Easter 2C

image: The Incredulity of Thomas by Caravaggio (wikimedia)

Acts 5:27-32, Karla Seyb Stockton, Words to Live By Blog

321: April 28, 2019

Revelation 1:4-8, Susan Presley and Max Hazell (Check out - Hezekiah: Buried in the bowels of the Earth for centuries, recently unearthed by a team of hearty explorers)

Psalm 150, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (Psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, Patreon)

161: April 3, 2016

Acts 5:27-32, Anita Ford (whatanitaknowsabout.com)

Musician, Christopher Grundy, “Peace Be with You” from his album Stepping In (christophergrundy.com, @ChrstphrGrundy, Facebook)

Psalm 150, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (Psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, Patreon)

Proclaim Eastertide! Easter is not only one day, but every Sunday!

John 20:19-31

Initial Thoughts

Bible Study

  • John merges the events of Easter and Pentecost.  

    • Giving of the Holy Spirit occurs while Jesus is present.

    • Jesus is closely linked to church

    • Mission of Jesus as sent from God is parallel to mission of Church as sent from Jesus.

    • “The beginning of the community’s life is not separated from the story of Easter; indeed, in John, the gift of the Spirit and the commissioning of the church occur on Easter Sunday evening… [which] serves as a reminder that the church’s life is intimately bound to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection” (Gail O’Day, New Interpreter’s Bible v. IX, p. 848)

    • “With the coalescing of Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost and particulars of this appearance, the passage stresses the close continuity between Jesus and the church. Just as Jesus is sent by the Father with a mission, so the church is sent by Jesus with a mission. Just as Jesus has been the bearer of the Spirit, so the church is the bearer of the Spirit. Just as Jesus has declared the forgiveness of sins, so the church has declared the forgiveness of sins” (Charles Cousar, Texts for Preaching, Year A, p. 271-272).

  • Jesus Appears to Mary v. 11-18

    • Lection leaves this part out, but it feels improper to leave it out. Should at least be informed by this part of the story.

    • Mary discovered empty tomb, with stone already rolled away. Runs to get Simon and the Other Disciple. They find empty tomb, then go back to where they were staying.

    • Mary lingers, and meets a “gardener.” Gospel of John is the only one that specifies that Jesus was arrested in a garden. Now he is also resurrected in one.

      • Matthew and Mark call it “a place called Gethsemane.” Luke says he went to the Mount of Olives. Only John names it a garden.

    • “Woman, why are you crying?” asked twice.

    • Mary recognizes Jesus when he says her name.

  • First appearance

    • Door locked for “fear”

      • “In truth, Easter absorbs both the joy and triumph as well as the fear and disbelief, and is irreducible to just one experience of it. It would be easier if Easter were only the trumpet blasts and Alleluias. Or, it might even be easier if Easter were only fear and disbelief. But Easter is all of this, it holds all of it, even the contradictory emotions, and makes them one.” (David R. Henson, “Easter for Doubters”)

      • How terrifying to be confronted by the one who you have abandoned and betrayed- will Jesus come back with vengeance? 

      • This sermon/article points to the idea that the disciples were afraid of running into Jesus.  When he came, he broke into their fear and offered peace.  http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/thisWeek/viewArticle.php?aID=794

    • Jesus appeared in the midst of the locked room, and said “Peace be with you.” Then they rejoiced.

      • Jesus didn’t knock this time.  He was there among them without them doing anything.  – this is an illustration of Prevenient Grace – the grace that is offered to us before we even know it.

    • Reports of his resurrection were not enough, his assurance of peace is what brought them to rejoicing.

    • He showed them his scars.

      • Jesus is wounded- the triumph of Easter does not erase the pain of Friday.

      • They don’t ask to see it, but he shows them anyway.

    • They have no particular reaction.

      • No confession by any disciples at seeing Jesus.

    • He breathed on them the Holy Spirit. Mini-Pentecost.

      • No response by disciples at receiving H.S.

      • Jesus Breathed on them- passing the Holy Spirit – Genesis 2

      • Forgiveness is a foundation of this community. That is the only thing they are directly told to do.

        • Forgives them - for their abandonment, for their fear, for their paralysis.

        • Sends them out to forgive others.

