Scripture Readings: Acts 5:27–32 | Psalm 118 | Revelation 1:4–8 | ​John 20:19–31

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31).

Anyone excited for the election tomorrow? 

I know many of us are probably sick of discussing… or worse yet, hearing other people discuss politics these days, especially since things have gotten so divisive and outright nasty in recent years. 

But whether or not we are excited about tomorrow’s election… and regardless of which party ends up in power this time around… the fact remains that whatever happens will have some big implications for our whole country moving forward. For better or worse, what happens tomorrow will play a part in shaping not only our own lives as Canadian citizens, but also shaping our communities, our shared values and way of life, and our nation’s relationships with the wider world. 

But as big as tomorrow’s election day may seem, we celebrated something far more significant last Sunday: the resurrection of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. 

That marvelous event of the first Easter marks the most radical turning point of all time… the incredible intervention of the Living God on behalf of His beloved but broken Creation… Christ’s great victory over the powers of sin, and death, and all the forces of spiritual darkness… by giving up His life at the cross, and rising again from the grave.

That moment marks not just the end of the old ways of the world… a dramatic break with the past, but it also marks a brand new beginning… a new way of life that we who believe in this Good News are now called to take part in.  

After all, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just something wonderful that happened to Him. It is God’s new Creation… God’s new beginning breaking into and transforming the story of our world, and the new starting point for how you and I are to orient our lives.

In short, the resurrection of Jesus challenges us all to rearrange our whole lives… our hearts, our minds, our actions, and our interactions with others around the beautiful truth that: Christ has died. Christ is risen. And Christ will come again. To become an Easter People… not just once a year, but always. 

And that means more that simple saying ‘yes’ to these words, and then moving on. It means spending a lifetime exploring and working through the real implications of this beautiful truth. It means seeking to better understand what it looks like for us to live as Easter People today.

And while that’s not something that we can fully accomplish this morning, we can at least begin to reflect on what it means to become Easter People by turning to our Scripture readings this morning, beginning with the Gospel of John. 

St. John Chapter 20 gives us a wonderful account of the risen Jesus appearing suddenly to His closest disciples, who had been hiding themselves away in fear. But the risen Jesus comes to meet them in their time of fright and confusion, and shatters their old way of seeing the world… inviting them into the brand new thing that God was doing. He reveals Himself to them. He offers them His peace, along with the message and ministry of forgiveness. And then He shares the Holy Spirit with them, and commissions them to be His witnesses in the world… sharing the Good News of His resurrection with everyone. 

But then we find out that Thomas missed out. Alone out of the disciples, Thomas wasn’t there that first Easter to witness the risen Christ first hand. And so he refuses to believe, until he can see for himself that it really is true. He says unless he sees Christ’s hands and feet, and His pierced side… until Thomas can be assured that the same Jesus that he had faithfully followed, and knew and loved… the same Jesus that He saw die… was now alive again, as the others had said. 

And that’s because Thomas wanted to believe in the truth! Not just to accept a hopeful story… but reality. He wanted assurance that he wasn’t just going along with what he wanted to be true… Thomas wanted to be sure that Jesus really had been raised again.

Because, if it hadn’t really happened… if it was just a good story, and nothing more… then nothing’s really changed. Then the world is still the same. And all our sins, and death, and the powers of darkness in our world are still holding us captive.

And so, Thomas refuses to believe that Jesus had risen again unless he can be convinced by the same evidence that had convinced his fellow disciples. In other words, he’s not some radical skeptic… after all, everyone knew that dead people stay dead… Thomas just wanted the same life-changing experience that the others had had. And thankfully, he’s not disappointed.

The risen Jesus visits His disciples again the next Sunday, and He then invites Thomas to believe… to be a witness to the Good News that, even though Jesus had died, He really is alive! That everything really has changed! That God really has dealt with our sins, once and for all. That death has been defeated, and that the dark spiritual forces at work in our world have been overthrown by the power of God’s saving love, who has raised up His Son forever. 

In John 20:27-29, Jesus turns specifically to Thomas, his beloved disciple and says to him: “‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’” 

Thomas sees and he believes, and he is given a new beginning. And Jesus says that those of us who have not yet seen, and yet believe… that means you and me… are blessed. 
  
And for St. John, this is the point: that we might come to believe… and be blessed by the new life that He has received, and offers to us. John 20:30-31, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”

Being Easter People begins by believing in the resurrection of Jesus. Even though we will still have all sorts of questions, we can choose to trust that this Good News is true. It will take a lifetime of seeking to grow in our understanding of what this all means, for us and our world, but it all begins when we, with St. Thomas and all the other Apostles, turn to Jesus and acclaim Him as our Lord and our God as well. 

And although this invitation to believe in Christ’s resurrection is personal, thankfully, it’s not something that we’re meant to have to try and figure out all alone. And that’s because being an Easter People is not simply about our individual faith… it’s also an invitation to belong to God’s redeemed community: the Church.   

And here is where we turn to our second reading today from the book of Revelation… a powerful, but often misunderstood vision offered to Christ’s people throughout the ages to help reframe how we understand all of creation and human history… past, future, and especially the present… so we can better understand how to live faithfully here and now for Jesus the Risen Lord, even when everything else seems to be falling apart all around us.

And here, in the very first verses of the Revelation, we are reminded of what actually makes us an Easter People, the Good News of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord: 

In Revelation 1:4-6, we hear John begin the book with these words: “Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
 
To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

There’s a lot packed into these opening words, but I’d like to draw our attention to what John says about Jesus Christ, and also what John says about his fellow believers. 

Jesus is the faithful witness… the firstborn from the dead… and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Clearly, the Risen Christ, who died, rose again, and reigns at God’s right hand is centre stage. But then John shifts to the Risen Christ’s connection to His people: He loves us. He set us free from our sins by His blood. And He made us to be a kingdom… priests serving His God and Father. 

Now, I don’t know of any strictly personal, one person kingdoms. And the whole idea of priests in isolation from others makes no sense at all. Kingdoms and priests require a community… people bound together around a shared reality. A common location, identity, and allegiance.  

And our reading from Revelation reminds us that the Risen Christ is creating a new community… set free and forgiven so that we can live as Easter People, serving Him and walking in His holy ways… bound together by our belief in the One who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and true ruler of all creation. 

Easter People start with belief in the resurrection of Jesus, and then find that we now belong to a worldwide community that the Risen Lord has redeemed: the Church.

So far so good. But as the book of Revelation, the whole of story of Holy Scripture, and the history of the Church makes clear, this new beginning as Easter People will be anything but easy. Especially when trying to live in the light of the Good News of the Risen King puts us in conflict with the claims of those who are still resisting His reign. 

Which leads us to our first reading from the book of Acts, where we are reminded that being an Easter People means being willing to be different… and even face suffering.

The story in Acts Chapter 5 takes place in the days after the Risen Lord Jesus returns to the right hand of the Father, and sends the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The Apostles are then empowered to serve as Christ’s faithful witnesses… no longer hiding in fear, but boldly sharing the Good News of the Risen Lord with all of Jerusalem. 

But soon enough, the people who had crucified Jesus tried to silence His followers too, and the Apostles found themselves facing some serious political pressure from those in power. Just before the passage we read, they were arrested and thrown into jail. 

But that night, God sends an angel to rescue the Apostles from prison… and instead of seizing the moment to run away and save themselves, the angel tells them to keep on sharing the Gospel boldly in the Temple… witnessing to Christ’s resurrection, and that’s what they do. 

In the morning, the religious leaders who had them arrested are shocked to find them preaching in the Temple again, and they have them brought before the council, and warned not to keep preaching about Jesus. 

Acts 5:29-32, “But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Rather than back down in the face of serious and powerful opposition, the Apostles stand firm in their faith, and refuse to pretend that Easter morning never happened… to act as though Jesus had not changed everything through His resurrection… even though it would mean enduring the ill will of those who wanted the world to stay the same. 

________________

Our three Scripture readings today have reminded us of some pretty important aspects of being an Easter People:
It begins by believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We then belong to His new redeemed community, the Church… where we are called together to begin living differently, to make choices every day based on the reality of the resurrection of Jesus… even if it means suffering.

