4 Easter, Year B

Acts 4: 5 - 12; Psalm 23; I John 3: 16 - 24; John 10: 11 - 18

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, April 29, 2012

“JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD”

(Homily text:     John 10: 11 - 18)

“I am the good shepherd.”

Of all of the sayings of Jesus, perhaps this is one of the most familiar.  The image of Jesus as shepherd is borne out by the paintings that decorate our walls, ones that show Him leading a flock of sheep, or perhaps carrying a lamb around His shoulders.

Indeed, the Old Testament is full of shepherd images….We read Psalm 23 together this morning, which begins with the familiar phrase, “The Lord is my shepherd.”  Jesus’ discourse, heard this morning, draws heavily on shepherd-imagery which is found in Ezekiel, chapter 34.

Even today in the Holy Land, the paths which sheep and shepherd have worn into the hillsides are seen nearly everywhere, some of them dating back centuries.

Let’s go beyond the familiar images that well-known Psalms and our paintings depict to take a closer look at what it means to be a shepherd.  What could Jesus mean by describing Himself as the “good shepherd”?

The first place to begin is with the regard with which shepherds were looked upon in ancient times….being a shepherd wasn’t a glamorous occupation.  In fact, if a person was a shepherd, it probably meant that they were somewhere near the bottom rungs of society.  (I don’t want to compare the occupation of being a shepherd to any contemporary occupation, for fear of branding that particular occupation in a negative way.)  So the image is one of lowliness of status, somewhere near servant or slave in biblical times.

The second thing we ought to observe is that the sheep and the shepherd have a mutual relationship.  Simply put, without sheep, there is no need for a shepherd.  Without a shepherd, the flock would not exist.  The one’s existence depends on the other’s existence.  The first comment, the one about the shepherd’s existence (and livelihood) being dependent on the flock’s existence, is easy to see.  The other aspect of the relationship, that of the flock’s very existence being dependent on the shepherd’s guidance and leadership, may not be so easy to see:  the reason for the sheep’s dependence on the shepherd is because sheep are really dumb animals. They can follow a shepherd, but they are incapable of leading anything, including themselves.  They are prone to getting into trouble, wandering off, and becoming prey for wild animals.

Next, we could observe the tools of the trade that the shepherd makes use of…earlier on in chapter ten, Jesus has compared His leadership of the flock to that of a sheep pen, an enclosure that would have made it more difficult for wild animals to come and attack the flock at night.  Now, the image of the shepherd carries with it the necessary tool of the shepherd’s crook….Next time Bishop Martins is with us, notice that the crozier (crook) that he carries has a hooked end on the one end, and a pointed end on the other.  The crook has the ability to snare and bring back to safely a wayward sheep….perhaps Jesus is alluding to the need to maintain the unity of the flock, a unity which would come from the shepherd’s ability to corral wandering animals, to bring them back into the main body of the flock…the hooked end of the crook would come in handy in such cases.  The pointed end can be used to prod a recalcitrant animal into motion.  A shepherd not only pulls the wandering sheep back, but prods them into movement for their own good and safety.

So we can see that the shepherd and the sheep have a direct and personal relationship, one with the other.  (This is an important aspect of the Fourth Gospel’s understanding of the direct and personal relationship between Jesus Christ and the individual believer….each share in a direct, personal and loving relationship.)

Perhaps now we are ready to change our focus just a little.  Having considered the nature of sheep and shepherding, let’s turn our attention to the matter of the importance of the gospel writer’s concerns in recording Jesus’ comments, as they were related to the early Christian congregation(s) that John was writing to … of course, by extension, John is also writing to us.

The point here is that every one of the four gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, operate on two levels:

·         The immediate circumstances of Jesus’ original actions/teachings/miracles,

·        The circumstances of the early Christian congregation to whom the gospel writer is writing.

The eminent New Testament scholar Raymond Brown makes this point quite clearly in his book “The Churches the Apostles Left Behind”, which has been the focus of our Tuesday evening Midweek Study Series recently.  Brown’s point is that we can learn a lot about the situation that Jesus faced, and we can learn a lot about the situation the early Church also faced, as the gospel writer chooses to include in the written record of Jesus’ responses to the original situation circumstances that were similar in some way among the early Christian congregation.  Put another way, the gospel writer might have in mind a thought which goes something like this:  “Jesus faced a situation very much like the one we are facing, so perhaps I ought to record what Jesus said/did about that.”

I think we’re on pretty solid ground in coming to this conclusion.

