Sunday, April 14, 2024

Third Sunday of Easter
Acts 3:11-21
Psalm 4
1 John 3:1-7
Luke 24:36-48

Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.

There was a digital business sign that posted humorous bits of wisdom that made us laugh and think that posted, “I don’t suffer from stress. I’m a carrier.” Stress is definitely a part of our lives. Many problems pile up on our shoulders, giving us plenty to worry about. Financial crises affect other aspects of our lives. Higher prices for things like gas and food stretch our resources. We have less to take care of our debts. We have less left to save, so we are not prepared for those emergencies that arise. Even driving our cars can be a source of stress because we know we can’t afford to fix major issues. I was rearended a few weeks ago and I worried that the damage would be so extensive that I’d need to buy a new car I couldn’t afford.

Life is hard on everyone, but parents deal with a unique stress because children do not understand. We are nearing the end of the school year, and many parents need to make plans for their children during the summer. They are asking hard questions: can we afford summer camp? Can we take that trip to Disney we promised? Though these things are not necessities, a child does not understand what it means to have less disposable income. Their friends are doing fun things, why can’t they? Parents know these are beneficial experiences, so they feel guilty about having to say “No.” Even worse is when they have to break promises.

The weather adds to our burden. Some places are dealing with severe drought, with dying grass and shifting foundations. Other places are dealing with flood waters. It is still snowing in some places, and severe storms are threatening many places. The Hurricane Center is already making predictions about this summer’s storms. It doesn’t help that those reporting on these natural disasters make it sound like it has never been this bad before, saying things like “It hasn’t been this bad for a decade” as if ten years is an eternity. New records are not set for all time, but for recent history. “We haven’t seen this since 2017,” the reporter says as if those things were completely unheard of in that part of the country. We are warned that earthquakes, tornadoes, and wildfires will endanger us as if it has never been possible. The way we receive news makes us feel greater stress.

The stress we face means that some people are responding in extreme ways. The news seems full of more stories about people who have turned against other people. Shootings, robberies, and arson seem to be on the rise. Domestic violence has reached epidemic levels and even animals suffer. People who lose their homes have no place to keep their pets. Animals become punching bags that can’t complain. I’ve seen too many people on social media trying to give away family pets because they just can’t afford the upkeep.

We could name a million other ways the stress is affecting people in our world today. It is a wonder that anyone can say, “I don’t suffer from stress.” The joke on the digital sign is the idea that the writer is a carrier but is it really funny? In these stressful times, people are responding in negative and even violent ways. There is some optimism in the joke; when we face difficult circumstances, it is good to think about our attitude. Are we being defeatist or optimistic? Will we wallow in our suffering or look forward to the better times that are bound to come? The answers to those questions drive our response. If we believe that tomorrow will be a good day, we’ll do positive things. If we dwell in our suffering as if it is our fate, then nothing we do, good or bad, will make any difference. Usually, we do nothing.

David was always facing some enemy. Many of the songs of lament and worry were from David, but those same psalms were filled with hope and faith. He knew His God was trustworthy, so he had nothing to fear. In today’s psalm, he cried out to God, asking Him to have mercy, hear his prayer and answer him. He spoke to God with confidence in His saving hand. “You gave me relief in my distress,” David sang. He turned his words to his enemies: “Let go of the battle because my God will not let me lose.” He faced his difficulty with faith, knowing that God is trustworthy.

We should have compassion on our neighbors by not being a carrier of stress since so many are already dealing with problems that seem beyond their ability to handle. We are also to have an attitude like David, to have faith and hope that overcomes worry and fear so that we do not suffer from the stress of this world. Hope in the Lord gives us something that those without faith will never have: a greater joy that gives us the peace to sleep well at night, despite the difficulties we face.

Business owners face stress that many of us could never imagine. The show “Kitchen Nightmares,” hosted by Gordon Ramsey, helps restaurant owners who have not been able to succeed. Many of these restaurants are on the brink of closing, the owners nearly beyond help. Gordon helps fix the problems that exist. The kitchens are often disgusting, the service horrible, the menus so extensive that the restaurant has extraordinary amounts of food waste. The complicated menus are difficult for the staff to prepare, which leads to bad service and inedible food. Gordon simplifies the menu, cleans up the kitchen, and trains the staff to be more productive by working in a better way.

