A Whole New World
Commentary
This year’s scripture texts invite us to proclaim not only that Jesus is risen, but that the resurrection is already changing things – if we’re ready to respond. This is a whole new world we’re talking about.
A whole new world – The Apostle Peter recognizes that the world has changed. All his ingrained aversions that created the barriers of caste, class, ethnic, and racial barriers are torn down. It is not only we as individuals who are resurrected, but the society is resurrected into new life also.
A whole new world – we are part of the generation of Jesus. The Apostle Paul tells the Corinthians they are part of the generation of Jesus because those who witnessed his life, death, and resurrection were still among them. Thanks to the living presence of the resurrected Jesus in our midst, two thousand years later we can say the same thing.
A whole new world – we are part of the new relationship in Jesus. Mary of Magdala, Peter, and the beloved disciple each experienced the resurrected Lord in a different way that Easter morning, had different understandings and levels of belief, but all had not only a relationship with Jesus, but a relationship with each other in the Body of Christ. We’re not necessarily in the same place at this moment with regards to our life of faith, but we’re doing this together!
Acts 10:34-43
On Easter morning, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and look forward to our own resurrection. But sometimes our cultural perspective causes us to think about the resurrection as a personal event. There is nothing individualistic about the New Testament. It’s a party, a grand party. Revelation gives us a picture of the heavenly realms and the people are packed in. Jesus says, “In my Father’s house are many apartments,” where we live together. We might think of heaven as a grand family reunion, with our grandparents and parents and uncles and aunts and cousins, and everybody else’s grandparents and parents’ uncles and aunts and cousins. Maybe that explains Peter’s amazement as he explains to the Roman centurion and his household, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” (34-35)
Just some backstory: earlier in the tenth chapter of Acts Peter dreams God shows him a giant sheet descending from heaven on which stand unclean animals. A voice invites Peter to eat three times, and Peter responds (three more times!) that he doesn’t eat food labelled unclean by the Hebrew scriptures, and a messenger from the centurion Cornelius invites him to come preach the good news of Jesus Christ. Now Luke has made it clear Jesus intends for the apostles and disciples to preach this good news first in Jerusalem, then in Samaria, and finally the whole world, but perhaps the first believers thought this would mean only those people in the whole, wide world who were Jewish believers scattered throughout the Roman Empire. Now Peter’s already staying with Simon the Tanner, whose profession which involves touching dead animal skins renders him unclean, so he’s crossed a boundary there, but this is a big step. Peter preaches the good news to Gentiles and discovers the Holy Spirit has been there before him.
There’s a gutty “yick” factor to this passage. Peter was probably revolted by the idea of eating “unclean” animals that were considered dinner by other cultures. He had to overcome the “yick” living with Simon the Tanner, all those strong chemical smells and the cured and uncured animal skins. And he probably felt a little creepy crossing the doorway into the home of Cornelius, even though God was sending him. But it quickly became not only the most natural thing in the world, but the best thing that ever happened.
What this is all about of course is not just my resurrection and your resurrection. It’s about society’s redemption and resurrection. Peter is astounded to discover that God doesn’t care about the definitions we create that we use to separate each other into groups. Let me say that again.
God doesn’t care.
In his book A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, geneticist Adam Rutherford in describing the history of humanity makes the point that what we think of as differences are superficial and inconsequential. Pointing to recent studies about human genetics, he writes:
What (these studies) shows more clearly than ever before is that key physical attributes that we identify as being “race-specific” are superficial and recent.
This is a game changer. This is a whole new world. The resurrection of Jesus Christ invites us to take part in the resurrection of the world, the resurrection of humanity. We see baby steps here in the Book of Acts. Maybe it’s time for us to all stop being babies.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
The Etruscans had a unit of time they called the saeculum. It basically covered the time from when an important event happened to the moment when the last person who remembered that event died! According to one story, the Etruscans believed they had been granted ten saeculae, ten eras so to speak, and so perhaps it was no surprise to them when they were supplanted by the Romans all those centuries before Jesus. Anyway, Paul in his letter to the Corinthians wants to assure us they were still in the saeculum of Jesus.
The Apostle Paul has been explaining some of the implications of the Christian faith, explaining that we are all connected with each other, that we are all necessary to each other, and how therefore we are to treat each other.
But at this point in his letter, he decides to emphasize the reason we believe. Keep in mind, although some translations are poetic, the Greek is not poetic. It is not rhythmic. It’s not like reciting a classic creed, or remembering one of the foundational verses, such as in Isaiah, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders…” Like that. This is not like that.
