“and Jesus said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24: 46-49, nrsv).

Father Carey noted last week when preaching from that passage that the disciples and followers did not know how long it would be before this happened and they did not know exactly what would happen.

Today, we learn that they did as Jesus asked; they stayed in Jerusalem. And as it turned out, it was just over a week when it happened. The Holy Spirit came on them while gathered together in a room. Luke describes the event as a violent wind that blew through the room on them, and tongues like fire rested on all of them, and they were filled with God’s Holy Spirit. The word used for “wind” in Greek is “pneuma” which translates as both “wind and spirit,” just as the Hebrew word for spirit used in the creation stories “ruakh” means both “wind and spirit.” The Holy Spirit is the Breath of God coming on us.¹ As Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit, now his disciples and followers are filled with the Holy Spirit. The first gift the Spirit gave them was ability to communicate in languages they did not know which they used to communicate with residents of Jerusalem. This was not the “Glossolalia” or “speaking in tongues” which the early church often experienced as a gift of the Spirit. On this day, the gift was for communicating with people from many languages and cultures.² These Jews from all over the Roman Empire and even beyond the Empire who had settled in Jerusalem knew Hebrew or Greek or Aramaic in order to conduct business and live in the city. But this day, God reached out to people in their native tongues, so they heard the words of “home.”³ God was inviting people to become citizens of the Kingdom of God as their true selves through Jesus’ call to repentance and receiving forgiveness and reconnection with their Creator. All people, for as Peter spoke to the crowd who was made up of people from everywhere in the known world, he quoted Joel who says God will pour out His Spirit on Young and Old, Men and Women, Slaves and Free, every category of humans of the day. The Holy Spirit made it clear that God intends to tell the Good News He told in Jesus’ life and teachings, and his death and resurrection, to everyone all over the Earth. That’s why Luke lists where everyone is from in the crowd that day. God is speaking to everyone everywhere and to every category of human in their home town language.

The disciples thought the Gospel was for Jews as fulfilment of God’s promises to the Jews. But shortly, Paul and Peter will discover God intends their work to be for the whole of humanity, and it becomes a whole new faith community centered in Jesus.

What does the Holy Spirit do in people? The Spirit gave the disciples and early followers power as courage and confidence, Spiritual Power. The Holy Spirit filled them and fills us with this power. And the Spirit transforms us just as the earliest followers were transformed. This is the sin and forgiveness thing. Sin is our behavior and thinking that breaks and destroys relationships, and it clouds our vision so we can’t clearly experience God’s love and presence with us. The Spirit teaches us about God’s forgiveness which clears our vision and restores our ability to experience being loved by God, and restores our ability to love ourselves and each other.

The Holy Spirit is transformative, creating in us the “Fruits of the Spirit.” If you look at our Bulletin today, a list of Gifts of the Spirit is there on page 11. This comes from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (5:22-23). These are the character traits we develop as we are transformed by the Holy Spirit. We develop Love, Peace, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Self-Control, Joy, Patience, Goodness, and Gentleness (that’s Paul’s list).

Now I know, these are the traits our family and friends see in us and that we see in the mirror when we look at ourselves, right? I asked my siblings once how they would describe me when we were growing up. The words they used were bossy and opinionated to describe me. I never asked them how they would describe me now. I might not be able to take it. How do your family and friends describe you?

Well, fortunately, the Holy Spirit’s work in us brings forgiveness, reconciliation, and love, reconnecting us to our Creator and to each other, and to people needing love and forgiveness outside our churches. The Spirit is at work weaving those traits listed as Fruits of the Spirit into each of us, one day at a time. In another letter of Paul’s, I Corinthians 13, Paul says of all the Gifts of the Spirit, one stands out as most important: LOVE. That makes it possible for us to be close to God, and it makes it possible for us to have good caring relationships, and it moves us to care for people in our church and for our hearts to be moved to help people outside our church. Paul says the gift of the Holy Spirit that is most important is LOVE. And that’s why we say at Saint Luke’s “it really is all about love.” Let the Holy Spirit do its work in you.

1 Barbara Reid in “The Acts of the Apostles.” The New Interpreter’s Study Bible notes, p. 1958.
2 Reid, Interpreter’s Study Bible, p. 1958
3 Reid, Interpreter’s, p.1958

Life for early followers of Jesus was often chaotic and dangerous. It wasn’t just a matter of believing and practicing a new religion. Repeatedly we are told the disciples hid in locked rooms to avoid the Jewish religious authorities. As Jesus had been killed, they expected to be hunted down and executed as well. When the Christian message began leaving Jerusalem out into the Roman world, early followers were persecuted in the Synagogues. And in the wider world, Rome was the authority on religious practice and expected its populations to follow the state religious beliefs. To follow Jesus and live the life he proclaimed was often met with ridicule, persecution, and threats of death. How did they manage to live in such chaotic circumstances?

On Easter Sunday morning, some of the women in Jesus’ inner circle encounter the risen Jesus. Though the disciples did not believe the women when they told them they saw and talked with the resurrected Jesus, their unbelief is changed when Jesus appears to them in a locked room where the disciples are hiding from the authorities. Now in our scripture today where Jesus again appears to the disciples in their locked room, he appears to Thomas, who until now had not seen the resurrected Jesus. We’ve memorialized Thomas as “doubting Thomas,” even though all the disciples also had doubted Jesus’ resurrection.