It is a hard task. Despite the fact that the restaurant is failing, most owners and chefs are unwilling to let go of their vision for their business. They hold on tightly to the very things that keep the customers from darkening their doorsteps. One chef did not believe Gordon when he told the chef that he used too many ingredients with a dish. Gordon brought an inspector for a restaurant award organization that made the same comments. Only then did the chef believe Gordon.

In many cases, the owners also serve as head chef, ignoring the other aspects of the business that are necessary to make things work well. They worry so much about what is happening in the kitchen that they forget about marketing or running the front end. Sadly, these owners are usually not very good chefs. They have a vision but are unable to accomplish it. They seek praise for their unique vision rather than the business that will make them successful. Gordon tries to identify other members of the staff that are talented and trainable to take over different aspects of the business, freeing the owner to be an overseer that manages the whole business. He is the front man for a team that makes good things happen

A successful restaurant is the pride of the owner, and it is successful because he or she is able to manage every aspect of the business. However, the best owner or manager also gives the credit to those who have done the work. Though he or she is often the face of the restaurant and the one to receive praise, they are thankful on behalf of the whole team. The best gift a manager can give to his staff are the words, “I couldn’t do it without them.” They are the ones whose hands get wet in the dishwater and whose feet hurt from running all night. They are the ones who disappear into the background so that the owner gets the credit, although without them he could not be successful.

Peter is like that restaurant owner who gives credit where credit is due. He hasn’t done anything in today’s story from Acts except stand as the face of Christ in the world. The power of healing came from Jesus. The transformation of lives comes from the grace of God. Peter is just a front man, willing to confess his inability to do such things while lifting up the story of the One who can. He told the story of Jesus, the One they destroyed, so that they would know that He did not remain destroyed. He then called them to believe and repent so that they too might know the transforming grace of God through Christ Jesus.

It is all about attitude.

There is a plan called “Melancholy Play” written by Sarah Ruhl. The main character, Tilly, is melancholy. Melancholy is a state of being that is beyond sadness: it is deep and lasting, a lingering state of depression. A lasting state of sadness is unattractive; we would rather be near people who are happy because we join in their joy. Their depression makes us depressed, too. However, there was something beautiful and attractive about Tilly’s melancholy in the play. The other characters are phenomenally drawn to Tilly; each and every one of them falls madly in love with her. They are happy in her presence despite her melancholy.

Their happiness must have found a way through her melancholy because in the middle of the play she suddenly becomes deliriously happy. In her state of joy, Tilly is no longer attractive or beautiful to her friends. They do not share in her joy: instead, they fall into her melancholy. One of her friends becomes so blue over the transformation of Tilly that she becomes an almond! During the rest of the play the group of friends tries to find a way to bring Francis back and in the end the audience, and the cast, are never quite sure whether Francis has become human again or if everyone has become an almond. It sounds crazy but the play is a humorous look at melancholy and is very funny.

One of the things that makes this play so funny is how Tilly’s melancholy makes her friends respond with quite the opposite emotion. We usually share our emotions. We are happy when those around us are happy and sad when those around us are sad. We certainly do not become joyously happy when our friends are depressed. Even if we don’t become melancholy, we don’t act deliriously happy in their presence. We try to help them through their emotions, meeting them with compassion.

There’s a funny sign that women like to post in their homes, and it says, “If Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” This is true because when Momma is stressed by the work she has to do, she takes it out on the others in the house. If there are too many dishes in the sink, the kids hear long lectures about wasting valuable resources when they take a clean cup every time they take a drink of water. Toys on the living room floor bring out the wrath of Momma. You don’t even want to see Momma when there are dirty footprints in the kitchen. On the other hand, how happy is the household after Momma has had a quiet and relaxing bubble bath without children interrupting. The point of the funny sign is so that everyone will remember that a happy home happens when Momma is kept happy.

