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Second Sunday of Easter
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Michael Moffitt, April 19, 2020


They Weren’t Quite Ready—Are You?


Text: John 20:19–31

When I was growing up I loved to play baseball and football. In our neighborhood we had a large field at the local elementary school. Weather permitting, most every day there would be a game going on. Back then I ran or rode my bike everywhere and was in pretty good physical shape. I decided to try out for a sandlot football team thinking I was pretty good and would certainly make the team. This was back in the day when you weren’t guaranteed to make the team because you showed up, you had to prove to the coach that you were what he was looking for.

As it ended up, I did make the team and was very excited about the first practice. The first thing the coach told us to do was run 10 laps around a very large field. Then we did some very painful and grueling exercises before we practiced head-on tackling and blocking. This went on for a couple of hours at least. I went home completely exhausted and wasn’t sure I wanted to do this every day. I discovered that even though I was in decent physical shape, I wasn’t yet ready to play football. That would come after many weeks of practice—five days a week.

When the season started we were a united group of young boys that played as a team and we were all in great shape. Apparently, other coaches didn’t put their teams through the rigorous training that our coach did (he played college football for VMI) and it showed. We went undefeated all season and won the city championship. In every one of our games the scores weren’t even close. Why? Because we were ready to face our opponents, but they sure weren’t ready to face us.

I’m sure that many of you can tell similar stories of going into the military thinking that you were in good shape only to find out that you were not in shape to be a soldier. After boot camp, you probably didn’t even look like the same person and you could run and run and run. Why? Because an instructor prepared you for battle, to “Be all you could be,” or “The Few- The Proud,” or “Aim High…Fly, Fight Win,” or “Anchors Away.” The training prepared you to be far more than what you believed you could be, but it came with blood and sweat and was well worth it.

One of the biggest problems that Jesus’ disciples encountered was that they thought they were ready for anything. They thought that they were ready for whatever happened when Jesus entered Jerusalem, but they could not have been more deluded. When Jesus and his disciples entered into Jerusalem there were cheering crowds and shouts of “Hosanna to the Son of David!, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" (Matthew 21:9)

For the crowds, things couldn’t appear more promising. Passover was about to begin and now their new king was entering Jerusalem. This was what they had longed for, the coming of their Messiah. At the same time this was a moment of sadness for Jesus who wept over Jerusalem because he knew what was going to happen to them. He knew that the crowds who are cheering for him would shortly turn away from him and demand his crucifixion. In Luke 19:41–44 Jesus predicts that the day will come when the enemies of the Jews will tear down the walls and the temple and it happened in 70 AD.

While Jesus laments, the disciples are excited because they still believe that Jesus came to take over the throne in Jerusalem and the Romans would be vanquished.

A few days later in the upper room, Jesus reinterprets the Passover meal and the meaning of the bread and cup. He instituted the Lord’s Supper pointing them to what he was about to do and the importance of this sacrifice. In Matthew 26:30–32, Jesus tells the disciples that they will all fall away and abandon him. In verse 33 Peter says to Jesus,

“Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” It’s then that Jesus tells Peter, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!”

In Luke’s account of the same night, he offers another important story of Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper and then telling the disciples that one of them will betray him. Listen to what happens next in Luke 22:23–24,

And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this. 24 A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.

Jesus would be arrested that very night and crucified the next day. Everything would seem to fall apart for the disciples, and not just the twelve but many who traveled with them and those who had come to believe that Jesus was indeed who he claimed to be.

Last week, we discussed Mary Magdalene going to the tomb early in the morning to finish the burial rite of Jesus’ body but finding the tomb opened. She goes and tells the disciples and Peter and John run to the tomb and find it empty. Later Mary goes back and has an encounter with two angels and then turns and encounters Jesus, risen from the dead. It’s one of the most touching moments in all of the scriptures.

That leads us to this morning’s gospel passage from John 20:19–31.

It had been a busy day for the disciples and Mary Magdalene. After encountering Jesus, Mary went back and told the disciples about seeing Jesus and all that he had told her. Try to imagine what it was like for the disciples since Jesus was crucified, and they were basically in hiding for fear of the Jews. They had believed that Jesus was the one who had been foretold by the prophets, the Messiah who would restore all things, then he was killed and placed in a tomb. What now? The past three days were for them an emotional roller coaster and then Mary came to them with the news that the tomb was empty and then later that she had seen Jesus, in the flesh. She touched him and heard him speak her name. That moment must have been the most healing and refreshing time that she had ever experienced, but how do you convey a feeling like that with words?