    • Which of the disciples are present? Later Thomas is identified as one of the twelve. Presumably Peter was there, what about Judas? There is no reason to think that Judas would not have been there.

  • Second appearance

    • Eight days later they are still locked in a house

      • If they had seen the risen Lord, and been given the Holy Spirit, shouldn’t they be doing something other than chilling in a locked room for a week?

      • What have they been doing?

      • Where was Thomas?

    • Thomas: “Unless I see the nails marks in his hands… I won’t believe”

      • Disciples didn’t believe the women until they saw. Thomas doesn’t believe the disciples unless he sees

      • Thomas demands no more evidence than they received.  

      • Thomas didn’t want anything that the disciples hadn’t gotten themselves.  He was no less a believer than any of them.  He didn’t doubt Jesus – he doubted their testimony.  Maybe because he was living in the same fear that they had.  Once he encountered the risen Christ, that was enough. 

    • He does not doubt Jesus, he doubts them.

    • Doors shut (not locked) Jesus appears

    • Jesus’ first words again, “Peace be with you.”

    • He shows Thomas his scars (no evidence that Thomas actually had to touch him). Jesus’ presence and assurance were enough.

    • Thomas’s response is the greatest yet, “My Lord and my God”

      • Only time in Gospel of John where Jesus is referred to as “My God”

      • “Doubting Thomas” is a pretty bad nickname.  He is actually the first to declare Jesus’ divinity.

  • Generally believed to be the original ending to John.

    • Jesus last words are a call to future readers.  Witness and testimony of Mary, then Disciples, then Thomas is meant to lead readers to their own witness and testimony:

      • Blessing to “those who believe, but have not seen,” is a direct call to the community receiving this gospel. They now have the complete good news, and are free to believe where they have not seen.

      • Readers are pushed to proclaim, as Thomas, that Jesus is “My Lord and my God,” which was the point of the prologue, back in 1:1. Probably the end of the Gospel of John, but “there is no evidence that John’s Gospel was ever circulated without chapter 21” (Common English Study Bible, p. 212 NT).

    • The next paragraph is seen as an epilogue, reminding people of what they will gain if they believe.

    • Truth of the Gospel lies not in historical facts, but in its ability to inspire faith in Jesus.  The gospel’s own stated purpose is not to report history, but to help readers understand the truth of Jesus Christ.  Once again, the writer uses two levels of meaning.

Thoughts and Questions

  • What were they afraid of?  Fear didn’t keep two of them from sprinting to the tomb when they heard the body was gone.  After the tomb, they returned home.  Why were they now locked in a room? Now faced with reality of resurrection, why were they paralyzed? 

  • Thomas didn’t want anything that the disciples hadn’t gotten themselves.  He was no less a believer than any of them.  He didn’t doubt Jesus – he doubted their testimony.  Maybe because he was living in the same fear that they had.  Once he encountered the risen Christ, that was enough. 

  • In Easter, Jesus is called “Teacher,” “Lord,” and “My God.”  What do each of these titles mean?  Is he teacher, Lord, and God?  What does it mean to my life if he is all of these things?

  • Doubt is the pathway to faith.  When we doubt, we probe, question, and search.  Perhaps Thomas started with doubt, but he ended with the greatest testimony of the disciples.

  • Thomas didn’t doubt Christ, he doubted his followers. He doubted those that gave witness to the risen Christ, perhaps because they showed no evidence. Even after encountering the risen Christ, they were locking themselves in a room. Is there any wonder that he didn’t believe them? What evidence do we show that there is a risen Christ? If all we do is lock ourselves in rooms (sanctuaries, churches, institutions), then why would anyone believe that we have been changed by a miraculous experience?

  • Readers at the end of this passage are pushed to recall the prologue. The gospel started by proclaiming that Jesus is the eternal Word made flesh. At the end, Thomas is able to declare that Jesus is “My Lord, and my God.” This is the culmination of belief. Just as the gospel is structured with increasingly dramatic signs and wonders, so is the increasingly bold witness. In the end, we are left to witness that Jesus is Lord and God. This might be a difficult thing for those with low Christology, but it is a basic tenet of Christianity that Christ is fully human and fully divine.

  • What did the disciples do for eight days after they “received the Holy Spirit,” and were still locked in the room? The disciples are passive in these stories. They have no real response. Except for Thomas who declares “My Lord and my God.” He is the only one who makes this stark confession to Jesus’s resurrection.