Believe. Belong. Be different.  How do these speak to us today?

How does our belief in the reality of the resurrection of Jesus challenge the kinds of ways that we act, and talk, and think, and treat one another… the decisions we make every day? 

What does it mean for you and I to belong to God’s redeemed community? Not simply to seek after our own interests, but gather with one another so that we can take part in the life of the Church… learning to love one another, to remind each other of God’s forgiveness, and mercy, and grace, and saving love, again and again. To know we are not alone, but are surrounded by sisters and brothers bound together by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

How are we being called to be different today? To stand out in how we exist in our daily lives, whether in private or public? To be willing to say no to the things or the people that pull us further away from our Saviour’s side… even if it means standing up to those who misuse worldly power, and suffering for Christ’s sake? 

These questions are just the beginning. But as Easter People, beginnings are nothing new. Every day as Christians, we get to celebrate the Good News that in Christ Jesus the Risen Lord, the Living God has changed everything for good. That God’s new beginning has already begun. That even though many around us still place their faith in things like politics and power games, we can face the future with hope, whatever may come, because we know that Christ has died… Christ is risen… and Christ will come again. Amen. 

​Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here:

And here are some links to the Hymns listed in our service, found on YouTube: ​

Scripture Readings: ​Acts 1:1–11 | Psalm 93 | Ephesians 1:15–23 | Luke 24:44–53 

“While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.” (Luke 24:51).

Today is Ascension Sunday: the final Sunday of the season of Easter, and a time to commemorate the moment when Jesus Christ the Risen Lord was taken up from the sight of His disciples, and into the highest heaven… to take His seat at the right hand of God the Father, and from there to take up His royal reign forever.
 
The feast of the Ascension calls us to look toward heaven, and recall the real reason for our hope for our world… not the hope of a retreat somewhere else, but the hope of the recuing reign of the Risen King. And these days, we don’t need all that much reminding that our world stands in real need of some real hope to hold onto… reasons to not give up, and get to work bringing about things like beauty, peace, and light. But sadly, and for some time now, it seems that many of us Christians have forgotten the true hope we’re called to share with the world around us, and have instead placed our hopes in getting to escape from it. Seeking simply to be swept away from all of this darkness and mess we humans have made.
 
But as common as this message of escape might be, even in Christian circles, it isn’t the real hope that the Bible or the Christian faith is about at all. In the Holy Scriptures, and in the Creeds we find, not the hope of being rescued from the earth… but the hope of being rescue along with the earth… set free to live under the reign of our Saviour King forever.
 
And so, as we turn now to our Scripture readings for this morning, and take a closer look at what the Ascension of Jesus Christ really means, pay close attention to why we can have real hope for the future of our world.
 
Turning first to our second reading, from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we find the Apostle commending the faith and the love of this early Christian community.
 
Ephesians 1:15-16, “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.”

And yet, it seems that St. Paul recognizes that there is something this Church community was needing… namely, he prays for them to have hope… to understand the story that they were a part of already in the Risen Christ, and to know where this story is headed, despite the darkness and difficulties they were facing in their day.
 
Ephesians 1:17-19, “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.”
 
St. Paul can be a bit wordy at times, but his meaning here is important for us to here today: we too need to come to understand the hope that we are called to as Christians… both the glory that awaits us, and how God’s power is at work bringing it about.
 
We can’t just lean on wishful thinking, or cling to vague ideas about a happy afterlife, somewhere out there, over the rainbow… we have been offered real, concrete reasons to have hope for our future: and that is God’s life-giving power which we have seen at work raising Jesus Christ from the dead… and in His ascension to the right side of God the Father.
 
St. Paul goes on in Ephesians 1:20-21, “God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.”
 
While many of us today find it easy to imagine that the point of Jesus leaving His disciples was to go off somewhere else, for the first Christians like St. Paul and the rest of the Apostles, it clearly meant something very different, and much more hopeful: the ascension of Jesus  was not His escape from the world… but His elevation to it’s highest throne. He’s not abandoning creation, He’s taking charge of it! Taking His place in the divine command centre, so to speak… to guide and direct God’s people, and to empower us to carry on the work of His Good Kingdom here and now.
 
And so, the Church… the worldwide community of those who have turned our lives over to Jesus Christ in faith, and who have already received the gift of His saving love… we are the ones who are now called to share this hope… the hope of the Risen Saviour King.
 
Ephesians 1:22-23, “And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
 
The Church community, the shared life of us believers… not simply on Sundays… our lives together are to be the main location on earth where the Kingship of the Risen Christ is acknowledged, and made known. Our lives are to be the sign that, above every other claim to power, authority, and might… Jesus Christ is Lord of all… and that one day, every other power, as St. Paul puts it, will find its proper place under His feet.
 
That’s a startling image for us, for sure. How is it Good News to be placed under the feet of a king? This is an image of being conquered! In ancient times, vanquished foes would have their victorious opponents symbolically stand upon their necks. Wasn’t the ascension of Jesus supposed to be about offering hope to our world? What kind of hope are we talking about here?
 
Of course, some Christians have picked up this kind of imagery in the Bible, and run with it… imagining that Jesus wants to violently overthrow all who dare oppose Him, or those who get in His people’s way.
 
We know there are those who have thought this way for centuries… from the early Christian Emperors in the late Roman times… or the medieval rulers of Europe… or advocates of Christian nationalism here in North America today… those who would use Christianity to justify their own aggressive grasping after worldly power… and who seek to rule by actively destroying the hopes of those who aren’t on their side.
 
This is how tyrants have always ruled… following a principle we could call “Limited Concern”: insisting that our tribe, our culture, our way of life must be on top, and in control… that our will must be done… and who cares what happens to everyone else.

But it’s not just tyrants and moral monsters that have a habit of seeing the world this way. Lots of us may simply limit our concern to our little corner of the world, in much more subtle ways. In our reading from Acts Chapter 1, and its account of the Ascension, we see can that even the disciples had a hard time shaking this mindset of ‘limited concern’… but Jesus Christ the Risen Lord, calls for a very different approach for His people, back then and today.
 
Forty days after Easter, the disciples excitedly ask the Risen Lord: Are you about to bring God’s good kingdom to Israel at last?
 
They knew all of the prophetic promises that had helped Israel hold onto hope for centuries… promises from God that despite the devastation and darkness of Exile, the Living God would again rescue and restore His people, that the Messiah-King would one day come… and that from Jerusalem the blessed reign of God would be victorious.
 
And Jesus knew the limited scope of their hopes… focussed on Israel’s restoration alone. Israel’s peace. Israel’s future as God’s beloved children.

And all this mattered to Jesus too. But He had, and has, a much bigger mission in mind… offering a hope that far exceeds their expectations… one which would fulfill all of the promises of Israel’s prophets… by extending God’s good reign to the ends of the earth.
 
Acts 1:6-8, “So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
 
The Good News of God’s reign is not just for one people, one culture, one nation… it is for all the earth to enjoy! All are invited to believe, to be loved, and to be inspired by this whole new vision of where our human story is headed.
 
The disciples were more concerned with their own corner of the world. And we are concerned about our own corner too, here in Gondola Point. And so is God. The Good News of the Ascension of Jesus Christ reminds us that Gondola Point is to be a real part of God’s good Kingdom. And we are His witnesses here… our lives display His Lordship today.
 
But to be clear, the hope of the Ascension is not about some of us being elevated over our neighbours… sitting by watching while others are crushed underneath Christ’s feet. Listen to what St. Paul says here!
 
Ephesians 1:21-23, the Father elevates Jesus “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
 
Jesus is lifted up, elevated above every name… all things are under His feet… including you and I. This is not about how we Christians can make our kingdom come, and our will be done… but God’s alone. Absolutely everyone and everything is now underneath Christ’s feet.
 
Again, this image may strike us today as disturbing, rather than as Good News, and a reason to have real hope. But that is because we keep forgetting what God’s Kingdom and God’s will actually looks like. Along with our non-Christian neighbours, we tend to keep imagining that God’s rule is basically oppressive, damaging… about keeping us from truly experiencing the “good life” we deeply desire.
 
