I had my message figured out 2 weeks ago and then I came across something that really struck me so I changed it.  It is based on John 20: 19-23.  Last Sunday Pastor Pierce developed his message around the entire section 19-31.  I was going to go back to my originally planned message but I am using just a section of the scripture Pastor Pierce referred to and I have a different take on it.  I hope I made the right call.  

Before I talk about the scripture I would like to give the scripture a chance to talk to you.  I will do that via Lectio Divina.   I have done this in the past. L

Lectio divina is a contemplative practice with its Christian roots in the Benedictine tradition. It combines slow, conscious reading of a biblical or sacred text with contemplation and silent prayer. It is meant to promote communication with God and a deeper knowledge of Christ, in our lives today.

During Lectio Divina we put aside thoughts of studying the text. This is not the time to consider the historical or theological meanings of what we are reading. We read with a willingness to enter into the text in a felt sense. The purpose of this practice is to hear, in silence, the word of God, in this moment. What, through this reading, is God saying to me right now? What do I hear that helps me know what it means to walk the Christ path today?

Step 1: I will read the text out loud.  As you listen, see if there is one word or phrase that you’re drawn to?  After I have read we will have 2 minutes of silence.

John 20 19-23

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

2 minutes of silence.

Step 2

If you haven’t received a word yet, it’s okay. Keep listening as it may come later.  

As I read the text again 

What do you feel? 

What are your emotions? 

What specific situation in your life today relates?

John 20 19-23

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

2 minutes of silence.

Step 3:

To hear God, you need to turn off the critic or cynic in your mind that questions whether you’re really hearing God. When God speaks, it’s usually in thoughts and feelings that come into your mind. 

John 20 19-23

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

In Jesus’s name we pray.  Anyone like to share anything?

Jesus passed right through the locked doors. A pretty amazing feat of material decomposition.  A kind of Star Trek transporter “beam me into the room Father” deal.  But what Jesus said is more astounding.  To put it in perspective, let’s think about what I would have said which I am confident is what you would have said.

Where were you?  When I needed you the most you left me totally abandoned. Peter, you have no idea how much it meant to me when I saw you in the courtyard.  Even though you were soon arguing with the maidservant and gone it helped.  For a bit I wasn’t alone.  You tried.  The rest of you couldn’t be bothered. James and John, two months ago you wanted me to designate you one on my right and one on my left.  Later all of you argued about who would be the greatest.  Is that what it was all about, getting positions of power and glory?   Philip were you in it hoping to get a personnel fiefdom?  Matthew did you see yourself as the minister of finance?  When you finally realized your dreams of personnel glory were dashed you bailed.

For three years I nurtured you, supported you, comforted you, encouraged you, taught you, loved you.  All to end in betrayal.  All for nothing. 

When we are slighted, in an even miniscule manner, it is almost impossible for us to not point it out to the offending party.  “I took the garbage out.”  “Not my job but no one else was going to do the dishes.” We just have to stick it to “em”.

Christ says, “Peace be with you.”  No accusation.  No recrimination.  No retribution.  Peace be with you.  May a totally encompassing sense of OKness infuse you to your core.  It is OK.  You are loved. Total grace.

Everything in John has many levels of meaning.  Locked in the room.  They were locked not only in fear but in remorse and guilt.  

We have all messed up.  We have all profoundly hurt another.   I am sure that at one point in your life you were forgiven but filled with so much remorse and guilt that you couldn’t forgive yourself. Only being told tenderly and repeatedly that you are forgiven can release you.  Jesus says peace twice and again a week later where they are still locked in.  Unbinding the disciples took time. Jesus said, “Lazarus, come forth.”  He then said, “Unbind him.”  Unbinding the disciples from their guilt and remorse was just as much a miracle.  They were as good as dead and Christ brought them resurrection. Verse 20 “Then the disciples rejoiced.”

Christ is not a do as I say teacher.  He is a do as I do teacher.  Verse 22: “He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”  Do as I just did.  Don’t harbor grudges. Let it go.  Forgive freely, repeatedly because if you don’t you leave the offender bound.  Depend on the breath of my spirit to enable you.

We can get into the mindset that the resurrection is all about Jesus’s personnel victory.  It doesn’t have much to do with us until we die. But resurrection is here right now, always and everywhere.  Every time you let go of hurt and decide to love again you die and rise.  Every time you let go of disappointment and risk trust again you die and rise. Every time you refuse cynicism and hopelessness you have been resurrected.  You don’t have to wait for it.  It is NOW. NOW. ALWAYS AND FOREVER NOW.

The Resurrection is not just Jesus’s private miracle. It is a promise for where things are going.  War and destruction, evil and greed will not have the final say. Egypt and Israel have been at peace since 1979.  Once unimaginable.  There will be peace in the middle east.    The slaves were emancipated, the civil rights act was passed.  South African apartheid was demolished.   The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia all broke away from the former Soviet Union.  Someday Ukraine will be free.  For every Putin there is an Alexei Navalny. For every aid worker killed in Gaza another one volunteers.  It doesn’t mean we are naïve.  It is three steps forward and two steps back. We speak out, resist and the resurrection is God’s guarantees to us that Love will win. We must be a people of hope.

The following is from a 2^nd century Easter Vigil Homily, author unknown. Christ is speaking to those in hell and to us.  Listen closely.  It is astounding.

Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.

We die and rise.  Die and rise.  Alleluia. Alleluia. 

Query: What do you need to let go of?

Query: When was the last time you died and rose?