Volume 46, No. 4
John 20:12-31
Easter
Sermon prepared by Rev. John Klomps, Mississauga, Ont.
Proposed Order of Service
Words of welcome and announcements
Call to worship
Silent prayer
Greeting: We pray that the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with all of us.
Hymn #411
Prayer of Confession
Hymn #488:1
Assurance of Pardon
Hymn #488:2
Guide for Christian Living: Deuteronomy 5:6-21
Hymn #488:3
Prayer of Illumination
Scripture: John 20:19-31
Text: John 20:21
Sermon: "The Mission of the Church"
Hymn #525:1, 2, 3
Congregational prayer
Offerings
Hymn #237:1, 3
Benediction: We pray that the Lord bless you and
keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious
to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. (Num.
6:24–27)
Doxology #631
Sermon
Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
It must have been an upsetting day in Jerusalem. The first day
of the week started out with many rumors flying. People were stopping
each other on the way to and from the market. Don't forget Jerusalem
then was much smaller than today. People knew each other. They talked
to each other. As they passed each other on the streets they exchanged
greetings. Jerusalem was like one great family.
You can just imagine how some of these conversations must have
sounded on that first day of the week. On the way to a friend's
house one disciple may have said to another: "Did you hear
the latest about Jesus? No", said the other one. "What
is it?" "Well, they say that Peter and John have been
to the cemetery early this morning and found the stone removed."
"Really?" "Do you believe that?" "It seems
hard to believe." They say that also some of the women were
at the grave and found the same situation. It seems impossible,
but let's watch the news at noon, maybe we will learn the latest
then.
One person who was not in the least impressed was Thomas. When
a fellow disciple mentioned to him that Jesus was alive, Thomas
said: "Yea, sure? Thomas was not convinced, because he had
been at Calvary on Friday afternoon. He had witnessed Christ's crucifixion.
He had heard Jesus utter those fateful words: "It is finished."
Thomas had interpreted that in the most negative way. Finished for
him meant, the end.
The hopes and dreams of a Thomas were nailed to a rough piece
of wood. Thomas had seen death before and knew that Christ's death
on the cross was not a fake. He had watched the Roman soldier use
his spear to verify that the one whom they called "the King
of the Jews" was truly dead. The Roman was satisfied and so
was Thomas. That's why he did not bother to come to the meeting.
It was useless anyway. For him there was no future in the Jesus
movement. He was dead. Forget about Him. Leave him in the grave.
The rumors will quickly enough disappear. Life goes on. That's the
philosophy of Thomas.
During that first day of the week another rumor had begun to blanket
the city of Jerusalem. It was mentioned that the religious leaders
would also seek the death penalty against the disciples of the man
of Nazareth. It was suggested that since Jesus had been disposed
of, the same should happen to his followers. Then peace would return
to the streets of the city of David. Then the religious leadership
could continue its rewarding co-existence with the Roman authorities.
Is it any wonder that in this climate of rumor, fear, despair
and yet some hope, the disciples almost naturally drifted together.
They looked for each other's company. To exchange stories, to encourage
each other, to hope against hope that there could be some truth
in these rumors. But they met behind locked doors for fear of the
Jews.
Where did they meet? I don't know. Maybe they used the same upper
room that Jesus and the disciples had recently used to celebrate
the passover. Maybe they met at the home of one of the Jerusalem
disciples of Jesus. At any rate they must have mentioned the place
to each other during the day, for in the evening a whole group of
followers is together. Who were there? I don't know.
I know who was not there. Thomas was not there. Sure he had also
been invited, but to his fellow disciples he had said: "Unless
I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails
were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
That's why Thomas stayed away.
Who may have been there? Peter and John? Yes, I think so. The
other disciples? Probably. The women? Could be. Do you think Mary,
the mother of our Lord, may have been there? Can you imagine what
must have gone through her mind. Together with some of the other
women, Mary had also been on Golgotha. She had stood there helplessly
watching the incredible suffering of her first-born.
