Loving, sight unseen
Commentary
Recently a friend told me the story of his move to our community. It was a job transfer, and he was needed in the new location much sooner than he or his family had expected. Previous excursions to the area with his wife to look for a new home had proven unsuccessful. The home they were leaving had been sold, and they needed to find a new house quickly. So with the help of a realtor and with his wife unable to be present, my friend selected and bought a house for his family. The best he could do was to attempt to describe the house to his wife, but he had no pictures to send and no way for her to see the house before he bought it. Can you imagine buying a house for your wife without her seeing it? My friend let it be known that he would never do anything like that again. Somehow I believe he is telling the truth.
In the town where I live there are three houses, still inhabited, that were actually ordered from a Sears catalogue. These were not modular homes shipped in pieces to be assembled on site; rather they were fully constructed houses shipped by railroad right to the town. This, of course, was not buying sight unseen -- at least the buyer had a catalogue picture of what the house would look like.
Houses are one thing, but what about a spouse! In the gold rush days of California and Alaska, mail-order brides were not uncommon. A man would read a description of the prospective bride (pictures unavailable) in a type of newspaper, find a description that suited his liking and pay the fee for the soon to be Mrs. to travel west. It would be interesting to know just how many of these sight unseen relationships lasted for any length of time.
There isn't much I can think of that I would buy, sight unseen. In fact, books are about the only thing I have had the courage to purchase through the Internet. For anything I buy, I make sure there is a liberal return policy, in case I decide halfway home that I really should not have purchased the item in the first place. Sight unseen buying is just not for me.
In today's texts, believers are congratulated for their faith in Jesus Christ even though they have not seen him. Theirs was a love, sight unseen.
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Before the advent of PCs and Macs, IBM owned the computer world. Then someone came along with an idea of how the computer could be made more accessible to the average office worker (home computers at that time were not even a glimmer in the programmers' eyes). The management of IBM listened politely, but they were not buying it -- after all, who knew computers better than IBM? Peter faced a similar challenge -- how do you tell someone about a new act of God who already knows what is essential to know about God?
In today's lesson Peter assumes the role of spokesman for the disciples of Jesus as he attempts to communicate to fellow Israelites God's redeeming act through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. How Peter goes about presenting Jesus to this audience provides us a guide for proclaiming Christ's saving faith.
There are three movements in the passage before us. In the first movement Peter draws on the experiences of his hearers. There are certain things that his audience does know by first-hand knowledge. They know that a man came from Nazareth whose name was Jesus and who was recognized as something of a miracle worker. They may even have accepted the fact that the works of Jesus were expressions of God's grace. Peter's hearers know that this same Jesus had been crucified by the Romans at the instigation of some within the Jewish religious establishment. They may even have heard the claims that Jesus had been raised from the dead, but may not have given those claims much credence.
In the second movement of our passage, Peter attempts to make a connection between what his audience has experienced and the texts they held to be sacred. It was not just that the miraculous deeds of Jesus were God inspired, but the entirety of his life and mission was ordained by God and anticipated within the sacred texts. None other than King David himself spoke of that which was completed in Jesus.
In the final movement, Peter moves from what his hearers have experienced themselves and what they knew of their scriptures to the witness that could be given only by those who had seen and touched and heard the risen Jesus. The flow in this passage is from common knowledge to scriptural exegesis to personal witness. And it was this personal witness that made the difference for many between acceptance or rejection of Jesus.
No less than Peter, we are called to give voice to the mighty acts of God in Jesus Christ. No less than for Peter, it is often the witness of our personal experience of the risen Savior that can make all the difference in the world.
1 Peter 1:3-9
There are certain things we know about the epistle called 1 Peter. It was written from Rome (5:13) and addressed to various churches in Asia Minor (1:1). It was written during a time of persecution (1:6), and its purpose was to remind the readers that they were in Christ and to give encouragement at a time when the Christian faith was misunderstood and unappreciated. What is not clear is who wrote the letter. Although some argue that the Apostle Peter wrote the epistle a short time before his martyrdom, Petrine authorship is by no means a universally held conclusion.
This letter follows the pattern one is used to seeing in the epistles of Paul. First there is an identification of the writer, followed by a greeting, a word of thanksgiving or praise, exhortations and a closing. Today's lesson considers the thanksgiving section of the letter.
This thanksgiving section seems to be pulling double duty. First, it is offering a word of thanksgiving to God both for what God has done through Jesus Christ and for the faithfulness of his readers. But this section also seems to be addressing indirectly several questions that have become concerns in the face of persecution. I would phrase those questions like this: Is there hope for us in this life or only in the life to come? What are we to make of these persecutions? Why should I keep on keeping on? I will address this passage in light of these questions, but the interpreter needs to remember that the primary function of this text is an offering of thanksgiving.
