Easter II - A March 30th, AD 2009
Meadowvale
a Lutheran Church, Mississauga
Pastor
Peter Lisinski
"BEHIND
LOCKED DOORS"
A
patient went to see the doctor because of a miserable cold. The doctor
prescribed some antibiotics, but they didn't help. A week later the doctor administered a shot, but it, too,
made no difference. So, the
following week the doctor told the patient, "Go home and take a hot bath.
As soon as you get out of the tub, open all the windows in the
house and stand in the draft". The
patient protested, "But Doc, if I do that I'll get pneumonia!" "I
know," the doctor replied, "But I
know how to cure pneumonia.”
I
was reminded of that joke this past week as I endured a relapse of the cough
and cold that kept me home one Sunday morning last January.
I had to miss Tuesday night's council meeting, and by Wednesday morning
pneumonia seemed like an improvement. Anyway,
the Christian church -- at least the Lutheran branch of the church I know best
-- reminds me of the doctor in that parable. We know a surefire way to cure an
illness no one seems to have.
In
the sixteenth century, the big question was "How do people get to
heaven?" It was a question
rooted in a sinful humanity's fear of God's judgment.
And the official answer of the medieval church claimed that a person is
saved from hell by being good and doing "good works" -- which meant,
above all, obedience to the church. But
Pastor Martin Luther challenged the popular belief system of his day, insisting
that people are saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Well,
nowadays people no longer seem worried about getting to heaven.
Most Canadians, according to public opinion polls, have no doubt that
they will make it. And, in spite of
the Lutheran claim of salvation by grace through faith, people seem just as
certain today as they were five hundred years ago that they will be saved by
being and doing good. Today people
tend to subscribe to the non-biblical belief that human beings are basically
good; and since we are already being and doing good, a sinner who may deserve
God's judgment or need God's mercy is somebody else!
So
today it is no longer the wrath of God we fear; today we fear the wrath of other
people. We fear terrorists; we fear
immigrants; we fear refugees; we fear criminals; we fear the homeless who
panhandle on city streets; we fear all kinds of other people for the threat to
health and life, home and family, culture and community that they represent!
It was that very fear of the wrath of others -- Jesus' enemies -- that
united his disciples behind locked doors following his crucifixion.
John
begins his story, "When it was evening on that Easter day, the first day of
the week..." In other words,
on the very day, and at the very moment, that had already become the appointed
time of Christian worship when John's Gospel was written,
"The
doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews
[that is, "the public authorities"], Jesus came and stood among them
and said, 'Peace be with you.' After
he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Ponder
that magnificent vision of salvation's deepest mystery! The wounds of Jesus, his
nail-scarred hands and pierced side, inspire his fearful disciples with peace
and joy! The wounds of his cross
are the proof that the Lord and Savior they knew and loved before his
crucifixion -- before they betrayed, denied and
abandoned
him -- is the same Lord and Savior who continues to love them after his
crucifixion -- after they betrayed, denied and abandoned him.
The cross as the source of humanity's peace and joy, and as the power of
reconciliation between us and God, end between us and others, is the promise of
Jesus' personal Easter message -- a message delivered in the flesh of his broken
body and shed blood. Hail the very
sacrament of God incarnate!
Today,
in the real presence -- as Lutherans call it --- of the crucified Jesus, on this
first day of the week, at this commonly appointed time of Christian worship,
among these particular disciples, we remember the death and resurrection of
Jesus, and in our remembering, we become who we are -- the church, which is the
body of Christ in the world: "For as often as we eat this bread and drink from this
cup, we proclaim the Lord's death, until he comes" (I Cor. 11:26).
In the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ, the Christian church was created; and in our weekly worship gathering around God's Word and sacraments, the Christian church gives public testimony to God's victory over sin, evil and death -- the very forces which conspired to crucify Jesus in the first place! The very bricks and mortar of this physical structure in which we gather is -- in and of itself -- a public proclamation of God's power and promise to save the whole world. And you, the faithful people of God, are the flesh and blood presence in the world of that holy communion of love, peace and justice God calls all human beings to share through our life together.