For parents, to see a child die is terrible. But Mary had to witness
the public disgrace of her special child; she had to listen to the
catcalls of the crowd who made fun of her son. At the same time
she heard the echo of the voice of the visiting angel who had said:
"He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he
will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never
end." (Luke 1: 32)
Any wonder that Mary must have been confused. Hopeful on the one
hand because of the joyful rumors of an empty tomb, but despairing
on the other hand because she knew that Jesus had died on Calvary.
She was certain of that. Not even the most optimistic person could
change her mind on that. Who were there? Ordinary people who were
bounced back and forth between hope and despair. Between faith and
unbelief. Who were there? You and I.
Suddenly Jesus stands among them. Now keep in mind that the doors
were locked. The windows were closed. They did not want any unexpected
visitors. Right into the middle of this group of followers Jesus
stands and looks at them. An awed silence must have fallen over
the room. Nobody dared to ask a question. Perhaps they were wondering
if this was a case of mass delusion. Yes, they recognized him, and
yet the shock was so great that they could not yet embrace him.
They simply stared speechless.
"Shalom," Jesus says. "Peace be with you."
In today's Israel the word shalom is used almost as the equivalent
of the word hi. For instance if you wanted to ask a question of
an Israeli, you would walk up to him, and say "Shalom."
Could you tell me where I can find such or such a hotel? Shalom
means hi, hello. It has lost the richness of the Old Testament meaning.
In that context shalom means, peace. Jesus uses the word with all
the rich content of the prophetic past. Shalom means that God and
mankind are on talking terms again. Shalom means that God has stretched
out His arms to a world lost in sin and has embraced that world
through the sacrifice of His Son. Shalom paints a dark background
of a broken relationship between God and mankind. Genesis 3 is full
of that brokenness. In the middle of that destroyed relationship
God had held out His hands of promise. To mankind He had extended
the hope of a future restored relationship on the basis of forgiveness.
A savior would come and restore true peace.
Filled with that expectation the Old Testament community had listened
to its prophets. Now Jesus uses that word shalom with all its ancient
meaning. He draws the attention of his disciples to himself. I am
the Peace of the world. In me you will find the foundation on which
the restored relationship between God and mankind will be rebuilt.
A look of utter bewilderment must have passed over the faces of
the people who stared at him. They still saw Him only as a ghost.
Their minds could not register the fact that Jesus was alive and
standing among them. Nobody dared to break the silence and ask:
"Who are you?" Then Jesus takes the lead. He takes them
back to the reality of last Friday afternoon on Calvary. The disciples
had been there. They had witnessed the bloody damage of the nails.
Now Jesus holds up his hands for everyone to see. The result of
the crucifixion was still visible. He uses this as a means to convince
his followers that He is real and not a ghost. He leads them from
death to life; from despair to joyful conviction. Then the reality
of the miracle begins to sink in and they are filled with joy. Yes,
this is truly Jesus, their Lord and He is alive.
Again Jesus says "Shalom". That's twice in a row. Why?
Did it not register the first time? Did our Lord speak too softly,
so that they did not understand Him? I don't think so. Rather, our
Lord mentions it twice to underscore the importance of this foundation
for the challenge to the church that follows.
This newly achieved relationship between God and mankind allows
the Church to carry out it's incredible task. Through the finished
work of our Savior a new beginning may be made. God in Christ once
again stretches out His arms of mercy to the children of Adam and
invites them to enjoy this new relationship of peace. The insurmountable
barrier of sin which stood between God and mankind has been removed
in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Then our Lord issues that incredible commandment to the early church.
"As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." For a moment
it takes your breath away. When you begin to realize what He is
saying, you are ready to register an objection. The apparent equivalent
between the Father sending His Son, and He sending us becomes too
much. We are ready to say: "Lord, that is impossible."
How can mere human beings be elevated to the level of the Divine?