First: "Is there hope in this life or only in the life to come?" Peter's answer is yes; there is hope in both. Because of the mercy of God at work through Jesus Christ, those who have faith in him experience something akin to a new birth. In this new birth we have a new Father, God, and a new family, the community of faith. And just as importantly, we have a new and living hope.
"Living hope" is a playful term. One could take it to mean that the hope that is ours through Jesus Christ is not a moribund, useless, ineffectual hope any more than Jesus is a cold corpse sealed in a tomb. Rather, just as Jesus has been resurrected from the dead and is alive at the right hand of the Father, so our hope, far from being lifeless wishful thinking, is alive with and in Christ. However, another way this phrase might be interpreted takes into account the persecutions of the believers. In this case, living hope would mean a hope that sustains the living, a confidence in God that enables the believer to live life in the present, a life of joy, knowing that the One who raised Jesus from the dead would exercise power on their behalf as well.
It was not in this life only that the believers found hope. For through the grace of God at work in Christ, an eternal inheritance far removed from the vicissitudes of life was kept in heaven for those who persevered to the end. So, in answer to the question about hope, Peter affirms both a present and a future reality.
The second implied question is: "What are we to make of these persecutions?" Again, Peter's answer is twofold. First, the various trials being suffered were opportunities to hone one's faith and thereby to bring honor and glory to God. Although persecutions were not sent by God, they could be transformative occasions that might result in a deeper confidence in God. Second, for Peter, the persecutions were signs of an imminent return of Christ. Like his contemporaries, Peter expected the eschatological reign of Christ to occur in his lifetime, and he was ever conscious of its impending arrival.
The third question implied by Peter's introductory thanksgiving is: "Why should I keep on keeping on?" To this Peter responds that the very salvation of his reader's souls depended on their persistent faithfulness. The readers are reminded that their faith is not contingent upon visual confirmation, but is a consequence of their belief in and love for Jesus. What they have begun in faith should be completed in faith in order that the inheritance laid up for them might be the source of indescribable joy.
Peter has more to say to these persecuted believers, and his words of thanksgiving have given them reason to listen.
John 20:19-31
With today's Gospel lesson, John has come to the end of his primary narrative. All that remains is for him to report Peter's rehabilitation into the family of disciples following his humiliating and embarrassing denial of Jesus. John also provides a summary statement of the purpose of his gospel in verses 30-31, namely that the construction of his account around certain "signs" had an evangelical purpose -- to bring about belief and life in the name of Jesus.
But John is writing to an audience over a generation removed from the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Unlike John, they had neither seen him nor heard Jesus for themselves. All John's readers knew of Jesus were the stories told by the first generation of followers, but oh, what stories they were! John tells us that if all that was known and experienced concerning Jesus was written down, the world itself could not contain the books (21:25). Still, stories about and first-hand knowledge of were two completely different things. One might imagine that John's audience felt somehow inferior to those who had actually been in the presence of Jesus, or perhaps felt that their faith was of a lesser quality than John's generation. So John concludes his Gospel with an account in which his readers could take heart.
As John sets the scene, the disciples were gathered behind locked doors on the evening of the Resurrection. They feared (and probably with good cause) that the same mob mentality that had resulted in the crucifixion of Jesus would target them next. While the disciples were in this state of cautious anxiety, Jesus appeared among them. Perhaps reading the disbelief on their faces, Jesus shows them the nail and spear wounds in his hands and side. Gaining their confidence Jesus then instructs the disciples about their mission.
As it turns out, the only disciple (except, of course, for Judas) not present at this meeting was Thomas. Imagine the disciples' excitement at telling him that they had seen Jesus, that they had touched his nail prints and had put their own hands against his side. Imagine Thomas' skepticism as he responded that unless he experienced what they had experienced, he would not believe it. For a week Thomas lived with his agnosticism while the rest of the disciple band was still being warmed by the memory of their encounter with the risen Lord.
Then, just as it had happened the week before, Jesus appeared to his disciples, only this time Thomas was present. Jesus then offered to Thomas the same opportunity at verification that he had previously offered the other disciples. Upon seeing for himself the marks of the crucifixion, Thomas broke forth in confessionary praise.
Now here comes the punch line. Jesus said, "Have you believed only because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." In other words, John wants his readers to know that even though they have not seen Jesus, that did not make them second-class believers or in any way diminish their faith. In fact, Jesus pronounced on them a special blessing because their belief was not based on empirical evidence, but on genuine faith. And so with a brief story deftly told, John welcomes all of us into the family of disciples who come to Jesus by faith and not by sight.
