"WHAT DO WE DO NOW?"

S E R M O N CNR1063

EASTER 2b Mosman Uniting Church, 15 Apr 2012, 9.30am

Ps 133; Jn 20:19-31; Ac 4:32-35; 1Jn 1:1 – 2:2.

John 20:19-31

1 WHAT DO WE DO NOW?

1.1 When the bottom falls out

“What do we do now?”

It’s what we say when we’ve unloaded the groceries from the car

only to have the bottom of the bag give way

so that the milk and eggs and God knows what

have splattered over our feet and all over the ground.

It’s what we say when the bottom has fallen out of our lives.

We stand glued to the spot bewildered and confused and blurt out,

“What do we do now?”

1.2 Hopes nailed

It’s what the first disciples, our spiritual forebears, said

when they huddled together on the evening of the first day of the week.

On that dreadful Friday we now call Good,

the bottom had fallen out of their lives with their leader, their Messiah,

being put to a cruel death.

Nailed with him were all their dreams and all their hopes.

The bottom had fallen out of even their self-respect.

They’d all turned their backs on him, one way or another,

when he most needed their support.

They were not happy campers inside.

“What do we do now?”

1.3 And then Jesus came (v19)

Furthermore, the body of Jesus had gone missing,

but Mary Magdalene had seen him risen.

They had met to try to make head or tail out of these strange events.

“What do we do now?”

It was then that Jesus appeared with the greeting, “Shalom!”.

John’s Gospel makes it sound as if he had never gone away in the first place.

2 JESUS APPEARS

2.1 Beginning again where he left off (Jn 20:19)

Jesus appears to begin again where they had left off.

Among his last words before he’d left them were

“Peace I leave with you.” (Jn 14:27)

His first words on his return were “Peace be with you!” (v19)

He had previously told them,

“I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you.

Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also.

In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” (Jn 14:18-20)

This is a good time for each of us

to revisit that section from John’s Gospel chapters 13 to 17

in the light of this delightful reunion that John has pictured for us.

It will make sense in what now happens.

2.2 Jesus risen within the first disciples (Jn 20:21-22)

John has Jesus return not for the fun of it but for a specific purpose.

Jesus repeats his greeting and adds,

“As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” (v21)

Immediately, he breathes on them and says,

“Receive the Holy Spirit” (v22)

Jesus has his first disciples begin where he left off.

The church is born with the spirit of Jesus Christ risen among them

and now not so much with them as before but now within them forever.

3 THE PATRON SAINT OF SCEPTICS

3.1 Thomas pipes up again (Jn 20:24-25)

John’s Gospel now brings Thomas back into play.

Thomas had already featured in John’s version

when he had claimed in ch 11 that he would go with Jesus to Bethany

and die with him there.

He had also faced Jesus with the assertion in ch 14

that he did not know the way.

I was born on St Thomas’ Feast Day,

so I think I am getting more like him as I grow older.

I’ve heard a lot of words in my 72 years

and not all of them have turned into action.

I like to see things happen not just talked about.

3.2 Those who have not seen

Most of you know this story about Thomas like the back of your hand

longer than I have.

Suffice to say that the punch line is John’s words for Jesus,

“Have you believed because you have seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe?” (v29)

The crunch for us is that these words are not just written for Thomas.

3.3 Believing through their word

John’s Gospel is written for the many people

who didn’t get the chance to see Jesus in the flesh

let alone risen with his marks in the hands, feet, and side.

Remember the great prayer Jesus uttered in ch 17?

“I do not pray for these only,

but also for those who believe in me through their word,

that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you,

that they may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (Jn 17:20-21)

When this gospel was written, nearly all these first disciples

in that room were already dead well before their time.

John is writing to people who have had no opportunity to meet anyone

with this first experience.

3.4 Standing in the long queue of time

That’s why the Gospels are so appealing

because we ourselves are standing in the long queue of time.

The breath of the risen Christ transferring his spirit

has been passed on from that room to others,

and from those others down the generations,

right down to us where we sit right now.

Consider the risen Jesus Christ appearing amongst us now,

coming to us with the words,

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

What do we do now?

AMEN