Sermon: Wait a Minute, Jesus. Are You Sure We're Ready?

 Wait a Minute, Jesus.  Are You Sure We’re Ready?
John 20:19-23
James Sledge                                                                                                             April 24, 2022

Holy Spirit Window
St. Peter's Basilica

 Last Sunday, we celebrated the news that Christ is risen. We filled the place with flowers.  We had special music and sang for joy that Jesus Christ is risen today. Alleluia! But the very first Easter seems not to have gone much like ours. There is little fanfare. There is little in the way of celebration. In fact, our scripture reading finds the disciples in hiding.

It is the evening of Easter. Mary Magdalene met the risen Jesus by the tomb earlier that morning. She returned to the disciples with the wonderful news that she has seen the Lord. But the evening finds the disciples huddled behind locked doors. They are not out proclaiming the good news. They are not rushing to tell everyone that Christ is risen. They are afraid of the authorities, and they are in hiding.

It is not a terribly impressive scene that the gospel paints for us—frightened, cowering disciples, trembling behind closed shutters, drawn curtains, bolted doors, with the lights turned down low. But into this unimpressive group comes Jesus with words of comfort.  Twice he says, “Peace be with you.”

This is much more than a greeting. Jesus is giving them God’s shalom: spiritual wholeness, peace and harmony with God and with others. This is a profound blessing that gives restoration and the assurance of being held in God’s love. “Peace be with you.”

Does that seem at all odd to you? Doesn’t it seem like Jesus would comment on their lack of faith, their lack of understanding? Jesus has taught them, told them what would happen, told them he would be killed and rise again. Now it has all happened. Mary has told them that he has indeed risen. But they hide. Don’t you think Jesus must have been disappointed? Don’t you think he must have wondered if these were the right folks to carry the news to the world, to continue his work in the world?

But it only gets more strange. Not only does Jesus not fuss at them, Jesus commissions them for their work. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” As the Father sent Jesus, he now sends them. Jesus is entrusting them with the very same job God had entrusted him. In the very same way that he embodied God’s love, these disciples are to embody God’s love in the world. And they are empowered to forgive sins just like Jesus.

Hold on a minute, Jesus. Are you sure? Do you really think these folks are ready? They haven’t demonstrated much reason to trust them. Why only a couple of days ago Peter, the leader of the disciples, was denying even knowing Jesus. Even after the resurrection they remain in hiding, and now Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you”?

Back when I was in seminary, my classmates and I would occasionally wonder what life would be like when we graduated and found calls in a church somewhere. Specifically, we worried about whether or not we would have what it took to get the job done. As we struggled to interpret scripture passages in ways our professors didn’t think absurd or irresponsible, we wondered how we would be able to prepare sermons every week while doing pastoral care, attending meetings, doing administrative items, and the like. Twenty four year old classmates wondered how they would ever moderate a Session that included elders who had served on Sessions from before their pastor was even born.

When we finished our three years of course work, I think most of us were itching to get out in the church. But I think most of us also harbored secret fears, fears that we weren’t ready. Hold on a minute, Jesus. Are you sure about this? Do you really think we’re ready?

Such feelings are not restricted to pastors or seminary students. How many of you have ever felt woefully unprepared or inadequate to serve when someone approached you about teaching, working with the youth, serving on Session or Deacons, leading a ministry team? I’ve had enough conversations with people who felt ill equipped to be elders or teachers or leaders to know it’s a common situation. Why I even once spoke to a person who felt he had too little knowledge of the Bible to participate as a member of a Bible study class. 

At every level of service and involvement in the church I have heard people say in one way or another, “Hold on a minute, Jesus. Are you sure? Do you really think I’m ready?” 

I have heard churches asking the same questions. “Covid has hit us hard and the budget is tight. We’re not sure we’re ready to take on any big mission projects or important new ministries. What do you mean you’re sending us, Jesus? Hold on a minute. Are you sure about this? Do you really think we’re ready?”

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In the story that John’s gospel tells, Jesus is the Word of God, the wisdom of God, the love of God that has become flesh. We call this the incarnation, and because of it, those first disciples were able to know and have a relationship with Jesus, and through Jesus, with God. In John’s gospel, the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus return him to his place within God, and make it possible for all people to have a relationship with God through Jesus. That is why John reports the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Easter. The Spirit is how Jesus remains present to all believers. And so for John, Jesus’ resurrection, ascension to God, the gift of the Spirit, and the commissioning of the church are inseparable events. 

The ascension of Jesus to God and the coming of the Spirit make it possible for those who were not there with those first 12 disciples to know Jesus. That is a fundamental claim of John’s gospel. Through the Spirit, Jesus comes to us, even when we’ve hidden ourselves away, afraid or unwilling to engage in bold discipleship. Through the Spirit, Jesus embraces us in divine shalom. “Peace be with you.” Divine blessing be upon you.

But when we find ourselves in the presence of the risen Jesus, there is much more to it than a big group hug, a spiritual warm fuzzy, or a feeling of spiritual bliss.  No, Jesus also sends us. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you. Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any they are retained.” 

Jesus sends us, sends you and me, to do the work he came to do, to be agents of God’s tender love and mercy to a hurting world. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” It is through us, through you and me, that people will encounter God’s love and shalom.

A family that has fallen on hard times may encounter God’s love for the very first time as they receive food and assistance with groceries at our Welcome Table. A youth struggling with gender identity may discover that God loves them for the very first time when they see our rainbow flag or stumble on an Instagram post that says, “You are loved.” Someone who feels completely alone may discover something of God’s welcoming love when a worshipper welcomes her and extends God’s love. “The peace of Christ be with you.”

No doubt some of you are thinking that you’re still not ready to play a central role in this work. Your own faith isn’t strong enough. You don’t know enough. You’re not gifted enough to do anything really important or significant. “I’m not ready, Jesus.”

But Jesus is unimpressed by our worries and fears. He isn’t moved by our shortcomings or our tendency to hide our faith in a carefully guarded and private religious compartment. Instead, Jesus comes to us, wherever we are and says, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

Wait a minute, Jesus. Are you sure we’re ready? To which Jesus replies, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”