And the poetry business is not important at all. We believe this, not because it sounds good, but because it is true.
What’s all true?
This.
“For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).”
After these verses, he’s going to list all the witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus, and he’s going to explain what that resurrection means for us. But there’s something really important being said here.
Here comes more words. The term translated as “of first importance” has two different meanings. First, it’s a word that has to do with time. As in, this is the first thing I taught you. It’s the first thing you and I need to know.
It also ranks things in order of importance, and this statement – Christ died for our sins, was buried, and raised on the third day according to the scriptures – is the most important thing for us to know.
It’s the first thing and the most important thing. It doesn’t change.
Now if this thing is of first importance, then Paul tells it is in this we are saved, “if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you…” (15:2b) Hold firmly or hold fast: the Greek term is ei katechete which also means “keep in one’s memory.” That’s important. It’s one of the tasks Paul gives us. Someone proclaimed the message, whether you first heard it as a testimony from somebody earnestly sharing the gospel with you as an adult, or whether as a child wiggling in the pew because you’d had too much Easter candy that morning those few words wriggled their way into your consciousness – Jesus died, Jesus was buried, Jesus is risen!
Repeating, remembering, restating our belief in the resurrection is a key thing, so we know in the midst of chaos, medical, political, societal, that Jesus is alive and with us, now and always.
That’s the thing. That’s why the Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthian house churches, shares the list of witnesses to the resurrection. He wants to make it clear that they are still living in the Jesus saeculum. He lists the important witnesses to this event, so we know we can trust it.
The list includes Peter, the rest of the twelve, and James, the brother of the Lord. And he asserts, citing an event we don’t have in the four gospels, “Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.” (1 Corinthians 15:6)
There are people still alive who saw Jesus risen.
What about now? Are we not part of the Jesus saeculum? Are there no living witnesses to the risen Lord?
That’s what’s important about something else Paul writes. He refers to himself as one “untimely born.” He was not a disciple during the living ministry of Jesus, or during the time when the risen Jesus. Paul’s experience of Jesus was so profound and powerful it fueled his ministry despite all the stonings, shipwrecks, beatings, floggings, imprisonments, and opposition from supposedly right-headed folks all the way to his beheading at the behest of the Emperor Nero.
And there have always been people whose experience of Jesus is so powerful, women like Theresa of Avila, for instance, and Julian of Norwich, whose words so inspire us we also see Jesu, that we can be assured that as Jesus told the disciples at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, “Behold, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.”
Jesus is with us always. The Jesus Age, the Jesus era, is still happening. We know people for whom Jesus is a present reality. We are people for whom Jesus is a present reality.
That’s why it’s essential to remember what Paul says is “of first importance.” You might highlight this in your Bible and put a bookmark there. This is not changing. For many of us, it’s the first thing we learned about God, and for all of us, it’s the most important thing we learn!
John 20:1-18
In my discussion of our Old Testament passage from the Acts of the Apostles, I emphasize the community nature of the resurrection. Society is also resurrected from the dead. The one humanity is raised. National, cultural, and perceived, though unreal, racial barriers are destroyed. It’s important to keep the communal nature of our salvation in view.
However, we still see through one set of eyes – our own – and this passage emphasizes how important an individual relationship with Jesus truly is – as long as we do not let it slip into idolatry.
People have a tendency to say “my Jesus,” and “my Bible” as if they were personal possessions. Let’s face it, Jesus quoted Psalm 22 from the cross when he cried aloud, “My God!” But he was not talking about ownership there.
We see this very clearly in the trajectory of Mary of Magdala’s morning. She comes in grief. Her weeping is mentioned four times. She draws wrong conclusions – they have stolen his body – but it’s all motivated by the fact she loves Jesus.
And Jesus loves Mary! He calls her by name. He erases her fears.
Now there are many explanations for the reason Jesus tells Mary she cannot touch him, as he goes to the Father. Everything in the Gospel of John is multi-layered and I’m sure this is no exception. I wonder if part of Jesus’ response is because we cannot make a personal idol of Jesus.
Other personal relationships are also involved within a community of faith. Mary goes straight to Simon Peter when she discovers the tomb is empty. Peter does not go alone but takes along the beloved disciple. The two arrive. Peter sees. The beloved disciple sees and believes. At this moment, we have three people who have experienced the empty tomb and they are in different places in their level of understanding and belief. Yet they are still one family in Christ.
It’s a whole new world. There’s the paradox between the personal connection with Jesus and the shared relationship we have as the body of Christ. There are different levels of understanding. A woman is the first apostle to be sent to Jesus to witness to the resurrection. “I have seen the Lord!” Mary announces. There are people among us today who can say that. It’s still happening, to us, with us, among us.