Application
Ours is a visually oriented society. We would rather see a sermon than hear one any day -- preferably on a jumbotron located at the front of the sanctuary. Images capture our imagination more than words; consequently we spend more time watching television than we do reading. Even our music is visual, what with MTV, VH1 and the Nashville Network. Big bucks are paid to advertising agencies and design teams to make the products we buy appealing to the eye, irrespective of whether or not they are useful. Magazine ads and television commercials use only the most attractive among us to represent their products, knowing that if it isn't eye-catching, it likely isn't sellable.
Contrast that with faith, which is a conviction based on that which is unseen. Perhaps that is why faith has such low exchange rate in the currency of contemporary living. Nevertheless, it is faith that the church is all about. Faith is a trust in a God who lies beyond the senses. Faith is a commitment to Christ whose story comes to us only in the memory of some of his followers. Faith is an attitude celebrated and honored in the pages of scripture.
Thomas is a representative modern -- to see is to believe. Visual verification is the only antidote to gullibility. It matters not what he has been told. It matters not the trustworthiness of those who told him. All that matters is a truth that is personal and tangible. When the unbelievable became visual and when the visual was confirmed by the tangible then belief became believable. But hear the words of Christ following Thomas' proof-induced confession, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Thomas saw too little when he wanted to see more.
In Peter's sermon at Pentecost, the problem was not one of one seeing too little; in fact his audience had seen quite a lot. They had seen the miracles performed by Jesus. They had seen the compassion he extended to the outcasts and undesirables. They had seen and heard him speak with an authority clothed in love. They had seen him executed on a public thoroughfare. The problem was that his audience had seen too much and what they had seen did not comport with their expectations of what a Messiah should be. And it was because of this dissonance that some had difficulty accepting Peter's words. They had seen too much when they wanted to see something different.
Peter in his first epistle is facing an unenviable task. The congregations for which he feels some responsibility look around and all that they see are threats and danger and persecution. Their belief in that which they had not seen was costing them dearly. Peter had to say something to give them hope, something to sustain their faith, but words were cheap and reality was harsh. What would he say? What would make a difference? The words he found to say addressed this crisis of faith versus sight. "Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy." They had seen nothing at all, but in truth had seen everything clearly. They are our model of faith for they loved, sight unseen.
Alternative Applications
1) 1 Peter: In the New Testament, salvation is spoken of as a present reality, as a future hope and as an ongoing process. How do these varying concepts tie together? Are there inner contradictions within these concepts that are irreconcilable? What impact does this have on the theological affirmation of "the security of the believer?" A sermon that draws these three ideas into a coherent whole will do the congregation a great service.
2) John: Thomas has gone through history with the descriptive forename of "Doubting." I personally think that Thomas has gotten a bum rap. He did not ask for anything other than what the other disciples received and was probably no less doubting than they prior to the tangible confirmation. Yet, he is the one known as the doubting one. Why is it that we have such a difficult time living down past mistakes? Why is it that God is so quick to forgive while everyone else is so slow? What does it say about a community of faith that remembers another's missteps, but forgets to celebrate their successes? What labels do the people of God burden others with, and what can be done to love in such a way that we keep no record of wrongs?
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Beginning with this Sunday and continuing for the seven Sundays following, we shall be dealing with the book of the Acts of the Apostles. This book has been preserved for us through the centuries as the account of the beginnings of the church in Palestine, and the spread of the church toward the west to include Gentiles as well as Jews. The book comes to us from a man named Luke, who also wrote the Gospel account bearing his name, so Acts really is the second volume in Luke's story. Usually it has been dated after the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, and it probably was written toward the end of the first century in about A.D. 80 or 90.
In Luke's understanding, Acts forms a continuation of the story of salvation that begins in the Old Testament. Very often many of us think that our Christian faith had its beginning only with the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth. We therefore largely ignore the Old Testament, and indeed, many of us are almost totally ignorant of what it contains. But Jesus was no mysterious figure suddenly dropped from the blue. Rather, he is the fulfillment and final interpretation of God's wondrous saving deeds through some 1,200 years of the history of Israel, and apart from that history, Jesus cannot fully be understood. As the Gospel according to John says, Jesus Christ is the Word of God made flesh -- the whole word of the Old Testament. In his person, Jesus gathers up and fulfills all that God has done and spoken before the incarnation. And so the Apostle Paul could write, "All the promises of God find their yes in him" (2 Corinthians 1:20) -- all the promises found in the histories and psalms, the prophecies and prayers of the Old Testament. Jesus is God's final word, completing God's salvation that is offered to the world.
So it is that in our text, the Apostle Peter speaks as an interpreter of the Old Testament. He wants to testify to the resurrection of our Lord, and he does so by interpreting Psalm 16:8-11, in our passage, and following that, Psalm 110:1, in verses 3-4.