We will never be able to fulfill that challenge.
You are right. If our Lord had sketched a straight equivalent
between Himself and us then our objections would seem to be well
grounded. But wait a minute. Jesus uses two different words which
are both translated in English with the word send. The two words
give a very specific meaning to the sending of Christ by the Father
and to the sending of the church into the world. The two are far
from identical. Each word describes very specifically the task of
the one being sent.
Let us a take a closer look at these two words. Let's begin with
the phrase "as the Father has sent me." The word that
our Lord employs here may be freely translated in this way. The
Father has sent His Son to be the liberator. The first word send
has the content of unique, once and for all. It can not and does
not have to be repeated. The background to this word send is that
mankind was in prison. It is not further explained here how that
happened.
To read the explanation of this background you will have to go
back to Genesis 3. From the position of freedom in the Garden of
Eden, God banished mankind to a life of self-earned slavery. As
a matter of fact you even read that "God placed on the east
side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing
back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life." Mankind
had become enslaved to death.
The living relationship of creation between God and mankind had
been totally severed. Mankind faced a lonely future full of pain
and despair with death at the end of the road. The road back to
the Garden of Eden was blocked. Sin, as the barbed wire of a concentration
camp, kept mankind locked up. The freedom to meet with God on a
partnership basis had evaporated as a short rain shower in the desert.
He suddenly faced the enormity of the result of his sin.
The author of Psalm 130 describes it this way: "If you, O
Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?" There
is no answer to that lament. The only answer is one of silence.
Nobody could stand before the face of a holy God. Mankind had become
prisoners of his own disobedience. Alone and lonely he faced the
bleak future of a life without God. Every aspect of life showed
mankind what he had lost and how he had become a prisoner in his
own world. No amount of human optimism could remove the tall fence
of his prison. Within himself man did not possess the ability to
start over again, or to set himself free. He needed Someone from
the outside to rescue him and to set him free.In the divine judgment
against sin as mentioned in Genesis 3 God miraculously opens a window
of hope. For in that judgment it is also mentioned that the offspring
of the woman will crush the head of God's adversary.
Even at mankind's lowest moment in history, God does not completely
wash His hands of his creation. In John 3: 16 we read "For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." As
the beam of a flashlight this divine promise penetrated the darkness
of his imprisonment. To this promise God brought mankind back time
and again. For only in the fulfillment of this promise would mankind
ever taste freedom again.
And the bridge for mankind to reach this fulfillment was faith.
God would send the Liberator, the divine Freedom fighter to break
down the barriers of mankind's solid prison. Galatians 4:4 provides
this timely commentary: "But when the time had fully come,
God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those
under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons."
"As the Father has sent me," says Jesus. That sending
has now become accomplished. When his words "It is finished"
rang over Golgotha's hill, it did not mean as Thomas had thought,
failure, but rather fulfillment. The Liberator did not merely arrive,
but he tore down the bars and barbed wire of sin. He atoned for
mankind's sin and guilt and freed those under the just law of punishment.
He pardoned the slaves of sin, so that they could become sons and
daughters in his kingdom. No slave could have ever been sent on
a mission like that, but the Father's Son could and did accomplish
it.
Only when we embrace that accomplishment of Christ by faith, can
we truly understand the second part of this sending. Then we are
confronted by the words of our Liberator, when he says: "I
am sending you."
Our Lord must have looked at all the ones present in that room.
Disciples, friends and also the women. Nowhere do you read that
some are excluded, based on race, gender or education. The interesting
thing is that Jesus now uses a different word send. The one that
He uses now has the meaning of carrying good news to others. That
makes good sense. The Liberator, the Savior has set us free, and
now his disciples, that is the church, may announce that good news
to the world. The church comes to the world with hands full of good
news. To those who had not yet heard about the new-won freedom,
the church may proclaim good tidings. It may show an open door to
the throne room of God. Faith becomes the cardinal principle of
that new life. Believe and you shall be saved.
