What If God Were One of Us?
John 20:19-31
Jesus’ appearances on Easter and thereafter are designed, first to demonstrate the reality of Christ’s resurrection, and second to give Jesus the opportunity to give direction to the disciples, and thirdly, to anticipate Christ’s universal presence through the Holy Spirit. The Resurrection appearances affirm the reality of “God is with us.”
Jesus had promised: “I will not leave you orphaned, but I will come to you.” He said: “I am with you always.” His great promise was that he would not leave us alone, but that he would be with us forever as we live in his will and abide by his teachings.
He appears in the garden to Mary as she weeps, at a meal when 10 disciples are behind locked doors, walking along as a stranger with two pilgrims on the Emmaus road, and then to seven disciples at the breakfast table beside the Sea of Galilee.
At unexpected, surprising times, he just appears, as a stranger, as a gardener, as one of us.
In the television program Joan of Arcadia, God will often surprisingly appear in the form of a custodian, a teenager dressed in punk clothes and spiked hair, a vagrant old man and even as a pop up ad on the computer. The theme song, which often plays in the background is, “What if God were one of us”…The surprising and delightful part of this television series of a funny teenage girl, is that God is one of us. He appears in the most unexpected of moments and does his or her thing and then goes on about everyday tasks.
Since watching this delightful program, I have begun to look for God in the people I encounter. And strangely enough, he seems to appear.
For some years I have become aware that God, the Holy Spirit, will make a suggestion to me to do this or that sometimes in the form of an inner urge or a recurring thought or an unexpected opportunity. And I must confess that when I act on these suggestions or opportunities, then I am pleased, for often it will be very clear why God wanted me to do this or that. At other times when I have ignored this inner feeling or strong urging, something has usually happened that I experienced regret for not acting earlier on the inner suggestion, or feeling, or desire, or ?
For example…call someone on the phone, drop by a business and check on someone.
My suggestion is that you pray that God will be in your life and that when he gives you guidance, then follow his suggestions, and you will be blessed.
The Daughters of Charity, a Roman Catholic order of lay workers, have this attitude that Christ is in everyone they meet, thus they deal with every stranger with utmost respect and alertness. I first became aware of this attitude in the writings of Mother Teresa where she speaks of Christ in the poor and the sick, but honestly, it is hard for me to see Christ in every person I meet. I see the human person, not the divine son of God.
And yet, I will recall for you the statement of Jesus “When you do it unto the least of human beings, you do it unto me.”
“What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us. Just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home.”
What the Easter Resurrection appearance stories reveal to us is that God has in times past appeared to his disciples.
In the scripture today, the disciple Thomas is not with the disciples when Jesus first appears. Thomas has said openly, “I will not believe unless I place my hands in the wound in his side and my fingers in the wounds in Jesus’ hands.” Thomas has, over the years, received a bad reputation and is often referred to as “doubting Thomas.” “I will not believe until I see or touch.”…
Augustine of Hippo once wrote: “Faith is believing what you have not seen.” This is pretty much what the Apostle Paul meant when he said: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Augustine went on to say: “The reward of faith is seeing the things believed.”
I have often said “I hope to live long enough to see this or that…for example…peace in the whole world, a “war not allowed sign” on the planet, cancer treated like a common cold, drug abuse not a problem, I believe these hopes will come to pass, but each day brings pain and problems.
We live in a modern world which demands “evidence” saying like Thomas “I will not believe until I see it.” But the Bible seems to be at odds with this skeptical modern attitude saying: “Believe it and you will see it.”
Now the Bible is filled with stories of times when God submits to somebody’s irrational demands for evidence.
Gideon, is a reluctant warrior in O.T. who did not want to go to war against the Midianites, so he prayed to God and asked that God give him a sign. He put a lamb’s fleece on the ground over night demanding that God make the fleece wet and the ground around it dry. God did that and then Gideon changed the rules and demanded that the ground be wet and the fleece dry, and God did it. Gideon had demanded and God had delivered. The problem was that Gideon knew what God wanted him to do, he just didn’t want to do it.
