Easter Encounters: A Way Forward
Rev. Cynthia Anderson, April 18, 2010 How do you deal with Monday? What happens on the Mondays after Easter? Here on Sunday, we sing resurrection songs, we say “alleluia,” we bask in the signs of spring. But what does that change for you when you get up tomorrow morning? You’re in the same house with the same people and the same relationship dynamics. You get dressed in the same clothes, get in the same car and go to work or deal with children’s schedules or volunteer. You go to the same office or school, or kitchen or family room. Has anything changed? What does our encounter with Easter do? The Gospel of John offers us a window into this dilemma. John has given us a rather lengthy account of Jesus’ life, death and his resurrection. Peter, John and James, Thomas, Mary Magdalene and the others have seen the resurrected Jesus. He’s encountered Mary in the garden and the disciples at least twice in the upper room where they’ve been hiding behind locked doors. At this point in John’s account, there is no dispute about whether Jesus has risen from the dead – he has. The disciples – even Thomas – are convinced he’s alive. They’ve rejoiced and they’ve confessed him as Lord and God. They’ve sung the first Easter hymns and shouted their alleluias. But this morning, John tells us, Peter, James, John and a number of the other disciples are back home in Galilee. It’s Monday – so to speak – and nothing much seems to have changed. They’re right back by the same lake, doing the same things they were doing three years ago when Jesus came on to the scene and invited them to follow him. And now – well they’re glad Jesus is risen from the dead, but you know, they don’t have a clue about what they’re supposed to do with that. They woke up this morning and everything seemed pretty much the same. Jesus is alive, but Rome is still Rome, the Jewish leaders are still suspicious and resentful and life in Jerusalem and Galilee has pretty much gone on as usual. Evidently, this band of disciples have left Jerusalem and gone back home. They’re kicking around on the beach and finally – in a kind of frustrated resignation – Peter announces he’s going fishing. Evidently he’s decided he might as well go back to life as it was before Jesus came along and at least do something. The others join him in the boat, but after a full night of exhausting work, they’ve caught nothing. As morning dawns, can you imagine the confusion and discouragement Peter is feeling? The attempt to go back to his regular life isn’t working out but he doesn’t know what else to do. Even though Jesus is risen from the dead, it still feels like everything is unraveled. And Peter also can’t escape his feeling of failure – the memory of his rash promises to follow Jesus to the death and his failure to deliver on that promise by denying he even knew Jesus – well, that memory still stings and burns, it still weighs him down. Standing there with an empty net in his hand that morning, Peter must have been feeling like there was no going back – but he couldn’t see a way forward either. We can identify can’t we? We wake up these Mondays after Easter and find that things still feel the same – and so do we. Our problems haven’t disappeared. Those feelings of frustration and anxiety, of failure and anger -- still there. Those situations of unresolved resentments, of broken relationships – still there. Those dilemmas – whether personal or professional, whether they concern us or our families, friends or co-workers – those dilemmas are still there. Certainly the headlines on the morning newspaper seem to reflect a world that is still a dark and difficult and hurting place. And yet, if we really believe that Jesus is risen – that we follow a risen Lord – then clearly the world is not the same, despite how things may look or seem. If we believe and mean what we affirm here on Sundays, then we understand that the world was changed forever on that morning two thousand years ago when Jesus was raised from the dead. Sin and death are forever defeated and robbed of their power over us. And we affirm that as his followers we are forever changed by our encounter with the risen Lord – the one who appears in our midst every bit as surely as he encountered the disciples and the women. Tombs don’t hold us anymore. There is no going back. But that doesn’t always mean that the way forward is particularly clear. It’s the question Peter is faced with this morning – if you can’t go back, then how do you go forward when everything around you still seems the same? How are you supposed to live your encounter with Easter? Let’s look at the rest of the story. John tells us that as Peter stands there in the boat with an empty net in his hand and a heavy question in his head, he hears a voice from across the lake. “Catch anything?” Peter gives the obvious response. And the voice calls again – try the other side. Let down your nets in a different place. Change your pattern. And lo and behold, the net comes up overflowing with fish. Now the disciples may be confused, but they realize that this kind of thing only happens in the presence of Jesus. Peter jumps overboard, swims to shore -- and then stumbles in awkwardness. You see he and Jesus still have unfinished business. So after breakfast, Jesus invites Peter on a walk and he asks one question – three times. Do you love me? And Peter responds that of course he does. And Jesus tells him – Peter, if you love me, take care of my people and follow me. No recriminations for past failures – but rather a focus on the present and the future. And perhaps every time Peter has to answer Jesus, his voice gets stronger and it becomes clear to him that his love for Jesus is the absolute central part of his life and his identity. And out of that developing surety of his love for Jesus, the way forward becomes clear – love Jesus and follow him in caring for God’s people. The rest of the biblical story tells us that this time, Peter is able to follow Jesus. The power of the risen Christ, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, truly does enable Peter to let go of the failures of the past, to live differently, to preach boldly, to care sacrificially -- to follow Jesus. The world may still seem the same, but Peter is different. Clearly, Peter is transformed by this encounter with the risen Christ. But is that just Peter – or can that same thing happen for you and me? I want to suggest some key elements of this story that apply to us every bit as much as Peter. First and foremost, the risen Jesus cares about each of us enough to appear and be present in our lives as a pure gift of his love. No, we don’t see him in the same way the disciples did during the 40 days in which he appeared in bodily form to them before his ascension. But the resurrected Jesus gives us the power of the Holy Spirit in a new way – through the Spirit, Jesus is truly available and present in our lives and the world. He still calls across the lake to us and we can hear his voice every bit as well as Peter could. Our encounter with Easter places us in the living presence of Jesus Christ, who comes to us in the very ordinariness of Monday morning. Second, as we encounter Jesus’ presence in our lives, he’s likely to tell us to change some of our patterns of working and living. Like Peter, we have to resist the temptation to simply assume that things aren’t going to change no matter what we do. Peter was tired and frustrated and he probably stood there thinking that morning that letting the net down on the other side of the boat wasn’t going to work – he’d already tried that. But Peter obeyed Jesus and discovered that when we’re following Jesus’ instructions to change something, things start to happen differently. Patterns of relationships we thought were set in cement suddenly move in new directions. Habits change, hearts and attitudes soften, new beginnings stir. Our encounter with Easter gives us new perspective and new purpose. Third, an encounter with the risen Jesus will call us to deal with unfinished business. Those feelings and beliefs and attitudes that bind us, that undealt with guilt or grudge or resentment, that unresolved anger or sense of failure – all of those attitudes of mind and heart and spirit that keep us locked in tombs of the past – we have to stop running and trying to hide. The risen Jesus insists on dealing with all of those things that keep us from coming into and living in the light of his resurrection love. Our encounter with Easter allows the power of Christ’s love to free us and move us forward. Our encounter with Easter gives us a sure way forward as we meet the risen Lord, who calls us into the light of his presences, gives us new perspective and purpose and a new power to live as Easter people on Monday morning. His love for us – that love that has gone all the way to the cross – continually opens new possibilities for healing and wholeness, for forgiveness and a new start in our lives. A little boy was waiting with his mother for an appointment. To pass the time, they played a game of question and answer, with each question getting bigger. Finally, the little boy asked, “Why doesn’t God ever get tired?” And his mom replied: “God is love and God’s love never gets tired.” The resurrected Lord never tires of coming to us where we are, stirring up new life, opening new possibilities, calling us to look beyond where we are and to move forward to new life. Thanks be to God. Amen. |