Preceding our text, a momentous event has occurred. While all of the disciples have been gathered together in one place in Jerusalem, suddenly the Holy Spirit of God has descended upon them like tongues of fire, and the Jewish crowd surrounding them have heard the disciples speaking in the tongues of a multitude of nations. Although the crowd is made up of devout Jews, some of them scoff and believe the disciples are drunk, but some are simply amazed at the phenomenon. By way of explanation, Peter announces that the descent of the Spirit upon the disciples is the fulfillment of the words of the Old Testament prophet Joel, and that with the coming of the Spirit, the new age of God has begun. Moreover, the Lord of that new age of salvation is Jesus of Nazareth, and whoever believes in him will be saved in the final judgment by God. But who is Jesus and why does faith in him bring with it salvation?
At this point, our text for the morning begins. That Jesus was sent from God was attested by all of the signs and wonders that he did in Palestine -- his preaching, his healings, his teachings, his actions toward the poor and helpless, his forgiveness rendered and his mercy poured out, his love of his own even unto death.
But in accordance with the Old Testament, proclaims Peter, it was the "definite plan and foreknowledge of God" that Jesus be crucified by lawless men. As Second Isaiah wrote, "it was the will of the Lord to bruise him" (Isaiah 53:10), and though Jesus died at the hands of sinners, his death was at the same time willed by his Father. "You" crucified him, Peter tells the gathered crowd. His blood is on your head. And yet, God used that death to save you all. How?
At this point Peter turns to an interpretation of the Psalm of David, 16:8-11. King David, that great ruler of Israel, testified that God would not abandon him to the corruption of death in Hades, the place of the dead. Yet David could not have been speaking of himself, Peter points out, because everyone knows that David died and was buried. And everyone even knows where David's tomb is. Rather, David was foretelling the resurrection of Christ. David knew that God had promised that there would never be lacking a Davidic heir to sit upon the throne (2 Samuel 7). And all of David's heirs after him died. But one Davidic king did not die, namely Jesus Christ. God raised Jesus from the grave. And of that resurrection, proclaims Peter, we all -- that is, the disciples -- were witnesses.
Like Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Peter supplements the word of scripture with the testimony of the eyewitnesses to Jesus' resurrection. In short, the Old Testament promises the Resurrection. As Paul says, it was "in accordance with the scriptures." And the disciples' witness of Christ raised and alive, after his crucifixion, confirms the scriptures' account. Moreover, it is faith in that work of God in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ which can, by the grace of God, bring salvation to anyone. That is, it is by faith in God's work and not in our own good works and petty deeds, that we enter into God's new life of the kingdom, redeemed, justified, made new persons, and saved in the final judgment on the last day.
On this second Sunday after Easter, no one can, by argument or clever discourse, convince you of that, of course. As Paul told the Corinthian church, all Christian preachers come to you in fear and trembling, and our speech and message are not in plausible words of wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:3-4). Rather, our only recourse is to announce the Good News that we have been given and that we have been sent to tell all people. Jesus Christ is risen from the grave. By the love of God, he now lives among us, pouring out his Spirit upon us as he poured it out on those first disciples at Pentecost. And all we are required to do is to accept that fact, attested by the scriptures and eye-witnesses -- to accept it in faith and gratitude for the marvelous and merciful work that God has done. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has defeated the powers of sin and death that nailed our Lord to the cross and that still threaten to hold each one of us captive. In Christ's resurrection, there is new life for us all, abundant life, and yes, finally eternal life in the company of God our heavenly Father.
PREACHING THE PSALM
Psalm 16
This psalm is a song of confidence and trust, and the first-century church found in it a prophesy of the Resurrection. Peter, in his Pentecost sermon, quotes verses 8-11 (Acts 2:25-28), applying them to the risen Lord. Thus, its designation as the responsorial psalm for Easter 2.
The psalm falls easily into three divisions: verses 1-4, there is no good apart from God; 5-8, the Lord is my portion and my counselor; 9-11, there is joy and life with God.
Obviously, verse 10 could be of use to expound the Resurrection. Among the other preaching possibilities are these:
1) There isn't much indication that the psalmist is in difficulties. With the possible exception of the opening line -- "Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge" -- the singer says nothing that alludes to problems. And even that line can be read in much the same general way as we might pray, "Be with me, O God," without having a specific trouble in mind. So why not talk about the importance of keeping one's relationship with God constant, and not just turning to him when hard times hit? This is a springboard for a sermon on "Being a Christian When Everything's Coming Up Roses."
2) When the psalmist says, "I have no good apart from you" (v. 2), and expresses his delight in the "holy ones" (v. 3), he recognizes the truth of the "no man is an island" theme. He never talks as an individual separated from God, nor from the worshiping community. He is not the lonely self seeking God, but the member of the fellowship, who, carried by them, grows in his spirituality. So talk about the function of the church as a "community that carries."