But again, the Ascension reminds us that the One who has been both raised from the dead, and raised to the highest throne of heaven is none other than the One who gave up His life to save His beloved world! The One who has been given the ultimate authority in the universe… the One who will one day call us all to account, and sort out all of the mess we humans have made in every corner of creation… this is the same One who stretched out his hands in suffering, to be nailed to the cross in our place… dying to save, not just Israel… or any one people, or nation, but the world through the Father’s self-giving love, which the Scriptures have pointed us to all the way through.
 
Luke 24:44-48, “Then [Jesus] said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.”
 
The same Jesus who died to save us while we were still sinners… to bring us true forgiveness, and the freedom of God’s New Life… the same Jesus who still bears the scars of the cross even now, is the same One who reigns on high, and because He does, we can have real hope for our world  today.
 
Christ’s resurrection, His victory over the grave is the first sign of God’s intentions for the world we see around us. As dark and as devastating, and even as dead as things may seem at times, the very same power that was at work raising Jesus Christ to eternal life will also rescue and reconcile all things, sorting out His beloved creation in justice and love, putting everything back together again in its proper place… underneath the nail-pierced, peace-bringing feet of our Saviour King.
 
And as Christ’s people, here and now, our place is to be His witnesses… to live as those who are already existing are under His good reign: learning more about, and living out our faith… growing deeper and wider in God’s great love for all… and sharing the hope of His good Kingdom, both here in our little corner of the world, and beyond.
 
This is a tall task, but not one that we are expected to do all by ourselves. We’ll have more to say about this next week, as we celebrate Pentecost, but it’s a key part of the whole story of Scripture, and especially the Ascension: the same power of God that raised Jesus from the dead, and that will one day restore our broken world, has already been poured out on those of us who place our faith in Jesus… the power of God’s own Holy Spirit.
 
As Jesus the Risen Lord is lifted up to the Father’s right hand to reign, He sends the Holy Spirit to empower His people to live God’s way in the world.
​
We hear this in Luke 24:49, where Jesus says, “And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
 
And in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
 
And right before our reading today from Ephesians, St. Paul says this in Ephesians 1:13-14, “In [Christ] you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.”
 
As I said, we’ll talk about the Holy Spirit more next week, but these passages remind us that the Ascension is certainly not the end of the story, but simply the beginning of a whole new movement… the power of God’s Holy Spirit at work in His people, as we share the hope of His Good Kingdom with our world.
 
So, may the Good News of the Ascension of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord to reign at the Father’s right hand, fill us with the hope that our Saviour King has no intention of abandoning this world He died to save… the hope that His justice, and mercy, and faithful love reach out to every corner of creation… and that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, and which has been poured out into the lives of His people today, will bring God’s broken world back together again in Christ, once and for all. Amen. 
​

​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Acts 10:44–48 | Psalm 98 | 1 John 5:1–6 | John 15:9–17

“Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:5.
 
What are we fighting for? What are we striving for? What purpose are we pursuing?  
 
A lot of folks today see themselves as being at war… and not just those who are in literal battlegrounds like Ukraine Sudan, or Gaza. Alongside, and fueling these armed conflicts are all sorts of other kinds of clashes… wars of words, and ideas, and policies… mixtures of political, cultural, ideological, social, economic, and yes, religious elements, all vying against one another… striving to win the hearts, and minds, and lives of the world… or at least, enough of their corner of the world to make sure that they can get their own way, whatever that may be.
 
And sadly, we know there have been all sorts of ways that Christians have also embraced this combative impulse over the years… turning our faith into just one more weapon to achieve our own goals… and as a powerful tool to demonize those who are different from us.

But we find a completely different vision and approach at work in our Scripture Readings this morning: Not an attempt to force the world to bend to our will… but a willingness to trust Jesus, and to humbly seek to do God’s will in a world that often does not… and in so doing, we are invited to see God’s power at work in ways we might find really hard to imagine.
 
In our first reading today from the book of Acts, we find the tail end of the story of St. Peter and Cornelius… and two very different worlds colliding.
 
St. Peter we know was a descendant of Abraham… an Israelite… from a community set apart centuries earlier by the Living God Himself to share in God’s holy life up close, so that the world might come to know, and trust, and obey God’s ways, and experience the blessings of His steadfast love.
 
But St. Peter was also an Apostle, one of the students of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord, who had been charged with a particular mission: to tell the world the Good News of Jesus, and to teach them to live God’s way… trusting, obeying, and following Jesus.
 
St. Peter had shared in Christ’s earthly ministry from the beginning… and had been entrusted with carrying it on… shepherding the early Christian community, and leading the way for the Church as it began to grow.
 
If anyone could be said to be a figure of authority when it comes to the Christian Faith… a champion of the cause and bold advocate for the cause of Christ, surly it would be St. Peter. In him we can see God’s faithful people, those striving to do God’s will.
 
And on the other hand, we have Cornelius: a Roman military officer, stationed in occupied territory… part of the system set up to hold the conquered people of Israel in line at the edge of the sword.
 
Understandably, for most Jews, Roman soldiers were the very embodiment of their oppression. The ones who could not only take away their freedom at a whim, and frequently used violence and fear to get their way… these soldiers were also a grim reminder that Israel’s unique role in God’s story was in real peril.
 
Against all their expectations, Gentile, non-Israelite nations had conquered their people hundreds of years earlier. And although at times they had regained some sense of self-governance, under the Romans this partial and fragile autonomy was hanging by a thread. Many felt vulnerable… resentful… angry… hungry for real freedom, for a renewed sense of communal identity… for restored hopes for their future… for wrongs to be righted, and new life to begin at last.
 
I know there are lots of people in our world today who could identify with the plight of the Israelites who were living under Roman oppression all those years ago… people whose lives have been overthrown, and who live in constant fear, anguish, and bitterness.
 
And there are also lots of people who want to see this kind of oppression come to an end… who are seeking to take action against injustice, and come to the aid of those in need. Fighting and striving to try and make the world a better place.  
 
But as noble as this impulse can be, it can also lead us down the same path towards supporting oppression, and injustice ourselves… seeking to conquer “the evil other side”, and merely taking their place as oppressors instead.
 
And so along with the question “What are we fighting for? What is the goal that we are striving for?”, we also need to be asking “HOW are we striving to achieve the victory we seek??
 
And as I said earlier, our Scripture readings help us envision and imagine another way to “conquer” the world. St. Peter and Cornelius come from two opposite sides of a historic and at times bloody conflict. But as we will see, the Living God is at work in both of their stories… striving to bring about a very different kind of victory… one which we are all invited to fight for in our own lives today.
 
This part of the story begins in Acts Chapter 10, where we are introduced to Cornelius, and quickly discover that any prejudices we might have about Roman soldiers… and anyone for that matter, don’t tell us the whole story. As it turns out, Cornelius was not really a typical Roman soldier. Acts 10:2 describes him as “a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God.”
 
This does not mean that Cornelius had officially converted to the Jewish religion… but even though he remained a Gentile outsider, he treated the Israelites around him well, and even gave donations to support those in need. In both his private and public life… his words and deeds, it seems that Cornelius the Roman officer, was striving to serve the will of Yahweh, the Living God.
 
And God takes notice. God sends and angel to Cornelius with a message… to send for a man named Simon Peter, in a nearby town, and listen to what Peter has to say. So Cornelius obeys, and sends his own messengers to go find Peter, and invite him to come and speak with him.
 
Or course Peter would not likely have been all that eager to go visit a Gentile Roman officer… even a “good one”. Not only was there the whole Israelite-Gentile divide we already talked about, but remember… not that long ago, Peter had seen his Master Jesus arrested, and put to death by Roman soldiers. Peter had lots of reasons to see Cornelius as the enemy of his people, and of God’s work in the world.
 
But of course, God knows all this too. And so God sends Peter a message… a vision that convinces him to set aside his prejudices, and to go with the Gentile messengers. St. Peter obeys God, and goes to visit Cornelius.
 
And when he arrives, he learns something vital not just for Peter, but for all of us Christians today. Acts 10:34-35, /
“Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”
 
Think about that for a second. No partiality. No distinction. It dawns on Peter that God is fighting not just to rescue Israel… but to reach out to rescue people from every nation that fear Him and do what is right. That is, who have their hearts and lives in line with Him. What does that look like? Let’s keep reading.
 
