The Rev. Jennifer Adams – June 3, 2018 – Proper 4, Year B: Mark 2:23-3:6

One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. (Mark 2:23 – 3:6)

Happy second Sunday after Pentecost, everyone! Which wouldn’t be terribly exciting except that this is also the 51^st Sunday of Grace Church’s 149^th year. Which makes this the Sunday before we celebrate our Sesquicentennial. The Sunday before we begin celebrating our Sesquicentennial – and there will be more on that later. But I thought I’d squeeze it in here too just to make sure you are all very aware of celebrations to come.

That being said, it’s the gospel that I want to spend time with this morning. We just heard from the end of the second chapter of Mark and the beginning of the third. And in this passage we heard that Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees who challenged him about his having healed on the Sabbath.

Now it’s only chapter two, right? In the other gospels, Jesus is still getting born (Luke) or the wise men are arriving (Matthew). In the gospel of John Jesus is getting ready for his first miracle (the wedding at Cana.) Now granted, we’ve noted before that Mark moves quickly, but by the end of this passage the religious leaders were already “conspiring against” Jesus, the gospel says, to direct quote, “destroy him.” Which makes what’s happening here something that Mark was trying to bring to the forefront of this gospel right from its early chapters.

And so, I looked back over the entirety of chapter one and the first part of chapter two and I found that by this very early point in the gospel of Mark, Jesus had already broken with religious law about 75 times (approximately. The story we heard today wasn’t even Jesus’ first healing on the Sabbath. It was just the first one that went public.

The first person Jesus healed, and for whom Jesus broke with religious law was Peter’s Mother-in-Law way back in Chapter 1. Jesus and the disciples had visited her on the Sabbath and she was in bed with a fever. At that time, Jesus took her hand and he touched her (law break 1) and he healed her right then (which made for two strikes against him, because it was still the Sabbath.) Now there were other healings too in this first section of this gospel – after sundown on the day Peter’s Mother-in-Law was healed, therefore waiting for the Sabbath to break, “the whole city was gathered at their door” the gospel says, “and Jesus cured many who were sick with various diseases and he also cast out many demons.” Which was all within the law.

But then a few verses after that, Jesus touched a leper and healed him. And that touch in itself rendered Jesus unclean. He then forgave and healed a paralytic man, not on the Sabbath but the forgiveness of sins was labeled “blasphemy” by the scribes who were watching that day. And then just a few verses after that, still chapter one, Jesus was caught eating with sinners and tax collectors. Which made for strikes 5 – 75. Approximately.

And so enter the Pharisees before Mark even got through chapter two. By this point in the gospel, Jesus had broken religious law several times. He was on a very regular basis apparently healing on the Sabbath. Forgiving sins. Touching the unclean. And eating with sinners.

And in this particular passage, the one we heard this morning, we hear of the first conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees. The Pharisees asked him, “Look, why are they doing this on the Sabbath?” “This” referring to plucking grain and feeding those among them who were hungry, but also referring undoubtedly to all that happened thus far. And it’s not a terrible question actually, depending on how you hear it.

And I sort of love Jesus’ initial response: “David did it, first!” he said. “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” Which makes me smile. It’s like siblings who get caught in the act of something and are quick to point a finger in the other direction to show that someone else did it before they did. This is Jesus saying that even David broke with religious tradition and law to feed his companions.

It’s not a bad strategy, and it’s one that’s potentially eye opening, but then Jesus took it a step further and he began his very public ministry of challenging and rearranging the priorities of the faithful: “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath,” he told them. And then (still Sabbath,) he healed the man with the withered hand right in front of their eyes. He invited the man forward, asked the Pharisees a question, and during their silence, healed the man.

Which meant, “Game on!” in a gospel sort of way. “Gospel on,” one might say. Mark’s Jesus was off and rolling from this point forward. What happened in this passage was huge because it was the beginning of the open controversy that would lead to Jesus’ death. It was Jesus responding to the Pharisee’s questions about what faithfulness looked like. And Jesus responded to those questions with very public healings, meals, and mercies all of which were pouring into this world through him and those who followed.