Let’s see how this two-fold vision works itself out in John’s gospel account:

·       Jesus faced opposition from the ruling elite of the Jewish community during His earthly ministry.  The priests, the Pharisees, and others opposed Him.  Many times, their actions showed that they were far more interested in following the Law of Moses than they were in the welfare and condition of God’s people.  Jesus’ comments about the regard for the Law of Moses will illustrate the point:  Speaking about the laws regarding the Sabbath day, Jesus tells His opponents the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (see Mark 2: 27).  Moreover, many of the priestly caste used their offices for personal financial gain, benefitting from the system of animal sacrifices that took place only in the Temple in Jerusalem (this was, perhaps, the basis of Jesus’ actions in cleansing the Temple, which had become the first century version of “big business”.)  No wonder that Jesus observed the Jewish people of His day and was concerned for their wellbeing, for He observed that they were like “sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9: 36).  Perhaps it is for this reason that, earlier on in chapter ten,  Jesus compares all the other “shepherds” to being hirelings, who are not interested in the flock’s welfare, but only in their own welfare.

·      The early Church to whom John was writing was, most likely, locked in dispute with surrounding Jewish communities.  We know from history that the break between Christianity and Judaism wasn’t complete until the Jewish Council of Jamnia, which took place in the year 90 AD.  So Jesus’ words might well have resonated with this early community of believers, who had been called out of Judaism, or out of pagan, Gentile ways into a new, direct, and personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  They might well have seen the leadership of these others as being self-serving, shepherds who were leading their flocks in the wrong direction.

No homily would be complete without some suggestions of the ways in which Jesus’ teachings can be applied to us today.  For your own reflection, I offer the following possible applications:

·        A direct and personal, one-on-one relationship with Jesus Christ:  Central to John’s understanding of the relationship between the Lord and those who have come to believe in Him is this concern:  The relationship is a personal, one-on-one, direct relationship between Jesus and the individual.  Each individual is responsible to the Lord for following Him closely.  (This point is well made in Raymond Brown’s book, cited above.)

·        Like sheep, we are prone to be wayward followers:  The imagery of sheep is peppered throughout the Old and New Testaments.  Consider the phrase “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6) (remember also that this text is used as a famous chorus in Handel’s “Messiah”). The reality is this:  1. We cannot lead, only follow, and 2. we are prone to wanderings, and are in need of the shepherd’s careful and constant attention.

·        Jesus seeks to establish one flock:  Much attention and controversy has surrounded Jesus’ comment that He has “other sheep that are not of this fold.  I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice.  So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.”  Some have taken Jesus’ comments to mean that “their church” alone is the true flock, and that all other churches which claim to be Christian are not members of the “true flock”.  Others, meanwhile, have taken the saying to indicate that there are other religious communities (even non-Christian ones) which are members of the “one flock”.  I believe, if we take into account the image of the shepherd as the leader and maintainer of the flock, that what Jesus is referring to is the entire community which follows Him….Put another way, all who hear Jesus’ voice and who follow Him faithfully are members of the one flock, following the one shepherd.  Here I refer again to Raymond Brown’s book, which makes the point that, using evidence which is garnered from the New Testament itself, there were no less than about seven different sorts of early Christian churches in the first century, each one possessed of a unique theological focus, method of organization and which grappled with particular weaknesses, while possessing unique strengths, as well.  For us today, the wide panoply of Christian churches bears witness to the ongoing diversity of belief and practice which is to be found throughout the Christian community.  By God’s grace, our focus can include all those who seek to faithfully follow the voice of the one shepherd, for the richness of theological focus and practice which can be found across the spectrum of Christian life can inform our own focus and practice.  Surely, there are things that we in our wonderful Anglican tradition can learn to our betterment from observation and conversation with other Christian believers.

·        Pastoral leadership of the flock:  Ever think about the ways in which the shepherd imagery shows up in the Church’s life?  For example, many Christians call their ordained leader a pastor.  Pastor means “shepherd”.  We call the care given to those in some sort of need pastoral care, which is another shepherd image.  Our Bishops are called “chief pastors”, and they carry the aforementioned crook.  Bishops are called to be the guardians of the faith and the protector of the flocks committed to their care.  (Priests share in this ministry by being assistants to the Bishop.)  Being a guardian of the faith entails mounting a guard against false teaching, and maintaining a defense against the corrosive ways of the pagan world.  So those in ordained ministry are called to maintain the unity of the flock, to protect it, and to lead it, acting in the same ways that our Lord did.

