Readings

After a very full Holy Week in which it’s easy for the brain to go on overload, this Sunday, a.k.a. “Low Sunday,” is a welcome opportunity to catch our breath and ask what all that was about. That pretty much sets the agenda for this sermon.

In our first reading we heard Peter address the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem: “The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus… God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” That’s the core of Easter: the divine decision to raise Jesus, to vindicate Jesus.

At Jesus’ baptism Luke recounts: “And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’” Some time later, as some of Jesus’ disciples watched him talk with Moses and Elijah, that same heavenly voice: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” Wistful thinking? A trick of the wind? God’s raising Jesus from the dead: the exclamation point!

But why raise Jesus after three days rather than waiting to sort everything out at the Last Judgment? Because there’s work to be done on earth now, and it’s not only Jesus’ work. The poorneed good news now; the Pilates, Herods, Caiaphases of this world are—shall we say—underperforming. Recall Peter’s words: “that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” It doesn’t take much unpacking of those words to see that they include the disciples, Peter’s audience, and us. That’s seconded by our second reading from Revelation: “To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father…”

Recall what we heard on Maundy Thursday: [Jesus:] “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” “This is my body that is for you… This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” Without Easter we wouldn’t be recalling those words, or at best recalling them as another example of crazy hopes cancelled by a Roman cross. With Easter: even that cross is part of their fulfillment (“and freed us from our sins by his blood”).

In other words, Easter is God’s decision regarding Jesus and God’s decision regarding us. Rather than fire and brimstone, going full momma bear, the offer of repentance and forgiveness. The Easter Vigil—one of the jewels of the 1979 prayer book revision—makes this clear in including the renewal of our baptismal vows “by which [as the BCP puts it] we once renounced Satan and all his works, and promised to serve God faithfully in his holy Catholic Church” (p.292). God raises Jesus and then turns to us: whose side are you on?

Back to our reading from Revelation: “To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.” That’s what the baptismal vows are about, not one more card among many (driver’s license, Social Security card, MasterCard, etc.) but as the guide for how we use all the rest.

Peter: “And we are witnesses to these things.” Witnesses. Not the judge, not the jury, not even the bailiff. Witnesses, who by definition are not expected to know anything beyond their own experience, and not even expected to understand that. “God raised Jesus from the dead, and this is what Jesus has been doing among us:” that’s more than enough to keep us focused.

Witness, of course, often happens as much by action as by word, and two examples from today’s readings are worth noticing.

Recall again Peter before the Council. He doesn’t mince words: “Jesus, whom you had killed.” But God exalted Jesus as Leader and Savior not for payback, but for repentance and forgiveness—precisely what Peter offers to the Council members. Bless him, Peter’d learned something from Jesus.

Then today’s Gospel reading. There are two surprises in that second encounter between Jesus and the disciples. The first is that Jesus shows up again. The second is that the other disciples were still willing to be in the same room as Thomas. For a whole week they’d been all “Alleluia!” and Thomas “I need some evidence.” The disciples witnessed to Jesus’ resurrection also by not writing Thomas off. Bless them, they’d learned something from Jesus. Given the Church’s history of splitting over much smaller issues, if we’re looking for a way of witnessing to Jesus’ resurrection this isn’t a bad place to start.

In these two examples Easter is an invitation to dial back our fear, whether of external enemies (Acts) or of potential internal enemies (the Gospel). It’s Jesus whom God has exalted as Leader and Savior, not whoever is currently claiming those titles. Even the State looks a little different when the Crucified doesn’t stay dead.

Easter: The Lord God’s decision: Jesus got it right. Jesus’ project is just getting started, and Jesus has no interest in doing it alone. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” We celebrated that at the Easter Vigil; as we hear the stories from Acts and approach Pentecost we have the opportunity to wonder afresh what else it might mean. Joyous Easter!