There is a reminder in here to we who are the faithful now, or some of the really-trying-hard-to-be-faithful, that this faith thing is in some ways a very living thing. We need to know and maintain our own religious laws and traditions. We have them. They guide us. They form us. In fact, it is religious laws and traditions that re-flock us every Sunday. They remind us who we are and can shape us up when we need shaping up.

But every now and then a person, or a moment, or a people, or a need will come our way and they will call us to heal, or feed, or offer mercy, or love in ways and directions we never have before. It, or he, or she, or they will challenge our law or our tradition. And in those moments we like Jesus and David before him just might be called to rearrange or to re-think in order to allow Christ’s healing, feeding, and mercy to flow through us. And for us to receive those things too. For this world to receive those things anew.

It always amazes me when I hear negative reactions to mercy being offered. As if mercy to one is a threat to another. Mercy doesn’t work that way. But sometimes I hear that kind of thinking come out of myself too. And I guess I’m surprised that I can still be surprised by that. But I hear this resistance to mercy all the time. And I hear it from those who identify as “faithful,” more than I hear it from others.

Now I appreciate when what we share with each other in such moments are questions like we heard in today’s gospel, “Why are you doing that?” or “Just how does that fit into the framework we call faith?” Those questions can lead us into mutual growth and understanding. But too often in our world today acts of mercy lead to plottings against in order as the gospel put it “to destroy.”

And I see that unfortunately human pattern as core to the message of this gospel or it wouldn’t have taken such a prominent place so early and so often for Mark. The gospel tells us that when there is a hard choice to be made, and there are always hard choices to be made, we need to lean hard in the direction of mercy. Always in the direction of mercy.

In this gospel, Jesus was challenging the faithful’s inability or reluctance to show mercy. They were using “the day,” or “the time,” or “the cleanliness/purity” of the other as an excuse, essentially a reason to not offer healing touch, or presence, or food, or community, or forgiveness, or even love. But in this passage and throughout this entire gospel, Jesus gave permission to offer those gifts broadly. His message was that mercy must ultimately be that which shapes and guides us. It is possibly the only thing which will ultimately re-flock us and shape us up in ways we need to be reshaped.

And so as we bring 150 years of Grace to a close and we begin another phase of life in this church, perhaps the most important work we can do is to look for where mercy is needed and respond. We need to look to those places in ourselves, our community, this world. And sometimes that work will be easy, no challenges offered; the meals shared, the forgivenesses granted, the healing revealed will all fall into categories or ways in which we and others expect it to. It will be done in ways in which we have seen it happen before. But sometimes, God will be doing something new in and through us.

And offering mercy will take some guts.

But Grace has guts.

Which is not what we’re putting on the Sesquicentennial t-shirts, I promise. But it could be. Episcopalians wouldn’t be here in Holland, Michigan if a feisty bit of faithful courage weren’t in the DNA of this place. We are also those to whom a tremendous amount of mercy has been shown and among whom and through whom a great deal of mercy has been shared. And maybe thanksgiving for that charism will find its way into various of our celebrations.

Today and every day, moving forward always as Grace, may we be healed, forgiven and fed in ways that open us up to share those gifts with our neighbor, to share those gifts with God’s world. And may we be receptive to the ways in which God is stretching us into new ways of being faithful today, trusting that even when those ways come as challenge to some, the Lord of the Sabbath is working to make all things new.

Amen.

The Rev. Jennifer Adams – May 6, 2018 – Easter 6, Year B: Acts 10:44-48, John 15:9-17

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days. (Acts 10:44-48)

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. (John 15:9-17)

This morning we’re heading toward the end of the Easter season which will culminate two Sundays from now on the Day of Pentecost, when we celebrate the coming of the Spirit. And between now and then on the liturgical calendar will be the Ascension when Christians commemorate Jesus’ ascending to be with God. This means that thus far this year, just to bring everyone up to speed, we’ve celebrated Jesus’ birth, his baptism, and his calling of the disciples. We’ve heard about his ministry, his final days and his death. We’ve proclaimed Jesus’ rising and heard about his many resurrection appearances.

And so now the church is preparing for Jesus ascent – he will be “carried up on a cloud” according to the book of Acts, and then the Holy Spirit will come down upon the disciples and as tradition puts it, the Spirit will serve as advocate and it will “birth the church.” And this is the Sunday just before all of that begins to take place. So what we hear today are some of the passages that the church uses to describe Jesus’ most important “final” words to his disciples. This was Jesus teaching them how to carry on without him present in the same ways in which he’d been thus far.