May we, by the grace and leading of the Holy Spirit (the Paraclete in John’s terminology) be enabled to follow the voice of the shepherd, to respond to the retrieving of the flock from its wayward ways, and to the gentle prodding of the shepherd when the time comes to move in response to His leading.

AMEN.

3 Easter, Year B

Acts 3: 12 – 19; Psalm 4; I John 3: 1 – 7; Luke 24: 36b – 48

A reflection by Fr. Gene Tucker, provided for Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, April 22, 2012.

“THE RESURRECTED PRESENCE OF CHRIST”

(Text:  Luke 24: 36b – 48)

In our Parish Hall sits a galvanized bucket, which bears a slogan:  “Mysteries of God”.  Surrounding the slogan on the bucket are quite a large number of question marks.

By now you know that this bucket came into being as a result of our Wednesday morning discussions in the group which is formally known as the “Informal Discussion Group”, but which is informally known as the “Happy Wanderers”.  Many times during our considerations of the various books of the New Testament (we are making our way through the entire New Testament, one book at a time), we would wander off the subject at hand into some related topic.  Sometimes, we’d come up against a question which we couldn’t find an answer to….so, we decided that those questions ought to wind up in the “Mysteries of God” bucket, so that we could present them to God at some appropriate point.

Of course, the bucket’s very existence bears witness to the fact that there are some aspects of our life of faith in God that we cannot know entirely this side of heaven.  Complete answers to some of those mysteries will have to wait until we are in God’s very presence.

But, in the meantime, in this life, we struggle to understand, don’t we?  (The very fact that we struggle with the mysteries of God is testament to the fact that we have a lively faith, and an ongoing, intimate relationship with Him through Jesus Christ….this ought to provide comfort to us and an assurance of God’s presence in our lives.)

Perhaps I am digressing just a little.

Let’s return to this “Mystery of God” and pose the question “Just how is the resurrected Jesus present with us?”

The question itself comes from our gospel reading for today, from the very end of Luke’s account, chapter 24.  Here, we read that Jesus came and stood among them (verse 36).  Of course, the disciples are startled and frightened.  But Jesus invites them to touch him, to see that He “has flesh and bones”, and is not a spirit.  Then, He asks if they have anything to eat.  Receiving a piece of broiled fish, He eats with them.

So, here we have one answer:  Jesus was with the disciples after His resurrection, and in this state, He possessed all of His physical reality (flesh and bones) that He had before His death.  (We should remember that John’s gospel account also takes care to tell us that Jesus invited Thomas to touch Him, to see that He had a real, physical body….this was our gospel text for last week.)

Yet another aspect to Jesus’ resurrected presence has to do with His ascension into heaven.  It is Luke who narrates this event for us, telling us that the ascension took place 40 days after Easter.  Our reading from I John (verse 2b) this morning alludes to Jesus’ absence, as we hear that “when Jesus appears, we shall be like him….”  The writer affirms that Jesus isn’t present now, but that He will be at some point in the future.

Yet another understanding of Jesus’ continuing presence is offered to us in Matthew’s gospel account….

In Matthew 18: 20, we read this:  “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”  This understanding of Jesus’ continuing presence is affirmed as Jesus says to the gathered disciples on the mountain (Matthew 28:20) that He “is with them always, even to the close of the age.”

To summarize, then, we have the following understandings of Jesus’ presence/absence among us after His resurrection:

            1.  Jesus rises from the dead, possessing a physical body which can be touched, and which can eat food.

            2.  Jesus’ resurrected state makes Him free of the normal limitations of a physical existence, as He is able to suddenly appear in one place, then disappear.  He can also pass through closed doors (see John 20: 26).

            3.  Jesus ascends into heaven 40 days after the resurrection (see Acts 1: 1 – 11).

            4.  Jesus continues to be with His disciples, wherever they are gathered (even in small groups of two or three – Matthew 18), and until the close of the age (Matthew 28).

 Now how can all of these things be true?

 Perhaps it’s time to bring the “Mysteries of God” bucket and write our wonderings on a slip of paper, so that we can present this question to the Father when we come into His presence someday.

For now, however, it seems appropriate to say that all of these things can be true, and all can be true at the same time….The truth of all of these statements, none of which cancel out any other understandings, can be affirmed this way:  1.  Yes, Jesus rose from the grave with all of His physical being intact,  2.  He was free of the normal limitations that having an actual, physical body imposes, 3.  Jesus is gone from us into heaven, and 4.  Jesus is present with us, now and until the end of time.

