April 9, 2023 – Easter Text:  John 20:19-23

Dear Friends in Christ,

Have you ever encountered this situation?  You are at the grocery store and run into an old acquaintance.  You make the proverbial small talk and then ask the question, “So how’s life?”  You expect the cliched answer, “Fine.”  Or they might say, “living the dream.”  You don’t expect to hear this.  “Well, I’m separated from Harry.  The kids seem to blame me.  I’ve hated my job for years and I’m just trying to make it day by day.”  She’s scared.  She’s angry.  Her life has been less than fulfilling.  She’d like to leave it all behind, start over, and start really living life.

Sometimes, it’s our youth.  Sometimes a midlife redirection.  Sometimes its burnout from a 30-year job.  Sometimes it’s the energy we put into the kids.  We can all go through cycles where we think it’s really time to start living.  The ideal is different for all of us, but usually includes a faraway vacation, spending lavishly or putting our time into something we really love.  Then we will really live.  But people can return from the feel-good trip and still feel empty.

The Bible has something to say about really living, and it’s not found in the Swiss Alps or the gearshift of the BMW.  We don’t need middle age or burnout to trigger a life worth living.  For us as Christians what we need is Easter.  We need the empty tomb and shouts of “He Is Risen!”  We need the appearance of Jesus to his disciples, showing them His . . .

“LIFE-GIVING HANDS”

The disciples were acting like the friend who felt her life was a mess.  John writes, “the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews.” (v. 19).  If the Jews were so corrupt as to orchestrate the crucifixion of an innocent man, what would stop them from coming after his disciples next?  Many of these men had abandoned Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Even though Jesus had been preparing them for his death, they still seemed shocked that it happened.  They were acting like Jesus was dead.  They were afraid and they felt guilty.  They were trapped in their own mid-life crisis.

Jesus wanted to calm their nerves.  He didn’t start with, “So how’s life?”  What he said was, “Peace be with you.” (v. 19).  They had heard the reports but hadn’t seen Jesus with their own eyes.  “Guys, it’s me!  I’m not a ghost.  I’m not dead.  I am very much alive.  “He showed them his hands and his side.”  They saw the life-giving hands and knew they were looking at their resurrected Lord.  He is risen indeed.

It took them a moment, but they finally grabbed hold of Easter that evening – it’s joy.  “Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” (v. 20). No more fear, but Easter joy that makes life really worth living.  Have you grabbed hold of that Easter joy?

Jesus was alive but it was not a static thing.  His life-giving hands had a life-fulfilling mission.  “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (v. 21). Jesus was sent by God to forgive sins.  He knows asks us to be His ambassadors.  That is real living.

What a big job.  The disciples had to be overwhelmed.  They go from terror to being commissioned by Christ.  He knows what they need, “He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” (v. 22). The Holy Spirit worked so powerfully through these men that 50 days later these uneducated Galilean fishermen were apostolic fishers of souls.  When people heard Peter’s sermon, 3,000 souls were added to the Christian Church that day.

Christ even gave them the message.  “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (v. 23).  It is a big day when a child is given the keys to the house, and even bigger milestone when they hand over the keys to the car.  With these words, Jesus confidently hands every believer the keys to heaven.  We are opening or closing the doors to heaven by forgiving or not forgiving.  The keys are the special power and privilege Christ gives only to Christians.  Forgiving sins and announcing peace is what Jesus did on Easter when he showed His life-giving hands.  What better way to live Easter daily than to use our hands for God’s life-giving purpose – to forgive our brothers and sisters.

What can be more meaningful than forgiving an estranged spouse?  Reconciling with a co-worker?  Resolving differences with an old friend?  Keys are only useful if you use them.  God gave them to you to use.  Living at peace with God and your neighbor makes life really worth living.  Those disciples took that message from the life-giving hands and made it their life-giving mission.  Empowered by the Holy Spirit that night, they went.  Today more than two billion Christians scattered around the world owe a debt of gratitude to the church’s humble beginnings that Easter evening.

So, how’s life?  Are you stuck?  Thinking you don’t really have anything to live for?  Stop acting like Jesus is dead.  He is not.  Look at the life-giving hands. Jesus is alive!  Let’s act like it.  Let’s pray like it.  Let’s believe like it.  Let’s embrace his call, “I am sending you,” and bring the gospel to the other six billion people in our world one soul at a time.  Let’s receive his Holy Spirit and use the keys to proclaim peace.  Live life like there is no death, because Easter means there is no death.  Easter makes life really worth living.

