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Sermons and Reflections: Tuesday after
2 Easter John 20:19-31
In a classic hotel in Pinehurst, North Carolina persons waiting to be seated in the dining room are invited to work on a jigsaw puzzle. The wooden pieces are displayed on a game table in the center of the lobby. It's amusing to observe gentlemen in coats and ties and women in evening dresses, trying one wooden shape after the other, first casually, and then with increasing intensity, frantic to put even a single piece in place before the hostess calls them to dinner. Of course, difficult puzzles resist hasty solutions. In Nelson DeMille's latest novel, Up Country, a former military intelligence officer, Paul Brenner,has returned to Vietnam to investigate a murder--a murder that occurred during the war, 30 years prior. In a bar one night, Paul observes a group of Americans huddled together. Edging closer, listening to their banter, sensing their strain, Paul recognizes that these are combat veterans. When the war ended and their units pulled out, these soldiers, and many like them, expected the war to go away. Memories would fade, and life would go on. But it was not to be. In quiet moments some still heard the thunder of artillery. Images of rice paddies and gruesome death flashed through their heads. Regularly, they awoke trembling and drenched in sweat. And yet, the purpose of the death and violence continued to elude them. So three decades later, no longer warriors but middle-aged men, they returned to Vietnam on a journey of discovery--
In our gospel lesson, we meet another group of veterans, not in a bar, but in an upper room in Jerusalem. Behind locked doors, with the shades drawn,these men and women struggle to made sense of death and a failed campaign. At the outset, the mission seemed a great crusade. The leader was acclaimed--
But when the authorities became alarmed at Jesus' popularity and teachings the early momentum was lost. The prophet was being watched. Church leaders were conspiring against him, gathering evidence, recruiting spies. Then -- betrayed, arrested, convicted by a kangaroo court, Jesus was nailed to a cross with common criminals for companions. Only a few of the disciples dared to watch him die. In their hideout, I picture the disciples pacing, listening for footsteps on the stairs, awaiting a knock at the door. Surely there were questions--
And in the nervous silence between conversations, there were other concerns--
Bound together by a bloody crucifixion and their common nightmares the disciples struggled with the puzzle--seeking the easier corner and edge pieces, but finding nothing that really fit. I'm sure that, like me, some of you here struggle with odd-shaped pieces of the puzzle called ministry. Like me, some of you have returned this week to where, in a sense, it all began. You've swapped war stories, shared anecdotes, and relived the joys and traumas of former times. Coming to campus is always a journey "up country," a journey of discovery--
Unlike me, some of you are just preparing for rostered ministry, but this too can be a puzzle. The questions are different, but equally stressful--
So many questions -- .Of course, not all of life's important questions have answers. But despite errors, wrong turns, blind alleys, with fumbling and some chance discoveries, a few tentative answers are found. And, for the really critical questions, some answers are given. The church terms that "revelation." As the disciples lingered in that upper room, not certain where to go or what to do -- "Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you'. After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side." Who was this intruder? The wounds, newly scabbed over, were clues to a deeper healing. The wounds were evidence... that the one who died before their very eyes, the one laid to rest in Joseph's garden, now stood before them. Victory, hidden under the guise of defeat. Power, "made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). Jesus the Christ, crucified and risen. Risen! The word means more than sprung from a tomb. Risen means exalted to the right hand of God. Risen means victorious over the powers--
It is this same Jesus Christ, wounded and victorious,
"Jesus -- said, 'Peace be with you'." Peace? What is this peace of Jesus Christ? What did the blessing of peace mean for the disciples? What does the peace of Christ mean for you and for me? "Peace" (shalom) is far more than a cheery "hello" from a Rabbi to his friends. Jesus' word of peace does more than calm the fears of conflicted followers. The peace of Jesus Christ is nothing less than the assurance of Christ's presence, through the Holy Spirit, in the midst of the confusion of your ministry and mine. "Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" Think about it. With the death of Jesus, the community of Jesus died as well. The center was gone; all was circumference. With the resurrection, new life for the community was possible. In that upper room, the circle of disciples was being re-formed. Defeated men and women were being re-commissioned. "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." Like the first disciples, you and I continue to be retooled and sent. Like the disciples, we are not sequestered. Women and men, laity and clergy, students and retired leaders alike are commissioned to speak and live out God's word of forgiveness. Like the nail prints in our Lord's hands, the church is a sign that a deeper healing has begun. With the frame completed and in place, the final pieces of the puzzle are in those scarred hands, and one day they too will fall into place. Back in Vietnam, Paul Brenner noticed the aging veterans leaving the bar. They seemed ready to go home -- home to their families, home to their daily lives. They hadn't found all the answers they sought. They hadn't learned all they wanted to know. But in their journey up country --
Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ -- so have we!
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