Our Gospel writer, John, is not only interested in Thomas; John gives detail about how Jesus handles matters with Thomas and the other 10. John’s focus is on the risen Jesus and his attitude toward the disciples.¹ When Jesus appears this time, he begins by saying “Peace be with you” to the disciples who are afraid of being found and arrested. They are anything but at peace. So Jesus again shows them his hands and feet, the wounds, and shows them he came back to life by the power of God. They don’t only have to be afraid; they can also feel joy and excitement in the presence of their Jesus, their teacher and friend, the Son of God. Jesus expresses compassion, understanding and grace with these people who followed him, ran out on him, and are terrified. He makes clear he still believes in them, and he will place his ministry in their hands to finish what he started. To equip them for the task, he gives them several gifts: his peace which he tells them several times, himself and his love for them, and the Holy Spirit which will empower them to continue his work. John wants the Church to remember they have these same gifts within them. Though the disciples and the Church may be afraid and confused at times, they also have these gifts from the risen Jesus.

Jesus’ gifts are imparted through the spiritual window of belief. Thomas has several preconditions before he is willing to believe Jesus is alive. “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my hand in his side, I will not believe.” For John, Jesus’ response is critical. Jesus in compassion and love meets Thomas’ conditions for belief. “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side.” Jesus offers Thomas the chance to verify by touch that Jesus is in fact resurrected, that he is the Jesus Thomas and the others have been following. He gives Thomas what he needs for faith and then asks Thomas to believe, to let go of his unbelief. It works: Thomas sees in Jesus so much more than the others have seen. He responds to Jesus, “My Lord and my God.” This statement is the central theme in John’s Gospel: Jesus is both Lord and the incarnated presence of God, the One Creator of the universe and all life. This reality is what Thomas in this moment recognizes.²

Earlier I said Jesus equipped the disciples, and now Thomas, with the gifts they need. What did Thomas do with these gifts which his belief in Jesus opened? Into that dangerous and chaotic world he boldly traveled. Thomas is said to have left Jerusalem, headed North, founded new churches of believers in the risen Jesus in what is now Eastern Turkey, headed East into Iraq, Iran, and eventually traveled into Northwestern India. He traveled down the west cost of India and landed in Southern India where he founded 7 new churches. These churches exist today. They trace their history to the Apostle Thomas in 52 a.d., roughly 19 years after the Resurrection. That’s what Thomas did with Jesus’ love and grace (see the Apostle Thomas in Wikipedia).

Jesus looks now to those that need to hear about him who have not seen him, so they too may believe in Jesus and meet the God of all. That includes us!

Peace: “Peace be with you.” Peace is more than a greeting. Peace is a presence, a power which Jesus uses to love and calm our spirits. Peace calms frayed nerves, quiets fearful thoughts, and relaxes tense bodies. The disciples were locked in a room afraid for their lives. Jesus gives them peace.

Jesus’ Presence and Love: The one whom the disciples followed and looked to for support and direction now will be with them wherever they go, and in every moment. They will feel loved and supported, for the resurrected Jesus is with them still. We are not alone.

The Holy Spirit: The presence and love of God is within the disciples and will be continuously given. God’s nature of love and grace will flow in them.

Love: Jesus loves his disciples as God loves; we’ve seen it in action in our reading today in the way Jesus handled Thomas. Jesus’ love sees us as we are, the good and the bad, and gives us what we need to accept ourselves, for our Creator already has accepted us. God’s nature is seen in Jesus, as love, grace and forgiveness.

God is building communities. Jesus is equipping them to love one another as Jesus loves. Jesus and Thomas are an example of this love. Says commentator Gail O’Day, “at the heart of this story is Jesus’ generous offer of himself to Thomas. Thomas established the conditions for his faith: he must be allowed to touch Jesus’ wounds. He does not censure Thomas for these conditions, but instead makes available to him exactly what he needs for faith.”³ We live in chaotic times too, as did the disciples. Christianity was born in fearful, dangerous times. In the midst of our chaos and fear, these generous offers are available to us as well. What are your conditions for faith? Jesus knows how to meet them. Peace, Jesus’ presence and love, the Holy Spirit and God’s love and grace, and unlimited love like Jesus loved Thomas, are our gifts too. The resurrected Jesus walks by our side to meet our conditions for faith. “Peace be with you,” Jesus says.

1 The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Vol. IX, John. By Gail O’Day, p.852.
2 Interpreter’s, O’Day, John, p. 850.
3 Interpreter’s, O’Day, John, p. 852

We have come tonight at this moment, The Great Easter Vigil, because Jesus, who had been killed, has come back to life. God has Resurrected his Son, and because of this fact, we have been brought into the presence of God, and through Jesus, we have become aware that God loves us, and with grace, restores to us our ability to hope; we are no longer alone.

Two women have witnessed the arrest, torture, crucifixion, and burial of their teacher, leader, and the center of their world. It’s all gone. They are now traumatized, grieving, confused, hopeless. They have risked coming out of hiding, while the disciples are still hiding in seclusion to avoid the Jewish authorities. The women have come to the grave where it all ended. What they found they did not expect. Suddenly comes a great earthquake and the appearance of an angel rolling back the stone of the tomb. The tomb is open and empty. ((What would you or I be feeling right now at the tomb?)) The guards at the tomb faint with fear, maybe dead. The women no doubt are terrified, which the angel notices and says to them, “do not be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised.” Then he gives them time to take it in. He shows them the place where Jesus had been laid, the burial clothes Jesus had been buried in, neatly folded. He tells the women Jesus is going to Galilee and that they are to tell the disciples to go there, and that Jesus will appear to them there. Now Matthew tells us the women experience “fear and great joy,” both emotions at the same time.

