The Third Sunday of Easter
The Rev. George Pejakovich, Assistant to the Dean
Grace Cathedral
04/26/09

Luke 24:36b-48

IF YOU HAVE EVER BEEN CALLED BEFORE A COURT OF LAW TO BE A WITNESS, YOU ALREADY KNOW JUST HOW DIFFICULT AND DEMANDING IT IS TO BE A WITNESS. I HAVE HAD THE DUBIOUS DISTINCTION OF HAVING BEEN A WITNESS ON A NUMBER OF OCCASIONS, ONE OF WHICH WAS AS A WITNESS IN A MURDER TRIAL. TO BE A CREDIBLE WITNESS, YOU MUST HAVE PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE EVENT, HAVING EXPERIENCED IT WITH YOUR OWN EYES, AND YOU NEED TO HAVE THE FACTS STRAIGHT IN YOUR MIND. YOU ALSO NEED TO HAVE AN ABSOLUTE CONVICTION OF THE TRUTH OF WHAT YOU EXPERIENCED, BECAUSE THE ATTOURNEY FOR THE OTHER SIDE WILL TRY TO PICK APART YOUR TESTIMONY TO DISCREDIT EVERYTHING YOU MIGHT SAY. UNLESS YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN OF WHAT YOU ARE SAYING, THE EXPERIENCE CAN BE BOTH EMBARASSING AND FRIGHTENING. IF, HOWEVER, YOU ARE ROCK – SOLID IN YOUR RECOLLECTION OF THE EVENT, IF YOU HAVE YOUR STORY “STRAIGHT,” YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR, AND YOUR TESTIMONY CAN NOT BE SHAKEN.

IN THE GOSPEL FOR TODAY, THE DISCIPLES WERE STILL IN HIDING FROM THE AUTHORITIES. THEY WERE FEARFUL AND CONFUSED, AND HAD NO IDEA WHAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THEIR LIVES, OR EVEN HOW THEY COULD ESCAPE FROM JERUSALEM WITHOUT ENDING UP ON A CROSS LIKE JESUS. THEY HAD SEEN HIM ARRESTED AND KILLED, AND HAD EVEN BURIED HIM IN A TOMB. NOW, THE TOMB WAS EMPTY, AND SOME OF THE WOMEN CLAIM TO HAVE SEEN HIM ALIVE AGAIN. NOTHING MADE ANY SENSE, AND THEY WERE ALL SHAKING IN THEIR SANDLES WITH FEAR. AS THEY HUDDLED TOGETHER IN FEAR, TWO OF THEIR NUMBER BURST IN ON THEM FULL OF EXCITEMENT OVER HAVING SEEN JESUS ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS. IMAGINE THE UPROAR, THE CONFUSION, THE QUESTIONS FLYING BACK AND FORTH AS THE DISCIPLES TRIED TO FIGURE OUT JUST WHAT WAS GOING ON. IN THE MIDST OF THE CONFUSION OVER THIS LATEST TURN OF EVENTS, JESUS HIMSELF SUDDENLY STOOD AMONG THEM AND SAID, “PEACE BE WITH YOU.” THIS GREETING WAS LIKE TOSSING A FIGURATIVE HAND GRENADE IN THEIR MIDST, AS THEY ALL JUMPED BACK STARTLED AND FRIGHTENED, THINKING THEY HAD SEEN A GHOST.

TO SET THEIR MINDS AT EASE, JESUS TELLS THEM TO TOUCH HIS HANDS AND FEET, TO PROVE TO THEMSELVES THAT HE IS REALY ALIVE AND NOT A GHOST. HE EVEN ASKS FOR SOMETHING TO EAT, AND EATS A PIECE OF BROILED FISH IN FRONT OF THEM. HAVING ESTABLISHED HIS REALITY TO THEM, JESUS THEN INSTRUCTED HIS DISCIPLES AND OPENED THEIR MINDS TO EVERYTHING HE HAD TAUGHT THEM WHILE HE WAS WITH THEM, AND HOW THE HOLY SCRIPTURES THEY HAD STUDIED ALL THEIR LIVES POINTED TO HIM AND THE NECESSITY FOR HIS SUFFERING AND DEATH, AND OF HIS RISING FROM THE DEAD ON THE THIRD DAY. NOW, WITH THE CONTEXT OF ALL THEY HAD SEEN AND EXPERIENCED OVER THE LAST THREE YEARS FIXED FIRMLY IN THEIR MINDS, JESUS GIVES THEM EXACTLY WHAT THEY, IN THEIR FORMER FEAR AND CONFUSION, WERE LACKING; A MISSION AND PURPOSE FOR THEIR LIVES. THEY, AND OTHERS TO COME, ARE TO PROCLAIM REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS OF SINS IN HIS NAME TO ALL NATIONS, BEGINNING RIGHT THERE IN JERUSALEM. “YOU,” HE TELLS THEM, “ARE TO BE WITNESSES OF THESE THINGS.”

