John 20:19-23
I’ll never forget it … his words live in my memory, a special place there for him … a little piece of holy ground.
It’s my senior year of high school … Grand Rapids Christian High … Grand Rapids, Michigan … two weeks before graduation … a Bible Class taught by the Rev. Morris Faber – built like Hobbit, hair swept back – a twinkle in his eye, delight in his faith – a love for the Bible, and a love for his students.
He invited the graduating seniors in his class to step forward and tell their post-grad plans … so, one by one, plans were shared about college or work … and then my turn came.
I stood in front of the class – I was wearing a white shirt, sleeves rolled up – with a pack of Camels in my front pocket.
I said to the class, “I’m going to Calvin College in the fall, and I’m entering the pre-seminary course.”
The classroom erupted in raucous laughter … I mean, they really laughed.
You see, I wasn’t seminary material by any stretch of the imagination … I won’t bore or delight you with the details, but suffice it to say, I was anything but the image of a pre-seminary student.
And I was laughing right along with everyone else … I never did fit the traditional molds of faith and religion.
I remember when I was in 5th or 6th grade Sunday School – at the First Reformed Church in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, the Sunday School teacher – a dear soul, for sure, wanted us to memorize the LORD's Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed, and I remember so clearly saying, “I’m not going to do that. It doesn’t mean anything to memorize them.”
I don’t recall her response … it must have hurt her, I’m sure, but what I remember is my own internal compass … I already loved God dearly and deeply … God was a constant factor in my life … a companion to me … some of my earliest memories are of God – can’t say much more than that – God was simply there; a loving presence, strong and gentle at the same time.
I remember going through at least two confirmation classes, and when the time came, declining to join the church as everyone else did … it just didn’t seem right to me to go through a class and then be eligible to join the church – just like that … it seemed to me then, still does, that faith needs to be more thoughtful, maybe most costly … more dramatic.
I always loved God.
And I always knew that God loved me.
I rarely missed church … worship was an anchor experience for me … but I was anything but material for a pre-seminary course, at least as my classmates imagined it.
So they laughed uproariously, and I laughed right along with them.
And when the laughter died down, Rev. Faber turned to me and said – and these are the words that live in my heart – “Tom, I believe you will do it.”
His words of encouragement went deep and have blessed me all these years, to this very moment. When I get to heaven, Rev. Faber will be one of my first appointments – to thank him for that remarkable day in June, 1962.
Some years later, while in Grand Rapids for study, I was grabbing a hamburger at Russ’s – a great west Michigan hamburger chain – and lo and behold, there a few tables from was Morris Faber and his wife.
I stepped over and introduced myself … Morris looked at me for a moment and then looked through to me to some time and place beyond me … a hint of a smile on his face … I knew in a moment that he was somewhere else far away.
His dear wife greeted me and apologized: “Morris has Alzheimer’s,” she said.
I shared my story and said “Thank you” to both of them.
Whether Morris heard me or not, I don’t know … but when I get to heaven, he’ll be one of my first appointments.
His words live in my heart.
Call it inspiration!
From the Latin, inspirare, to breath upon, to fill with breath … associated with divine influence … the breath of God … the image of creation, when God blew breath into the nostrils of the little dust creature.
When someone dies, we sometimes say, “they expired” – their breath took leave; the breath went away … to in-spire is to fill with breath … like the creation story … God breathed into the nostrils of the dust creature and it became a living being.
The word for Spirit, in the Hebrew and the Greek means breath or wind:
Ruah (hiwr) in the Hebrew
Pneuma (pneuma) in the Greek– from which we derive the word pneumonia … or pneumatic
Breath, wind, inspiration … the very being of God, God’s love and God’s mercy, God’s purpose and God’s promise – not out there somewhere, but within the heart, flowing in and through us to one another, to the world.
When Jesus came to the disciples in the night, when shadows rule and voices whisper – the doors were locked; fear filled the room – Jesus says, Peace be with you.
The tension … the contrast …
And then again, Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.
The baton is passed.
The diploma given.
But look at it again … as the Father has sent me, so I send you.
Same task … same mission … same work …
Let’s step back a few years to John the Baptist … the Jordan River in the southern stretches of Palestine … folks coming out to hear John preach … I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness; make straight the way of the LORD.