A whole new world – The Apostle Peter recognizes that the world has changed. All his ingrained aversions that created the barriers of caste, class, ethnic, and racial barriers are torn down. It is not only we as individuals who are resurrected, but the society is resurrected into new life also.
A whole new world – we are part of the generation of Jesus. The Apostle Paul tells the Corinthians they are part of the generation of Jesus because those who witnessed his life, death, and resurrection were still among them. Thanks to the living presence of the resurrected Jesus in our midst, two thousand years later we can say the same thing.
A whole new world – we are part of the new relationship in Jesus. Mary of Magdala, Peter, and the beloved disciple each experienced the resurrected Lord in a different way that Easter morning, had different understandings and levels of belief, but all had not only a relationship with Jesus, but a relationship with each other in the Body of Christ. We’re not necessarily in the same place at this moment with regards to our life of faith, but we’re doing this together!
Acts 10:34-43
On Easter morning, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and look forward to our own resurrection. But sometimes our cultural perspective causes us to think about the resurrection as a personal event. There is nothing individualistic about the New Testament. It’s a party, a grand party. Revelation gives us a picture of the heavenly realms and the people are packed in. Jesus says, “In my Father’s house are many apartments,” where we live together. We might think of heaven as a grand family reunion, with our grandparents and parents and uncles and aunts and cousins, and everybody else’s grandparents and parents’ uncles and aunts and cousins. Maybe that explains Peter’s amazement as he explains to the Roman centurion and his household, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” (34-35)
Just some backstory: earlier in the tenth chapter of Acts Peter dreams God shows him a giant sheet descending from heaven on which stand unclean animals. A voice invites Peter to eat three times, and Peter responds (three more times!) that he doesn’t eat food labelled unclean by the Hebrew scriptures, and a messenger from the centurion Cornelius invites him to come preach the good news of Jesus Christ. Now Luke has made it clear Jesus intends for the apostles and disciples to preach this good news first in Jerusalem, then in Samaria, and finally the whole world, but perhaps the first believers thought this would mean only those people in the whole, wide world who were Jewish believers scattered throughout the Roman Empire. Now Peter’s already staying with Simon the Tanner, whose profession which involves touching dead animal skins renders him unclean, so he’s crossed a boundary there, but this is a big step. Peter preaches the good news to Gentiles and discovers the Holy Spirit has been there before him.
There’s a gutty “yick” factor to this passage. Peter was probably revolted by the idea of eating “unclean” animals that were considered dinner by other cultures. He had to overcome the “yick” living with Simon the Tanner, all those strong chemical smells and the cured and uncured animal skins. And he probably felt a little creepy crossing the doorway into the home of Cornelius, even though God was sending him. But it quickly became not only the most natural thing in the world, but the best thing that ever happened.
What this is all about of course is not just my resurrection and your resurrection. It’s about society’s redemption and resurrection. Peter is astounded to discover that God doesn’t care about the definitions we create that we use to separate each other into groups. Let me say that again.
God doesn’t care.
In his book A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, geneticist Adam Rutherford in describing the history of humanity makes the point that what we think of as differences are superficial and inconsequential. Pointing to recent studies about human genetics, he writes:
What (these studies) shows more clearly than ever before is that key physical attributes that we identify as being “race-specific” are superficial and recent.
This is a game changer. This is a whole new world. The resurrection of Jesus Christ invites us to take part in the resurrection of the world, the resurrection of humanity. We see baby steps here in the Book of Acts. Maybe it’s time for us to all stop being babies.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
The Etruscans had a unit of time they called the saeculum. It basically covered the time from when an important event happened to the moment when the last person who remembered that event died! According to one story, the Etruscans believed they had been granted ten saeculae, ten eras so to speak, and so perhaps it was no surprise to them when they were supplanted by the Romans all those centuries before Jesus. Anyway, Paul in his letter to the Corinthians wants to assure us they were still in the saeculum of Jesus.
The Apostle Paul has been explaining some of the implications of the Christian faith, explaining that we are all connected with each other, that we are all necessary to each other, and how therefore we are to treat each other.
But at this point in his letter, he decides to emphasize the reason we believe. Keep in mind, although some translations are poetic, the Greek is not poetic. It is not rhythmic. It’s not like reciting a classic creed, or remembering one of the foundational verses, such as in Isaiah, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders…” Like that. This is not like that.
And the poetry business is not important at all. We believe this, not because it sounds good, but because it is true.
What’s all true?
This.
“For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).”