It’s sort of like a moment when you’re preparing to leave your kids at school for the first time or whatever those moments happen to be when you’re about to have a little more distance than either of you is used to. And you want to communicate to them the essence of what you’ve been trying to teach them their whole lives, because they need to be reminded of how to carry on in this world. And maybe you need to be reminded too.

And so you tell them that you love them, a more profound love than you even thought yourself capable and you pray in that moment that they have been shaped by that love to the point of being able to receive it and offer it too. Even without you there. And then you say a little something about staying safe, because you both know that this world can be a scary place. And then in some way, you wish them joy, because of all things, it’s what you want for them. More than happiness, and beyond “having fun,” you wish them joy.

And all of those things are what Jesus spoke of here as he prepared to leave his disciples. To carry on, they needed and we need above all things to have and to know love. Jesus at this point was hoping and praying that his having fed them, cared for them, taught them, died and risen for them…that all of that had shown the disciples a way of being in this world that would allow them to abide in God’s love, to live and dwell and grow in it.

And to really get that point across, Jesus spoke to them of being friends. He didn’t speak about being king or as a ruler of any kind. In fact he specifically spoke against it: “I do not call you servants any longer,” he told them, “because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends,” Jesus said.   Remember that last week he introduced the concept of “abiding in” by using the image of the vine and the branches. This week he takes it one step further and defines the relationships we share with him and one another using the very holy and human language of “friend.”

Which is quite beautiful, really. In friendship there is comfort, there is strength, there is safety, there is very genuine knowledge of one another, and there is healing when needed. Friendship embodies the invitation to abide “in” and “with”.

There is a Celtic term which the spiritual writier and priest, John O’Donahue, resurfaced several years ago called “anam kara” which means “soul friend.” It’s a term that’s traceable back through monastic traditions all the way to the early desert fathers and mothers of our faith. One described anam kara like this: “This capacity for friendship and ability to read other people’s hearts became the basis of the desert elders’ effectiveness as spiritual guides.”

And so very early in our faith tradition, the capacity for friendship was identified as one of the most important qualities of maintaining a healthy and strong spirit, a healthy and strong faith. And it was named by Jesus as the relationship that bound him to his disciples and his disciples to one another. Friendship was the way he taught them how to “carry on” in this world in love.

O’Donahue describes friendship this way: “Your beloved and your friends were once strangers. Somehow at a particular time, they came from the distance toward your life.” I love that. They came “from the distance toward your life.” “Their arrival seemed so accidental and contingent. Now your life is unimaginable without them…Your noble friend,” he says, “will not accept pretension but will gently and very firmly confront you with your own blindness. Such friendship is creative and critical; it is willing to negotiate awkward and uneven territories of contradiction and woundedness…In the kingdom of love there is no competition; there is no possessiveness or control. [There are friends.] “The more love you give away,” he says, “the more love you will have.”

And so our carrying on as disciples was been given quite a beautiful and holy framework as Jesus prepared to ascend. We are now called friends of Christ and one another. And so we have a descriptor that’s a little more complimentary than “sheep who follow,” a little more demanding of us too. I said last week that I’m not sure that sheep work very hard at defining how to be community. In order to be friends, however, we have work to do. The language is also slightly more embracing than “branches on the vine” although it is certainly related to the fruit we’re called to produce in this world. People are hungry for relationships fueled by love. We have been told by Jesus (that message he whispers in our ear before he ascends) that we will survive and thrive in this world through holy and gracious friendship.

Which means that “friendship” is among the most important things we “do” as church.

We need to develop the capacity “to read each other’s hearts,” which begins with listening, deep and honest listening. And we need to receive strangers who come “at a distance toward our lives.” In the book of Acts notice that the Spirit fell on the people “over there” and completely “astounded” Peter and the others. Because they didn’t expect to be friends with “them.” They didn’t expect to be called into relationship with them. But they were. That’s how the Spirit works in all of this, stretching the ways in which we define “us,” calling us to make friends with those we could not imagine was even possible. And holding us together when we try.