So, what can we understand about all this?

 Perhaps just this:

·         Jesus is free of the limitations of time and space, having arisen from the grave.

·        Because He is free of the limitations of time and space, He can be present in more than one place at one time.

·        This freedom allows Him to be present wherever His disciples are gathered, even in small groups.

·        This freedom allows Him to be present in the celebrations of the Last Supper (Communion), when He offered His body and blood to us under the forms of bread and wine.

Welcome to the wonderful and mysterious reality of Jesus’ resurrected presence with us, and to a contemplation of the “Mysteries of God”!

2 Easter, Year B

Acts 4:32–35; Psalm 133; I John 1:1 – 2:2; John 20:19–31

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at St. Mary’s Church, Robinson, Illinois; Sunday, April 15, 2012 (by Mr. R. J. Rains, Licensed Lay Worship Leader)

“THE RESURRECTED CHRIST AND GOD’S GRACE”

(Homily texts:  I John 1: 1 – 2: 2 & John 20: 19 – 31)

God’s grace has been very much on my mind this week, as I have been preparing to give a talk at the Cursillo retreat at the Toddhall Conference Center in Belleville, which is taking place even as we meet this morning.  The topic of my talk is grace.

Perhaps it’s best if we define the word grace.  (Sometimes, I think we throw some key words around in the Church without really considering what they mean, exactly.)  

Grace is defined in the Catechism which is found at the back of the Book of Common Prayer (page 858) as “God’s favor towards us, unearned and undeserved.”

It strikes me that this is an excellent definition for the word, as we apply it to the life of faith, the life lived in God and with God.

Now, let’s apply the concept of grace to the resurrection appearance which was granted to Thomas on this very day, the first Sunday after the Sunday of the Resurrection.

(Before we proceed, we ought to take a moment to remind ourselves that this is a gospel text we hear every year on the Second Sunday of Easter.)

Thomas must’ve been a hard case for the Lord to tackle….Notice how he demands a sign that the resurrection had actually taken place.  Here are his words, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

An aside is appropriate here…Notice that, in the crucifixion accounts in each of the four gospels, no mention is made of the use of nails to fix Jesus to the cross.  It is here, in the words of Thomas’ demands, that we learn that this was an aspect of Jesus’ suffering and death.  Obliquely, we also know this fact from Luke’s account, as he records the fact that Jesus showed the disciples His hands and His side (see Luke 24: 40).

But let’s return to Thomas’ demands for a moment.  Notice that Thomas isn’t satisfied to see the risen Lord, he demands to touch Him as well, and not just the Lord’s hands, but the Lord’s side, too.

Thomas seems to dismiss the other disciples’ witness as they tell him, “We have seen the Lord.”

 Despite Thomas’ high standard of proof that the Lord is alive, the Lord grants his request.  In fact, in a thread which runs throughout John’s gospel, the Lord knows exactly what Thomas has demanded without being told.  In John’s gospel, time and again we see that the Lord knows things that ordinary human beings cannot know.  This divine foreknowledge is one of the signs that Jesus is one with the Father, possessed of knowledge that only God can possess.

Here, God’s grace – His undeserved and unearned favor – is given to Thomas, as the Lord appears to him and invites him to touch the risen Lord.

If we think about it, the Lord didn’t have to grant Thomas’ request at all.  The Lord could have let Thomas come to the point of believing that He had, in fact, risen from the dead all on his own.  After all, Thomas could have come to the point of belief by watching the changed lives of the other disciples. 

That’s what many early Christians did:  They watched and heard the testimony of the disciples as they told about seeing the risen Lord.  Our reading from Acts this morning bears that reality out:  Acts says that “with great power, the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”
The testimony of those who had seen and had touched the Lord, as the First Letter of John puts it, must’ve been powerful and convincing.

But the Lord, acting with grace toward Thomas, wants Thomas to know for certain that the resurrection is real.  Thomas apparently needed that convincing proof in order to be an effective and powerful witness to the Lord’s resurrection.

As a result, Thomas became a powerful witness to the Lord’s resurrection.  Tradition tells us that he travelled as far as the subcontinent of India, carrying the good news of Jesus Christ.  Even today, there is a church in the nation of India that bears Thomas’ name, the Mar Thoma Church.

You and I are called to come to faith, just as Thomas did.

In a sense, our journey to faith is harder than Thomas’ was, for we are not granted a resurrection appearance of the sort that he was.