Two women, Mary Mag-da-lene and another Mary (whom Luke and Mark identify as Mary the mother of James), hurry to tell the disciples. But, before they even get out of the garden, they run into Jesus! They fall to the ground and hold on to Jesus’ feet. He isn’t a figment of their imagination or a ghost. They can touch him. He has substance.

What is the first thing Jesus does? He addresses their trauma and fear. “Greetings….Do not be afraid.” The commentator Melinda Quivik says the Greek word used here, “chairete,” is like saying “hello” or “good morning” to family members or friends. Jesus is putting the women at ease as he in very familiar fashion refers to them as his friends in this greeting.¹ He refers to his disciples as his brothers, not his students or followers or disciples. Now they are his brothers. To the women, he says, go tell his “brothers” what has happened, that he wants them to meet him in Galilee, where they will see him just as the women are now. Galilee, where they have spent all their time together as he taught people about the ways of God and healed people. “I will meet you at home.”

Trauma, grief, fear, confusion, hopelessness. Jesus addresses their fear and pain. They and all his disciples, and his mother, have all suffered as they saw him suffer. All their hope was lost. At his every resurrected appearance, Jesus addresses his followers’ traumatized emotions. His very presence and kind, understanding voice reassures and heals them. He is alive, and so are they. All is not lost; he has not left them. New life has just begun.

Fr. Thomas Keating, writer-teacher in Centering Prayer, says we all carry traumas—some small, some large—much of it from childhood just from the normal experiences of growing up, and in daily life events as adults. Right now, even watching the news can traumatize us. [[Have you ever been talking with someone, they say something that suddenly causes you to feel anxious, angry, or overwhelmed? But not because they said anything wrong; you don’t even know why you are reacting the way you are. We call that a “trigger.” You are now in touch with the hurt and trauma Fr. Keating is talking about.]]] We learned early in life ways to cope with negative experiences and learned how to protect ourselves; we still use them. These coping strategies often hinder our ability to openly relate to one another, and our ability to experience God’s presence, love and grace is compromised. From the world of psychotherapy, we know that severe trauma can create PTSD and severely compromise our emotions and coping. Jesus’ followers, and these two women, were exposed to that kind of trauma, and if Jesus had not intervened, it could have severely crippled their ability to manage life. Fr. Keating says it’s this sometimes small, sometimes crippling injury inside of us that Jesus seeks to heal and free us for a life of love, grace and joy, to make it possible to fully love others: family, friends, even strangers, without defensiveness.

Our new life has just begun tonight, once again, as we meet the resurrected Jesus in the garden, as we meet him in the Eucharist, as we gather with one another as the Church. Tonight God makes it Easter, life giving joy and release from hopelessness and fear. We bring our life-long traumas and all the things we are afraid of, our lost dreams and lost hopes, our loneliness and disappointments, into the presence of the resurrected Jesus, God’s gift to us of love and grace; and Jesus offers to stay with us and heal us from our brokenness, and to keep us company each day of our lives. Jesus is alive and present with us!! Yes, tonight God makes it Easter, life giving joy and release from hopelessness and fear, in the presence of the resurrected Jesus Christ.

1 Melinda Quivik, “Holy Week,” New Proclamation, Year A. pp.294-296, 2008.

At the beginning of Passover Week in Jerusalem around 33 ace, Jews from around Jerusalem and from the whole Greek Roman world began gathering for Passover, in the City of David, the home of the Temple. Pontius Pilate, local Roman Ruler, called in Roman Army reinforcements to the city to police and control the crowds. From the West gate of the City, Pilate led an army of Roman soldiers in full battle dress, weapons on display, riding on war horses as a show of force to the City demonstrating Roman was in command. This Pilate did each year during his reign¹

Later, at the beginning of Passover week, Jesus came to town. We just re-enacted this entry this morning. Jesus rode in through the East gate of the City riding on a donkey, and a donkey colt, with his disciples following behind him. They and some of the crowd beside the street waved palm branches, symbols of “liberation” while others threw their cloaks on the road ahead of Jesus as a sign of jubilation and kingly respect. No army, no weapons, no war horses. Matthew notes that the Hebrew prophets of old foretold this very scene, donkeys and all, that this would be how the Messiah would enter Jerusalem (Zechariah 9:9).

So, what is the symbolism here? Jesus rides donkeys. Donkeys were symbols of gentleness and humility, as opposed to Pilate riding in on a war horse, symbol of power and military might. Donkeys: Donkeys are gentle creatures, affectionate, cute, and rather funny to be around. Linda Blagg, who has two donkeys, says they can read your soul, and know your heart. They will do anything for you, unless you do something harmful or against their nature. Then they might kick you with their powerful hindquarters. Christians have noted that donkeys have the image of a cross in the fur on their back, a dark streak beginning at the mane, the cross-beam intersecting at the withers. They are much like Jesus himself. In all ways, the opposite of a war horse. The people shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” The word “hosanna” once meant “save us” in Hebrew and Aramaic, but by Jesus’ day, it was reduced to a cheer, more like “yeah!”² We’re told the City was in turmoil because many did not know who Jesus was or what his entrance was all about.