In this charge of Jesus to his followers, there is also a uniqueness.
Very specially He commits this task to the church. To that degree
the church becomes God’s bridge into the world. To the degree
that the church forgets this task or withdraws from the world, to
that degree it will become more difficult for the world to hear
the good news of freedom in Christ. Overwhelmed by the joy of knowing
that Christ is alive, the church now takes that good news and distributes
it on all the streets of the world. For only in Christ can the world
again receive the freedom to live and serve as God’s partners.
The role of the church in the world is not to condemn the world.
Throughout history the church has not always remembered that. On
many occasions it assumed the role of judge and jury. It forgot
its servant role of bringing good news. The glory of the church
is to stand in the middle of the world and to point to her Lord.
To direct the lost and the lonely in this world to the safe haven
in Christ. To that end Jesus said: “I am sending you.”
The church’s hands are filled with good news. To the weak
and the poor the church may invitingly say: “Take, eat, remember
and believe.”
Freedom for mankind has been regained and may be accepted by faith.
Therefore the church has even developed prison ministries, because
it is convinced that even convicted murderers must hear the good
news. No sinner is excluded from this invitation to be reconciled
to God. The church has been given the pivotal role to deliver God's
good news to a world hemmed in by the barriers of sin. That must
remain her joy and glory.
That's why it is so sad to hear that many young members of the
church are saying goodbye to the church. They still believe, at
least they say so. But the church has apparently lost its attraction
for them. Perhaps they see the role of the church too narrowly.
Maybe they identify the church merely with Sunday observances, or
perhaps they have been turned off by the bickering mentality of
supposedly mature Christians.
Whatever the reason, it is a sad loss for the world. Without the
next generation of young Christians to take up the task of delivering
the good news of Jesus Christ, the world will become a darker place.
Only the presence of the Gospel remains the shining light in the
world that lights the path to the cross of Christ. The church needs
the willing and faithful hands of its younger generation to remain
faithful to its God-given task.
Yes, it is absolutely true that the church will face opposition
in the world. Again true that some will ridicule the so-called mission
of the church. No doubt others will call the church intolerant for
its proclamation of only one Way and only by faith. When our Lord
was with us, He promised that this would occur. In spite of that
he still said: "I am sending you."
In an older movie called 'The longest Day" which depicts
the invasion on the Normandy beaches in 1944, there is one scene
that has made a deep impression on me. It concerns a glider unit
that had been given the task to capture and hold a bridge over the
river Orne. While still in England, days before the invasion, you
see the unit commander in his commander's office who re-inforces
the importance of this mission. He stresses that this bridge must
be captured intact because it will serve as a vital supply line
to the other units coming off the beach. Before he leaves his office
this commander says: "Hold until relieved." In the early
morning of June 6, 1944, you see these young soldiers climb into
their gliders on the way to France. On the way to capture and hold
that important bridge. When they finally land close to their target
they sprint out of their gliders on the way to the bridge. Without
hesitation they face the deadly fire of the opposition. Soon the
message is sent: "Bridge secured." Then you see them dig
in all around this bridge.
They are quite convinced that counter attacks will be launched
soon. And indeed they are. As a matter of fact the opposition fire
becomes so severe, that the commander's assistant crawls up to him
and shouts: "We must withdraw, we will all be killed here."
As he struggles with the heavy responsibility of leadership, he
suddenly hears the echo in his mind of his commander: "Hold
until relieved." They stay and hold the bridge.
To the younger members in our churches I would like to say, that
bridge is like the church in the world today. It is a vital supply
line to fellow Christians at home and overseas who are busy distributing
the good news to sin-imprisoned people. In the name of our heavenly
commander I would like to say to all of you, but especially to the
younger members in this church: "Hold until relieved."
Yes, hold until relieved. In spite of opposition fire, in spite
of ridicule or hatred, let's remember that we are under orders to
"Hold until relieved."
Amen.