  • This passage is more about the readers - the Johannine community - than it is about the disciples themselves. To a group that is beginning to face scrutiny and persecution, it is a word of encouragement for those who believe though they had not seen.

    • “Do you believe because you see me? Happy are those who don’t see and believe.” This is clearly an exhortation to the community receiving the gospel. The good news is that you need not have seen Jesus to believe. The offering to see and believe is made to all. The question is, “What have you seen?” The gospel closes (kind of) with the words, “believing, you will have life in his name.” What does it mean to have life in Jesus name? Is it purely about afterlife? Is following Jesus just about believing so that you can get to heaven? Or does life in Jesus name mean something more?

Initial Thoughts

  • Revelation for Eastertide

    • Easter 2C (this Sunday) - Revelation 1:4-8 

    • Easter 3C - Revelation 5:6b-8

    • Easter 4C - Revelation 7:9-17

    • Easter 5C - Revelation 21:1-6

    • Easter 6C - Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5

    • Easter 7C - Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

    • Love it - run with it

    • Hate it?

      • Everyone “knows it” (but usually not)

      • Chance to see Revelation with a new lens

      • Counter the bad theology of Sleepy Hollow, Left Behind, etc

  • Revelation is a message of hope!

Bible Study

  • John of Patmos

    • Most likely not the same as the Gospel writer

      • Greek is very different

      • Theology is very different- especially Christology

        • John - Jesus = the Divine Word

        • Rev. - Jesus = first born of the dead, but is subjugated to God

        • Rev. - Jesus is the inheritor of God, the successor, but not equal

    • “John’s Jesus is the “faithful witness”. Martyrs, the Greek term for “witness”, has come to mean something quite different--martyr--from what it did for John and his audience…Martyr was a word of active engagement and nonviolent resistance, not sacrificial surrender.” Brian K. Blount, “Revelation” True to Our Native Land. p.526

  • V. 4 - Switch from the introduction (v. 1-3) to the actual letter/epistle

    • The Seven Churches of Asia Minor

      • Named later in chapter 2

      • Perhaps representative of all the churches in Asia minor

    • Declaration that God’s authority (not Rome’s) is ultimate - throne of God, Alpha and Omega, etc

    • Combines the typical Greek greeting:  chairete - “be joyful, happy, grace-filled” with the traditional Hebrew greeting of “peace” (here in Gk - eirene, though in Heb - shalom) emphasizing this news is for Jews and Gentiles alike.

  • God - the one who is and who was and who is to come - echoes Exodus 3:14

    • God of salvation and liberation

    • Also not a one-and-done event

    • God continues to lead God’s people and call them back to faithfulness for generations

  • Seven Spirits

    • “Reference to seven angels who serve God.” see 1 Enoch 20:1-18 which lists seven angels, “Other ancient Jewish texts imagine four “archangels” who serve under God’s authority” David Frankfurter, “Revelation”, The Jewish Annotated New Testament, p.539

  • The return of Jesus- coming in clouds

    • Jesus will return in the same way he departed

    • Daniel 7:13 -  As I continued to watch this night vision of mine, I suddenly saw one like a human being coming with the heavenly clouds. He came to the ancient one and was presented before him.

    • Zechariah 12:10 - but I will pour out a spirit of grace and mercy on David's house and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They will look to me concerning the one whom they pierced; they will mourn over him like the mourning for an only child. They will mourn bitterly over him like the bitter mourning over the death of an oldest child.

    • Wailing - despair, judgment in the face of the change that Jesus will bring

  • The work of Easter is not done yet

    • Interpreting the past, present and future in light of Easter

      • Christ has died- Christ is risen- Christ will come again

    • Easter is not a one-and-done kind of event, but part of a continual unfolding of God’s redemptive work bringing all of Creation into the Kingdom of Justice and Peace

    • God is the first and the last- and the last hasn’t come yet

    • God has done this, God is doing this, God will do this

  • “Eastertide is not the eschaton, and the meaning of Easter is not the elimination of suffering.” - Lauren Winner Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide

Thoughts and Questions

  • What is the ongoing work of Easter (redemption, triumph of life over death,e tc) in your congregation?