In all of these relationships through which we anam kara each other Jesus said, there will be joy. “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”

And I actually think that might be all there is to it. We make “carrying on in this world” so very difficult. Granted this world is a messy and complicated place, but maybe our role in it, our way in it doesn’t need to be.

Today we hear Jesus who had just a very few moments left with his disciples speak to them not of doctrine, or even right belief. With just a few moments left he spoke to them of one commandment, and it was the one that called them and calls us to love. And he spoke of friendship.

As we hear of the life and death, resurrection and ascension of Christ. As we watch him ascend and prepare for the coming of the Spirit, may our love for one another grow as we learn even more fully how to friend each other, as we learn the workings of our hearts and receive those who come to us “from a distance”. “The more love you give away, the more love you have,” O’Donahue wrote. May it be so.

Amen.

The Rev. Jennifer Adams – April 29, 2018 – Easter 5, Year B: John 15:1-8, 1 John 4:17-21

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing… My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” (John 15:1-8)

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love… if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit…The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also. (I John)

Well the gospel today gives us a very beautiful and also very challenging image for us to consider as Jesus speaks to his disciples about the vine and the branches. Last week if you’ll remember we heard about Jesus as the Good Shepherd who gathers and protects the sheep. It was a comforting image, one of the most comforting in all of Scripture, in fact. Jesus as the Good Shepherd speaks to us of the care given us by the One who came to love. It’s often chosen for funerals and it’s a favorite in children’s Sunday School classes, all for good reason.

In that parable we see sheep (us) watching the shepherd, on good days, anyway. And we also see Him watching over us. The sheep look for the Shepherd; they listen for his voice, the parable says, and the sheep are slung over the shoulder and brought home when needed, as another parable tells it. In that image of Christ, the Shepherd leads and guides, gathers and feeds. Our role as sheep is to follow – to watch, to listen, in order to follow well.

And that role is consistent with how we’ve heard Jesus talk in this gospel of John and in the other gospels too. “Come, follow me,” was the language he used in three of the gospels early in the game to call the disciples and others. And there was the phrase woven throughout the journey, “If you want to follow me, do ______.” And so the disciples did just that, they followed. And following was exactly what they were doing when Jesus told them this parable about the vine and the branches.

But in this parable, Jesus took the whole discipleship thing up a notch. He used different words and a much more challenging image for how they were and we are to be with Christ and one another too. To follow wasn’t and isn’t enough. There is more to give and more to receive than “following” can accomplish. And so, in this parable, Jesus offered them a means to more.

“I am the vine and you are the branches,” he said. “Abide in me as I abide in you.” Notice, it’s not follow but abide. In other words: Dwell in me. Live in me. Heal in me. Grow in me. And not only that, Jesus also added, “I will abide and live in you too.”

Which is huge! Think about the difference, because this difference matters. More is given and more is expected of us in this parable than the other. “Following” one can do blindly, as the saying goes. To abide in, to dwell in means that you see it all, you feel it all. There is a holy and sacred interconnectedness that runs deep and is vital to this image of branches and vine.

Following, you can do from a distance. But you can’t abide in with any distance at all. And so this is an entirely different way to speak of life in Christ. It’s a different way to talk about the relationships that are Christian faith and community too. This is more intimate and differently life-giving. “Abide in me,” Jesus said. “Dwell in me. Live in me. Grow in me. And I will in you too,” He told them.

Which is absolutely beautiful. But there is a different kind of caretaking and nurturing here than what came with the Good Shepherd. This is more challenging to be sure. Because I’m just not sure that life as a sheep is all that hard, really. The sheep were called out to, they were fed, carried, led. Period. The Shepherd never spoke of pruning or producing anything.

And the branches in this image are fed through the vine, but there are expectations because via that food, there are abilities, gifts given to each branch. Each branch, we heard, is to produce good fruit, and in order for that to happen, pruning is done by the vine grower. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower,” Jesus said. “Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.”  Every branch over time gets trimmed.

And in case you want or need a little more detail on that, I read this week from a vine growing expert that: “Light pruning doesn’t promote adequate fruiting, whereas heavy pruning provides the greatest quality of grapes.” And I’m sorry to be the bearer of that news.

But I do want to say something here about that. Because some of the best and most loving work I see in this place is when someone among us is getting pruned. And we help discern if that’s actually what’s happening. I don’t want to say that every loss is the will of the vine grower by any means, but at least some of it is. Some of what happens to us is that over time we are cut back in order to grow.