Many people expected in Jesus the return of the great King David who would raise a great army and push the Roman army out of Israel and free the people, with the cloaks thrown on the road as if a red carpet, the great cheers for the great king.³ But there is no army and no weapons. Because, as Jesus has been teaching throughout his ministry, the Kingdom of God is about relationships, not Earthly governments and armies. Luke 10 and Matthew 22: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 7: “do not judge others.” Matthew 18: don’t forgive others seven times, but “seventy seven times.” Matthew 25: “Come you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you…., for I was hungry and you gave me food…thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me…, naked and you gave me clothing…, sick and you took care of me…, in prison and you visited me.” Matthew 20: “whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant….just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

The Kingdom of God is not in the world’s governments, nations nor their leaders. The kingdom of God is in people who express love, grace, and forgiveness to others, who seek to meet the needs of others. The Kingdom of God is in groups of people who share love, grace and forgiveness with each other. The Kingdom of God is in those who experience God’s love and grace and forgiveness and are transformed by God. A nation or government and its leaders are only Christian to the extent that they act in love, grace and forgiveness, acting in accord with the nature of God, demonstrating Jesus’ presence. Our Churches are only healing and life giving to the extent we let God make a home in us. But, fortunately for all people everywhere and in every walk of life, God gives out love, grace, and forgiveness.

We are here in the Church today giving ourselves to that transformation, seeking the life altering presence of God who can take our self-centered and often damaged selves and make us the loving and gracious disciples of Jesus Christ, citizens of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus did not come with an army to rid the world of other nation’s armies and power, but to transform people who would then transform their interactions with each other into love, grace and forgiveness, and who would behave that way in every area of their lives, be it family, business, government, or Church. Only then do our institutions begin to look like the Kingdom of God. Only then can wars stop being waged, only then can governments act as true servants to the needs of the people, only then will we treat all people with equality and dignity. Pilate’s Roman soldiers will not help create God’s work on Earth, nor any army. Laws generated in a
society not following the love of God will not bring safety and tranquility to the people. But, people transformed to love and grace Will !!

Today, Palm Sunday, and this week, Holy Week, connects us with the Creator of all existence, and God’s call to us to be in the Kingdom of God. A man riding on a donkey, serving the people in love, obedient to God, self-sacrificing, is the metaphor for the Kingdom of God.

AMEN…..

1 Men’s Bible Study, Saint Mark’s Episcopal, Little Rock
2 New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Vol. VIII, Matthew (M. Eugene Boring), pp. 402-403.
3 NIBC, Vol. VIII, p. 403

3:16

3:16…Sounds kind of like a secret code.
Our Scripture reading today ends with one of the most well-known Scriptures in the Bible Belt, John 3:16. You can drive down most rural highways in Arkansas and see this Scripture referenced only by its number John 3:16 or just 3:16 displayed on large and small signs, and everyone knows it refers to the Scripture we read today. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (vss. 16-17 NRSV). But, Nicodemus is about to show us this fact is not so easy to grasp.

Nicodemus, a leading Pharisee (we are told) went to Jesus in secret at night to talk with Jesus. Nicodemus, among other things, tells Jesus he realizes Jesus must have come from God in order to be able to do the things Jesus has been doing. Jesus responds, “Nicodemus, you have to be born from above in order to see the kingdom of God.” According to commentator Gail R. O’Day, the Greek word used here (anothen) requires two meanings in English to get the true meaning of this Greek word, “born again” and “born from above or, born anew.”¹ Part of the word is physical, and part is spiritual. Nicodemus is confused and does not understand. He hears one of the meanings, born again, to which he asks Jesus how might it be possible to enter the mother’s womb and be born again. Jesus tries to explain in three different ways what this means. He uses a second image, “you must be born of water and Spirit,” meaning we are born into a physical body but we also are reborn into a spiritual body. That doesn’t take either. So, Jesus tries a third image, being born again/ from above is like the wind/spirit. The Spirit of God fills us like the wind which you can feel but not see, experience but not control. Jesus is saying that entering the kingdom of God requires a complete reworking of our minds and emotions, and God manages the transformation.

It reminds me of the famous Dicken’s story, “A Christmas Carol” with Scrouge being the character transformed. Scrouge is portrayed as a self-centered, selfish, self-serving, mean-spirited man who uses people in his village and who work for him for his own personal gain. And the poor he wants out of his way: “are there no poor houses to put them away in”? “If they are sick, let them die and be done with it. It will reduce the surplus population.” Then during the night of Christmas Eve, he encounters the three spirits, and in the process, Scrouge is transformed into a caring, thoughtful, kind and generous man who suddenly experiences compassion for the poor, the sick and for his fellow villagers.² He was “born again” into a completely different person, “born anew” with a totally transformed spirit. Oh, we humans so love a story where mean and hurtful people change into loving, generous people, though we would like them to suffer a bit first.

Jesus will go on to say that this transformation is totally God’s gift to us because of God’s love for us. Jesus as God’s only Son is sent here as God’s gift of love to remake us into people ready for the kingdom of God, to die for us to complete the mission. This love is so radical that it is pure gift to us requiring only that we absorb the love into ourselves. Once this is done, God redesigns our minds and hearts as loved and loving people. Now we are born again/born anew and become citizens of the kingdom of God, first here on Earth where we help God bring love into the world and serve each other and the community, and then continuing on into God’s eternity once we leave human life.

So what do we act like or look like once this transformation is being performed? Paul, in his First Letter to the Church in Corinth, takes a stab at describing what people living in God’s love act like and look like in chapter 13: we become receivers of God’s love, and are made new into people who then love as Jesus does. That is, we become patient with people, we are kind to each other, we are not envious of each other (not of what they have or of their status in the community), we are not boastful or arrogant or self-promoting. We are not rude to each other. Instead of selfish or self-serving, we don’t insist that we get our way or that things must be our way. And, we are not irritable or resentful. We are truthful, we don’t engage in wrongdoing. In love, we bear the troubles of others, we believe in the good of others. And our love endures when others let us down (1 Cor. 13: 4-7). Not there yet?