We are called to trust that the witness of the early disciples-become-apostles is a true one.  After all, isn’t that what the gospel writer says to us this morning as he writes, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.”  Essentially, the gospel writer is telling us that the written record of Jesus is the record of the disciples’ eyewitness accounts of the Lord’s work.

In order to come to the point of believing, we will need God’s grace in order to become a believer.  The truth of the resurrection goes beyond our powers to reason the truth of it out.  Our minds tell us that no one rises from the dead….perhaps, after all, that’s why Thomas made such stringent demands of proof in order to accept the truth of Jesus’ resurrection.

Ultimately, believing that Jesus really rose from the dead is a matter of faith.  Jesus tells Thomas, “Do not be faithless, but believing.”  But Jesus does not ask us to make a leap of faith into the unknown.  The Lord offers us the proof of the witness of the disciples-become-apostles, for the witness of Scripture is the record of the disciples’ experience of the risen Lord.   The Bible points to the experiences of those who heard the Lord, who saw the Lord, who touched the Lord, as the First Letter of John tells us.

The beginning of this journey of faith into the reality of Jesus’ resurrection, and into the new life that He offers us, begins with God’s grace.  Simply put, God enables us to believe.  If we accept that divine favor, unearned and undeserved, then God will honor our response and will strengthen our ability to accept the reality of the resurrection.  His grace continues as we come to believe more and more, and as we believe more and more, we come to know that these things are true.  We can then believe even more deeply as a result of having come to know that the resurrection is true.  This process is summed up in the saying, “I believe in order to know, and I know in order to believe.”

If we come to believe, our gospel reading this morning offers us a blessing that Thomas could not receive…Jesus says to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

May God’s grace enable us to believe – either for the first time, or yet again and more deeply – even though we have seen only with the eyes of faith.

AMEN.

The Sunday of the Resurrection (Easter Sunday), Year B

Acts 10: 34 - 43; Psalm 118: 1 – 2, 14 - 24; I Corinthians 15: 1 - 11; John 20: 1- 18

A homily by:   Fr. Gene Tucker

Given at:         Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, April 1, 2012

“THE LOCAL AND THE COSMIC – PART II”

(This homily is a continuation of the one preached at our Good Friday service.  At that time, we considered some of the circumstances (which we called the “local) surrounding Jesus’ betrayal, trial, suffering and death, including the brutality of the Roman occupation of the Holy Land and the motivations of the ruling elite of the Jewish people as they sought to get rid of the challenge that Jesus’ ministry posed to their prominent place in the society of Jesus’ day.  Then, we considered how God might be involved in all of these events (which we called the “cosmic”.)

Easter morning.

Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb and finds it empty.  Jesus’ body is missing, and she runs to tell Peter and another disciple about her discovery.  “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him,” she says.

As these two run to the tomb, enter it, and find it empty, just as Mary had said, we read that neither of these two men knew, yet, the scriptures that said that He must rise from the dead.  Even Mary, who encounters the Lord, does not recognize Him at first, until He calls her by name.

In this brief summary of John’s account of the resurrection, we have two threads at work:  the “local” and the “cosmic”.

The “local” threads are the circumstances of Jesus’ burial.  The “cosmic” threads are the resurrection appearances, showing that God is at work in bringing Jesus back to life again.

But, lest we get ahead of ourselves, let’s back up a bit and pick up the “local” threads as they are found in Jesus’ death on Good Friday….

Recall with me that, in our Passion reading from John’s gospel account, chapters eighteen and nineteen (heard on Good Friday), that Joseph of Arimathea came to Pilate to ask permission to take Jesus’ body away.  Pilate granted permission for him to take the body down, and to bury it.

We might do well to stop right here in our consideration of the “local” aspects of Jesus’ death.  First of all, Jesus is positively identified by the sign which hangs over His head, proclaiming that this man is “Jesus of Nazareth”.  Secondly, Jesus’ execution is a public event, witnessed by many who stood around, watching.[1]  Third, Jesus really died….a person didn’t get off a Roman cross alive.  Not only had Jesus lost a lot of bodily fluids, but He also suffered the wounding by the spear that was thrust into His side.  All of these things confirm that He was positively identified, that He really died, and that He didn’t just fall into some sort of a swoon or a coma.  Jesus died after about six hours’ time on the cross.  That was a relatively quick death for a crucified person.  (Remember that the two thieves who were also crucified with him were still alive, and so their legs were broken so as to prevent them from continuing to breathe.)  After ascertaining that Jesus was, indeed, dead, he grants permission for Joseph to take the body away.