I wonder what the disciples thought when Mary told them that Jesus was alive? What did Peter and John and the other women (in synoptic gospels) tell them? Did they jump up and down and celebrate? No, we find them still behind doors that were closed and locked because they were still in fear for their safety. When you have been crushed emotionally as they had, you don’t easily bounce back. Maybe there was a glimmer of hope that Mary was right. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was still going on, but the disciples were laying low, for fear of the Jewish leaders. Then the totally unexpected happened. Let’s read John 20:19–20,

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

Jesus suddenly appears in the room. Before Jesus’ death and resurrection there is no reason to assume that in his humanity he could walk through walls or doors. One of the amazing points of Jesus’ willingness to come to us in human form (the incarnation) is that God intentionally became self-limiting by taking on flesh. There were things that he could no longer do because of his human form and it is very important to remember that. He became like us in every way except without sin.

Now in His role as God/Man, Jesus entered the room supernaturally, he already knew their fears and shame, he had told them this would happen. Everything is going according to God’s sovereign plan. So, his first order of business is to let them know that things were good between them, so he gives a very common greeting, “Peace be with you” (Shalom). In his farewell discourse in John 14:27 Jesus had said,

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

With the events of the previous 3–4 days they were very afraid, and their hearts were very troubled, so now Jesus will begin to lead them into a new peace that only comes from him. This was a common greeting, but in this context, the full significance of the word “peace” is present because it is being given by the Prince of Peace. In the Old Testament peace is closely associated with the blessings of God, especially the salvation to be brought by the Messiah, Psalm 29:11 “The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses His people with peace.”

Jesus is showing his disciples that such peace has come, for his `Shalom!` on Easter evening has as much importance as his “It is finished!” on the cross. Finally, in Christ's sacrifice, the peace of reconciliation and life from God is now imparted but the disciples apparently did not receive peace from this first greeting, for I suspect that the first sight of him was disconcerting. It was only after Jesus showed them his hands and side that they were filled with joy at the sight of him (v. 20). I don’t think the translation of this verse in the ESV captures the force of how the disciples responded. They weren’t just glad to see him, but I believe they were relieved as the hopelessness faded away. Jesus told them they would have joy when they saw him again (16:21–22), and now they do, once the wounds have proven it is really him.

Both real peace and joy come from the presence of Jesus himself, the very presence of God come to earth. We greet each on Easter with, “He is Risen! He is risen indeed!” These are words that we are used to, but as familiar as they are to us who have been in the church for a long time, and have celebrated Easter many times, do they lead you to the peace of God that Jesus is offering? In this time of a worldwide pandemic do you have the “Shalom” of God within you? Because that’s what Jesus is offering here. This story is as relevant today as it was when it played itself out over 2,000 years ago. You can’t be in the real presence of Jesus without it bringing peace and joy.

What happened next is very instructive for us today. John 20:21–23,

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

From the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, John and the Synoptic Gospels are careful to show that Jesus was entirely dependent on his Father and the Holy Spirit if he was to accomplish all that he was sent to do. As we pointed out earlier when Jesus took on human form he was limited in what he could do. It follows further that, in the same way that Jesus in his ministry was entirely dependent upon and obedient to God the Father and acted in the power of the Spirit who rested upon him (1:32) at his baptism, so the church would need to move in the exact same power and authority. In Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17:19, he prayed to the Father “For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified” and now in our passage Jesus breathed the Spirit into the disciples (the first church) (v. 22) so that they might continue the work that Jesus had begun in them.

That is why we have spent the season of Lent through Holy Week focusing on how little anyone understood the real identity of Jesus and his purpose in coming. John’s Gospel focuses so much attention on the identity of Jesus so that we also have a clear revelation of the core identity of the church. Unfortunately, the church has always had difficulty living up to this identity, despite the giving of the Spirit, that John recounts here.

If this community is to function in the way just described, then the gift of the Spirit is essential. Human beings in themselves are not capable of manifesting God's presence and doing God's will as Jesus did. Make no mistake, without the Spirit, there is no spiritual life. But Jesus now has been glorified so the Spirit can be given and it is at this point that the life that has been in Jesus in his union with God is now shared with the disciples. They have been reunited with Jesus and now are given his very life by the Spirit—not only reunited with him but beginning to be united to him. The word used for breathed on (emphysao) is the same word used in the Greek Old Testament to describe God's action when he formed the man from the dust of the ground and "breathed into his face the breath of life" and the man became a living being (Genesis 2:7) and where God breathes life into the Valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37:5–10, which we have referred to several times this season. When Jesus breathes and imparts the Holy Spirit into his disciples, he is commissioning (some have suggested this was their ordination) them to continue his work and tells them that he is sending them out with the power of his name and authority and with the presence of the Holy Spirit.