3) What is the meaning of verse 6 -- "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places"? It was probably a metaphor from the division of land by survey, but could it not be used to talk about the parameters of the righteous life? Yes, Christian living puts certain behaviors out of bounds, but only enriches life by doing so. It takes nothing away from the godly but declaring unloving actions off limits.
In the town where I live there are three houses, still inhabited, that were actually ordered from a Sears catalogue. These were not modular homes shipped in pieces to be assembled on site; rather they were fully constructed houses shipped by railroad right to the town. This, of course, was not buying sight unseen -- at least the buyer had a catalogue picture of what the house would look like.
Houses are one thing, but what about a spouse! In the gold rush days of California and Alaska, mail-order brides were not uncommon. A man would read a description of the prospective bride (pictures unavailable) in a type of newspaper, find a description that suited his liking and pay the fee for the soon to be Mrs. to travel west. It would be interesting to know just how many of these sight unseen relationships lasted for any length of time.
There isn't much I can think of that I would buy, sight unseen. In fact, books are about the only thing I have had the courage to purchase through the Internet. For anything I buy, I make sure there is a liberal return policy, in case I decide halfway home that I really should not have purchased the item in the first place. Sight unseen buying is just not for me.
In today's texts, believers are congratulated for their faith in Jesus Christ even though they have not seen him. Theirs was a love, sight unseen.
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Before the advent of PCs and Macs, IBM owned the computer world. Then someone came along with an idea of how the computer could be made more accessible to the average office worker (home computers at that time were not even a glimmer in the programmers' eyes). The management of IBM listened politely, but they were not buying it -- after all, who knew computers better than IBM? Peter faced a similar challenge -- how do you tell someone about a new act of God who already knows what is essential to know about God?
In today's lesson Peter assumes the role of spokesman for the disciples of Jesus as he attempts to communicate to fellow Israelites God's redeeming act through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. How Peter goes about presenting Jesus to this audience provides us a guide for proclaiming Christ's saving faith.
There are three movements in the passage before us. In the first movement Peter draws on the experiences of his hearers. There are certain things that his audience does know by first-hand knowledge. They know that a man came from Nazareth whose name was Jesus and who was recognized as something of a miracle worker. They may even have accepted the fact that the works of Jesus were expressions of God's grace. Peter's hearers know that this same Jesus had been crucified by the Romans at the instigation of some within the Jewish religious establishment. They may even have heard the claims that Jesus had been raised from the dead, but may not have given those claims much credence.
In the second movement of our passage, Peter attempts to make a connection between what his audience has experienced and the texts they held to be sacred. It was not just that the miraculous deeds of Jesus were God inspired, but the entirety of his life and mission was ordained by God and anticipated within the sacred texts. None other than King David himself spoke of that which was completed in Jesus.
In the final movement, Peter moves from what his hearers have experienced themselves and what they knew of their scriptures to the witness that could be given only by those who had seen and touched and heard the risen Jesus. The flow in this passage is from common knowledge to scriptural exegesis to personal witness. And it was this personal witness that made the difference for many between acceptance or rejection of Jesus.
No less than Peter, we are called to give voice to the mighty acts of God in Jesus Christ. No less than for Peter, it is often the witness of our personal experience of the risen Savior that can make all the difference in the world.
1 Peter 1:3-9
There are certain things we know about the epistle called 1 Peter. It was written from Rome (5:13) and addressed to various churches in Asia Minor (1:1). It was written during a time of persecution (1:6), and its purpose was to remind the readers that they were in Christ and to give encouragement at a time when the Christian faith was misunderstood and unappreciated. What is not clear is who wrote the letter. Although some argue that the Apostle Peter wrote the epistle a short time before his martyrdom, Petrine authorship is by no means a universally held conclusion.
This letter follows the pattern one is used to seeing in the epistles of Paul. First there is an identification of the writer, followed by a greeting, a word of thanksgiving or praise, exhortations and a closing. Today's lesson considers the thanksgiving section of the letter.
This thanksgiving section seems to be pulling double duty. First, it is offering a word of thanksgiving to God both for what God has done through Jesus Christ and for the faithfulness of his readers. But this section also seems to be addressing indirectly several questions that have become concerns in the face of persecution. I would phrase those questions like this: Is there hope for us in this life or only in the life to come? What are we to make of these persecutions? Why should I keep on keeping on? I will address this passage in light of these questions, but the interpreter needs to remember that the primary function of this text is an offering of thanksgiving.
First: "Is there hope in this life or only in the life to come?" Peter's answer is yes; there is hope in both. Because of the mercy of God at work through Jesus Christ, those who have faith in him experience something akin to a new birth. In this new birth we have a new Father, God, and a new family, the community of faith. And just as importantly, we have a new and living hope.