We live in between the now and the future. We are saved and yet we are not fully saved. We live in the already but not yet. We are children of God, and yet what that means for us in the future has not yet been revealed. We are transformed by the grace of God, but we’ll be transformed in that day when we are in His presence again. We have already been changed. We are forgiven. We have the Holy Spirit. We are not quite where we will be: we do not see Him clearly, but He is with us and in us. We live in a hope that is without disappointment, knowing that what is now is just a shadow of what will be. In that hope, we live as Jesus lived, doing as He did. We share in His righteousness and are righteous as He was righteous.

The disciples were not there yet. On this third Sunday of Easter, Luke tells us that “they still didn’t believe for joy.” This seems like an odd statement. The New Revised Standard Version words this phrase, “While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering…” How can they be happy about something they can’t believe is happening?

Yet haven’t we all experienced that at some point in our lives? Have you ever been so joyously in love and yet at the same time questioning how that glorious creature could possibly love you too? Have you ever received an award or a gift that seems way beyond what you deserve, and even while accepting the award and gift with joy can’t believe that you are actually the recipient? Have you ever gotten a test back, thinking that you must have failed only to find that you did very well? Your examples might be different, but I’m sure each of us can remember a time when we’ve received something with the same joy but also disbelief that the disciples experienced when Jesus came again.

In today’s Gospel lesson, we hear another version of the same story we heard from John’s Gospel last week. In this story, the two disciples who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus have just returned from that extraordinary experience. They had met a man along the road and there was something different about him that they noticed as they walked and talked. He explained the scriptures in a way they’d never heard before, not even from Jesus. They did not know that this was their Master and friend. He was different. His words were somehow new. They were beginning to understand the things Jesus had said before He died. Then, when He broke the bread, their eyes were opened, and they saw Him clearly. Only then did they know it was Jesus.

They ran back to Jerusalem, to the upper room, to the place where the disciples were hiding and told them what they had seen. Imagine the scene: two disciples were breathless with the biggest news the disciples have ever heard. They, of course, had heard the same news from others, but they did not believe the women. Now, they heard it again from the two men, but it was still unbelievable. They were discussing it as Jesus appeared. What do you think they were saying? “You saw Jesus? But He’s dead!” “Was it a ghost?” They were probably arguing about what the disciples had seen and experienced. They were probably even arguing about what they had heard. “What do you mean that he said that he was the one that Moses and the prophets were talking about?” Religious debate can be heated even when those arguing have had similar experiences. Imagine how hard it must have been on those two disciples to explain the unexplainable to those who had not yet experienced it.

In the middle of this discussion, Jesus appeared. Now, I can see those two disciples saying, “See, we told you so!” And yet, they were probably as startled and frightened as the rest of the group. After all, they had seen Jesus and knew that it was Him, but then He just disappeared from their sight. They didn’t know where He went. I wonder if those two disciples were trying to get the other disciples to run back to Emmaus with them. “Come with us and see!” But there He was, in the midst of the disciples, appearing as quickly as He’d disappeared after breaking bread at their table.

It is no surprise, then, that the disciples were both joyous and disbelieving. After all, this was beyond their understanding. No one had ever been resurrected. They’d never met a physical being that was man and yet not man. Despite the times and ways Jesus told them that He would be raised, they didn’t expect this turn of events. They were probably in the upper room trying to figure out what they would do. Who would be their new leader? Or, the more likely possibility, they were probably deciding to drop it all and return to their lives. Joy and disbelief are the natural response to this circumstance. “Yes, He’s back! But how?”

The circumstances the disciples experienced on that first Easter were extraordinary. Emotions like stress and melancholy must have been running high. They were grieving because the Master whom they followed for three years died just a few days before. They were angry because the people who should have stood up for justice and Jesus were among those who caused His death. They were afraid because they did not know whether or not those same leaders might go after them. They were probably tired for lack of sleep and hungry for lack of appetite. Then, when the women and the disciples from Emmaus came with the strange news that Jesus had been raised, they were probably confused, doubtful, curious, and perhaps even anxious for it to be true.