The breathing of the Spirit by Jesus is certainly essential, but the results do not fulfill the promises he made earlier in this Gospel. A week later they are not bearing witness but are back in the room with locked doors (v. 26). In the next chapter they are back fishing for fish, not for disciples. Furthermore, the conditions for the presence of the Spirit have not been completely met. The Spirit will be given after Jesus' return to the Father (14:16, 26; 16:7, 13). Jesus is in the process of returning but has not yet returned. Thus, it appears that Jesus' giving of the Spirit, like his ascending to the Father, is a complex process and not a simple, one-time event.

John is filling in details not given by Luke regarding the beginning of the disciples' new life and ministry just as he did regarding the beginning of Jesus' ministry in his connection with John the Baptist and in the calling of the first disciples. Dr. Rod Whitacre in his Commentary of John’s Gospel points out:

John's account describes a preliminary stage of preparation for ministry. The mission is inaugurated, but not actually begun. . . . The actual beginning of the mission lies outside the scope of the Fourth Gospel. There remains, therefore, room for the Pentecostal outpouring, after which the disciples take up the mission in public in the power of the Spirit descending from Father and Son in heaven. Such preparation is clearly the point in Jesus' bringing the disciples to faith in himself and in the commissioning….A clue may be found in one of the strangest aspects of these first encounters: Thomas was not present when the Spirit was given (v. 24), yet he is the one who confesses Jesus as Lord and God, a confession which is the work of the Spirit.

By breathing upon the disciples, Jesus is unleashing the Holy Spirit into the world in preparation for what would be coming next at Pentecost. If the disciples were to have real peace, it would come through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Most of us have varying degrees of knowledge of the beginnings of the early church after Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them they each manifested the indwelling presence through speaking in tongues in such a way that those foreigners present heard these Galileans speaking praises to God in the languages of many of the nations represented there. It was a clear demonstration of the supernatural power of God moving in a new way in the midst of everyone- even those who had been religious leaders. A new thing had begun. We’ll talk more about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as we move through Eastertide to the celebration of Pentecost on Sunday, May 31st.

In the meantime, let’s take today’s lesson and apply it to our situation in 2020. After Pentecost the church in Jerusalem went through a season of tremendous growth as the Apostles moved in demonstrations of power and miracles. The church flourished and thousands upon thousands came to saving faith in Jesus Christ and were filled with the Spirit. But then in the Book of Acts Chapter 7 we read the story of Stephen and his powerful witness and preaching to the very ones who had Jesus arrested and crucified. Stephen spoke boldly, confronting those listening. They objected to his powerful preaching and stoned him to death.

Acts 8 begins this way,

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the Apostles.

The charge that Jesus gave the disciples right before His ascension is found in Matthew 28:19–20,

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

It took persecution to catapult the early believers from a life of celebrating their new faith and the indwelling presence of the Spirit, into effective witnesses throughout the known world. Frankly, after 2,000 years, that is still the case. It seems to be our nature to take the path of least resistance and grow comfortable where we are. Throughout the world today Christians are the target of other religions, governments and those who have a great hatred of God and his word.

Actually, I think we are entering into time much like the early church. There are many in our nation, our state and even our community who want to force those who believe that the Bible is God’s Holy Word be brought into conformity to ungodly and reprehensible laws being passed. You have likely been reading that last “Saturday (Holy weekend) our governor, Ralph Northam signed into law SB 868 (D-Ebbin), a bill that weaponizes the Attorney General and agitating “LGBTQ” activists to target Virginia businesses, private schools, religious nonprofits, and even churches who continue to maintain their long-standing convictions about marriage, gender, and sexuality.” The Family Foundation April 16th, 2020.

Probably most of us knew that this day was coming, as the moral guidelines of our culture have been slowly but surely moving away from godliness to the demonic.

You know—like it was for the early church under Roman rule. This is not a time to fear but to turn to the one who is in control of all the universe. There are many who will seek to fight this in the legislature and that may be their calling. We should pray for them and support their efforts. However, we have seen from the example of the early disciples, that we cannot be effective in our own strength. We must move in the power and authority of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, putting on the weapons for spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:10–20). As we head towards Pentecost we seek to remember the lessons along the way, but we do so in the knowledge that we don’t need to wait until Pentecost because the Holy Spirit was poured out in power over 2,000 years ago. We are able to walk in that power and authority today if we have surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ. Remember, even Jesus in his humanity needed the Father and the Holy Spirit to accomplish what he was sent to do. How much more does this apply to us?

I invite each of you to join us for our intercessory prayer on Zoom, Wednesdays at 10:00 AM and our time of corporate prayer on Friday nights at 7:00 PM. Together let us prepare for all that God will place in our path and be effective witnesses that move in the power and authority of Jesus Christ and the power of his Spirit.

Let’s pray.

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