After these verses, he’s going to list all the witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus, and he’s going to explain what that resurrection means for us. But there’s something really important being said here.
Here comes more words. The term translated as “of first importance” has two different meanings. First, it’s a word that has to do with time. As in, this is the first thing I taught you. It’s the first thing you and I need to know.
It also ranks things in order of importance, and this statement – Christ died for our sins, was buried, and raised on the third day according to the scriptures – is the most important thing for us to know.
It’s the first thing and the most important thing. It doesn’t change.
Now if this thing is of first importance, then Paul tells it is in this we are saved, “if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you…” (15:2b) Hold firmly or hold fast: the Greek term is ei katechete which also means “keep in one’s memory.” That’s important. It’s one of the tasks Paul gives us. Someone proclaimed the message, whether you first heard it as a testimony from somebody earnestly sharing the gospel with you as an adult, or whether as a child wiggling in the pew because you’d had too much Easter candy that morning those few words wriggled their way into your consciousness – Jesus died, Jesus was buried, Jesus is risen!
Repeating, remembering, restating our belief in the resurrection is a key thing, so we know in the midst of chaos, medical, political, societal, that Jesus is alive and with us, now and always.
That’s the thing. That’s why the Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthian house churches, shares the list of witnesses to the resurrection. He wants to make it clear that they are still living in the Jesus saeculum. He lists the important witnesses to this event, so we know we can trust it.
The list includes Peter, the rest of the twelve, and James, the brother of the Lord. And he asserts, citing an event we don’t have in the four gospels, “Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.” (1 Corinthians 15:6)
There are people still alive who saw Jesus risen.
What about now? Are we not part of the Jesus saeculum? Are there no living witnesses to the risen Lord?
That’s what’s important about something else Paul writes. He refers to himself as one “untimely born.” He was not a disciple during the living ministry of Jesus, or during the time when the risen Jesus. Paul’s experience of Jesus was so profound and powerful it fueled his ministry despite all the stonings, shipwrecks, beatings, floggings, imprisonments, and opposition from supposedly right-headed folks all the way to his beheading at the behest of the Emperor Nero.
And there have always been people whose experience of Jesus is so powerful, women like Theresa of Avila, for instance, and Julian of Norwich, whose words so inspire us we also see Jesu, that we can be assured that as Jesus told the disciples at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, “Behold, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.”
Jesus is with us always. The Jesus Age, the Jesus era, is still happening. We know people for whom Jesus is a present reality. We are people for whom Jesus is a present reality.
That’s why it’s essential to remember what Paul says is “of first importance.” You might highlight this in your Bible and put a bookmark there. This is not changing. For many of us, it’s the first thing we learned about God, and for all of us, it’s the most important thing we learn!
John 20:1-18
In my discussion of our Old Testament passage from the Acts of the Apostles, I emphasize the community nature of the resurrection. Society is also resurrected from the dead. The one humanity is raised. National, cultural, and perceived, though unreal, racial barriers are destroyed. It’s important to keep the communal nature of our salvation in view.
However, we still see through one set of eyes – our own – and this passage emphasizes how important an individual relationship with Jesus truly is – as long as we do not let it slip into idolatry.
People have a tendency to say “my Jesus,” and “my Bible” as if they were personal possessions. Let’s face it, Jesus quoted Psalm 22 from the cross when he cried aloud, “My God!” But he was not talking about ownership there.
We see this very clearly in the trajectory of Mary of Magdala’s morning. She comes in grief. Her weeping is mentioned four times. She draws wrong conclusions – they have stolen his body – but it’s all motivated by the fact she loves Jesus.
And Jesus loves Mary! He calls her by name. He erases her fears.
Now there are many explanations for the reason Jesus tells Mary she cannot touch him, as he goes to the Father. Everything in the Gospel of John is multi-layered and I’m sure this is no exception. I wonder if part of Jesus’ response is because we cannot make a personal idol of Jesus.
Other personal relationships are also involved within a community of faith. Mary goes straight to Simon Peter when she discovers the tomb is empty. Peter does not go alone but takes along the beloved disciple. The two arrive. Peter sees. The beloved disciple sees and believes. At this moment, we have three people who have experienced the empty tomb and they are in different places in their level of understanding and belief. Yet they are still one family in Christ.
It’s a whole new world. There’s the paradox between the personal connection with Jesus and the shared relationship we have as the body of Christ. There are different levels of understanding. A woman is the first apostle to be sent to Jesus to witness to the resurrection. “I have seen the Lord!” Mary announces. There are people among us today who can say that. It’s still happening, to us, with us, among us.