Here we come to a critical aspect of the “local” events surrounding Jesus’ death:  Joseph lays the body in his own tomb, a tomb which was cut out of the rock, and which had never been used for burial.  A large stone is rolled across the opening to the tomb.  In Matthew’s gospel account (see Matthew 27: 65 – 66), we read that the stone is sealed (with an official Roman seal, most likely), and a guard is posted outside the tomb.

These details of the “local” circumstances are quite important, for they relate directly to the reality of Jesus’ resurrection.

An explanation is in order:  Many criminals who were crucified didn’t receive a burial, many scholars think. Their bodies were, most likely, dumped somewhere, and maybe even in the immediate area around the site of execution.  (Some even think that the name of the place where Jesus was crucified, “The Place of a Skull” came from the fact that skulls of previous victims littered the area, their gaunt eyes looking up at the faces of the crucified ones who would follow them.)

It’s possible that, in some cases, family members refused to take away the bodies of relatives who’d suffered such an ignominious death.

 The point is that, instead of suffering this fate, Jesus’ body was taken to a secure and known place for burial, a place which was guarded to prevent theft, a place that was sealed with a Roman governmental seal.

These “local” circumstances assure us of the location of Jesus’ dead body.  They assure us that the only way He came out of the tomb was because God caused Him to come out. These would be the “cosmic” aspects of the resurrection.

So, resurrection appearances begin….to the original disciples (minus Judas, who had committed suicide, and minus Thomas, who was absent on Easter Sunday evening[2]), to Mary Magdalene, and then to others, as St. Paul enumerates them for us in I Corinthians, chapter fifteen…He tells us that over 500 saw the Lord at one time, a fact that rules out some sort of hallucination or mistaken identity among those who saw the Lord one-on-one.

The Lord appears and eats with those He loved.  He invites them to touch Him, to see that he has flesh and blood, and is not a ghost (see Luke 24: 39 – 43).  The point that Luke makes is that the Lord has risen with his body intact. 

Now, what does this all mean to you and me?

Simply this, I think:  The resurrection is the central most important truth of our Christian faith.  St. Paul affirms this as he tells the early Corinthian believers that “if there is no resurrection, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” (I Corinthians 15: 14)

Paul writes thus to the early Corinthians because, apparently, some doubted that the resurrection really happened.  Alas, these early believers have a lot of latter-day company:  Many Christians today don’t believe that the resurrection really took place…. “Oh, these stories must be the fabrication of ancient peoples whose religious world views are represented in these fanciful tales,” some would say.

 But the question here is, “How big is God?”  Is God capable only of the things that normal human beings are able to do?  If so, then we must rule out any possibility of resurrection.  Human beings can’t raise dead people to life again.

 Essentially, that is what our response to the resurrection accounts comes down to….do we believe what we read?

 If the scriptural accounts are true (and I believe they are), then the “cosmic” aspects of the Easter event tell us that an all-powerful God cares enough about each of us to show us the way to come to a personal, enduring relationship with that very same God.  God’s power overcomes every obstacle to our relationship with Him….even death cannot separate us from the love of God (see Romans 8: 31 – 39). We come to the Father, following in the footsteps of the Son, whose purpose is to lead us to the Father.

We come to the Father through the Son in faith, believing that what we read in the Bible is true and trustworthy.  We come to the Father through the Son, entering into a deeply personal, life-changing relationship that creates new life for us now, and which offers us the guarantee of eternal life in the age to come.

Thanks be to the God who works through “local” events to bring “cosmic” benefits to those who believe.

AMEN.

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[1]   The first century historian Josephus tells us that Jesus was crucified by Pilate.

[2]   We will hear the circumstances of the special resurrection appearance to Thomas in our gospel reading for next Sunday.

Maundy Thursday, Year B

Exodus 12:1-14a; Psalm 78:14-20, 23-25; I Corinthians 11:23-32; John 13:1-15

A homily by:   Fr. Gene Tucker

Given at:         Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Thursday, April 5, 2012

“REMEMBERING THAT FIRST NIGHT”

(Introductory note:  This homily is given as if it was one of Jesus’ disciples, remembering back on the events of Maundy Thursday some years later.)

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, dear brothers and sisters….

It’s been many years now since the events of that night.  But I can still see His eyes, as He knelt before me, a towel wrapped around His waist, as He washed my feet.

My reaction was a whole lot like many of the others…. “What are you doing?” I asked myself,  “this is the work of a slave.”