Sometimes we will ask for a “sign” from God, and when the “sign” occurs, then we also will change the rule. How amused God must become at us and our silly ways.
Well, it is easier to laugh at the irrational demands of Biblical characters than it is to laugh at ourselves.
Gideon demanded something of God and here in the Easter stories regarding Thomas, we are told that Jesus did as Thomas requested. “Put forth your hand into my side, place your fingers in the wounds in my hands.” And Thomas said: “I believe, help my unbelief.” Blessed are you Thomas, and blessed are those who do not see, but believe.
What the Easter Resurrection appearance stories reveal to us is that God has in times past appeared to his disciples, and I can testify that what happened then, can and does and will happen now.
Be alert—where will he appear to you this week?
Our Hearts
Burned Within Us
Luke 24:13-35
One of the most powerful stories that illustrates this movement of being oriented, being disoriented and then being surprisingly reoriented is the Resurrection appearance of our Lord which took place on the road to Emmaus, a small village beyond the city limits of Jerusalem. On the road, two discouraged, wounded believers walked home to their family and their daily tasks; pensive, quiet, sad they walked with heavy footsteps. A stranger appears beside them. There is a conversation that you will hear, in the reading of the scripture. And then at table, in their home, Jesus is recognized. Listen to this rather fascinating story…
The disciples said: “Our hearts burned within us”…
I. There have been times when my heart burned with joy within me:
When we celebrate the covenant of marriage, whether it be the memory of our own marriage or experience the young love of a new couple.
When the children sing in worship. When I watch you as you watch the children when they sing in worship.
When I see you come into the church to worship on a Sunday morning. When I see you in prayer, singing the hymns of faith. When you smile or nod in recognition and affirmation. “My heart will burn within me”.
During springtime when the blossoms of the Amaryllis bulbs emerge from the earth and remind me of Mabel Byrd, and the dogwoods bloom reminding me of Dick and Ada Hooten, and the narcissus blossoms reminding me of Henry Wickie. And so many others who are now in God’s nearer presence, but with whom because of death, I feel a distance.
Sometimes when I read the Psalms, for example in Ps. 116 where there is the statement “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.” I read these words and think of those whom I have been privileged to have known, “And My Heart Burns Within Me"
When I watch the cardinals standing before St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome in the mass commemorating the life of Karol Wojtyla, a polish born child who became the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. I hear the ancient Latin liturgy and then recognize the words in Latin: “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me, although they die, yet shall they live, and he who believes in me shall never die.” And “My heart burns within me.”
II. Walter Brueggemann, a Biblical Scholar and teacher at Columbia Presbyterian Seminary, has suggested that the life of faith is a journey with God characterized by three basic movements:
1. Being oriented
2. Being disoriented
3. Being surprisingly reoriented
The Emmaus disciples had experienced orientation, disorientation and now in this stranger, they experience Re-orientation in the Resurrected Jesus walking beside them.
This year has been a year of disorientation for many if not all of us…
III. Christ can do that for you. A number of times in Jesus’ teachings, Jesus will conclude something he has said with these words: “if you have eyes to see and ears to hear”.
As I read or hear read the words of Jesus, I am reoriented to a truth beyond the confusion of the broken, confusing world we know all too well. And in the moment of hearing his words, my “heart burns within me” and I am surprisingly reoriented to God’s reality.
“I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly”
“seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you”
“Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it.”
“Nothing is impossible with God”.
“All things are possible for him who believes.”
“I am the resurrection and the life”.
IV. There will be many encounters along the pathway of life when you will meet fascinating persons who will change your pace and bring excitement and hope to your life, if only you have eyes to see and ears to hear. The way to cultivate an openness to discover new life is…
1. Place yourself intentionally in God’s presence. Walk the roads on which the Christ has been seen by others. The Emmaus disciples did not recognize Jesus until they were at table with him when he “broke the bread”. Maybe it was the way he broke the bread, like he had done at the Upper Room Table. Maybe he said something that was like he had said at the first Table. Who knows, we only know that it was in the breaking of bread that they saw Jesus. When we are at table,…we recognize him.