"Living hope" is a playful term. One could take it to mean that the hope that is ours through Jesus Christ is not a moribund, useless, ineffectual hope any more than Jesus is a cold corpse sealed in a tomb. Rather, just as Jesus has been resurrected from the dead and is alive at the right hand of the Father, so our hope, far from being lifeless wishful thinking, is alive with and in Christ. However, another way this phrase might be interpreted takes into account the persecutions of the believers. In this case, living hope would mean a hope that sustains the living, a confidence in God that enables the believer to live life in the present, a life of joy, knowing that the One who raised Jesus from the dead would exercise power on their behalf as well.
It was not in this life only that the believers found hope. For through the grace of God at work in Christ, an eternal inheritance far removed from the vicissitudes of life was kept in heaven for those who persevered to the end. So, in answer to the question about hope, Peter affirms both a present and a future reality.
The second implied question is: "What are we to make of these persecutions?" Again, Peter's answer is twofold. First, the various trials being suffered were opportunities to hone one's faith and thereby to bring honor and glory to God. Although persecutions were not sent by God, they could be transformative occasions that might result in a deeper confidence in God. Second, for Peter, the persecutions were signs of an imminent return of Christ. Like his contemporaries, Peter expected the eschatological reign of Christ to occur in his lifetime, and he was ever conscious of its impending arrival.
The third question implied by Peter's introductory thanksgiving is: "Why should I keep on keeping on?" To this Peter responds that the very salvation of his reader's souls depended on their persistent faithfulness. The readers are reminded that their faith is not contingent upon visual confirmation, but is a consequence of their belief in and love for Jesus. What they have begun in faith should be completed in faith in order that the inheritance laid up for them might be the source of indescribable joy.
Peter has more to say to these persecuted believers, and his words of thanksgiving have given them reason to listen.
John 20:19-31
With today's Gospel lesson, John has come to the end of his primary narrative. All that remains is for him to report Peter's rehabilitation into the family of disciples following his humiliating and embarrassing denial of Jesus. John also provides a summary statement of the purpose of his gospel in verses 30-31, namely that the construction of his account around certain "signs" had an evangelical purpose -- to bring about belief and life in the name of Jesus.
But John is writing to an audience over a generation removed from the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Unlike John, they had neither seen him nor heard Jesus for themselves. All John's readers knew of Jesus were the stories told by the first generation of followers, but oh, what stories they were! John tells us that if all that was known and experienced concerning Jesus was written down, the world itself could not contain the books (21:25). Still, stories about and first-hand knowledge of were two completely different things. One might imagine that John's audience felt somehow inferior to those who had actually been in the presence of Jesus, or perhaps felt that their faith was of a lesser quality than John's generation. So John concludes his Gospel with an account in which his readers could take heart.
As John sets the scene, the disciples were gathered behind locked doors on the evening of the Resurrection. They feared (and probably with good cause) that the same mob mentality that had resulted in the crucifixion of Jesus would target them next. While the disciples were in this state of cautious anxiety, Jesus appeared among them. Perhaps reading the disbelief on their faces, Jesus shows them the nail and spear wounds in his hands and side. Gaining their confidence Jesus then instructs the disciples about their mission.
As it turns out, the only disciple (except, of course, for Judas) not present at this meeting was Thomas. Imagine the disciples' excitement at telling him that they had seen Jesus, that they had touched his nail prints and had put their own hands against his side. Imagine Thomas' skepticism as he responded that unless he experienced what they had experienced, he would not believe it. For a week Thomas lived with his agnosticism while the rest of the disciple band was still being warmed by the memory of their encounter with the risen Lord.
Then, just as it had happened the week before, Jesus appeared to his disciples, only this time Thomas was present. Jesus then offered to Thomas the same opportunity at verification that he had previously offered the other disciples. Upon seeing for himself the marks of the crucifixion, Thomas broke forth in confessionary praise.
Now here comes the punch line. Jesus said, "Have you believed only because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." In other words, John wants his readers to know that even though they have not seen Jesus, that did not make them second-class believers or in any way diminish their faith. In fact, Jesus pronounced on them a special blessing because their belief was not based on empirical evidence, but on genuine faith. And so with a brief story deftly told, John welcomes all of us into the family of disciples who come to Jesus by faith and not by sight.
Application
Ours is a visually oriented society. We would rather see a sermon than hear one any day -- preferably on a jumbotron located at the front of the sanctuary. Images capture our imagination more than words; consequently we spend more time watching television than we do reading. Even our music is visual, what with MTV, VH1 and the Nashville Network. Big bucks are paid to advertising agencies and design teams to make the products we buy appealing to the eye, irrespective of whether or not they are useful. Magazine ads and television commercials use only the most attractive among us to represent their products, knowing that if it isn't eye-catching, it likely isn't sellable.