Now the good news is that it doesn’t happen to us all at the same time, unless it’s a communal prune. And some of the most Christ-like presence I see among you, is when branch to branch, you say, ‘It’s OK, friend, buddy, sister, brother branch… you will live, and you will grow.” And then together you wait. And together you come to trust the vine grower.

And over time you start to feel the sun hit the newly opened place in yourself and you see the buds and the sprouts that you might not have believed would ever come. And sometimes it’s another branch that tells you the growth is there, because it can be hard to see yourself.

“Knowing how to prune grapes can make the difference between a good crop and a bad one,” this vine expert wrote. Which is why (as a gentle reminder) we should never prune each other. We can’t prune each other. The pruning is in good and holy hands. And as branches we’re in this vine together, and we have hope and presence and vision to offer each other as we learn how to live.

And so this image of faith tells us that we have been given this intimate, life-giving connection to the One who came to love, and who asks us to do the same. And through these relationships we share, we will be fed, we will grow, and we will be pruned in order to grow more. And sometimes the pruning is something we welcome, but often it’s not. It’s the dwelling we do, that we’re invited to trust and to witness that new growth comes.

One of my favorite authors who writes about leadership and community is Margaret Wheatley. She’s written several books about organizational development, and she wrote a book several years ago that focused on connection called, Turning To One Another. In it she talks about the dangers of isolation (not solitude, but isolation) and the vital role connection plays in health, life, and vital ways of being in this world. I think that’s what this parable is trying to tell us:

“As I write this,” Wheatley says, “though my window I’ve noticed a mother bird flying back and forth, worms dangling from her beak…Watching her I’m reminded of my own work [of working and growing] and suddenly, I feel connected to all other beings who are trying to keep life going. A brief moment of noticing one hard-working bird, and I feel different, more connected…I describe sacred as the feeling that I belong here.” [we might say “dwell here” or “abide here.”]

“We are suffering from living in a fragmented state,” she goes on. “Separated from each other, cut off from nature, we can’t experience sacred. And I think we know what we’re missing… We know we’re missing the richest experience of being human…We can’t experience sacred in isolation. It is always an experience of connecting. It doesn’t have to be another person. (Remember I just connected with a bird)…

“The connection moves us outside ourselves,” says Wheatley, “into something greater. Because we move out beyond ourselves, the experience of sacred is often described as liberating. Sacred experiences always offer gentle reassurance that everything is all right, just as it is. People describe this awareness as surrender, or acceptance, or grace. If only for a moment, we let down our guard and experience life undefended. Defenseless, we feel peace.. the peace that is found in experiencing ourselves as part of something bigger and wiser than our little, crazed self [our little crazed branch.] The community we belong to,” she concludes, “is all of life.

“I am the vine, and you are the branches, Jesus said. Abide in me. Dwell in me. Live in me, Grow in me. “And I will abide in you too.” Know that you will be pruned, for good. Remember that the branch next to you might be getting pruned right now and so that sister or brother branch could use your kind words, your presence, your hope. Know also that birds will visit your branches, like they did for Margaret Wheatley. We aren’t meant to be alone. Finally, know that through the vine you will be fed, nourished. Always. And that through you that love will come as good fruit. It will be grace for the world.

Amen

The Rev. Jennifer Adams – April 15, 2018 – Easter 3, Year B: Luke 24:36b-48

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:36b-48)

This is one of those passages that reminds me how very simple and almost tender our faith can be. And in this world, in tthese times that can feel less than simple and rarely tender, we need to be reminded of this.

This is the third resurrection appearance story that we’ve heard this season. Last week we heard the stories from the gospel of John in which the disciples, and then the disciples and Thomas met the resurrected Christ. And today we have an appearance story from the gospel of Luke, one in which all of the disciples were gathered together in one room when the risen Jesus came to them.

Now all three stories reveal the profound mystery that is the resurrection, and there is no denying the doctrinal and theological implications of what’s being proclaimed here. These are the stories that absolutely shattered previous paradigms and doctrines of faith and belief. But before what happened here was ever doctrine, before there was even what one would call “The Christian Faith” or “Belief,” before any of those pieces, there was this was very simple and tender encounter between Christ and his disciples.