There is a retreat and spiritual renewal movement in the U.S. called “The Emmaus Walk”. It is adapted from the Roman Catholic Cursillo movement. The Catholic Cursillo movement originated in Spain in l949 and it is called “a little course in Christianity” with an emphasis on servanthood.
This is one among many ways for us to discover Christ in a broken world.
Thousands have found in Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Filled Life” a new style of living which is receptive to Christ. Many seem to be finding new confidence in Joel Osteen's new book “Your Best Life Now”. Which I have read. The only thing I would caution you about Osteen's book is that it seems to be too much about you, which is the consumer orientation of the now generation. Others have learned the Bible for the first time through the “Disciple” Bible Study and now the “Christian Companions” courses offered by our church.
Here are but the ways and means of seeing Christ. The Church has always said that through the spiritual disciplines, we can find Christ. Prayer, Bible Reading, Christian giving, Acts of kindness, worship, communion. John Wesley, experienced Christ in a prayer meeting on Aldersgate in England when he was in his late 30’s—“I felt my heart strangely warmed. I knew that I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for my salvation.”
2. Live an open and receptive life. You can learn from every person you meet, but only if you are open to them. I had someone come and visit with me recently, who said: “I just want to know you” and let you know me.” How rich and rewarding this can be.
Encountering a fascinating person along the walk of life can change your pace, bring excitement where before there was depression and even defeat. Energy in life comes from the intricate interplay of relationships with human beings.
All of us have had the experience of walking aimlessly, either depressed with nowhere to go or in search of something exciting or energizing, then one day we encounter someone along the way, life changes, our step quickens, and life takes on new meaning and purpose.
Summary: The surprising new orientation to life and meaning which the Emmaus Road disciples received remains a powerful promise for our own journey of faith. From disorientation to being surprised by orientation.
We had walked with Jim Fleming, at the time a professor at Jerusalem University, from Bethany to Jerusalem and although it is but six miles, we had taken most of the morning. Fleming had taught us along the way of the last week in Jesus’ life which everyday Jesus had walked into the city during the day and back in early evening to Bethany. We had seen one flock after another of sheep and goats and mixed herds of both and always there was the ever present shepherd. Dr. Fleming had pointed out to us that the sheep and goats were never left unattended, But in midmorning there was a mixed flock which were scattered over the hillside and blocked the narrow pathway which we walked. And there was no visible shepherd. I looked carefully all around and found no one in sight. And the little boy in me came out and I picked up a stone and threw it into the middle of the sheep while a friend clapped his hands and yelled to scatter them out of the pathway so we could make our way along the narrow walking path. It was in a mini-second that she appeared. It was a girl shepherd with fire in her eyes. The shepherd had always been there keeping watch over her own and only appeared when there was apparent danger for the sheep. Red-faced and humbled, I apologized first in English and then in Spanish thinking that might be the closest that I might get to her Arabic tongue to communicate my sorrow for my foolishness.
We don’t know much about shepherds and sheep because we live a long way from such a lifestyle which is a way of life yet in many parts of the world.
In our Sanctuary however, there are many references to sheep and shepherds because it is a reflection of the Biblical stories.
God is portrayed as a Shepherd in both the Old and the New Testament.
The Psalmist in the 23rd—“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want”
John 10:1-11 which is perhaps one of the finest statements of God’s Shepherding nature when Jesus affirms that he is “The Good Shepherd” and that he knows the names of the sheep and that he will go before them and will be with them.
As I thought about this shepherding nature of God, I remembered Moses in the old Testament who was a mere lonely shepherd until God called him to go to Egypt as the Shepherd of the Lost Sheep of Israel. But who will I say has sent me? Tell them, God answers Moses and tells him something in Hebrew which has been translated into English: “I am who I am” has sent me”. “I am who I am”—Which frankly has never made a lot of sense to me. The Pharaoh of Egypt had all the power and all the clout and it would have been a foreboding challenge for Moses, a shepherd with a shady past, to go into the courts of Pharo much less to demand that the Hebrews be set free. This had to be a frightening, scary situation for Moses. So Moses says to God, “Who will I tell Pharaoh —, the most powerful man in the world of our time, “has sent me?” And I have always thought to myself “I am who I am” doesn’t cut it.
