Resurrection Roller-coaster

Easter 2B, John 20:19-31; St. Paul’s Smithfield, NC 4/08/2018

Jim Melnyk: “Resurrection Roller-coaster”

I don’t know about you, but having just heard John’s gospel for today, I feel like I’ve been on a resurrection roller-coaster ride of emotions.  It only takes eleven verses to cover everything the author of John wants us to know about the first eight days of Easter.  In just those eleven verses, we move from uncertainty and fear of potential death to a proclamation of peace; then through moments of joy and transformation; finally being faced with challenge and promise – all giving us a glimpse of what resurrection life will look like for the followers of the risen Christ both then and now.

Today’s passage from John’s gospel starts out, “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them…”  We’re still on Easter Day at the start of our lesson today, and it’s interesting to note a couple of things. 

“That day,” as the author of John refers to it, starts out quite early – while it’s still dark.  Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb by herself, and seeing the stone rolled away, she runs to tell Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved.  The three of them run back to the tomb only to find it empty and the linens that had bound Jesus lying to the side.  The evangelist tells us that none of them understand fully what has happened – that Jesus has indeed been raised from the dead.  Think about it: all that movement running back and forth – all the emotions that must be careening around through their minds – and yet – and yet, Peter and the other disciple simply go home.  That’s it.  They just go home.

Mary, however, hangs around a bit longer by herself trying to deal with her grief.  It’s then that she meets the risen Christ, whom she at first assumes to be a gardener.  Her initial thought is not about resurrection, but that the body of her friend and teacher must have been moved by someone.

It’s only when Jesus calls Mary by her name that the reality of resurrection sinks in – and Mary gets it.  The passage leading up to today’s lesson ends with the author telling us, “Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’” (20:18).  And it seems obvious that the disciples refuse to believe Mary, since picking up with today’s passage we find them all holed up in the upper room with the doors locked out of fear for their lives.  Just like last week’s lesson from Luke, it seems that this whole resurrection thing is having a hard time getting any traction with the followers of Jesus, even though Jesus had worked hard to prepare them for this reality.

But then, incredibly, Jesus is present with them.  We don’t know how – it all seems rather spooky – but the author of John doesn’t try to explain it at all.  As one writer puts it, “The living Christ comes to us, unhindered by our fears, unblocked by our defenses.  If a shut tomb cannot hold him in, a shut church [or a shut heart] cannot keep him out.  [Jesus doesn’t] rebuke their anxiety, but says simply, ‘Peace [be with you],’ anxiety’s antidote.  By this greeting,” we come to realize, [that Jesus] keeps his promise to give [the disciples] peace, [though] not as the world [understands the word] (14:27)” (Feasting on the Gospels: John, volume 2, Homiletical Perspective).

Following the events of Good Friday I’m sure any proclamation of peace must feel like a reprieve to the grieving followers of Jesus.  After the corporate experience of betrayal, denial, and fearful flight, the traditional greeting offered by their risen friend makes their hearts leap with joy.  This is truly our friend!  And for them, the words “Peace be with you” offered by Jesus goes beyond any sense of everyday usage – these words carry with them a sense of forgiveness and grace that calms their troubled spirits. 

This is a transformative moment for the followers of Jesus – where it seems as if God is back in God’s heaven and once again all is right with the world.

Enter one of the sharp turns and stomach wrenching drops roller-coasters are known for – “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  Wait! What?  But look what happened to you, Jesus!  It has been suggested that “the peace Jesus offers has nothing to do with tranquility, harmony, and affability.  Instead, Jesus invites his disciples into the same activity of peacemaking that characterized his own life and mission, the same activity that led him to the cross, an activity possible for us in the here and now only through the power of the Holy Spirit” (Kristin Johnston Largen, Feasting on the Gospels: John, volume 2, Theological Perspective).

Continuing with that line of thought, God didn’t send Jesus into the world to “confirm the status quo…. Jesus’ peace invites the lion to see the lamb as neighbor and friend, the Jew to speak with the Samaritan, and the [Pharisee] to dine with [tax collectors and sinners]” – a glorious illustration of the in-breaking kingdom of God lived out by each of us in our daily lives (ibid).  Can’t you just hear the disciples now?  “If that’s what you mean by peace, Jesus, thanks but no thanks!”  Wouldn’t we tempted to respond in the same way?  Aren’t we tempted to respond that same way today?  We have our own sets of doubts just like Thomas and countless others throughout the ages.  After all, we want peace to be – well, peaceful!  Stress-free.  Heavenly.

But as disconcerting as the peace of Christ might be, Jesus doesn’t leave his disciples – or any of us – hanging.  According to John, Jesus breathes upon them saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  Basically John places the events of Pentecost fifty days earlier than Luke.  And if we can let go of any literal arguments about which author gets it right – John or Luke – Easter evening or Pentecost – we can find assurance in the underlying truth of their two stories: While Jesus calls us – while Jesus commands us to proclaim the good news of the coming kingdom of God – Jesus doesn’t leave us helpless or alone. We proclaim the gospel – but in the power of God’s Holy Spirit which has been poured out upon us and within us in our baptisms.  We can proclaim the grace and forgiveness of God to a world that prefers judgment and recompense – to a world that honors power and status over personhood – simply because Christ is alive and with us in the power of the Spirit.  Only when we do that, life may not seem as peaceful as we would like it to be – it may even get a little hairy!

And yet isn’t there a sense of peace somewhere deep within us when we finally make up our minds to follow Jesus?  It may not be all tranquility and calm, but it’s a sense of Presence with a capital “P.”  There’s a sense that even though the world may be spinning around us wildly – and even though the roller-coaster may seem at times to be careening out of control – we are where we need to be, and doing what we need to do, as followers of the risen Christ – and so in that Presence there actually is peace – the peace of the risen Christ.  This is transformation – the point where in all the chaos of life, we know God to be with us, and we know ourselves to be living witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

This is the kind of transformation that allows the early followers of the risen Christ to step out and proclaim the gospel even if it means putting themselves at odds with the powers that be – even if it means risking their lives.  This is the kind of transformation that allows us to proclaim the grace and love of God – to proclaim the dream of God for all God’s people – even when the world would rather the followers of Jesus stay hidden behind locked doors, or locked behind trite religious aphorisms, letting the status quo of power over love continue to have its day.

Mary Magdalene, Peter, Thomas, and the other disciples stand as witnesses to the power of God across the ages.  They open themselves to the One Whom Death Could Not Contain and give us permission, so long removed from that first Easter Day, to take our own roller-coaster rides of faith.  The risen Christ steps into the lives of his first followers and sets them free to proclaim the good news of God in Christ – and that same risen Christ rolls away the stone from our own self-made tombs, and calls us forth as living witnesses of the power of God’s love.