“Peace be with you,” Jesus told them which was at that time a relatively common greeting among people of faith, essentially saying, “Hello, I greet you with love. I wish you the wholeness, the Shalom of God.” And so these stories are beautiful from their very beginnings.

Note also that even though a few verses prior to this passage in Luke, the disciples had heard from the two who had encountered Christ on the road to Emmaus… even given that testimony from their friends, the disciples were still “startled and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost,” when Christ appeared. So it’s good to mention here that it was never only Thomas who needed to “see” for himself, or to experience for himself. Every disciple in these gospels had their very own (even if shared in community,) every disciple had their own resurrection appearance.

And those appearances went like this: They were gathered in a room or walking together on the road, and Christ appeared to them and at first they were afraid. The were always afraid. And then in response to that fear, Jesus simply asked something like, “Why are you afraid?” And then he said something like, “Look at my hands and my feet,” and then tenderly, “Touch me and see…Touch my hands and my side, Thomas and all of you.” “I have flesh and I have bones,” Jesus said in today’s passage. And so maybe the disciples embraced him or maybe since they were still frightened they simply, gently reached out and touched his arm to prove to themselves that it was so. To prove to themselves that He was so. Don’t be afraid. See. Listen. Touch.

And then in this gospel Jesus said a wonderful thing that makes me smile every time: “Do you have anything to eat?” he asked them. Here is this amazing, life-changing, theology-forever-transforming-eventually-doctrine-making-moment, and Jesus very simply asks for something to eat. And maybe that was to show them he was in fact, not a ghost, but maybe it was to say something even more than that. Before faith is anything else, it is peace offered. It is human and divine encounter in rooms and on the roads we travel. It’s a meal.

And so the disciples fed him, which is sort of wonderful too. Given that the Last Supper was days ago now, the first thing that Jesus asked them to do was to feed him. Tables turned. But still a table. And so they did. And then Jesus opened their minds to the Scriptures (nice touch) and sent them forth with a message of repentance, forgiveness and a promise that the Holy Spirit would come.

And so I want us to claim this moment as people of faith. I want us to claim this very moment in the gospels because it contains the makings and re-makings of faith. In this moment before there was belief, catch that, before there was belief the gospel says there was very simply, “joy” in the encounter. “In their joy, they were still disbelieving and wondering,” the gospel says. And Jesus was apparently OK with that. With and for those still disbelieving and wondering disciples, He moved on with the meal.

And so I think that this is a gospel moment that we need to visit, and revisit, and claim. This is the moment that is pre-belief, pre-doctrine, pre-capital ‘F’- Faith. It is simple and it is tender and it is holy encounter with the risen Christ. There are so many examples, too many examples of the Christian faith being used like a wall, or a weight, an argument, or sometimes even a hammer, in an attempt to force, or prove, or separate, or elevate in the name of Christ.

But these resurrection stories contain a different kind of model for how belief comes to be and how the risen Christ is present in our midst. And there are no hammers. There is peace and touch and food. And the Scriptures are opened. They aren’t thrown or inflicted. The minds of the disciples and Scriptures are opened and understanding comes.

And so in many ways these resurrection appearances are essentially the conversion stories of the disciples. These are the ways in which the very first evangelism, “proclamation of good news,” was given by Christ.

And so we are invited into the joy of this moment and we can let it be just that. We might need to let it be just that. This is the moment in which Christ and we as his Body speak and live a message that this world so desperately craves. Because everyone needs a resurrection appearance. We need to see and listen and touch and eat. Before there is belief, or doctrine, or faith, everyone needs, (deserved or not- that didn’t seem to matter in these stories,) everyone needed and got a resurrection appearance.

This moment is about invitation and it’s about conversion, conversion into a way of repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation. And in all of that there is new life and there is joy. There is disbelief and there is wonder all wound up into an amazing experience of resurrection. And these stories tell us how to receive and offer such grace:   Greet with a message of peace: “I come in love. I wish for you the Shalom, the peace of God.” Then ask about fears and in doing so, you will help relieve them. Offer tender encounters that in their very offering shatter expectations of what is possible in this world and open the Scriptures anew. Ask for food. Share it. And trust that in such moments there will be joy.

Amen.