ALL THE POST – RESSURECTION APPEARANCES OF JESUS TO HIS DISCIPLES CAN BE LOOKED AT AS HIS PREPARATION OF THE DISCIPLES TO BE ROCK – SOLID WITNESSES TO NOT ONLY WHAT THEY EXPERIENCED WITH JESUS, BUT THE MEANING OF WHAT THEY EXPERIENCED AND SAW WITH THEIR OWN EYES. HIS LIVING PRESENCE AMOUNG THEM WAS TO GET THEIR STORY “STRAIGHT,” SO THAT THEY COULD BE CREDIBLE AND EFFECTIVE WITNESSES TO THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH, AND THE MEANING OF THE LIFE, DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD. HIS LIVING PRESENCE DEFINED A NEW REALITY FOR THEM, A REALITY IN WHICH DEATH WAS NOT THE END OF LIFE, IN WHICH THE LOVE OF GOD TRIUMPHS OVER THE GRIP OF SIN, IN WHICH ONE CAN FINALLY SEE THE POWER AND THE LOVE OF GOD MADE MANIFEST IN THE CROSS OF THE CHRIST OF GOD. HIS LIVING PRESENCE AMOUNG THEM FIRMLY ESTABLISHES THE PEACE OF GOD, THE GREAT “SHALOM,” AS THE FOUNDATION AND SOURCE OF THEIR BEING, SO THAT THEIR TESTIMONY TO AND ABOUT JESUS CAN NOT BE SHAKEN OR SWAYED BY ANYTHING THIS LIFE MIGHT THROW AT THEM. NOW, IN THE NEW REALITY OF THE PEACE OF GOD, AND OF HIS CHRIST, THEY COULD BE CREDIBLE WITNESSES, “MARTYRIOI,” MARTYRS FOR THEIR LORD AND GOD.

THIS IS HOW PETER, WHO, ONCE A COWARD IN FEAR FOR HIS LIFE DENIED EVEN KNOWING JESUS, COULD STAND UP IN FRONT OF THE CROWDS IN JERUSALEM AND BOLDLY PROCLAIM TO THOSE WHO KILLED JESUS THAT HE WAS A WITNESS TO THE RESURRECTION. PETER, AND THE REST OF THOSE WHO ONCE QUIVERED IN FEAR FOR THEIR LIVES, COULD NOW FEARLESSLY PROCLAIM THE GREAT GOOD NEWS THAT GOD HAS SENT HIS SON TO DIE FOR OUR SINS, AND THAT REPENTANCE AND SALVATION IS FOR ALL IN THE NAME OF JESUS. ARROWS, FIRE, SWORD AND TORTURE COULD NOT SHAKE THEIR STORY, BECAUSE THEY HAD EXPERIENCED THE LIVING CHRIST IN THEIR MIDST, AND THEIR TESTIMONY WAS SURE, THEIR STORY WAS “STRAIGHT” FROM THE MOUTH OF THE LIVING WORD OF GOD, AND, LIKE THE ROCK ON WHICH THEIR FAITH WAS BUILT, THEY COULD NOT BE MOVED.

WE, TOO, ARE WITNESS TO THESE THINGS. THE TESTIMONY OF THE APOSTLES HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN TO US IN THE LIVING BODY OF THE CHRIST OF GOD, HIS CHURCH. WHAT WE DO HERE EVERY SUNDAY IS TO REHEARSE THE STORY, WITH THE PRESENCE OF THE LIVING CHRIST IN OUR MIDST, SO THAT WE MIGHT BE ROCK – SOLID IN OUR TESTIMONY. EACH YEAR, WE FOLLOW ALONG WITH THE DISCIPLES, AND ALL THE WITNESSES OF THE PAST, AS THE SPIRIT OF THE LIVING CHRIST LEADS US TO THE OPENING OF OUR MINDS TO UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES. WE ATTEND THE BIRTH OF THE CHRIST, WALK WITH HIM AS HE GATHERS HIS DISCIPLES AND HEAR HIS CALL TO US AS WELL, WE FOLLOW HIM TO THE CROSS, WEEPING, WE LAY HIM IN THE TOMB, AND WE JOYOUSLY GREET HIM AS HE RISES TO MEET US FROM THE DEAD. WE LIVE WITH HIM IN OUR MIDST, AND HE FEEDS US WITH HIS OWN BODY AND BLOOD – THE BREAD OF HEAVEN AND THE CUP OF SALVATION – AND STRENGTHENS US TO BE HIS WITNESS TO ALL NATIONS, BEGINNING RIGHT HERE IN TOPEKA. WITH THE LIVING CHRIST IN OUR MIDST, IN HIM, WITH HIM, AND THROUGH HIM, WE REHEASE THE GOOD NEWS THAT GOD HAS SENT HIS ONLY SON TO SUFFER AND DIE, AND RISE AGAIN ON THE THIRD DAY, AND THAT IN HIM, AND ONLY IN HIM, IS FORGIVENESS AND SALVATION TO BE FOUND.

HIS GREETING TO US IS ALWAYS THAT OF HIS GREETING TO HIS DISCIPLES, “PEACE BE WITH YOU.” HIS PEACE HE GIVES TO US, BECAUSE, IN HIS LIVING PRESENCE IS THE GREAT “SHALOM” OF GOD. PEACE WE HAVE WITH HIM, BECAUSE IN HIM WE KNOW THE TRUE REALITY THAT HE IS THE LORD OF LIFE, THE AUTHOR OF ALL THINGS, FROM WHOM ALL THINGS COME, AND TO WHOM ALL THINGS END. THIS IS OUR STORY, THIS IS OUR TESTIMONY, AND FROM THIS WE WILL NOT BE MOVED. WE ARE HIS WITNESSES TO THESE THINGS.
AMEN.