Since you are not of my time and culture, I have to explain a little…You see, when I was alive, it was common practice for the host of a gathering to have a servant or a slave wash everyone’s feet.  After all, we all wore sandals in those days, and the roads were dusty. 

But here, the host, Jesus, was the one who took the role of the slave.

You have read about Simon’s reaction, haven’t you?  (I keep forgetting, you know him better by his nickname, “Peter”.)

He said, “Lord, you shall never wash my feet!”    (I can still hear his voice…he was almost yelling in protest!)

 (Peter – before the Lord’s resurrection at least – blew hot and cold.  One time, he’d seem to understand the Lord very well.  But in the next moment, he’d show how ignorant he was….All that changed after the Lord rose from the dead on Easter Sunday morning.  Peter became our powerful and consistent leader.  Wow, what a transformation!)

Anyway, he said, “Lord, you shall never wash my feet!”

And the Lord looked up at him and said, “If I don’t wash your feet, you will have no part of me.”

Then Peter said (in his typical fashion – remember what I said a minute ago about Peter “blowing hot and cold”) said, “Then wash all of me.”

But I’m getting a little beside my main point, talking about Peter.

We didn’t understand it then, but what Jesus did for us that night was to show us that He was not only our leader, but He was also our servant.

Washing our feet confirmed that He had come to serve us.  He wanted us to know that fact for certain so much that He even said so.  He said, “I am among you as one who serves.”

So much about that night puzzled us at the time….it took us awhile to understand it.

I mean, for example, think of the Passover meal, which is why we’d gathered in that upper room in the first place…..

Jesus took a piece of bread in His hands and said, “This is my body, which is given for you.”  Then He gave it to us to eat.

What did that mean?  “This is my body.”

We didn’t understand.  We still don’t understand, completely.

For after Jesus said, “This is my body,” then He said, “Whenever you eat of it, do it in remembrance of me.”

Why – we wondered at the time – was it necessary for us to remember Him?  Was He going away, or going to leave us?

We didn’t understand.

Then, He said as He took the cup of wine, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.”  And then He added, “Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.”

Again we wondered, “Was He going to leave us sometime soon?  What does it mean that His blood is to be poured out?”

We didn’t understand, at the time, at least.

Well, it’s been many years now since the Lord spoke those words, and did those things.  Most of us who were His original disciples are spread out now across the world, bringing the good news to anyone who will listen.

But we still celebrate the feast of the bread and the wine.  I see, from looking around at your church (we would have loved to have a wonderful building like you have!) that you still celebrate the feast of the bread and the wine.

The Lord assured us that He would be with us until the very end of the age.  We original disciples believe that the feast of the bread and the wine is one way that the Lord is with us, as we gather together in His name.  After all, He said, “This is my body, this is my blood.”  So, the Lord Jesus is really present with us, here tonight.

So, if it’s alright with you, I’d like to stay for your celebration.  It will bring me back to that very first night when I sat near the Lord and heard Him say, “This is my body, this is my blood.”

The Sunday of the Passion (Palm Sunday), Year B

Mark 11: 1 – 11a; Isaiah 45: 21 - 25; Psalm 22: 1 - 11; Philippians 2: 5 - 11; Mark 14: 32 – 15: 47

A homily by:   Fr. Gene Tucker
Given at:         Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, April 1, 2012

 "GOOD FRIDAY OR EASTER?”

Here we stand on the leading edge of Holy Week.

Perhaps as we look ahead into this week, facing Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and the celebrations of Easter, a good question to ask ourselves might be this one:

Am I a “Good Friday Christian”, or am I an “Easter Christian”?

As you read (or hear) that question, perhaps you’re wondering why I pose it for our consideration.

The reason is simple: It seems to be difficult for us human beings to focus on the entirety of a subject.  We often tend to gravitate toward a focus on one aspect of a topic, to the exclusion (partial or total) of other parts of it.

Perhaps this tendency stems from a basic survival skill that we humans have:  We tend to remember the good things about events in our lives, and we tend to try to forget the bad or harmful things.  Even the negative events in our lives will often be remembered for the good that came out of a bad situation.

I guess this is to state the perfectly obvious.

Of course, it’s important to add that we ought to remember at least some of the bad or harmful things that have taken place in the course of our life’s journey.  For if we properly reflect on those events, we can learn from them, so as to be better prepared to face the future.

But I think I am digressing a little.

Let’s return to the matter of Good Friday and Easter.