Acts 36:43, “You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
 
St. Peter tells Cornelius the Gospel, the Good News of who Jesus is, and what Jesus has done… and for the first time, it occurs to Peter, that this Good News is meant for people like Cornelius… Gentile Roman soldiers… just as much as it is meant for his own people.
 
And this is the explosive truth that has been driving the Church’s mission forward for over two thousand years: the Good News of Jesus is not about one side coming out on top, and crushing the other side… it’s not about retribution, or revenge… but about reconciliation… about the forgiveness of sins on all sides… the repairing of the wounds tearing humanity apart in so many ways… it’s about the love of the Living God made know to us in the crucified and Risen Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is the one who will judge righteously, and sort out all of the messes we have made of God’s good world.
 
And this is where we come to our reading today. Cornelius believes the Good News of Jesus, and suddenly the Holy Spirit of God shows up, filling up all these Gentiles, just as He had filled up the Apostles at Pentecost. No partiality, no distinction made between people like Peter and Cornelius. God Himself is fighting to bring everyone… everyone… back into His loving arms.
 
And this is what we Christians are supposed to be fighting for… and striving for… the Good News that in Jesus Christ the crucified and Risen Lord, the Living God is truly saving our world.
 
How do we strive or fight for this Good News? Not with the sword and violent force. Not by grasping after political influence and authority. Not by vilifying those who are different, and fueling prejudice, hatred, and the evils we see around us, like many do in the name of Christianity… but by faith. Trust in Jesus… living our lives in the light of who He is, and in what He has done for us all, is how we fight for the Good News… and strive to serve God’s Kingdom.
 
N.T. Wright puts it well, reminding us that the decisive battle has already been won for us: “The victory that conquers the world is the saving death of Jesus. And those who by faith cling on to the God who is made known personally in and as the Jesus who died on the cross—they share that victory, that conquest of ‘the world’.”[1]

​We fight for the Good News by trusting Jesus, and doing what He taught us to do through His words and through His life… resisting the impulses to demonize those who are different… or simply seeking after our own desires… we fight for the Good News by loving one another, by loving our neighbours… and even our enemies… the way that Christ Jesus first loved us.
 
Turning again to our Gospel reading this morning, let us hear again the words of our Risen Lord:
 
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.” (John 15:9-17).
 
Christ has no secret agenda, or hidden battle plan. We know what our Master is doing: saving God’s world through love… /and He calls you and I to trust Him, and to join Him in this good fight through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us who believe and obey Him.
 
Love one another. This is the fight we are in. And in Jesus Christ, this is the fight we will win. Love one another. Not just when it’s easy. Or when we feel like it. Love one another as Jesus loves us… laying down His life even for His enemies to transform us all into His family.
 
Again, N.T. Wright says it well: “No other god, no other power, no other being in all the world loves like this, gives like this, dies like this. All others win victories by fighting; this one, by suffering. All other gods exercise power by killing; this one, by dying.”[2]
 
This is how we Christians are able to “conquer” the world: through faith in Jesus Christ… trusting and following Him as He defeats darkness with light, evil with goodness, lies with the truth, fear and prejudice and hatred with self-giving love.
 
St. Peter and Cornelius, as different as they may have been, were brought together by the love of God… tearing down the many barriers that stood between them. Cornelius and his family received the same Holy Spirit, and so they are baptized… leaving their old lives behind to share in Jesus’ life and story… and welcomed into the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. 
 
How might the love of God be at work breaking down the barriers in our lives today? Who might the Lord be asking us to share His love with in our words and actions? What ways of fighting and striving might the Holy Spirit be calling us to let go of today? How can we support one another, as we place our trust in the Good News of Jesus together? Amen.


[1] Tom Wright, Early Christian Letters for Everyone: James, Peter, John and Judah, For Everyone Bible Study Guides (London; Louisville, KY: SPCK; Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 164.

[2] Tom Wright, Early Christian Letters for Everyone: James, Peter, John and Judah, For Everyone Bible Study Guides (London; Louisville, KY: SPCK; Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 165.

​

Scripture Readings: Acts 8:26–40 | Psalm 22:25–31 | 1 John 4:7–21 | ​John 15:1–8

“God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9).
 
What is the Gospel?
 
How many of us would feel comfortable answering that question if someone asked us? But really, what more important question is there for Christians to have an answer for?
 
The word “Gospel” simply means “Good News”, and goodness knows our world today is in real need of some good news… especially the Good News that we Christians have to share. And yet, a lot of us Christians struggle to put into words what exactly this Good News is that we believe in. We might have a sense of it, but still feel uncertain and hesitant when it comes to actually discussing it. And so, it makes sense for us, from time to time, to step back and make clear in our minds what the Good News is all about. And that is what our Scripture Readings this morning invite us all to do.
 
Our first reading from the Book of Acts tells of the meeting of two strangers in the days after Pentecost. But before we explore the story in detail, we should take a few moments to get a clearer picture of who these two strangers in the story were: first, there is Philip, one of the first Christian deacons, a follower of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord, who was entrusted with the responsibility of take care of the widows and other vulnerable members of the growing Christian community. Philip had just been in Samaria, the region north of Judea, where he was at work telling them about Christ, God’s Messiah, and ministering to them in Jesus’ name.
 
The second stranger is an Ethiopian eunuch, someone who fit into neither the male or female categories of the day, either a eunuch from birth, or because of surgical procedures later in life. In the ancient world, eunuchs were often chosen to serve in important positions within royal courts, and given great responsibilities… and as we heard today the traveller in our reading was a court official in charge of Queen Candace’s whole treasury. On top of that, they were likely well educated, which can also be seen as they were reading the Scriptures when Philip met them, hungry to understand the meaning behind the sacred writings of Israel’s prophets… having traveled from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to worship the Living God.
 
But in Jerusalem, they would have been made conscious of the fact that they were an outsider. Despite their achievements and honour back home in their own community, as a Gentile and a eunuch, they would not have been able to enter the main courts of the Holy Temple.  And yet, even as they returned home, they were still hungry for more… eager to draw closer to the Living God… reading through the scroll of Isaiah, and trying to understand the story… struggling to make sense of it all.
 
How many of us can identify with them at times?
How many of our neighbours are in the same boat?
Struggling to make sense of what this God Story is all about… and what it has to do with them?
 
This is the reality of so many of our neighbours in Canada today. Not many can make sense of the story of Scripture… and why it’s supposed to be Good News… especially young people. And that’s really no surprise. For most families, at least a few generations have already gone by without much connection to a Church community… and the stories they’re hearing and seeing in the news don’t often seem all that appealing.
 
And many Canadians, including some of us who attend Church, don’t really have a hot clue what to make of the Bible… writing it off as irrelevant, or worse… as a source of prejudice, injustice, hatred, and fear. As part of the problem our world is facing today… not part of the solution.
 
Who will help them understand why we see the Christian story is truly Good News… not just for those of us already in the know, but Good News for everyone!
 
Turning back to Acts, we find a sign of great hope for our neighbours: even though we might not always see them… or understand their questions and struggles… God sees them. God understands. Even though we might miss the opportunities we have been given to connect with them, God Himself is reaching out to them. God Himself is seeking to meet with them and connect with them. And even though it might mean we get carried away to places and situations that we may never have dreamed of, or desired, God Himself can use, and longs to use us His people to help our neighbours come to know the Good News He’s given us to share.
 
And so, here in Acts Chapter 8, we hear that Philip is led by the Holy Spirit away from a busy and fruitful ministry with the Samaritans, to what seems like the least likely place to make a difference… to a deserted road in the middle of nowhere… in the wilderness… on the road to Gaza.
 
This place-name calls up all kinds of images from recent events… stories of terrorism, and retaliation… of brutality, and bloodshed… of innocent lives lost, families and whole communities destroyed… cycles of violence unchecked. Another part of our broken human story where we turn our backs on our neighbours… close our hearts to strangers… and think the only way forward for us and our “side” is to wipe out or beat down the “other side”.
 
