The Third Sunday of Easter 2024
Texts: Acts 3:12-19; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48
Happy Easter!
Soon after the Resurrection people who did not believe offered various reasons for the persistence of those who were believers. Why did they believe?
Here are 4 of the earliest reasons given to disprove those who believed in the Resurrection.
It was a case of mass hysteria in response to seeing something unusual.
No, in each Gospel account Jesus makes multiple, ordered appearances—first to a few, then to the disciples, then to crowds at different times. He appeared to people who knew him, but also to strangers, people who had never heard of him. He appeared to those who were inclined to believe and to those who had not previously been so inclined, like Romans soldiers and Saul of Tarsus.
2. People who were already inclined to believe ‘imagined’ seeing the risen Christ. Their desire to see Jesus resurrected became a reality.
No, the first to whom Jesus appeared, that morning at the tomb, were so confused by what they found that they clearly did not have this desire. They were startled, surprised, and fearful. Some even ran away not knowing what to think. His own disciples did not recognize the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus. They really did not expect to Jesus again.
3. Jesus was only ‘resurrected’ in the hearts of his followers.
No, there were non-believers who came into contact with the risen Christ, and there are historical references to the resurrection outside what is recorded in scripture. The evidence leads away from this explanation.
4. People only saw the ‘spirit’ of Jesus.
No, Jesus revealed that he was not a ghost or a spirit, but a human being in flesh. In the lesson this morning, the disciples’ disbelief was such that he went a little further to prove he was not an apparition, by eating a piece of broiled fish, caught and roasted by their hands, to satisfy his human hunger.
Jesus told the disciples, “You are witnesses of these things.” That which you see will be unseen by others, but accepted by your testimony. Reality is both seen and unseen. Blessed are those who have not seen, but yet have come to believe.
The first Letter of John is part of that testimony of the disciples, “That which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.”
These are the words of John, but also of Peter, and Mark, and James, and Andrew, and Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, and Thomas, and the others who lived with him, whose names are known and unknown.
What would lead such a fearful, confused group to suddenly take on this kind of belief and have that kind of courage, if they had not personally met the risen Jesus Christ?
We have come to believe through the witness of the disciples, not just what they said, but what they did. Their deeds have been recorded for us in the New Testament.
Let us take a step back to consider the larger picture. Jesus came to his people, the Jewish people, not to fulfill the Law of Moses and the prophets, but to reveal their true purpose to the people of God. So, he taught the disciples, he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, which for them would have been the Old Testament, particularly the prophets. Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Messiah.
We do have to have an open mind when we read scripture. We ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand as we read. It can be quite an adventure. In it we find our true selves, or the self we did not realize existed. In it we become familiar with God and where he is to be found. When we read about the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and what happened with the disciples soon afterwards, when we hear their testimony, and realize the significance of what happened, it can change us.
Soon after the Resurrection and Jesus’ appearances to the disciples, they began to preach about what had happened, what they had seen with their own eyes. They had been dramatically changed by what they experienced. Each of them would go on to be martyred for proclaiming what they believed. And through their witness, the world has been changed.
What has been changed in the world are some of its people, believers who live for a new world, the kingdom of God, and the peace that will one day cover the earth. What has changed is that we now have hope.
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope purify themselves, just as he is pure…Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous."
When the world sees the Church it should be able to find believers who are being made righteous through their faith in God.
We know things are still not as they should be, that through sin being brought into the world through The Fall of Adam and Eve, we sometimes do evil things and we suffer. This is not what God intended for us. But we also know that God is merciful, that every time we repent and return to God, he forgives us.
In the Gospel lesson this morning Jesus said to the disciples, “repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” This remains the mission of the Church. So, let us all go from here this morning to share the good news of Christ’s Resurrection with everyone we meet! Amen.
