Sermon by Delmer Chilton
I remember the first time I “went away.” It was 1972 and I was going away to college.
My family is pretty low-key about things like that and there was no special dinner or anything.
If I remember correctly, I milked the cow as usual that morning, worked in the tobacco patch with Daddy until noon, then we went to the house for lunch. I took a shower, loaded my box of books and my laundry basket full of clothes in the back seat of the car and drove the hour and a half down to Greensboro, NC to college.
I did receive a few “going away” presents. Daddy handed me $10, the first time I remember him giving me money that I hadn't had to work for. Mama gave me a couple of shirts she got on sale.
And my cousin Julia (an English teacher) and her husband Sam (a librarian) gave me a Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary. I spent the money on gas and wore the shirts out but I still have the dictionary sitting on my bookshelves.
The best going away presents serve two purposes. They are a link to the past and they propel us into the future. Every time I look up a word in that old dictionary, I remember Julia and Sam’s encouragement of my goal of getting a college education; and that dictionary, in its own small way, helped me to achieve that goal.
Today’s gospel lesson is about Going Away Presents, but in this case, the gift-giving is done in reverse; the one going away, Jesus, gives the presents. As the disciples gathered in their hide-away room, they were a very disturbed, confused, and fearful community. The events of the past week had overwhelmed them, their brains and their bodies were on emotional overload.
The Bible says they were full of fear. The Greek word here is phobon, from which we get the English word PHOBIA. A phobia is an irrational and unthinking fear, emotional terror. These people were afraid of their own shadows, they were seeing monsters in the closets and boogie bears under their beds. Their world had turned upside down and inside out. They had left their families and their jobs, their lives and their livelihoods to follow this charismatic healer/preacher.
And now this glorious revolution had come to a screeching halt, the wheels had come off the Kingdom of God parade, the movement had collapsed; all was in disarray.
And Jesus, the Risen Christ, came into that locked room with “going away presents.” He brought to them the things they needed to recover and go forward. Jesus came to them in the midst of their fear and the first words out of his mouth are “Peace be with you.” This greeting is very important and he repeats it three times in our lesson. In Hebrew, Peace is Shalom. It means “completeness, welfare, health.” It is when everything in your life is as it should be. In Greek, Peace is Eirene – which in this case means, “harmonized relationships between God and (humanity).” Jesus comes into the midst of these most “unharmonic” and incomplete folks, and gives them the gift of being at peace - at peace with themselves and the world. This peace is a most mysterious thing, for it is not tied to nor dependent upon the circumstances of our lives - it is not linked to how well you’re doing in your job, or how well you’re getting along with your family, or how much money you have in your savings account, or how well your retirement fund is doing in the stock market. Paul calls it, “the peace that passes all understanding.”
It is a peace that comes into our hearts and spirits as a gift from God. This peace is at the core of worship. Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans Methodists, and many, many others – pass the peace after the prayers. A regular benediction ends with The Lord look upon you with favor and give you Peace.” The dismissal says “Go in Peace, serve the Lord.” It is vital that we understand the source of all this peace. It is not OUR peace, not our love, not our goodwill, not our friendliness, not our serenity. No, we are sharing with one another the peace that Christ has given to us, the same peace that Jesus gave to his disciples as a going away present.
After Jesus has comforted the disciples, after he has calmed their fears with His peace,
Jesus gave those directionless people a PURPOSE, a reason to keep on going. In verse 21 he says, “As the father has sent me, even so I send you.” Jesus knows that they think that the mission has ended with his death, but he proclaims to them that it has only just begun.
When Jesus tells his disciples that he is sending them, he is saying to them, “I know that you thought the Kingdom of God movement was over, but I’m here to tell you it is just beginning.”
Jesus comes to this disheartened and directionless group and gives them a reason for living.
He defines for them a purpose, lays out for them their future, sets in front of them their mission.
When Jesus shows them his wounds, it is not just a way of identifying himself, not just a way of proving to them that it really is him. NO! In showing them his wounds, his scars, Jesus is telling them who they are, and what they are to do in the world. Suddenly, things he said before his death, things that seemed so peculiar when he said them, things like “take up YOUR cross,” and “losing your life for the Gospel,” begin to shout out their meaning as the disciples stare at his wounds. “Now I get it, now I understand. We are called to serve the world, to live for the world, to die for the world if necessary, because that’s what Jesus did.”
Jesus came into their midst and gave them peace and gave them a purpose and then he gave them the power, the ability, to fulfill their purpose. Verse 22 says, “He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.” Christ provides what is needed to fulfill the purpose God has given us.
This means that the Spirit will work through our sometimes feeble efforts to accomplish God’s will in the world. This is demonstrated by Christ on the Cross.That was not an exercise of power,
but a demonstration of humility and obedience and faith. God’s promise is to fill us with the Holy Spirit, to provide for us what we need in order to do what we are called to do.
Look at Peter. While Jesus was on trial before Pilate, Peter fearfully denied him three times, scared to death of a serving girl. In today’s lesson from Acts we see Peter preaching on the streets of Jerusalem, afraid of no one. Look at the disciples, huddled behind closed doors.
The 12 disciples who became known as the Apostles, the “Sent Ones,” boldly went to the far corners of the known world, preaching the Gospel. facing death and dishonor every day.
What made the difference? What changed them? What transformed them from people afraid of their own shadow into preachers and prophets afraid of nothing and no one? The Risen Christ breathed on them the Holy Spirit, providing them with the faith and courage to live a life devoted to God’s will and God’s way in the world.
The Risen Christ comes to us today, comes into the locked room of our soul, into those interior places filled with fear and confusion, Jesus comes to us with the same healing words and sure promises he had for the disciples. Jesus comes and calms our fears with God’s peace. Jesus comes and shows us the way to live out God’s purpose in the world. Jesus comes and breathes into our lives the Holy Spirit, providing us with all that is needed to live a life of faith.
Amen and amen.