But in Acts, something else happens on the road to Gaza: the Living God brings two strangers together… two people separated by personal, cultural, ethnic, and gender differences… and instead of division, we find fellowship. Instead of prejudice and fear, we find hope and understanding. Instead of barriers, we find freedom… and a welcome into a new family. Instead of  the same old broken story… we find the Good News coming to life.
 
And we find God Himself bringing it all about. We find the Holy Spirit of God tell Philip to go talk to this stranger, and so he does, and finds them eager for someone to help explain what the Scriptures were trying to say, so he invites Philip to join him. Acts 8:35-39,
 
“Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.”
 
What might have seemed at first to Philip as a random encounter with a complete stranger, had become the beginning of a whole new life together as siblings within the family of God. The Spirit sent Philip to the right place, at the right time, and with the right words to help somebody that God loves, and that Jesus died to save, come to believe the Good News, and be baptized into Christ’s family. Though the eunuch still had all sorts of questions, and struggles, the Living God new them, and God wanted them to know the Good News of God’s rescuing love for them.
 
And thankfully, Philip knew the story too, the story of how Jesus of Nazareth died and rose again, fulfilling the hopes and promises of Israel’s Scriptures and prophets, which point to God’s great world-wide rescue mission. And with the help of the Holy Spirit, Philip shared this story and somebody’s life changed for good.
 
The eunuch responds to the Good News with faith, is baptized, and then set loose to go home again and share this Good News with their neighbours back home in Ethiopia. What would they say to them? What is the Good News they shared? We don’t have their words.
 
But the question returns to us here in Gondola Point: What would we say?
 
Here’s what I would say, and what the Christian Church has proclaimed since the beginning: The Gospel, the Good News, is WHO JESUS IS, AND WHAT JESUS HAS DONE.
 
I’ll say that again: The Good News is WHO Jesus is, and WHAT Jesus has done. Everything else flows from this… the story of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord is the Good News.

It’s a story that begins in the very beginning… and weaves its way through the whole broken story of humanity, reaching out to, and embracing all of us, everyone, in order to lead us all into God’s life together… challenging all our assumptions about how to relate to our neighbours and strangers, and even ourselves… and sharing with us the Good News that God sees, and understands, and loves us, and longs for us to love one another too. And that in Jesus, and what Jesus has done for us all, we can let God’s love lead the way.
 
A great place to start when it comes to telling this story, and learning how we can respond to it faithfully, is our second reading today, from the first letter of John 4:7-12,
 
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
 
This is the Good News of Jesus Christ that we have all been entrusted to share with our neighbours. Regardless of who we are, or where we come from… or how far off or excluded we might feel… or how many questions or struggles we may face, the Living God loves us… and He has sent His Son Jesus to be the atoning sacrifice for us all, to set us free from our sins… to bring us life, and to make it possible for us to truly share God’s love with one another.
 
The Good News is Who Jesus is, and what Jesus has done: God’s Son, who died and rose again to save our world through love.
 
Everything else we say and do as Christians either explores and shares this story… or it’s missing the point.  
 
Of course, the point of reflecting on the Gospel, and seeking to understand the nature of the Good News is not just about having the right answers… knowing the right words to say… it’s about entering into and growing deeper in this life-giving connection and relationship of love that this Good News points us to: restored fellowship with the Living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and with our neighbours, who are all created to bear His image.
 
And this connection changes us… it has an effect on our lives, and who we are becoming. On the choices we make, the ways we related to those around us, and the corner of the world we inhabit. Philip was where he was, and responded the way he did, because of His ongoing connection to God. He knew and trusted in the Good News, and was ready to follow the Holy Spirit’s lead, even if it seemed strange at the time… and so God worked through Philip to share the rescuing love of Jesus with the Ethiopian traveler.
 
There’s a great word for this special connection with God that’s used both in first John and in our Gospel reading today: Abide. Abide. To remain with… not just for a moment, but for a lifetime. Not just knowing about, but living alongside. If we truly want to grow… and to help our neighbours come to know the Good News meant for them… Good News they really do need… like branches attached to a vine, we must abide in Jesus. We must share our lives with him. John 15:4-5,
 
“Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”
 
And turning back quickly to 1 John 4:13-16,
 
“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”
 
The Good News is WHO Jesus is, and WHAT Jesus has done. And if we want this Good News to take root and bear fruit in our lives, then we must abide… remain in Jesus, believing in the love of God for our broken world that Jesus Christ has made known to us, and putting that love into practice with one another, and with anyone God puts in our path… knowing that God sees, and understands, and loves them, and longs for them to believe this Good News too. Amen.  

Scripture Readings: Acts 4:5–12 | Psalm 23 | 1 John 3:16–24 | John 10:11–18

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11).
 
Why did the farmer fire the shepherd?
He kept on falling asleep whenever he tried counting them.
 
Today, the fourth Sunday of the Season of Easter, is sometimes called Good Shepherd Sunday, as the Scripture readings assigned for the day invite us to reflect on how Jesus Christ the Risen Lord continues to care for and watch over His people today.
 
As we may recall, the ancient image of the Living God acting as a shepherd of His people Israel in the Old Testament remains a powerful picture of His dedicated care and concern for them… working for their good, even when they stubbornly wander away from Him, and head towards danger.
 
Our Psalm this morning, Psalm 23, which beautifully expands on this metaphor, is probably one of the most well known and well loved pieces of poetry ever penned. It’s author, King David, who had himself been a shepherd for a time, depicts Yahweh, the Living God, providing personal, gracious, and intimate care in his own life… and the lives of God’s people.
 
And as we heard in our reading today from St. John’s Gospel, Jesus taps into this tradition… but with a twist. He picks up this well known imagery about God… but then He applies it to Himself. “I am the good shepherd.” He says… and in a profound way, these words identify Jesus with Yahweh, the Living God.
 
It's easy for us English speakers to miss this connection a first glance. But to understand the force of what Jesus is saying here, it helps if we know a bit of Hebrew… and can recall a bit more of the wider story of the Bible.
 
Way back in Exodus, when yet another lowly shepherd, Moses, was tending his father-in-law’s sheep on Mt. Sinai, he suddenly found himself face to face with the Living God, the Creator of all, speaking to him from a burning bush. And what God said changed Moses’ life for good.
 
God told Moses that He had seen the suffering of His people in slavery, and He was determined to do something about it… and God’s way of doing something was to send Moses back to Egypt, and have him tell Pharoah to let His people go.
 
Moses was, of course, an Israelite himself… and so it might not seem out of place for God to commission him to take part in rescuing his own people. But even so, Moses hesitated. He was afraid. And so he started coming up with all sorts of excuses. Saying anything he could to get God to change His mind, and choose to use someone else.
 
One of the excuses he tried is important for understanding our message this morning. It’s found in Exodus 3:13-15,
“But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I Am Who I Am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, (or Yahweh) the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.”
 
“Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’”
 
The Living God’s Name, given here to Moses, for the first time, is I AM. Or I WILL BE.
 
Moses is to say that The One Who Is… Who Is the very essence of existence itself… The One Who Is eternally faithful and constant… The One Who Is has sent Moses to rescue Israel, and lead them into the Promised Land… WHO WILL BE providing for them, protecting them, and prodding them towards the way of life.
 
And as it turns out, God remains true to His name. He is completely faithful to Israel, leading them like a shepherd, caring for and providing for them… but they keep scattering this way and that, and chasing after the gods of the other nations, and completely abandoning the ways of their Saviour. Yet even when Yahweh allows His people to get themselves into trouble, He never gives up on them… but looking on them with compassion and concern, time and again He consistently reaches out His hand to save them.

Now this sacred Divine Name, that God tells to Moses is hard to make sense of grammatically… especially as it came to be considered far too holy to say out loud. When it’s spoken by God Himself, it’s I AM WHO I AM. When others say it it’s THE ONE WHO IS, and this is where we get the name Yahweh from… the holy, personal name of Almighty God.
 
Over time, in the Hebrew imagination, the phrase I AM comes to be associated with the Divine Name, and to have this sacred significance… something fitting for the Living God alone to say.
 