Born again has been made out to be a possession we own, and a once and done thing. But this transformation is an ongoing deed by God in us, and God keeps us company while he continues this work.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not parish but may have eternal life.”

1 The Gospel of John by Gail R. O’Day. The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IX Luke John, pp. 546-555.
2 Dickens, Charles. “A Christmas Carol.”

Scripture readings are from NRSV.

Jesus’ Transfiguration And Our Hope

The scripture we just read is for us known as The Transfiguration of Jesus. Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell this story, but today we’re looking at Matthew’s telling. Six days before this, Peter declared that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” (Mtt. 16: 16). Now six days later, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a high mountain “by themselves.” Right in front of them, Jesus is “transfigured” and described as his face “shining like the sun,” his clothes becoming “dazzling white.” Then they see Moses and Elijah suddenly appear with Jesus, and the three are talking together. It startles and overcomes the disciples, and Peter begins to explain that he should make three tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. While saying this, God interrupts. A bright cloud suddenly comes over them, and a voice from the cloud directed at the disciples says, “this is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him.” They are so filled with fear that they fall to the ground. Jesus comes over and touches them and tells them, “get up and do not be afraid.” They become aware that Moses and Elijah are gone and its only Jesus with them. On the way down the mountain, Jesus tells them not to tell anyone what happened until after his resurrection. Once down from the mountain, Jesus now turns toward Jerusalem. Until this moment, Jesus has been preaching, teaching and healing around Galilee, but now he turns toward Jerusalem. What will await him there is his death on a cross and God resurrecting him to life again.

With that about to face him, he goes up a high mountain probably with the intention of praying with God about this next phase of ministry that will end in his crucifixion and resurrection. While Matthew does not say what Jesus and the spiritual figures talk about, Luke says they discussed Jesus coming death and resurrection (Luke 9: 31). Jesus was consulting with the saints who had been tasked with God’s redemptive work until Jesus would finish it. Perhaps they were discussing strategies, perhaps Jesus was gaining moral support with God’s best. But the defining moment is Jesus’ transfiguration, the shining face and dazzling white clothes, demonstrating the enormous spiritual power being gathered here in Jesus.

Matthew wants his readers to understand that when Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus, it demonstrates that all the meaning of the law and the prophets of Jewish history are being fulfilled in Jesus’ coming, and with the addition of God’s voice in the cloud calling Jesus his Son, Jesus is in fact the Messiah, the Son of God that Jews have been waiting for who will free them. (1) Moses and Elijah are the great heroes of Jewish faith, and Jesus is here visibly seen by the three disciples talking with their Spirits. That Jesus takes the three disciples along may indicate Jesus’ desire to have additional company (he asked them to be supportive of him with their presence in the Garden before his arrest). Maybe he anticipates Moses’ and Elijah’s visit and wants the disciples to experience it.

What the disciples get, like God gave Moses in the burning bush, is God’s voice out of the brilliant shining cloud as God tells them Jesus is his Son, and they need to listen to him. It so terrifies them that they can’t stand and fall to the ground. While this is transfiguration for Jesus, it is transformation for the disciples….and for us. Jesus is going to ask the disciples to love God with everything they are and to love each other in the same way Jesus loves them. They are going to be asked to serve humanity in the same way Jesus does. But right now, serving God with such love is beyond them, as they are so terrified by God that they can’t keep their feet. They aren’t ready to put their needs, desires and lives on the line. A transformation by God’s Spirit will be necessary for their future tasks. And what is the first response by Jesus toward the disciples’ plight? He comes over and “touches” them, reassures them to not be afraid. Jesus in this moment dispenses with his own experience, and tenderly tends to the disciples. “Don’t be afraid.” And this is where our story also begins.

Yesterday, at the Arkansas Diocesan Convention, we were reminded (by The Most Reverend Melissa Skelton) that Episcopalians understand our transformation into disciples of Jesus Christ as a “slow burn.” Jesus leads us through a life of continual transformation over time from Baptism into being people of God’s love. While we begin as self-focused ego centered people, marred in pain and suffering and neediness who look for others to meet our needs, we who have trouble sacrificing ourselves even for those closest to us and most loved by us, Jesus transforms us into self-sacrificing, loving, caring, self-giving people not only to our families, and not only to our fellow Church members, but also to strangers and hurting people in our community, well even to people who don’t like us or treat us well.

Now, it’s not a smooth ride this transformation. We often get filled with anxiety trying to live in this world. And we can become terrified of life, and like the disciples on the mountain, become completely immobilized. We can hurt those we love and let each other down. But by God’s Grace surrounding us, our transformation still progresses.

We were also reminded yesterday at the Convention by Bishop Harmon that taking up our cross as Jesus asks us to do will require some hard work. We will have to face parts of ourselves that are not too pleasant, and we’ll have to ask for forgiveness from those we love and from God more than once. Working for God to follow what Jesus commands us to do— to work for peace, to end the hatred that gives life to the evils of our day and which destroys people’s lives while ourselves resisting the seductions of those evils may put us in harm’s way or cause us to sacrifice things we would rather not.

But that’s what the Church is for. Jesus gives us each other to do the hard things together, to encourage each other, to support each other, to cry together, to laugh together. Jesus says like he said to the disciples, “here, let me help you up; don’t be afraid.”

IS JESUS’ LOVE STRONG ENOUGH

In 2023, the editor of Christianity Today, Russell Moore, wrote an article and did a series of interviews discussing an issue that numerous evangelical ministers began to bring to him. They were saying, that when they preached on the teachings of Jesus ( such as the Sermon on the Mountain in Matthew when Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” Mtt. 5: 43-45 NRSV), parishioners were starting to come to them and complain that Jesus’ teachings were too “woke” and too “weak” to be useful for the Church in today’s world of evil, that His teachings aren’t good enough anymore. I remember hearing this in the news and I got angry. While I was working on today’s sermon now three years later, I realized I was still angry at “those” Christians for abandoning Jesus.