  • Explore with your church what God is and will do. What Does proclaiming God as Alpha and Omega say about the political season? Fear and anxiety? About pride?

  • Easter is not the end, but the beginning - how does the church live into Easter?

    • If Jesus’ resurrection and second coming are “visible, decisive, and world changing” then how is that embodied in the church?

Acts 5:27-32  

Initial Thoughts

  • A break from “Doubting Thomas” in Easter 2

  • Continuation of the Luke Story (kind of) through Eastertide - Check out Matt Skinner’s guide on preaching Acts in Eastertide

    • Easter 2C (this Sunday) – Acts 5:27-32: The apostles must obey God, and continue to preach

    • Easter 3C – Acts 9:1-20: Conversion of Saul

    • Easter 4C – Acts 9:36-43: Raising of Tabitha

    • Easter 5C – Acts 11:1-18: Peter’s vision opens gospel to the Gentiles

    • Easter 6C – Acts 16:9-15 Conversion of Lydia (a Gentile that “loved God”)

    • Easter 7C – Acts 16:16-34 Conversion of the Jailer

    • Pentecost

  • Part of a larger narrative that begins with 5:12 and continues through the chapter

Bible Study

  • Background

    • The apostles are teaching and doing “signs and wonders” (v. 12) in the Temple

    • Peter’s prestige is growing into celebrity status (v. 15)

    • Religious authorities have the apostles imprisoned because they are jealous (v. 17-18)

    • An “angel of the Lord” frees them and tells them to go and preach “the message about this life” in the temple. (v.20)

    • Priests go to question their “prisoners”, find they have escaped and have them “non-violently” rearrested (vv.21-26)

  • Power and Corruption

    • The apostles are arrested due to jealousy (how often does jealousy infect our churches?)

    • This is about the religious authorities “high priest and those with him”, the “council and the whole body of elders” NOT the people. The people are on the side of the apostles even to the point of violently resisting their religious leaders to protect the apostles.

    • The authorities(who conspired to kill Jesus) reject Easter and resurrection now conspire against the apostles in order to keep their power.

    • They clearly have no power:

      • They cannot imprison the disciples

      • They cannot keep them from teaching and healing

      • They cannot kill or harm them

      • Like Jesus, they charge the disciples with a false crime “you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” - The apostles (unlike the anti-semitic history of the Christian church) does not use the resurrection and gospel as an opportunity for vengeance and violence, but rather healing and good news.

    • Peter rejects their power and authority, “We must obey God rather than any human authority”

      • Reminds the “religious” authorities that they too should be following God, not themselves

      • Herein lies theological evidence for religious civil disobedience from Luther’s “Here I stand”, to Bonhoeffer’s plot against Hitler, to King’s march on Selma, to the clergy in Ferguson, MO and Charlottesville, VA.

  • Peter’s confession

    • “The God of our ancestors” - they link themselves with their captors as worshiping the same God

    • “Raised up Jesus, whom you had killed.” - you, like Herod, Pharaoh and Pilate before you, have no power over life and death

    • “Repentance for Israel” - Peter still believes this Good News is only for the Jews

    • “Forgiveness of sins” - There is no condemnation here - only an invitation

    • “We are witnesses...so is the Holy Spirit” - we have seen and cannot be silent.

  • In response to this they will want to kill him. They won’t, yet, but they will kill Stephen soon

Thoughts

  • What does it mean to obey God rather than human authority?

  • Beware using this passage as a tirade against religious authority. It is Gamaliel, a Pharisee, who, obeys God, is humble and saves the disciples from death

    • “Simply by being a member of the establishment an official is not thereby made deaf to the gospel. The key qualification is that one be “looking for the kingdom of God.” Willimon, Interpretation: Acts.

  • I am constantly amazed at the jealousy of many mainline churches against their evangelical counterparts. There is a dismissal of evangelical worship and “not really church” or “cultish” and a vast ignorance of the vast service, wonders, healing and work of the Spirit in our mega-church, evangelical sibling-communities. How might we learn from one another and hold one another accountable, instead of dismissing one another?

Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com,@pomopsalmist). Thank you to Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Miserlou”), Nicolai Heidlas (“Sunday Morning”,"Real Ride"and“Summertime”) and Bryan Odeen for our closing music.

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