Amen. 

April 7, 2023 – Good Friday Tenebrae Text:  Luke 23:32-34

Dear Friends in Christ,

Were you there?  Were you there when they crucified my Lord…when they nailed him to the tree…when they laid him in the tomb?  We sing it every Good Friday Tenebrae Service as our closing hymn.  Were you there?

Who was there?  Roman soldiers.  It was their job.  They had to be.  None of them realized when they drove nails into Jesus and divided up his clothes that they were fulfilling hundreds of years old prophecies.  It did make a difference to one man, the centurion, who confessed that Jesus was the Son of God. (Mt. 27:54)

Two criminals were there.  They also had no choice.  They were being punished for their crimes.  Both derided Jesus, but then one confessed his sin and Jesus assured him they would be united in paradise. (Lk. 23:41-43)

The Jewish leaders were there to make sure Pilate followed through on his plan to execute Jesus.  They were going to enjoy this.  They got nasty and challenged Jesus to come down from the cross.  

It would be nice if we could say the disciples were there to give their support.  But most of them were not.  John was there along with another disciple as they stood by Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was there.  As she watched her Son die it had to break her heart.

We know who was there, but we ask again:  “Were you there?”  The obvious answer is no.  You and I were not physically there.  But think a little harder and the answer is yes.  You were there.  We didn’t condemn Him.  We didn’t jeer at Him.  We were there because our sins were there.  Jesus carried them there, on the cross He bore the crushing burden of our sin.

Our sin was the reason Christ had to die.  We are no less guilty than the
Roman soldiers or the Jewish leaders or the AWOL disciples.  Look up at that cross.  Look deep inside and examine your heart and compare yourself with Jesus.

A billboard once had these words:  “Real Christians forgive like Jesus.”  Would those words motivate you to forgive?  Remember what Jesus taught – “turn the other cheek,” “not 7 times, but 70 times 7,” “the parable of the prodigal son”.  I am reminded of Jesus’ prayer from the cross:  “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (v. 34).  Jesus asked God to pardon the people who were putting him to death.  Jesus had selfless love.

If I start comparing that to my own life with its perceived slights and petty squabbles, and the hurtful things I have said, it makes me fall to my knees in repentance.  Too many times I have help on to grudges and withheld forgiveness.  If real Christians forgive like Jesus, what does that make me?  If you claim to be a Christian, and are held to the same standard of forgiving like Jesus, what does that make you?  It makes us all guilty, not at all deserving of God’s love.  We need a miracle to be rescued from our sins.

Jesus didn’t look like a miracle worker on this Friday.  He looked weak and helpless.  Bloodied.  Beaten.  Defeated.  The devil had won the day.  

But the celebration was short-lived.  The evil ones had good reason to be afraid.  The Messiah was about to perform his greatest miracle.  To declare his final victory over the devil, to demonstrate his power over death, to announce to the world that news of his demise had been greatly exaggerated and assure you that all your sins have been forgiven, Jesus holds out to you His . . .

“NAIL-PIERCED HANDS”

It was a couple of days after Good Friday, and those disciples who were nowhere to be found on Calvary were now behind locked doors.  They were perplexed about all the happenings of the weekend.  They were in fear of their future.  But then they think they see a ghost, it’s not, it is Jesus.  He brings a message of peace.  He shows them something personal that instantly took away their anxieties.  He showed them his hands.  The nail-pierced hands.

Many scars are not attractive.  For the disciples, these were.  For us, they are.  The wounds remind us of the high cost of redemption.  Jesus took on flesh.  Jesus felt our pain.  Jesus endured the righteous wrath of God in our place.  Jesus prayed for our forgiveness on the cross, and he suffered and died on the cross to earn it.

It is this unconditional, sacrificial love of Jesus that makes this day good.  When your sins condemn you, he intercedes for you.  When Satan seeks to devour you, Jesus will defend you.  When you are feeling guilty, spiritually empty, totally unworthy of God’s love, remember what God has done to save you.  Remember that he will never leave you or forsake you.  Remember that he has ascended into heaven to prepare a place for you.