But, Jesus was treated this way when he was on Earth in the First Century as Jewish leaders were looking for the Messiah who would raise a great army, and by force, push out the Romans and establish Israel as the center of God’s Kingdom on Earth. They didn’t like His love message then either.

In today’s Gospel reading, John the Baptist has just baptized Jesus, seen the Holy Spirit land on Jesus, and now proclaims who Jesus is. John says to John’s followers when Jesus walks by the next day, “Look, here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1 v.29 NRSV). John goes on to tell them Jesus existed long before John the Baptist was born and is “The Son of God!” He said he saw the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus and stay with Jesus. Earlier in this same chapter, the writer of the Gospel of John stated that Jesus is the very “Word of God” who created the whole Universe and all life, including us. So, this is the person walking by in front of them. John calls him the Lamb of God.

How did First Century people relate to Lambs and Sheep? They, first of all, depended on them for food and clothing, and they were of major importance in Jewish religious practice. But, for our purposes today, it’s what First century people knew of the qualities of sheep I want to explore. Sheep are gentle creatures, and communal. The mothers bond closely with their lambs, and family units stay close. Sheep are very intelligent, among the more intelligent animals on the planet. Sheep stay very close to the flock for nurturance, protection and love. Sheep do not seek to conquer or expand their territory. They enjoy being in their grazing space. Early followers of Jesus saw his love, patience, and gentleness and nicknamed him Lamb of God, for they understood these qualities.

Though it was looked for, Jesus did not come with an army. Violence is too weak to make the Kingdom of God on Earth. Violence may feel strong in a moment of fear and terror, but it always fails in the end to create safety or security. Jesus came demonstrating how God’s love works. God’s love heals broken hearts; it creates loving couples and loving marriages; God’s love makes human families. It creates churches and loving community. God’s love gives strength to people who struggle or to people who are afraid or lonely. God’s love encourages people to reach out to each other with helping hands. God’s love forgives unloving people and can transform them with loving kindness. God’s love can help us overcome being mistreated or betrayed. Love holds us in our darkest moments and comforts us. God’s love makes it possible for us to care for each other. This is the power that Jesus marches into the world with and teaches us how to be strong in the face of evil, not with violent intent, but with compassion and care. His central teaching is the commandment he gave us: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength;” and the second commandment is” you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12: 28-34).

I told you earlier that I reacted in anger toward some evangelical Christians who were abandoning Jesus’ teachings as too weak. It’s true that we can become frightened and want to lash out. Jesus warned his followers that that kind of behavior will never work. Only love and forgiveness works toward our enemies.

When was the last time you got scared or angry at people, or wanted to lash out at people whom you believe want to harm you? All I have to do is look at the news, and I’m there. We follow the Lamb of God, who in gentleness and love, takes away sin in our world and seeks to end violence and replace it with community. We gather in our churches because, among other things, learning to love like this requires a group effort. We need each other’s encouragement; we need to feel safe with each other when our faith is failing. We need to hear each other’s experiences being close to God and how it happened. We come here because we want to experience the gentle Lamb of God who is the power of God creating a loving Universe. We bring our pain and suffering and worry and fear and look for reassurance that we are loved and valued. But we also bring the beginnings of faith in God, and a desire to love as Jesus loves. Maybe some of us come here a little bewildered, and probably a little scared, but we learn here how faith works to transform us into real followers of the Lamb of God. God’s love in Jesus created the Universe and all life in it. This love is enough. As Jesus said to John’s disciples who wanted to know what he was about, he said to them and he says to us, “come and see.”

AMEN

In our Scripture reading today, Matthew recounts a moment when John the Baptist, now in prison by Herod, sends his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” We are told John has heard the stories about what Jesus is doing, and he wants to know, are you truly the one? John appears to be in doubt.

Doubt is uncertainty. It’s an awareness, and sometimes an uncomfortable feeling, that we are not sure about something, and when applied to faith, it’s an awareness that our beliefs are shaky and we are uncertain. Doubt can generate anxiety and fear in us and lead us to question our faith and our relationship with God. Or a stressful or crisis event in our lives can generate fear and anxiety which in turn causes us to doubt ourselves or doubt God. Suffering a death close to us, or loosing a job, or facing a problem we cannot solve, or even experiencing something painful in a church, can create fear and anxiety, or emotional hurt so great that it creates doubt about faith or about God.

John the Baptist is in one such moment. Doubt is the result. Interesting that John is a relative of Jesus. John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, and when Jesus came to him for this baptism, John tried to talk Jesus out of it. John knew in that moment that Jesus was so much greater than he that he thought Jesus should baptize him. And when John did baptize Jesus, Matthew says a voice from Heaven for everyone to hear says, “This is my Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mtt. 3:13-17). John heard this voice. But now in distress, John has lost his certainty; He has doubt.

Now John is not the only person in the Gospels who has experienced doubt. The Apostle Thomas had doubts about the authenticity of reports that Jesus was appearing in resurrected form, until he saw Jesus himself (that’s in the Gospel of John, John 20).

So, what are we to do about doubt? Ignore it? Cover our thoughts up? Thomas Keeting, in his work on Centering Prayer, says that if you try to ignore or stop a thought from happening in our minds, the thought only gets larger and more troublesome. Psychology would back him up on that.

