“Heart Instructions”
“Heart Instructions”
Acts 2:14a, 22-32 Psalm 16 John 20:19-31
Second Sunday of Easter, Year A, April 16, 2023
First Presbyterian Church of Sandpoint, Idaho
Andrew Kennaly, Pastor
Greetings, Little Christ’s! Another way of saying this is, “Hello Christians!” The term, “Christian” means, “little Christ.” Here we are on the second Sunday of Easter to proclaim that Jesus died, Christ arose. Like those verses in Acts, as Peter says, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.” Four verses later, in verse 36 we see the effect: “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Jesus is Lord and Christ, Messiah. Those who follow Jesus, this Lord and Christ, are little Christs, Christians. But there’s even more than that!
In John we see Thomas demanding certainty, to see the wounds and put his hand in the Lord’s side. This happens, and Thomas also proclaims, “My Lord and my God!” But even in the presence of the Risen Christ, Thomas needs to put his hand on the wounds, as if, even though the door was shut, seeing this Christ wasn’t enough for him. In fact, many times when Christ appears, people don’t recognize this, until something happens that opens their eyes in a new way. Then they see Christ all over the place!
Sometimes Jesus shows up even though the doors are locked, just appears out of nowhere. Richard Rohr mentions that “people who witnessed these apparitions of Christ seemed to finally recognize him, but not usually immediately. Seeing and recognizing are not the same thing. […] The risen Christ transcended doors, walls, spaces, water, air, and times, eating food, and sometimes even bilocating, but always interacting with matter. All of the accounts ascribe a kind of physical presence to Christ, [but] it always seems to be a different kind of embodiment […], a new kind of presence, […] and a new kind of godliness. […] The core message of the incarnation of God in Jesus is that the Divine Presence is here, in us and in all of creation, and not only ‘over there’ in some far-off realm.” (https://cac.org/daily-meditations/seeing-and-recognizing-are-not-the-same-2023-04-14/).
Divine Presence is here, in us and in all of creation. The Risen Christ tells Thomas, the one who demanded evidence, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” That word, “believe” has been abused and carries baggage for many people. To get at the same definition, I like to use the word “trust,” as in a deep trust, a felt sense of knowing, not so much a mental certainty, but a heart-felt intuition that leans into Divine Presence. Psalm 16 echoes some of this believer’s trust. The Psalmist says, “The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage. I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. […] My heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure. […] You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy.”
The Psalmist recognizes the source of the fullness of joy as divine presence. In John, “Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After saying this he shows the disciples his wounds.” They see him, they recognize him. He tells them again, “Peace be with you,” but then he adds an affirmation to the recognition, and says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
But he doesn’t send them alone. After the recognition, Christ gives them something they receive. To show they receive, he breathes on them, they inhale, and he says, “Receive the Holy Spirit” a living gift who equips them; they have the choice to forgive sins or retain them.
(Here I share a story about walking in the woods and sharing breath and being with trees, an example of unitive experience and the relational character of God’s creation as Earth creatures made in and through Christ).
Easter is a reality that goes beyond mechanics or the need for explanations. Resurrection happens. The effects are proof enough that something about resurrection touches us to the core and opens our heart in ways that change life through deep trust in God’s living Presence in us. Awareness is heightened.
Matthew Fox asks some questions about that, about the God presence inside us as we live as a “son or daughter of God, an expression, an offspring, a manifestation, an incarnation of God. Another Christ.” (https://cac.org/daily-meditations/be-resurrection-2023-04-13/).
He asks, “How are we doing? Are we growing in God-like-ness? In God action? In works of justice and compassion and healing and celebrating? To celebrate life is to celebrate God, to thank God for life, to worship. […] Is my curiosity alive? My gratitude? My mind? My imagination? My laughter and sense of humor? My creativity? My powers of generosity and compassion? My powers for continually generating and regenerating life? […] Resurrection is a commitment to […] creativity, to the Spirit who ‘makes all things new.’ (Revelation 21:5). Resurrection is the Spirit’s work. It is the life of the Spirit.”
The other day I was in Spokane, and I stopped by Whitworth University to stretch my legs before a meeting. I grew up just a mile down the street, so the campus pathways are familiar. I spent my childhood riding my bicycle around that campus, my mom worked in an office there; it was a friendly and safe place for a kid to explore.
Last week as I walked the same sidewalks, the same routes between buildings, I noticed a contradiction. This is just an observation. Someone had used sidewalk chalk and had messages about Jesus and love and how the campus is built on these. I suppose that’s true, but of the dozens of people I walked by, only four made actual eye contact with me, and three of them any sign of a genuine hello. Everyone else looked away, looked down, some had earbuds in as they listened to something else; they all missed my looking at them, the smile on my face and the eagerness I had to greet them in that moment as we walked past each other. Here I was on a Christian campus, yet 99 percent of the people I saw missed out on interpersonal hospitality or welcoming of a stranger. The talk of sidewalk chalk didn’t walk the walk. Granted, this is not uncommon in our day of hyper-individualism, but at least there were three people who chose to let their face and actions be informed by what their heart carries inside as their God-given, Godly nature.
We are hardwired for relationship. If we deny that we deny ourselves. Even hermits pray on behalf of the world and are connected to all things through Christ.
To live as Christians, as little Christs, to live resurrection hope embodied, the living Christ in our midst is given expression. Resurrection is a tall order in a society that teaches us to keep to ourselves, in a world that favors state sponsored violence and cycles of revenge over forgiveness and praying for our enemies. Trickle-down violence that starts at the top makes headlines every week. Relationship and unity bear witness to gladness in God’s presence.
To be sent like Jesus depends on courageous faith grounded in Love. Seeing, recognizing, and receiving Christ as the light of world illumines our heart in ways that help us “to see things in their fullness, […] to see Christ everywhere else, […] Christ in everything and everyone else.”
To live in this, as little Christs, we discover God’s incarnate Christ “will never fail us, always demand more of us, and give us no reason to fight, exclude, or reject anyone.” (Rohr, https://cac.org/daily-meditations/seeing-and-recognizing-are-not-the-same-2023-04-14/).
Thanks be to God for helping us see, recognize, and receive, even as we’re sent as the Holy Spirit gives our heart instructions on living worshipful lives of joy. And may God be glorified, now and forever. Amen.