Contrast that with faith, which is a conviction based on that which is unseen. Perhaps that is why faith has such low exchange rate in the currency of contemporary living. Nevertheless, it is faith that the church is all about. Faith is a trust in a God who lies beyond the senses. Faith is a commitment to Christ whose story comes to us only in the memory of some of his followers. Faith is an attitude celebrated and honored in the pages of scripture.
Thomas is a representative modern -- to see is to believe. Visual verification is the only antidote to gullibility. It matters not what he has been told. It matters not the trustworthiness of those who told him. All that matters is a truth that is personal and tangible. When the unbelievable became visual and when the visual was confirmed by the tangible then belief became believable. But hear the words of Christ following Thomas' proof-induced confession, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Thomas saw too little when he wanted to see more.
In Peter's sermon at Pentecost, the problem was not one of one seeing too little; in fact his audience had seen quite a lot. They had seen the miracles performed by Jesus. They had seen the compassion he extended to the outcasts and undesirables. They had seen and heard him speak with an authority clothed in love. They had seen him executed on a public thoroughfare. The problem was that his audience had seen too much and what they had seen did not comport with their expectations of what a Messiah should be. And it was because of this dissonance that some had difficulty accepting Peter's words. They had seen too much when they wanted to see something different.
Peter in his first epistle is facing an unenviable task. The congregations for which he feels some responsibility look around and all that they see are threats and danger and persecution. Their belief in that which they had not seen was costing them dearly. Peter had to say something to give them hope, something to sustain their faith, but words were cheap and reality was harsh. What would he say? What would make a difference? The words he found to say addressed this crisis of faith versus sight. "Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy." They had seen nothing at all, but in truth had seen everything clearly. They are our model of faith for they loved, sight unseen.
Alternative Applications
1) 1 Peter: In the New Testament, salvation is spoken of as a present reality, as a future hope and as an ongoing process. How do these varying concepts tie together? Are there inner contradictions within these concepts that are irreconcilable? What impact does this have on the theological affirmation of "the security of the believer?" A sermon that draws these three ideas into a coherent whole will do the congregation a great service.
2) John: Thomas has gone through history with the descriptive forename of "Doubting." I personally think that Thomas has gotten a bum rap. He did not ask for anything other than what the other disciples received and was probably no less doubting than they prior to the tangible confirmation. Yet, he is the one known as the doubting one. Why is it that we have such a difficult time living down past mistakes? Why is it that God is so quick to forgive while everyone else is so slow? What does it say about a community of faith that remembers another's missteps, but forgets to celebrate their successes? What labels do the people of God burden others with, and what can be done to love in such a way that we keep no record of wrongs?
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Beginning with this Sunday and continuing for the seven Sundays following, we shall be dealing with the book of the Acts of the Apostles. This book has been preserved for us through the centuries as the account of the beginnings of the church in Palestine, and the spread of the church toward the west to include Gentiles as well as Jews. The book comes to us from a man named Luke, who also wrote the Gospel account bearing his name, so Acts really is the second volume in Luke's story. Usually it has been dated after the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, and it probably was written toward the end of the first century in about A.D. 80 or 90.
In Luke's understanding, Acts forms a continuation of the story of salvation that begins in the Old Testament. Very often many of us think that our Christian faith had its beginning only with the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth. We therefore largely ignore the Old Testament, and indeed, many of us are almost totally ignorant of what it contains. But Jesus was no mysterious figure suddenly dropped from the blue. Rather, he is the fulfillment and final interpretation of God's wondrous saving deeds through some 1,200 years of the history of Israel, and apart from that history, Jesus cannot fully be understood. As the Gospel according to John says, Jesus Christ is the Word of God made flesh -- the whole word of the Old Testament. In his person, Jesus gathers up and fulfills all that God has done and spoken before the incarnation. And so the Apostle Paul could write, "All the promises of God find their yes in him" (2 Corinthians 1:20) -- all the promises found in the histories and psalms, the prophecies and prayers of the Old Testament. Jesus is God's final word, completing God's salvation that is offered to the world.
So it is that in our text, the Apostle Peter speaks as an interpreter of the Old Testament. He wants to testify to the resurrection of our Lord, and he does so by interpreting Psalm 16:8-11, in our passage, and following that, Psalm 110:1, in verses 3-4.
Preceding our text, a momentous event has occurred. While all of the disciples have been gathered together in one place in Jerusalem, suddenly the Holy Spirit of God has descended upon them like tongues of fire, and the Jewish crowd surrounding them have heard the disciples speaking in the tongues of a multitude of nations. Although the crowd is made up of devout Jews, some of them scoff and believe the disciples are drunk, but some are simply amazed at the phenomenon. By way of explanation, Peter announces that the descent of the Spirit upon the disciples is the fulfillment of the words of the Old Testament prophet Joel, and that with the coming of the Spirit, the new age of God has begun. Moreover, the Lord of that new age of salvation is Jesus of Nazareth, and whoever believes in him will be saved in the final judgment by God. But who is Jesus and why does faith in him bring with it salvation?