I think that doubt is an opportunity, an open window through which to discover something new about ourselves and about God. We start with, “I don’t know” or “I have doubts.” That becomes an opportunity to learn, and to grow in faith.
That’s what John did in our scripture today. He sent some of his disciples to Jesus to ask, “are you the one?” Now John may have been expecting Jesus to raise a new army and use it to free Isreal from Roman occupation. That was the general Jewish expectation. Jesus was doing something very different

But I think more is happening to John than a mistaken notion about the Messiah. John is in prison; his life is in doubt. John is full of fear and anxiety, and it shakes his faith. He is in doubt. He reaches out for information. Through the door of doubt, he seeks to understand Jesus.

Jesus responds, not with a direct answer, but with a description of what is happening: “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have Good News brought to them.” When John’s disciples bring that message to John, he will hear it with full knowledge of the same thing said by Isaiah Eight Centuries ago about Jesus’s coming, which we read this morning in Isaiah 35. Doubt is the open door through which John hears Jesus, aligning his ministry with Isaiah. Doubt is the door through which John learns a new way to visualize the coming of the Kingdom of God, not in violence, but in love, acceptance, forgiveness, and restoration of people’s health and relationships, and most importantly, strengthening our relationship with God. After the resurrection of Jesus, doubt is the open door through which Thomas experiences the resurrected Jesus.

God evidently does not experience our doubt as a problem or a sin, or some mistake. Jesus calls John the greatest of human beings ever born even in doubt. Doubt is an avenue through which God can reach us. He repairs our minds and our Souls, strengthens us during difficult times, and provides us with companions on the way to Faith. As God heals our minds and Souls, we learn how to love each other in our families and in our churches while God repairs us and we bear our doubts and fears for a while. We are fellow travelers to support and help each other.

An interesting aside about Isaiah’s prophesy we read this morning. He said the coming of God would make a great highway for people to travel to God as God’s people: “no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.” I find that comforting, as I can get lost just going across town. But seriously, Isaiah assures us that God makes plans to guide us even when we are unsure.

Today the Joy candle was lighted; we are in the Advent Season of Expectation!! We are waiting for Jesus to arrive. We are waiting for God to come. We bring our doubts, our struggles, our fears, our problems, our anxieties into the presence of God. Doubt is okay; we may learn of new ways that God loves us. Problems are okay; God is walking with us through them. So we bring our Joys and Thanksgivings, our anxieties and fears and battered faith, the problems we can’t fix to God during this season. Even when problems are present, God says, “everything is going to be okay.” God says, “everything is going to be okay.”

Amen….So be It

Today is All Saint’s Sunday, the day after All Saint’s Day. Today we commemorate all the Saints in Christian history and all Christians who have gone before us, and those who have followed Jesus Christ in our own church, Saint Luke’s. We remember also family and friends who have died, all the people you and I have lost that are so important to our lives, and those who have helped form our lives and our faith. Maybe we learned about Jesus Christ and how to follow his teachings from the Biblical writers, or maybe from reading about a Saint from church history, maybe from teachers, or from family members, or friends, or in this church. Our faith journeys are lived out with the support of God and those whom God sends us to walk with us.

I looked up how many Christians there may have ever been from after Jesus’ resurrection and Day of Pentecost till today. The estimates ranged from 3.5 to 13.5 billion; it’s a reminder that our being in the Church today is our inheritance from endless numbers of people of faith over a long time. Our Gospel reading this morning from Luke is the first few lines of Jesus’ sermon called the Sermon on the Plain in Luke, and Sermon on the Mountain in Matthew. These verses are the heart and soul of Jesus’ teachings on how to follow God, or how to follow Jesus, 101.

In Luke it begins with the blessings and woes which we typically call the Beatitudes. Jesus then explains how we are to treat our enemies, or those who want to harm us: he says, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat or abuse you.” He was speaking to people who lived in a time when, as they followed Jesus, they would become targets of persecution, receive threats of violence and death, people wanting to murder them because they chose to follow Jesus and believe he is the Son of God, and because they chose to follow Jesus’ teachings.

The very first person we think was killed for being Jesus’ follower was Saint Stephen. Stephen was one of seven Greek speaking Christians who were appointed by the original Apostles to lead the Greek speaking followers of Jesus, Gentiles living in Jerusalem who had become part of the new Church. These seven people preached about Jesus in public, and gained the ire of the Jewish leadership. Stephen was singled out as someone who must be killed to stamp out these followers of Jesus; he was taken outside the city and stoned to death. And what did Stephen say as he was dying? “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7: 60). He put into practice as his life ended, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you.” At his dying moment while being murdered, Stephen put into practice Jesus’ words.

A second Saint from our history three hundred years later is Saint Nicholas, a Saint we will honor soon on December 6th. Perhaps you have heard of him? Dutch Christians brought his name to our country who’s name morphed into the name Santa Clause. Saint Nicholas exemplifies Jesus’ teaching to care for the poor and hungry and to “do to others as you would have them do to you,” (the last line of our scripture reading this morning). Saint Nicholas was a Bishop of the churches of Myra on the Southeast coast of Asia Minor, today’s Turkey. It is possible he was persecuted and imprisoned for a time for being a leader of the Church in the early 300’s; he may have been a member of the Council of Nicaea in 325, when the Nicene Creed was first being written (Episcopal Dictionary, page 360). He was a wealthy man from a wealthy family. He was known for giving away his family’s fortune to help the poor in secret. He gained notoriety for secretly leaving gifts for children throughout his communities on Christmas Eve. He was a follower of Jesus who took to heart the scriptures we read this morning.