As we enter this Holy Week, we can see that there is a definite emotional and dramatic pattern to it:

·          It begins on a high note, as Jesus enters the Holy City of Jerusalem, acclaimed by the crowds, who shout “Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming!  Hosanna in the highest!”  (Mark 11: 9 – 10)

·         In the course of this week, Jesus will drive out the money-changers and their animals from the Temple complex.  By this action, the confrontation with the rulers of the people is set, a confrontation which will reach its climax on Good Friday.

·         As Passover approaches, Jesus gathers with His disciples to celebrate this important feast (on the day we now call Maundy Thursday).  But during the course of the Passover meal, Jesus takes bread and says, “Take, this is my body.”  A little while later, He said, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”  Not long before saying these words, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”  A pall falls over the Passover celebration as He says these words.

·         As Jesus and His disciples go out to the Mount of Olives, one of the disciples, Judas, comes with an armed band to arrest Jesus.

·         After two mock trials, Jesus is beaten and then is led away to be crucified.  Most of His disciples have fled for fear of their lives, but Jesus’ mother and some other women stand nearby His cross, watching his lifeblood fall to the ground.

·         Burial takes place nearby in a garden tomb.  Hope seems lost, the great cause which Jesus had proclaimed seemed to lie in ruins.  Things have reached the lowest point possible.

·         Early on the first day of the week, Mary comes to the tomb, seeking to anoint Jesus’ body.  But the stone which had been rolled across the opening to the tomb has been rolled back, and she does not find His body.  Then it is that despair gives way to exaltation and exhilaration, as Jesus appears to those whom He loved, alive, with His body intact.

May we return to the matter of our selective memory for a moment?  We raised this idea at the beginning of this morning’s homily.

We said then that we tend to focus on the “good stuff” of life, and we try to stay away from (or forget) the “bad stuff”.

Applied to the matter of Holy Week, that tendency might prompt us to celebrate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on this day, that day when He entered in triumph.  And, that same tendency might prompt us to skip Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and “fast forward” to Easter.

“I don’t have much stomach for the Good Friday story,” we might think to ourselves.

But the heights of Easter become all that much higher and greater if we are willing to descend into the valleys of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

The point is this, it seems to me:  We can’t get to Easter without Good Friday.  The two events go together….Jesus’ seeming defeat on Good Friday turns out to be His great victory over death.

And, of course, as we proceed into this Holy Week, we will remember (as in the sense of “putting it all together again”) the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday liturgically:

·        On Maundy Thursday, we will remember Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet during the Passover meal.  Then, we will celebrate the Holy Communion, just as He did that first night of the Last Supper.  As we conclude our celebration, we will take away all the sacred vessels and the liturgical furnishings.  The Reserved Sacrament will be removed, and the sanctuary lamp will be removed, too.  The altar will be stripped of all of its linens and candlesticks, standing bare.  All of this will take place as we recite Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Everyone leaves in silence, fleeing just as the original disciples did on that first Maundy Thursday night.

·        Good Friday arrives.  We gather in silence, and we lament our sins and our role in bringing the Lord to this awful day.  A wooden cross is brought into the church as the ancient chant “The Cross of Christ” is sung three times.  Those in attendance are given a chance to venerate the Cross, to kneel in silence, prayer and thanksgiving for the holy sacrifice which makes our new life in Christ possible.  What is left of the Reserved Sacrament is consumed by all in attendance, and the Church, for the first time in a year, stands empty, the Lord’s Body and Blood having been entirely consumed.  The sanctuary lamp is extinguished, and the place is cold and dark.

But just as a seed of wheat falls into the ground and dies, as our Lord said in our gospel reading from a week ago (see John 12: 20 – 33), new life comes forth on Easter Sunday morning.  We stand watch during the Great Vigil of Easter on Saturday night.  We will gather as the Easter (Paschal) Candle is brought into the darkened Church as the chant “The Light of Christ” (yes, it’s the same tune as the Good Friday chant “The Cross of Christ”) is sung.  As we gather in the darkness, we hear the ancient chant of the Exultet during the Easter Vigil on Saturday night….”This is the night” we sing.  We renew our baptismal vows on that occasion, and the Sacrament is blessed and given to the faithful.  New life has come out of the depths of despair and hopelessness.  The Lord is present among us again under the forms of bread and wine.

Thanks be to God!

Come and walk this journey, each step of the way, through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday morning.  Your life will be the better for having taken up this discipline, I guarantee it.  Make the choice to be a Good Friday and an Easter Sunday Christian this year.