April 6^th, 2008

Easter, 3, a

Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19; 1 Peter 1:17-23;

Luke 24: 13-35

The gospel reading for today is one of the several accounts known as the “appearances” of Jesus after his resurrection. When we think of it, to whom did Jesus appear after his resurrection? He appeared to Mary Magdalene, his mother and other women who were his disciples; he appeared to the apostles more than once, and in this reading, he appeared to two disciples no one has ever heard of before. This is the only time Cleopas is mentioned in the Bible and the name of Cleopas’ companion’s is never given.

To whom did Jesus not appear? Debbie Blue, a pastor in St. Paul, Minnesota writes in Christian Century, “Appearing to two nobodies going nowhere is an interesting choice when you think of all the other possibilities for the debut of the risen Lord. Why not appear in front of Caesar [or Pilot, or Herod] or the Sanhedrin? The accounts of the Gospel writers that tell about the resurrection from the dead of the Savior of the world are undramatic and understated.”

Have you ever thought of that, that is, to whom Jesus appeared after he rose from the dead and to whom he did not appear? Have you ever wondered why Jesus did not go straight to Pontius Pilate or Herod and get in their face.

Is this not something you and I might do? One of my classmates in college was not held in high esteem by the faculty and I am not sure as to why. Her grades were not outstanding, but they were ok. She later went on and got her master’s degree and then her doctorate and became a professor in one of the state universities in Oklahoma. Now, she never misses a chance to tell the faculty at our homecoming, each degree or honor she has received. And she does it with great flare.

“Getting back” at what we think has been unfair or unjust is something many of us spend a lifetime doing. Psychoanalysts have shown that some of our long term behaviors are due to our getting back at some injustice we experienced early in our life.

Had my class mate followed the “example of the risen Jesus”, and that is an important distinction to make, the “risen” Jesus, what would she have done? She would have come to the homecomings, pretty much ignored the faculty and spend most of her time with us, her classmates. We would have laughed as we reminisced and shared our lives with one another –as did Jesus when he rejoined his disciples after his resurrection. As far as we can tell, Jesus absolutely ignored the leaders and the rulers who were responsible for his torture and crucifixion. Instead Jesus shared his resurrection with his disciples and followers as they shared with him their fears and grief they had experienced with his death but yet now their joy with his return.

The meeting of the crucified and risen Jesus with his disciples is what the author of the first letter of Peter says we are now to emulate. The disciples were no longer just followers of Jesus anymore; they were now followers of the crucified and risen Jesus who came back in his resurrection not with vengeance and pay back, but with love and forgiveness. As the new Christians were told in our First Peter lesson of today and we are told this day –as the baptized in the crucified and resurrected Jesus, we now live in the holy of God. Following the example of Jesus after his crucifixion and resurrection we do not just live our lives as good people anymore, but we live our lives as holy people, people, set apart.

In the short time Jesus was here after he had arisen from the dead, he gave us an example of what it means to live set apart, to live in the holy of God. Following the example of Jesus, to live in the holy of God is to live a life of love and compassion, not a life of animosity and pay back.

What did Jesus do to those who did to him? As far as we know, he left alone those directly related to his crucifixion. But it appears from what we read in the scriptures, after his resurrection Jesus went directly to those who had followed him, but who also had betrayed him, deserted him, and denied that they ever knew him. Significantly, Jesus ignored those painful, hurtful, alienating behaviors and it even appears that he might have even forgotten about them. No where do we read about Jesus “paying back” someone for what they did to him. We only read about Jesus’ love and compassion regardless.

Because of his beautiful, gentle example of love and compassion, both during his life but in particular after his crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus taught us, and continues to teach us through his Spirit, how to live in the holy of God.

Do not live just as good people anymore we are told, but live in the Spirit of the crucified, resurrected and living Jesus. Live as a people set apart; live as a holy people, a people not of “pay backs” and “in your face”, but a people of love and compassion.

Amen,

Pastor Scales