Martin Buber an Old Testament Biblical scholar, toward the end of his life, said something that touched me greatly. After studying the original Hebrew text for many years, Buber said he finally came to the conclusion that we may well have mistranslated that verse in Ex. 3:14. Instead of being translated that the name of God is “I am who I am”. Buber suggested that it should instead read: “I shall be there.”
As I thought about this marvelous affirmation, I recalled Jesus' statement to the disciples, “Do not worry what you will say when you come before the magistrates of this world, for I will be will you and will give you the words to say.” And time and time again, Jesus said: “I will be there.” And remember Paul’s statement in Romans: “Nothing will separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus.”
The good news today is that God “will be there with us”.
I. Let me ask you something. What are the “Pharaohs” of your life. What are you facing that scares you to death? What are the frightening, scary things you are up against right now? Remember this: “The name of God is “I shall Be There”.
Someone said to me that “I am not afraid of anything the world can do to me, but I am terrified that I will finish my life and will have accomplished absolutely nothing.”
In Cheltenham, England we came across an old tombstone which read: “It is so soon that I am done for, I wonder what I was begun for.”
Never forget this truth: when you face life’s numerous challenges and when you face death itself, then also, even then and especially then, you will remember that the name of God The Good Shepherd, is “I shall be there.” Write it on your heart “I shall Be there!” “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the Shepherd will be with me.”
Did you know that Moses, who led the children of Israel from slavery to the Promised land, died in sight of the Promised Land. On the mountain overlooking the Jordan River and the land of Promise beyond the Jordan, Moses laid down and died. Can you imagine how it must have felt for him to be so near but yet so far? So close yet so far away. He had to have been disappointed as he has lived for that day for the people, but he would never see it. We all have disappointments, but just as God was with Moses, he will be with us. After all, he knows far more than we know.
III. Now I could stop here and that would be enough, but seldom am I able to stop short when there is something else to say, but I will try to be brief, well somewhat brief. God was the shepherd of his people and Jesus considered himself to be a “Good Shepherd”. And You can be a Shepherd. Parents have many roles, but perhaps the most important is to protect their children from evil and that which will hurt them.
I have some concerns just now as to how evil is creeping into our lives. Sometimes it comes as “wolves in lambs clothes.”
Evil creeps in on the television and internet airwaves. Christian Parents need to oversee these intrusions into our homes. Sex outside the covenant of marriage is not a way of life for a Godly people. Violence and shooting and killing is not the Christian lifestyle. When sports conflict with the worship of God and parents allow sports to win, you teach the next generation what is important. The Lord’s Day is a day for rest and Christian fellowship and worship, anything beyond that is a compromise of Christian values and evil creeps in. Dishonesty and a compromise of one’s integrity cuts the moral cord which binds us to the mystery of life.
The Promise that “God will be there with us” is made contingent on our obedience to the ways of God.
We have a program in the church called “Good Shepherds” who care for the elderly. There are 27 Stephen Ministers and 27 Good Shepherds who are present in our congregation caring for people. It is a great program of caring.
Today, those of you in the Confirmation Class, become disciples of Jesus Christ. To be a disciple means we learn from Him and enjoy His power. It means we are obedient to His ways. It means we are blessed by His promises.
Jesus prepared the first disciples for his departure by saying “I am going to prepare a place for you”. Here Jesus informs the disciples that they have a place, a destination in heaven with him, after their death. Here is recorded the ultimate offering of security. “Do not be afraid. Do not worry. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself.”
I like to have the assurance and confidence of a destination or goal. A place where, when I arrive, I know I have gotten somewhere with all the effort of my journey. A place where someone is looking for me. A place where the bed is made and the covers are turned back and the light is on and someone is waiting for me.
A couple of years ago when Jane and I went on Sabbatical we purchased a “Eurail pass” where you get on one of Europe’s fast trains and get off whenever you want to get off, and you have no destination in mind. The loose plan sounded exotic and exciting, but after stepping off late at night in French villages where no one spoke English and no hotel could be found, and no one cared, I was ready to have a destination in mind, a reservation in hand and someone, preferably who spoke English, who was looking for me. Jane could hang loose with the process, but not me.