Jesus comes to John for baptism … when John sees Him, he exclaims, “Here’s the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
That’s why God sent Jesus … to take away the sin of the world … by dealing with it.
To lift up the downtrodden and give welcome to the excluded.
To shame Pilate with silence.
To confront the religious rulers with their hypocrisy.
To welcome sinners … and touch the untouchables.
Turn a few heads and turn a few tables.
John the Baptist testifies: I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him (John 1:29-34).
God sends the Holy Spirit to inspire the Son, to empower Him.
And now on the other side of the cross, the Risen Jesus meets the disciples in their darkened room behind locked doors.
Jesus greets them with a traditional blessing: Peace be with you … shalom aleichem.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you … with the same purpose, and the same Sprit.
To take away the sin of the world.
And how does Jesus do it?
With a snap of the fingers?
A nod of the head?
No … by putting Himself in the line of fire …
By turning a few heads and turning a few tables …
Now on the other side of death, Jesus commissions His disciples.
Deal with sin with sin … take up your cross … put your life on the line … turn a few heads … turn a few table.
Welcome the unwelcome.
Open wide the doors of grace … forgive liberally and inspire people to get on their lives.
Forgive where forgiveness has been missing: the Samaritan woman at the well … the woman caught in adultery … the marginalized and the excluded – give them welcome; they, too, have a place in the kingdom of God.
And in some instances, don’t forgive … retain sins …
Retain where forgiveness would be a lie … listen to how Jesus addresses the religious rulers after He healed the blind man on the Sabbath … remember how those men got all hot and bothered because the healing occurred on the Sabbath? They missed the healing, the restoration of a man blind from birth … could they see the glory of God? Nooooo. All they could see was a rule violated, and they were angry at Jesus.
Listen to how Jesus addresses them: “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains (John 9:39-41).
Take the measure of life, and use the measuring rod of God.
Lift up the good and shine a light on the evil (Romans 12:9) … be kind and gentle with one another, but ruthless with the sins of power.
Our task is to tell the truth … God’s Truth …
A political button recently appeared: “If Obama is president, would we still call it the White House?”
Racism is a sin that cannot be forgiven, but must be illumined and revealed for what it is – hideous and dysfunctional, crippling to a soul and devastating to a nation.
The pillaging of our environment for short-term gain – the peddling of fear to gain political leverage.
Starvation for millions because we lack the political will to make it different … the global slave trade and sex trafficking.
Nationalism without a larger vision … narrow allegiances and small loyalties …
The lack of health care for millions … sub-standard conditions for LAX hotel workers … school districts under funded; our nation’s lack of public transportation, proving an even greater hardship now for the poor … thousands of returning vets who have survived fearsome injuries, only to face a future of hardship back home (AARP July/August, 2008, p.62).
These are sins, sins that cannot be forgiven … they must be illumined and revealed for what they are by the Word of God …
As Jesus did in Jerusalem …
Is it any wonder they killed Him?
But in killing Him, they undid themselves.
In rising from the dead, Jesus makes it wonderfully clear: the goodness of God, though battered and bruised, remains intact … the message goes forth; the love of God goes on.
Jesus invites us to join Him.
Stand with Him and embrace His work.
Take up our cross and follow Him.
As the Father sent me, so I send you.
We have a moral responsibility … to be handled with care … handled as Jesus managed it …
Immerse ourselves in the Word of God as Jesus did … when confronted with the Devil in the wilderness, Jesus reaches into the Bible He knew so well … One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Jesus used the text to refute those who claimed to know it best!
Make ourselves available, with prayer and humility … “Here I am, LORD … I go where you go and I do as you ask.”
With Jesus in the Garden, Not my will be done, but yours, O God.
This is the most important thing any of us will ever do; this will go with us all the way to eternity.
We’re in that room, right now, with the disciples, with Jesus.
He breathes upon us the Spirit … as the Father has sent me, so I send you.
Are we ready for it?
Covenant on the Corner, are we ready for it?
Yes we are!
Yes we are … yes we are!
We are His disciples.
Wouldn’t have it any other way. Amen!