And in St. John’s Gospel, written many centuries later, many scholars have noted that Jesus repeatedly refers to Himself using these loaded words “I AM” in ways that connect Him directly to the Living God’s saving work in the world. Though there are other examples, there are seven times that John quotes Jesus use this phrase to refer to Himself as the unique source of God’s provision and deliverance:
 
John 6:35, I AM the Bread of Life…
John 8:12, I AM the Light of the World…  
John 10:9, I AM the Gate or Door…
John 11:25 I AM the Resurrection and the Life…
John 15:1, I AM the True Vine… and today’s reading from John 10:14…
I AM the Good Shepherd.
 
In his masterful way, this is St. John helping us to see that in Jesus Himself we are actually seeing the Living God Himself at work. That Jesus is none other than Yahweh, the ONE WHO IS, the Eternal Son of God, having taken on human existence, and dwelling among us… to be our Saviour… our Redeemer… and our Good Shepherd. Not just back then, but today! For Jesus remains our Good Shepherd even now.
 
While Moses had been a shepherd for a season, before he was caught up in God’s mission to lead Israel out of slavery and through the wilderness into the Promised Land. But Moses’ ministry ended. Before they entered into that good land, Moses died in the wilderness.
 
And King David had also been a shepherd, before being chosen by the Living God to be Israel’s anointed King… but his service also came to an end. David died, and he was buried, and his descendants led Israel far from the ways of the Living God.
 
But the Good News of Easter is that, even though Jesus our Good Shepherd, laid down His life for His sheep at the cross… dying for us all as the fulfillment of Yahweh’s universal rescue mission… Jesus was also raised again… resurrected to bring God’s New Life to the world.
 
And according to Jesus, this was always part of the plan. John 10:17-18, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
 
Having taken up His resurrected life, Jesus remains our Good Shepherd even now. He is still THE ONE WHO IS and THE ONE WHO ALWAYS WILL BE there for us… to comfort, and correct, and guide, and provide, and lead us away from danger and disaster, and into the Promised Life of God’s good Kingdom.

And so, when we find ourselves feeling lost… or frightened… or stuck in a mess of our own making… we know we can turn to our Good Shepherd, and trust that He will be right there with us through it all… and He will not leave us to fend for ourselves, because we know in His great compassion and love, He’s already laid down His life for our sake, and risen again to save us… and not just us!
 
Remember His words in John 10:16, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” Words to remember whenever we’re tempted to become self-focused, and forget God’s saving love is for all.
 
But at times we might wonder: how does Christ keep caring for His flock today? Where are we supposed to turn to experience His love in our lives?
 
One thing we can safely say about Yahweh, the Living God, is that He’s consistent. And although there are lots of ways that God can and does directly connect with us, and care for us, one of the primary ways  that He keeps choosing to do so is through the lives of other people.
 
People like Moses… as hesitant as he was to take part in rescuing his own enslaved community. And people like David, who was dismissed as unimportant, and overlooked until the Living God raised him up to the throne. People like St. Peter and St. John, who in our reading today from Acts Chapter 4, carried on Christ’s own mission to share the Good News of God’s Kingdom through their words and their deeds. And God works through people like you and I here today, who have our own parts to play in God’s story.
 
Turning to Acts for a moment, let’s take a quick look at what these disciples were up to. Or rather, what Jesus Himself was up to in and through them.
 
Last week we heard how these two Apostles were approaching the Temple in Jerusalem to worship, in the days after Pentecost. By this time, the Spirit of God had been poured out upon Jesus’ followers, filling them with God’s divine life in a whole new way.

At the gate to the Temple, they saw a man who could not walk, begging for alms. Like Yahweh, way back in the Exodus story, they saw this man in his sufferings, and they did something about it: they reached out, took him by the hand, and in the name of Jesus he was completely healed.
 
This caused quite a stir, and then they began to proclaim to the crowds that it was not them, but the Living God Himself, the One who had raised Jesus from the dead, that had healed this man… boldly proclaiming in Acts 3:16 that “by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.”
 
Faith in Jesus’ name had restored the man to health. Not faith in the disciples’ abilities. Or wisdom. Or way with words. It was Jesus the Risen Lord, the Good Shepherd, at work in their faithful actions and words, through the power of the Holy Spirit of God within them.
 
Here we pick up the story again in Acts 4:1-12.
“While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.
 
Just like Jesus, their Good Shepherd, these two disciples were laying their lives down, suffering for the sake of the sheep… putting themselves in troubles’ way to help others come to know the Good News of the Risen Lord. Back to Acts:
 
“The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders,  if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is
     ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;
      it has become the cornerstone.’
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”
 
Like Moses before Pharoah, St. Peter and St. John were drawn into God’s plan to set His people free… to share with them the Good News of God’s victory over sin and death, and the promise of New Life through Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord. Even though God’s people had been wandering, and their leaders had led them astray, God didn’t give up on them! And through these two faithful disciples, through their willingness to stand firm and bear witness to the truth, Jesus the Good Shepherd was at work gathering His flock together again to lead them into life.
 
But this is not only true for folks like Peter and John… Jesus the Good Shepherd can and will work through all of us… all who will trust and follow Him, to carry on the good work of God’s Kingdom.
 
How? Certainly not because of our own abilities. Or wisdom. Or special skills. He might end up using these parts of our lives, but then again, He might just as easily work through our weaknesses… our moments of fear, and our struggles… the moments we need our Good Shepherd most of all.
 
The truth is, Jesus Christ continues to work through the lives of His people when they choose to trust Him, and walk in His ways: Simply living out our faith, helping our love to grow, and sharing our hope with those around us.
 
This is the idea at work in our first reading today… how God’s people participate in the work of the Kingdom… and make ourselves available for Jesus to work in our lives:
   
1 John 3:16-18, “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”
 
And further down, in 1 John 3:23, “And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” Faith and love. Trust in Jesus, and compassion for those around us. This is how Christ works through us.
 
And Jesus our Good Shepherd is at work in our world, and among us here at St. Luke’s. We can experience His compassion and care in the arms of His children, our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We can come to know His good guidance, assurance, and even life-giving corrections through one another… through the love of God at work in our hearts, and words, and actions, as we listen to His voice together, and follow Him in faith.
 
And when we need Jesus our Good Shepherd, let us draw near together, and find His love in our midst, ready to reach out and embrace us all. And let us especially remember that Jesus wants to work through us to share His saving love with our world in truth and action. Amen. 
​

Scripture Readings: Acts 3:12–21 | Psalm 4 | 1 John 3:1–7 | Luke 24:36–48

“Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:46-48).
 
Today we continue our journey through the season of Easter… 50 days of celebrating and contemplating the beautiful reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.
This Good News that Jesus lives stands at the centre of the Christian faith. It is the foundation for everything else that we believe about God’s purposes, for us, and for our world.
 
And this morning, our Scripture readings invite us to explore the deep but often overlooked connection between the resurrection of Jesus, and the message of forgiveness.
 
Why is forgiveness of sins such a big part of the story of Easter?
 
The connection to Good Friday seems a bit more straightforward. After all, it was at the cross Scripture tells us, that the Living God dealt with our sins once and for all, like in our reading last Sunday from 1 John Chapter 2, which says Jesus is “the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2). It was through His death that our Lord became God’s way of dealing with our world’s failures… offering Himself as the sacrifice to reconcile us to God and to one another… making atonement… at-one-ment… for us through His broken body, and blood shed on our behalf.
 
Exploring the full meaning of the cross is a lifetime’s work. And there are multiple ways that the Bible invites us to think about and understand what Christ’s atonement actually entails. One picture or image alone can’t capture the depth of it’s significance.
 
One way that Christ’s work on the cross is portrayed in Scripture is as God’s victory over the forces of darkness… defeating evil, disarming the powers of death, and undoing the devil’s schemes to separate us from the love of the Living God. Christ conquers our oppressors at the cross.
 
Another biblical image is that, on the cross, Jesus offered Himself up as a sacrificial offering, that cleanses us of the stain of sin… purifying us from our own evil and guilt, so that we can be prepared to properly share in the holy life of the Living God. Christ cleanses us at the cross.
 
Yet another well known image from the Bible is the language of redemption… a word that specifically refers to the payment of a ransom to set free those who are captives… settling all our debts, and breaking every bond so that we can be free to start a new life in God’s blessed company. Christ pays the cost for our freedom at the cross.
 