I know the journey is important and I know the “Journey is our Home,” but I just do better when “Home is the destination of the journey.” If the choice is journey or destination, then at least for me, it is destination! And that is what Jesus offered to his disciples and still offers. A Place is prepared for you!
When you decide to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and put your whole trust in God’s grace, he offers you the security of “A Place,” a place in his family now and in his presence in eternity.
We have gone through a period of time in history since World War II, and today in America live in a culture that is much more interested in how much money we will make or how can we have fun today, than we are in some distance concept of heaven. Not me. Our life here on earth is but for a short time-frame, and eternity is forever.
John Wesley, who founded the Methodist Movement now 267 years ago, said: “I want to know one thing…the way to heaven.” He believed that it was God’s intention for us to live in full companionship with Him in this world and the next. Thus he taught that “to walk in faithfulness with God was the way to know the assurance and joy of salvation now and for eternity.”
In a number of Wesley’s sermons, and if you think mine are long, you need to read his. As a matter of fact you need to read some of his, to get a better appreciation of what is served here Sunday after Sunday. Wesley focused on heaven: For example: “I am a creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God: Hovering over the great gulf until a few moments hence and I am no more seen and then I drop into an unchangeable eternity. I want to know one thing; the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore.”
Today, some of you will be given an assurance of a sure destination. A Place for you.
The Kingdom of God is yours. The Kingdom of Heaven will be yours.
The Abundant life is yours, when you are in Christ. Eternal Life will be yours.
To live in Christ is to have “A Place Prepared for you.”
Paul Tournier was a Swiss psychiatrist and author of a number of books which inform and assist psychologists and ministers and others in the helping professions. Tournier had a challenging life as a child. When he was first born, his mother and father and older brother who lived in Geneva, Switzerland, moved into what was a new home for them. Although it was a home built in the 1800’s just off of Reformation Park, and was an old home, it was always called, “Place Nueve,” or “The New Place.” Sadly, when young Tournie was six, his father died and two years later at eight years of age, his mother died. Bad things happen to good people, even when they are young. On the day of Tournier’s mother’s death, his last parent, a house maid/nanny who had lived with the family from his birth; walked the two children into the park, holding their hands and Tournier remembered 60 years later that he asked her, “Will we never be able to return to “Place Nueve?” And she looked down at him and said with great wisdom and loving compassion, “My dear Child, there will be many “new places” ahead for you.”
To be sure, when you are in Christ, there will be many new places ahead for you. We are not offered a life of ease and plenty, but we are offered a place of security.
1. A place where Jesus Christ is the Lord of All. One’s accepting what God has done for us through Jesus is the doorway for one’s eternal salvation. Never again do you have to fear the darkness. Thus I will ask you, “Do you believe in Jesus Christ.”
2. A place is prepared for you where evil will not rule your life. We live in a broken, sinful world.
Recently I was in the Rehabilitation Institute at West Florida Hospital.
A young man was there paralyzed from the chest down. He had a nasty drug habit and some terrible druggy friends who had left him when he could no longer provide the drugs. Carefully choose your friends. He was in a wheelchair and he had a nasty attitude. I will ask you to renounce evil’s wicked foolish ways. I am talking about drugs, alcohol, sex outside of marriage, dishonesty, stealing. Renounce and reject such things from your life.
But I was at the Rehab Institute to see a person who had lost her leg. I asked how she was doing with her handicap and she responded, “I don’t have a handicap, I just don’t have a leg.” Her attitude, and her Christian faith, was shaping her life.
John Maxwell, in his book, “Today Matters,” says that “The thoughts in your mind will always be more important than the things in your life.
You see what lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. You get right with God through Jesus Christ and your attitude toward everything will change.
John Wesley once pointed out, in one of his sermons, the “Way of Holiness.” “When we walk the way of holiness, we are on the way to an eternal dwelling.”
God offers to each and all of us today, “A Place.” It is the gift of ultimate security.