You are here.  Look up.  Look to the cross.  Look to Jesus.  Look at your living Savior’s nail-pierced hands.

Amen.     

April 6, 2023 – Maundy Thursday       Text:  John 13:1-5, 12-17

Dear Friends in Christ,

Have you ever had this experience?  You go into a restaurant – busy, not busy – doesn’t really matter.  But it takes minutes to get waited on.  You don’t get a “I’ll be with you in a minute” or anything.  You just sit and try to stay patient.  Or you go to a retail store and the clerk is on their phone . . . as you wait.  You are a patient in a hospital, and you feel the staff has neglected you.  “Hello, has everyone gone home!”  Or the one we have all faced, the repairman who gives you the three-hour window.  You come home from work and five minutes before the window closes they arrive.

God created people with an expertise in something.  We need someone’s help to help us get through life.  The accountant, the car repair man, the roofer, the dentist.  The world doesn’t work without us serving one another.  When we get good service, we are happy to tell others in person or online.

If that’s the case then maybe you are ready to refer Jesus to your friends and relatives (and maybe your enemies too) when you learn about the kind of service God provides.  In tonight’s lesson, Jesus not only provides great service to His disciples, but He does it for free.  No demand for payment, no excuses, no patronizing.  Jesus serves His disciples with His . . .

“HANDS OF HUMILITY”

Jesus has a lot on his mind this night.  In less than 24 hours He will lay down His life for the sins of the world.  God has laid all things at his feet.  Instead of a dazzling display of the divine, Jesus exercised abject humility.

While Jesus’ mind raced with anticipation the pain and suffering of hell, while He foresaw the cross He would endure, lovingly conscious of the souls He would redeem, His disciples were in a petty argument over who was the greatest.  They were oblivious to the needs of Jesus.  This carries over to the upper room and now no one is here to wash their stinking feet.  Which disciple would step up?  Even in the midst of this silly squabble, won’t one of them get up to wash the Savior’s feet?  Not one of them ever reached for the bucket.

On this Thursday evening, Jesus didn’t opt for a lecture.  He would model what humble service looks like.  He rose from the supper, put water in the basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet.  They even get them dried.  If Jesus had blown a gasket here, we would understand.  His love never wavered.  He didn’t get exasperated.  He handled their pride with perfect patience.  He overcame their arrogance with humble service.

Most of our Christian service falls short because we base it on the behavior of our neighbor.  We shun people we don’t agree with.  Doctors are a little slower to help belligerent patients.  If we make our menu order difficult, we might be treated differently.  Inside our families, we tiptoe around the hothead and walk on eggshells around the opiniated brother-in-law.  Worse yet, we justify our behavior by suggesting they had it coming because they were being obnoxious.  The irony is this.  When we justify our behavior and blame our neighbor, we are the one who are being obnoxious.

If Jesus based His service on the disciples’ behavior, no one gets their feet washed tonight.  No one would have their sins forgiven because Jesus would have never made it to the cross.  Jesus’ humility shines brighter than ours because it’s not based on human behavior.  Jesus’ humility is based on love and grace.  His love is perfect.  He even washed Judas’ feet.

Would Jesus walk out of a restaurant because of poor service?  He didn’t walk out on the disciples, and He didn’t walk out on you.  He came to serve you.  Christ’s obedient death has served you well.  It paid the price for our pride and entitled attitude.  It paid for every shallow and insecure excuse we’ve ever offered God for failure to serve.  “The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)

The disciples had a history of missing the point.  If Jesus got up and washed your feet, wouldn’t you feel ashamed?  Jesus wanted more than to shame their pride; He wanted to rewire their attitudes and invite them to use their hands of humility.  “If I then, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” (v. 14-15)

Jesus was not superior to the disciples.  He didn’t tower over them.  He stoops to the lowliest of service to show what service is all about.  His service is incomparable, and it is free.  Jesus’ humble death purifies us of our poor service, and Jesus’ perfect humble, hands satisfy God’s holiness and provide us the motive to serve our neighbor.  Then heed Christ’s call and wash each other’s feet.  Love and serve your neighbor, like Jesus did, with humility.  “How can I serve?”  “Who can I serve?”  “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” (v. 17)

Amen.