At this point, our text for the morning begins. That Jesus was sent from God was attested by all of the signs and wonders that he did in Palestine -- his preaching, his healings, his teachings, his actions toward the poor and helpless, his forgiveness rendered and his mercy poured out, his love of his own even unto death.
But in accordance with the Old Testament, proclaims Peter, it was the "definite plan and foreknowledge of God" that Jesus be crucified by lawless men. As Second Isaiah wrote, "it was the will of the Lord to bruise him" (Isaiah 53:10), and though Jesus died at the hands of sinners, his death was at the same time willed by his Father. "You" crucified him, Peter tells the gathered crowd. His blood is on your head. And yet, God used that death to save you all. How?
At this point Peter turns to an interpretation of the Psalm of David, 16:8-11. King David, that great ruler of Israel, testified that God would not abandon him to the corruption of death in Hades, the place of the dead. Yet David could not have been speaking of himself, Peter points out, because everyone knows that David died and was buried. And everyone even knows where David's tomb is. Rather, David was foretelling the resurrection of Christ. David knew that God had promised that there would never be lacking a Davidic heir to sit upon the throne (2 Samuel 7). And all of David's heirs after him died. But one Davidic king did not die, namely Jesus Christ. God raised Jesus from the grave. And of that resurrection, proclaims Peter, we all -- that is, the disciples -- were witnesses.
Like Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Peter supplements the word of scripture with the testimony of the eyewitnesses to Jesus' resurrection. In short, the Old Testament promises the Resurrection. As Paul says, it was "in accordance with the scriptures." And the disciples' witness of Christ raised and alive, after his crucifixion, confirms the scriptures' account. Moreover, it is faith in that work of God in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ which can, by the grace of God, bring salvation to anyone. That is, it is by faith in God's work and not in our own good works and petty deeds, that we enter into God's new life of the kingdom, redeemed, justified, made new persons, and saved in the final judgment on the last day.
On this second Sunday after Easter, no one can, by argument or clever discourse, convince you of that, of course. As Paul told the Corinthian church, all Christian preachers come to you in fear and trembling, and our speech and message are not in plausible words of wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:3-4). Rather, our only recourse is to announce the Good News that we have been given and that we have been sent to tell all people. Jesus Christ is risen from the grave. By the love of God, he now lives among us, pouring out his Spirit upon us as he poured it out on those first disciples at Pentecost. And all we are required to do is to accept that fact, attested by the scriptures and eye-witnesses -- to accept it in faith and gratitude for the marvelous and merciful work that God has done. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has defeated the powers of sin and death that nailed our Lord to the cross and that still threaten to hold each one of us captive. In Christ's resurrection, there is new life for us all, abundant life, and yes, finally eternal life in the company of God our heavenly Father.
PREACHING THE PSALM
Psalm 16
This psalm is a song of confidence and trust, and the first-century church found in it a prophesy of the Resurrection. Peter, in his Pentecost sermon, quotes verses 8-11 (Acts 2:25-28), applying them to the risen Lord. Thus, its designation as the responsorial psalm for Easter 2.
The psalm falls easily into three divisions: verses 1-4, there is no good apart from God; 5-8, the Lord is my portion and my counselor; 9-11, there is joy and life with God.
Obviously, verse 10 could be of use to expound the Resurrection. Among the other preaching possibilities are these:
1) There isn't much indication that the psalmist is in difficulties. With the possible exception of the opening line -- "Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge" -- the singer says nothing that alludes to problems. And even that line can be read in much the same general way as we might pray, "Be with me, O God," without having a specific trouble in mind. So why not talk about the importance of keeping one's relationship with God constant, and not just turning to him when hard times hit? This is a springboard for a sermon on "Being a Christian When Everything's Coming Up Roses."
2) When the psalmist says, "I have no good apart from you" (v. 2), and expresses his delight in the "holy ones" (v. 3), he recognizes the truth of the "no man is an island" theme. He never talks as an individual separated from God, nor from the worshiping community. He is not the lonely self seeking God, but the member of the fellowship, who, carried by them, grows in his spirituality. So talk about the function of the church as a "community that carries."
3) What is the meaning of verse 6 -- "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places"? It was probably a metaphor from the division of land by survey, but could it not be used to talk about the parameters of the righteous life? Yes, Christian living puts certain behaviors out of bounds, but only enriches life by doing so. It takes nothing away from the godly but declaring unloving actions off limits.