It is no surprise that they misunderstood what they were seeing when Jesus appeared in the Upper Room. They knew about spirits, ghosts, and other superstitious possibilities, but this was unexpected. According to N. T. Wright in his book “Surprised by Hope,” there were very few people in Jesus’ day that believed that a body that was dead could be made alive again. Those who did believe in resurrection believed that it would happen only at the end of time. No human was ever expected to be raised in the middle of history. So, these disciples were expected to believe something that was completely outside their understanding, even though they witnessed Jesus raising Lazarus! The fact that Jesus’ body was different didn’t help. He appeared out of nowhere. What was this being that was standing in their midst?

In John’s story, Jesus simply tells them to touch His wounds. Jesus gave them the tangible proof that His body was alive. Luke makes it even clearer that Jesus was not a spirit or something else: He asked for something to eat. He proved that He had a human body. They touched the wounds, but there was still room for doubt. People who have had paranormal experiences tell stories about solid looking apparitions and the feeling of a physical presence. People talk about feeling the touch of a hand or even physical force. But ghosts do not need to eat.

Though we see something unique in Jesus, Luke is very careful to show us that the disciples met a very real and very human Jesus after the resurrection. People in Jerusalem were trying to diminish the events of that first Easter to nothing but a spiritual rebirth. Others were claiming that the body had been stolen. Luke, by noting that Jesus ate a meal, firmly established that Jesus was bodily resurrected from the dead.

We still do not understand exactly the type of body He had, but despite the odd differences, it was still like ours. Since Jesus is the first born of the dead, we see that our resurrected bodies will also be very real and very human. From this, N. T. Wright suggests that we should rethink our understanding of Heaven. It won’t be a place, he says, where disembodied spirits hang out on fluffy clouds, and we never become angels. Our eternal life will be spent in a new earth with a new flesh that is very real and very human that does not perish but has everlasting life. This is the true hope of our faith that we received on that first Easter.

We read the stories of Jesus and we are amazed. He healed the sick, cast out demons, made wine out of water and fed thousands on multiple occasions. He walked on water and stopped the storm. He made the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame walk. He cured leprosy and raised the dead. The disciples did the same thing. We don’t seem to see that kind of miracle anymore. Oh, we occasionally hear of some medical miracle, but even then, we usually explain it away.

Jesus said, “You will do greater things that these.” The disciples were amazed at His miraculous works, but Jesus assured them that they would do more. The book of Acts tells us that they did miraculous things.

Miraculous healing, raising the dead, overcoming nature, and the physical world is nothing compared to the real miracle: faith. Sharing the Gospel is the greater work that we are called to do, because in speaking God’s Word of forgiveness and hope we give the people what they truly need: life. Amazing, isn’t it: the one thing that was denied Jesus is the very thing He won for us on the cross. Peter used this opportunity to tell the people that even though they missed the truth of Jesus when He was alive, God was doing exactly what He intended so that they could see the truth. Jesus died at the hands of all those who rejected Him, but He has promised forgiveness for all who turn back to the God who loved them so much that He sent His Son to make all who believe heirs to the eternal kingdom.

It is no wonder we receive this Good News with joy and unbelief. It is all so ridiculous and impossible. We are reminded in John’s letter that it isn’t by our action and ability that we are made right with God. We are righteous not by what we do, but by being in a right relationship with God. This comes through faith in the One who shines His face on us. In that light, we walk according to His ways as we are made more and more like Him each step of our journey of life.

Life of faith does not mean that we will not experience times of trouble. We will feel stressed and melancholy. We will suffer. The truth of God’s grace makes us think about our attitude. How will we respond? Because of Jesus, we are made children of God. Isn’t that an amazing thought? Despite our failure, the Father loves us and has made us His own. Two thousand years after the resurrection, we are just beginning our relationship with God. We are just getting to know Him, one step at a time. The day will come when everything will be made perfect. Jesus will come again, and we will truly know what it means to be like Him.

The disciples were both joyous and disbelieving. The reality of Jesus, His love and forgiveness, His miraculous acts, His life, death, and resurrection, are still beyond our understanding, but we can join the disciples in the joy we have by God’s grace and the true hope of the faith that was given to all who believe beginning on that first Easter day. One day we will understand; one day we’ll no longer need faith because everything will be revealed. On that day we will be like Him, for we will see Him just as He is.