, life loses its meaning and then in death without Christ there is no hope.
But the righteous who trust or put their hope in God will be helped and they will not be confounded, put to shame, or disappointed. Scripture tells us the righteous, who have this trustful hope in God, have a general confidence in God – confident expectation – confidence in God's protection and help and are freed from fear and anxiety.
In particular the New Testament idea of hope is the recognition that in Christ is found the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises. Christian hope is rooted in faith in the divine salvation in Christ. The hope of Christians is brought into being through the presence of the promised Holy Spirit. (you caught that, right? – that Jesus breathed on them the Holy Spirit?)
It is the future hope of the resurrection of the dead, the promises given to Israel, the redemption of the body and of the whole creation, eternal glory, eternal life and the inheritance of the saints, the return of Christ, transformation into the likeness of Christ, the salvation of God or simply just having Christ Himself - TODAY.
Now I understand there could be a whole lot to unpack there….but let’s just look at the one primary incident in John’s gospel that might help us walk through this reason for hope we have for today, and as the song “Great Is Thy Faithfulness based on Lamentations 3” says, strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
Jesus appears to his followers after Resurrection Sunday on many occasions…..none more important to one doubter than our friend Thomas.
Thomas had said, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side; I will never believe.”
One week after Easter Thomas got his wish. His peace, his joy, his hope were confirmed. Could it be that Jesus is no longer dead? Could it be he HAS risen from the dead? Could it be that the women were correct when they said, “I have seen the Lord?” Could it be that the angels were correct when they asked, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen, as we said?”
And then a week later Jesus comes and stands among them and says, “Peace be with you.” And he challenges Thomas to make his doubting nature history…..bury it, buddy…..put your finger here, see my hands, put your hand into my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.
How did Thomas react? I think understandably he was just overwhelmed. I don’t know about you, but if I were confronted by the risen Christ in the flesh just days after I knew he’d died, and he called me out about my doubting without my even saying it to him directly, I’ll bet he was knocked on his keister….and understandably he could only say, “My Lord and my God! My Lord and My God!”
And Jesus responds – Good for you. You got to see me. Here I am. You got to touch me. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing. Jesus is talking to you and to me in that. Even better blessings are in stroe for those who believe without seeing.
“Blessed are you who have not seen and yet have come to believe,” Jesus says.
We like to say, “seeing is believing.” Seeing is believing is rejoicing and in seeing with our hearts, even without physically seeing…..that brings joy. That brings hope.
Jesus says it is very possible to believe without physically seeing. And in that, that’s where hope comes in…that is where the rubber of hope meets the road of faith.
Are you looking for a piece of hope today? Has the celebration of last week been overshadowed by the evils of this week in your life?
Friends, look to Jesus. Look to Jesus. He is still alive. It wasn’t a once and done kind of thing we celebrated last week. Every Sunday is Resurrection Sunday for the church…for Easter People….because….
When we say that “Christ is still risen.” The church responds, “He is still risen indeed.”
Christ is STILL risen. He is still risen, indeed!