These are just three of the most common ways that the Bible itself talks about Jesus’ death, and what it accomplished, and all these images are deeply connected to the Christian conception of forgiveness: rescue… cleansing… freedom.
 
But if all Jesus needed to do was to die on the cross… why is it that none of the disciples were talking about the Good News of God’s forgiveness in Jesus’ name on Holy Saturday? Before Christ rose again? What changed their minds and convinced them that Christ’s death was not just another tragedy… another failure… another example of all that is wrong with our messed up, broken world?

What changed their minds was the wonderful, world-changing news that Jesus didn’t stay dead… He rose again from the grave, and lives even now. And that reality changes everything!
 
The resurrection of Jesus proved that what had happened to Him was not just some tragic event… but the Living God transforming even our worst failure into the way He would deal with all our sin once and for all.
 
In our Gospel reading from Luke Chapter 24, the bewildered disciples see Jesus their Rabbi alive again. Eating, drinking… seemingly more alive than ever before… no longer under death’s power, but filled full with the Holy Spirit’s life.
 
Luke 24:36-43, “While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.”
 
The disciples took some time to put two and two together… but I don’t think we can blame them. They simply could not imagine that what they were witnessing was really true… and yet it was! Jesus had died, but He was alive again. Against all hope, He had passed through death, and come back better than before. What we humans have always feared… the grave, Jesus endured, and overcame… not just for Himself, but for us all. No wonder it took a few moments to sink in.
 
And as they still struggled to get their heads around the Good News their Lord had risen again, Jesus starts showing them from the Scriptures that this had been God’s plan all along. That Jesus was sent to suffer and die, and be raised again to new life… as the culmination of God’s great rescue mission to restore His beloved but broken world.
 
Luke 24:44-45, Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures…”
 
This is what the whole story of the Bible is pointing us to… Christ’s death and resurrection. The whole story hinges on what Jesus did on the cross… and on His rising again.
 
And the resurrection of Jesus showed the first disciples, and it shows you and I today that God’s great rescue plan worked! It has all been accomplished! It’s got God’s final seal of approval. We’re not just left wondering if death and darkness will somehow still win in the end… or if we still bear the stains of our sins… or if we will ever be set free. Jesus was not abandoned to the grave, but raised in glory. All that He came to do, He has done. His atoning work to bring reconcile us to God has truly worked. In Him, we are truly reunited to the Living God, and can have peace with one another. We don’t need to doubt God’s intentions towards us, or despair that we are too far gone to be forgiven.

The resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee that while the Good News may seem too good, it really is true!
 
And as witnesses to this world-changing truth, Christ’s disciples… back then and here today, now had a key part to play in this story: Luke 24:46-48,
 
“and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
 
The first disciples were His witnesses in their day, and we are His witnesses in ours… sharing the Good News of Jesus, the Risen Lord with everyone, and proclaiming forgiveness of sins in His name.
 
Why? Because our world desperately needs it!
 
Consider the unending cycles of violence and retaliation tearing families, communities, countries, and our world apart at this very moment. Think of the destruction of Gaza that Israel’s armies brought down in response to the terrorism they endured… and now the threats of retaliation and spreading conflicts within the region. Think of all the untold numbers of needless deaths and suffering, and evil that we humans have committed against each other over the centuries… conflicts driven by fear, and pride, and bitterness… and wrath... and hunger for revenge.
 
Consider all those who are weighed down by shame, and guilt, and feelings of worthlessness… which drives so many to seek relief in self-destructive ways… trying to numb the pain for a moment at least… and cutting themselves off from the connection to those around them.
 
Consider all those who are trapped… unable to break free from all sorts of bonds: from destructive habits… from toxic relationships… from crushing circumstances, some far beyond their control… desperately trying to make it through just one more day, and longing for some relief.
 
The Risen Jesus sends us into this world… into our world… with the Good News of the real forgiveness that it needs more than ever.

And this Good News is meant not for some, but for all nations! A truly worldwide rescue has been enacted… staring in Jerusalem, where God’s own covenant people crucified the Messiah, Jesus Christ… and where He was raised from the dead… turning even our worst failures on their heads.
 
For it was while we humans were at our absolute worst… killing our sinless Saviour at the cross… that God was at work conquering our true foes… cleansing us of our sins by Christ’s own blood… and paying the high cost for our freedom… then raising Christ again to bring His divine new life about, turning our world upside down by this gift of forgiveness and self-giving love.
 
This all connects in our first reading this morning in Acts Chapter 3, and St. Peter’s response to the crowds gathered at the gates of the Temple, after seeing a man healed before their eyes.
 
Just before our reading takes place, we are told how this healing came about in the days after the Risen Lord poured out the Holy Spirit on the Church at Pentecost.

Acts 3:1-10, “One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.”  And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.”
 
We could say so much about this passage, but one point will do for now, and that is that: faith in Jesus Christ the Risen Lord connects us with the power and life of God’s new creation. God remains at work in the lives of those who trust and follow Jesus… to carry on what Christ began.
 
But as the crowds gathered, Peter and John take the opportunity to share the Good News that had restored this man’s legs, and brought him so much joy.

Acts 3:11-16, “While he clung to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s Portico, utterly astonished. When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, “You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.”
 
Again, St. Peter pulls no punches. He makes the guilt of his own people clear. But then he makes clear the way forward:

Acts 3:17-21, “And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah appointed for you, that is, Jesus, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets.”
 
Repent. Turn around and trust in Jesus.
 
Let what God’s Messiah has done wipe away your sins, so you may be forgiven… and share in God’s new life here and now, as we await Jesus’ return and God’s universal restoration. In other words, St. Peter says to start living resurrection lives now… because in Jesus, the Risen Lord, God’s new creation has already begun.
 
This same idea is shared in our reading from the first letter from St. John, where the apostle points us to the gracious love of God that draws us into the new life of His family:

1 John 3:1-3, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”
 
St. John says that in Christ, and what He accomplished for us at the cross, we have become the children of God… adopted into God’s family, to share in His life, and become like Him. This beautiful truth calls us into a new way of life, leaving behind our old ways, and looking ahead to our hope of being raised to be with Jesus forever.
 
This is our destiny as believers:
We will be like Him… resurrected like Him, with new bodies filled with God’s Spirit, /and no longer subject to death.
We will be like Him… cleansed from all our faults and failures… and all that keeps us from having full fellowship with God and with each other.
We will be like Him… set free from slavery of all sorts… to self-centredness, fear, hatred, bitterness, shame… set free to truly love, and truly live God’s way forever.
 
The Good News of Christ’s resurrection offers us true forgiveness of sins… so that we can start the new life of God here and now, showing the world all around us the Good News of the Risen Lord in all its fulness by how we live.
 
It means leaving our sins behind… placing them in Christ’s hands at the cross… and trusting Him to deal with them.
 
It means letting the reality of Easter reshape our minds and our imaginations… our understanding of what God is up to, and our own part in His worldwide rescue mission.
 
It means trusting that, even when we fail… Jesus Christ the Risen Lord remains ready to forgive us. Calling us to turn around, take His hand, and let His holy love transform us.
 
And it means trusting that, even when others fail… and fail badly… that Jesus Christ the Risen Lord remains ready to forgive them too! That the promise of true forgiveness of sins in His name is meant for everyone.
 
The resurrection of Jesus assures us of God’s gift of forgiveness. Jesus really did accomplish God’s atoning work for us. Jesus really did begin God’s new creation. Jesus really did open this new life up to us, and to everyone who will turn to Him and trust in His name.
 
And because of this Good News, we His people today really do have work to do: to show the world… our friends, and family, and neighbours, and strangers, and even enemies… both by our words and especially our actions, that in Jesus’ name, forgiveness really is possible… as we await with hope Christ’s coming again in glory to restore all things. Amen.  

​Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here:

​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Acts 4:32–35 | ​Psalm 133 | 1 John 1:1–2:2 | John 20:19–31

​“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31).
 
Last Sunday, along with Christians all around the world, we celebrated the start of the season of Easter… fifty days celebrating the victory of Jesus Christ over the grave, and everything that tries to stand between the Living God and His beloved world.
 