These Saints remind us we are inheritors of their witness of Jesus Christ. The first lines from two prayers in the Book of Common Prayer (page 250, which I recently became acquainted with from Fr. Carey’s Inquirer’s Class) remind us we are not alone. “Almighty God, you have surrounded us with a great cloud of witnesses….” And “Almighty God, by your Holy Spirit you have made us one with your saints in Heaven and on Earth….” the stories are many of those who came before us who followed Jesus and put his teachings into action. Not only from the ancient Saints of the Church, but also from our own families and among our friends, and the members of our Church- Saint Luke’s past and present-come people who have walked with us on our faith journeys to follow Jesus Christ. Who are the people you honor today who taught you to do to others as you would have them do to you? I’ll mention a couple of mine. My parents taught me about the faith; and my father who died in 2018, a United Methodist Minister from the time I was five years old, began every new parish assignment with sermons about God’s love and God’s call for us to love each other (Do to others as you would have them do to you). I’ve been learning ever since how to do that; turns out it’s a life-long effort. Your people taught you how to follow Jesus Christ (be they family, friends, fellow church goers, and others); you’re on this journey together. We are surrounded by the cloud of witnesses who, in Heaven and here on Earth, walk with us as we learn to “do to others as we would have them do to us.” We remember today some of those who have died and entered Heaven ahead of us.

AMEN

Luke tells us about a conversation between the disciples and Jesus where they ask Jesus to increase their faith. It comes in the context of a group of sayings about things Jesus says the disciples will need to be able to do. Earlier in this chapter Jesus says the disciples will need to know how to teach new followers how to follow Him without causing them to stumble. They will need to know how to teach Jesus’ followers to be aware of the need to change when they are not on track with His teachings. And the disciples will need to be able to forgive when people harm them, even if a person causes them harm 7 times a day. At the end of this chapter, the disciples are told they will need to be God’s faithful followers even when they are exhausted and do so without reward. And soon, the disciples will need to face death with Jesus, for Jesus is headed to Jerusalem for the last time.

In this context, the disciples ask Jesus, “increase our faith.” How does Jesus respond to this request? He says, “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you will be able to say to this tree, Be uprooted and plant yourself in the sea, and the tree will do it.”

The word faith here is the Greek word “Pistis.” It can mean faith, trust, or faithfulness. Here it is translated “Faith.” Jesus indicates by his response that faith is an attribute or substance that is not just about belief or trust in God, but it is a power to make things happen. When Jesus healed people, he often said to them, “your faith has made you well.” Faith has the power to heal illness, to bring love into unlovely situations.

What does Jesus’ response mean? Numerous commentaries suggest Jesus is chastising the disciples for their lack of faith. If only you had faith as small as a mustard seed, you could uproot and replant this tree by telling it to. But you don’t even have faith as big as a mustard seed. (Even a drop of water or a single popcorn kernel would be the size of many mustard seeds.)

Fred Craddock, in his commentary on this verse (Harper’s Bible Commentary, 1988), suggests that Jesus may not be chastising the disciples at all, but rather, encouraging them. “It only takes the smallest amount of faith that you already possess to do wonderous deeds,” he could be saying. Now the therapist in me likes this second version of Jesus’ possible meaning.

Whichever meaning He is suggesting, Jesus appears to say that God’s power within us can grow our faith. Faith becomes a collaborative experience between ourselves and God. We have a measure of faith through our interactions with God, a basic trust in and faithfulness with God, maybe small at first. Remember, only a little faith can accomplish a lot, says Jesus. This faith opens a window in us through which God moves and increases our faith, and in turn, opens a wider space in us for God to shine love and grace through us to others.

Do we have enough faith? Will it help us go through life situations we will face? Do we find ourselves asking Jesus to increase our faith?

It is through our faith that we meet the presence and power of God. In this place where faith resides inside of us, our fears, our needs and wants, our woundedness and pain, our suffering, as well as our hopes and dreams, our love and compassion, our closest relationships all meet God and God’s love and power. Faith is the place within us where healing takes place. In this place where our faith resides, God calls us out to the world to do God’s work.

When I was twenty, my faith was small and easily overwhelmed. At 72, my faith has become a little stronger over the years as I have experienced how God has gotten me through all manner of scrapes and disappointments. God has blessed me along the way. I learned that when my faith appeared way too small, God stepped in to make up the difference. And God has grown my faith. You, no doubt, have experienced this too.

What challenges in life are you facing, making you wonder if your faith in God is strong enough to carry you through? Some of you are working your careers and meeting challenges, sometimes stressed beyond measure. Some of you are raising children and wondering if you can balance work and family well enough, wondering if you are up to the challenge of meeting your children’s needs. Some of you face health challenges. And some of us are looking ahead and noticing that there are far fewer years ahead of us than behind, wondering if our faith is strong enough for these challenges to come. And then there are the needs of our country and world where the Church (that’s us) must reach out to our neighbors with love and grace and care.

It makes us ask Jesus the same thing His disciples asked: Jesus, increase our faith. The Good News is that we have some faith in God. The Spirit already planted the seeds of faith in us. Small or large, the Spirit is growing our faith, and God is making up the difference for what we lack. God surrounds us with fellow believers who are on this same journey of faith. We connect with God through the faith we have, and God widens the window and doors within us where the Spirit rushes in to heal us, gives us courage, loves us, and guides us through the challenges we now face. Jesus promises he is walking through life with each of us, being our life companion. Remember, Jesus says that even a very little faith can do wonders. We have that much faith. And when our faith appears way too small, God steps in to make up the difference. So, God has us covered.

AMEN