And as the end of our Gospel reading this morning reminds us, the story of Easter is not just an old story from the past that we remember once a year… Easter’s about God’s New Beginning that has started right in the middle of our world’s old story… taking us by surprise, and drawing us in a whole new direction… leading us who believe into new life through faith in Jesus Christ the Risen Lord.
 
And this, St. John tells us is the whole reason why he wrote his Gospel account: so that we “may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing [we] may have life in his name.”
But that might leave us wondering: What does St. John mean when he says that through believing, we may have life in Jesus’ name? What kind of new life is St. John talking about, and wanting us to share in?  
 
Well first things first: of course St. John, like the other Gospel writers, tell us the story of Jesus Christ… and in particular, they tell us about His death at the cross, and His rising again from the dead. From the start, Jesus Himself and what He’s done for us all is the absolute core of the Christian faith. And it’s through faith in Jesus Himself, St. John tells us, that we now have access to the gift of life in a whole new way.
 
And of course, as the story of Jesus the Risen Lord is the story of God’s saving love overcoming evil, and even death itself, a big part of the new life that St. John has in mind is that believers will share in Christ’s victory over death too! Just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so too those of us who are now united to Him in faith will be raised up as well. The name Christians have for this promise of hope is the resurrection of the body.
 
But just like anything new, or mysterious, or different from our day to day experience, sometimes we can struggle to understand how the reality of resurrection fits into the bigger picture, both of our faith, and the shape of our daily existence.
 
The Anglican Bishop and scholar, NT. Wright has studied and written a lot about what the first Christians meant by this word resurrection, which over the centuries has often been mixed up a bit with other ideas about the fate of the faithful from outside the Church. In his book, Surprised By Hope, Wright puts it like this: resurrection “wasn’t a way of talking about ‘life after death’. It was a way of talking about a new bodily life after whatever state of existence one might enter immediately upon death. It was, in other words, life after ‘life after death’.”[1]
 
Life after life after death. I like that. The point he’s making is that the Christian Church does not simply proclaim the hope of leaving this physical world behind when we die… exchanging our bodies for the bliss of some disembodied heaven. No, the Church offers us the hope of being with God in heaven the moment we die… as we then await the fulfillment of God’s New Creation when Christ returns… and when we too will receive new, restored, and renewed resurrection bodies just like Jesus did on Easter Morning.
 
As it did over two thousand years ago, this message still messes up all our old categories about the world we know. So much about it is still a mystery, which we can explore but not yet fully understand. But one thing at least is clear from the teachings of the Apostles: whatever happened to Jesus Himself when He rose again from the dead is the fate of all of us who are united to Him in faith.
 
The resurrection of the body is a cornerstone of the Christian faith, and as Wright points out: “It is the element which gives shape and meaning to the rest of the story we tell about God’s ultimate purposes.”[2] And Wright is not wrong to put such a strong emphasis on the resurrection. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians makes this even more striking claim: 1 Corinthians 15:13-20,

“If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
 
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.”
 
St. Paul goes on… and on and on in this Chapter about the reality of the resurrection… and we could easily do the same this morning. And I actually want to encourage us all to read through 1 Corinthians Chapter 15 this week, to hear St. Paul carefully help his listeners wrestle with the Good News of the resurrection of Jesus. But as important and vital as this hope of the resurrection is… it’s not the only thing that the Apostle’s meant when they thought of the new life that we receive through Christ Jesus the Risen Lord. That’s because the reality of the resurrection puts the rest of our lives here and now on a whole other track. It’s not just about what will happen at the end, it’s the grounds for an entirely new way to live every single day. And our Scripture passages this morning offer us a vision of some of the central parts of what this new life in the name of the Risen Jesus actually looks like in practice.
 
Our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 4, gives us a good glimpse of how the very first Christians lived their lives together shortly after that very first Easter: “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” (Acts 4:32-35).
 
This picture of real people, with real problems, but with real confidence in the reality of the resurrection of Jesus gives us a crystal clear vision of God’s good intentions for humanity, and the shape of the new life in Christ: a new and caring community… where we truly love and serve one another.
 
No room for selfishness, or exploitation of others. No needs unmet by freely offered generosity. No fear of being alone, or forgotten… with everyone embodying the love of God all because of the Risen Lord.
 
This truly beautiful image is one that we Christians have struggled to put into practice ever since those early days… frequently failing to live up to this vision… forgetting or simply setting aside the radical self-giving love that the Living God has given us in Christ, as well as the calling to share this same self-giving love with one another.
 
But even as we struggle to do so, God is still at work in those who believe, creating a new community of care… of love that goes beyond just feelings and words, and takes root in action. This is the kind of life that the Good News of Jesus offers to us all … and invites us to work towards. This is the shape of the new life that is possible for those who believe in the Risen Lord: a community of active love.
 
But what’s to be done when we fall short of this ideal, as we so often do? How do we keep sharing in God’s new life when our old failures and faults come back to haunt us?
 
Turning to our second reading, from the first letter of St. John, we find that we are being called to take part in a community of love… that is committed to living in the light… fully exposed to the truth.
 
In this letter, St. John uses a lot of strong either/or images… clearly contrasting the basic alternatives for us to choose from. Feel the force of the message he lays out here:
 
“God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
 (1 John 1:5-7).
 
To share God’s new life in the light, it means leaving behind all our darkness… our sin… all the things we do that keep us from loving the Lord and our neighbours… with our hands, and our heads, and our hearts. In other words, we are called to be holy… sharing in the holiness of Living God… embodied in all the choices we make every day… and made possible by the sacrifice of our Saviour. St. John goes on, emphasizing that this high calling is not at all based on our own perfection, or sinlessness, our own ability to walk in the light… but in Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord… who came to save sinners like us! 1 John 1:8-2:2,
 
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
 
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Again, it all rests on Jesus Himself, and what He’s already done to save us sinners, and the whole world!
 
The new life Christ gives us is deeply committed to leaving our darkness behind, and learning to walk God’s ways. This life is also committed to the truth… to integrity, and honesty, even when this means owning up to our own failures, trusting that we truly can be forgiven… turning in faith to our Risen Lord, Jesus our Saviour who gave His life at the cross to save all us sinners, and who rose again to reconcile us in God’s love forever.
 
So to quickly recap: the life that we receive in Christ Jesus is an invitation to share in a caring community… that is committed to following God’s holy ways together… which also means being honest about our failures, so that we can find the freedom that comes with forgiveness.
 
And this takes us at last to our Gospel reading this morning, and the story of St. Thomas. Now before we go branding Thomas as “the Doubter”, it’s important to remember his place in the story so far: the other disciples had all experienced a visit from the Risen Jesus. They saw with their eyes and believed… but Thomas missed out, and can’t bring himself to. It’s all too good to be true.
 
And yet, despite his deep doubts, Thomas doesn’t just walk away. No, the next week he’s right there with the other disciples when Jesus again appears to them.
 
Now would Jesus have tracked Thomas down if he hadn’t stuck around? If he had just decided to skip town instead? Maybe. Maybe not. But as St. John tells the story, he wants us to see something really important at work in Thomas’ encounter with Jesus:
 
When we find ourselves struggling with our faith… then there’s no better place to go to experience the Risen Christ than to connect with other Christians… ones who are likely still trying to wrap their own heads around the reality of the resurrection… who don’t yet have all the answers, but who are still trying to be faithful to the Good News that Jesus is Risen. But our confidence and hope doesn’t rest on those around us, it rests on the Risen Jesus Himself who loves to show up in the gatherings… in the lives of His people, even when our eyes can’t see Him. He’s here!
 
The new life we receive through faith in Jesus Christ the Risen Lord is not just about what happens to our bodies in eternity. It’s also about God’s new life that’s beginning right now: as we becoming a community that loves one another, that walks together in Gods holy ways, helps each other stay true, and also find forgiveness when we fail. It’s a life that rests on Jesus Himself, and all that He has done already to save us. A life that we know will have no end, as we look ahead to sharing completely in Christ’s resurrection. Amen.
 
 


[1] Tom Wright, Surprised by Hope (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2007), 163.

[2] Tom Wright, Surprised by Hope (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2007), 160.