Why More Churches than Starbucks?

3 Easter Sunday  B      April 15, 2018   

Acts 3:12-19  Psalm 4
1 John 3:1-7  Luke 24:36b-48

Lectionary Link

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John present different accounts of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus and these presentations don't seem to be in exact agreement in the specific details of place, persons, time and activities.  One would assume if the same 11 disciples and the group of women involved would have been able to present a single agreed upon account of all of the details and an exact sequence of the events of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus.  But this is a view and a critique from the perspective of modern historical writing, which did not exist until like the word implies, the modern era.

What we call "historical" accuracy and a consistent narratives is a modern criteria of truth which some would try to impose upon the Gospel writings.  Some people might say, I cannot believe in the resurrection of Jesus because the accounts are all so different and even contradictory if one tries to work out the details.

The defenders of the accuracy of the resurrection, then twist and contort the narratives to try to harmonize away the contradictions.

It is wrong to treat the Gospels as modern historical writing; they is not that.

The Gospels are true to the faith experiences of people who lived in the 6-8 decades after Jesus when the Gospels were being written.  We can better appreciate the Gospels if we understand that they are presentations of what had already become the practice of the early church decades after Jesus was gone.

What are those practices and beliefs of the early churches, whose leaders are intent to show how they derive from the oral tradition about Jesus of Nazareth and the oracle tradition of the Risen Christ in the early churches?

The Jesus Movement was a universal movement.  It was not to be limited to the Jewish people.  It was not going to be limited to the Jewish homeland in Palestine.  If the Caesar was a universal king in the Roman Empire which reached to far off places; the Jesus Movement was to go to every place where the Roman Emperor was in charge.  One could say that the Jesus Movement was going to be a spiritual parasite upon the Roman Empire.  The Jesus Movement would ride the coat-tails of the Roman Empire.  You may not see the power and control of Jesus Movement but it was going to be there, spreading from person to person, neighborhood to neighborhood, under the radar in private house churches throughout the Roman World.

The Jesus Movement was a universal movement because of how Christian interpreted the Messiah and how they held that Jesus was the Messiah.  One view of the Messiah was that the Messiah was to be a great King like David who would restore the homeland and free it from any outside rule.  What did this mean?  It meant that a Davidic Messiah would have to be stronger than the Caesar and his armies to liberate Palestine from Roman control.  A Davidic Messiah would be re-established in Jerusalem.  This did not happen; Jesus did not make this happen, and so Jesus could not be such a Davidic Messiah.  How could Jesus, a Jew, still be the Messiah within the traditions which derived from Hebrew Scriptures?  Jesus was the suffering servant Messiah; this was a tradition found within Hebrew Scripture.  A suffering servant Messiah could fly under the radar within the Roman Empire because such a Messiah would not be seen as a military threat to the Caesar.

But how could a suffering messiah be a real messiah in the sense of making a noticeable difference in the world?  The suffering Jesus, the one who died upon the cross made substantial reappearances to people in various charismatic events.  Why didn't the disciples of Jesus simply disperse after Jesus died?  Why didn't the Jesus Movement dissipate after Jesus died?  The John the Baptist movement, a strong movement, slowly passed away after John the Baptist died.  The Jesus Movement did not go away.  It experienced charismatic renewal.  It had the power to convene gathered communities.  Though Jesus suffered and died, there is the uncanny evidence that the community of Jesus continued to survive and thrive and grow after his death.  The appearances of the Risen Christ were given as proof of the kind of power that God used to make the suffering Jesus into the Risen Christ.

There had to be a powerful explanation for how the Christian churches survived  and continued to grow within the Roman Empire.  I believe the post-resurrection stories derive from oral traditions of the spiritual events in the lives of the early leaders of the Jesus Movement.  The truth of the resurrection of Christ was the truth of the Jesus Movement that soon had more franchise locations than the modern day Starbucks.  The social success of the Jesus Movement in the Roman Empire was traced to the power of these charismatic appearances of the Risen Christ.

The resurrection appearance stories of Christ include the themes of early church.  "Peace be with you", is a theme of the church.  We continue this in the Eucharistic liturgy today.  The Risen Christ is evident when people live their lives in reconciliation; people can be different but still live reconciled lives together.  The passing of the peace in our liturgy is how people with difference live in reconciliation.

The Risen Christ stories include stories of eating with Christ and his presence being made real in the Meal event.  Eucharist was the practice of the early Church. Eucharist is a fellowship meal.  It is the practice of eating together and when we do it the great alter-personality of the Jesus Movement looms present.

One of the mistakes we make in reading the Bible is that many people literalize the physical, when the Gospel writers spiritualized the physical.  You and I allow ourselves to make a metaphor out of physical presence, but somehow we won't allow the Gospel writers to do same.  Physical Presence, the use of empirical experience is used to say that something is really real or substantial.  We often say that a non-empirical experience is so real that it seems as though it was happening here and now.  The physical is used as a metaphor to indicate that something is real and significant in its impact upon our entire life.  If you and I can use physical and empirical existence as a metaphor of significance, surely we can allow the Gospel writers to be saying that the experiences of the Risen Christ were very significant, in fact, so significant that they account for the fact that there became to be more home churches in the Roman Empire than MacDonalds restaurants in our world.

The Jesus Movement was becoming a universal spreading social movement.  The only way for accounting for the power of this success was to relate the traditions of the stories of the re-appearances of the Risen Christ.

The Gospel writers were saying, "the Jesus Movement is here to stay and will continue to grow because the experiences of the Risen Christ are really real.  And you can have one too, one that is tailored to how your various life experiences have constituted you."

You and I are still in the Jesus Movement.  That we are still in it so many years after Jesus has been gone, should keep us incredibly curious about the staying power of Jesus Christ in our lives and in the lives of people in this world.  The Resurrection Story traditions of Jesus are still a valid reason for the power and the success of the Jesus Movement.  You and I in modesty, but with gratitude can add to the Risen Christ story tradition, as we try to prove every day how the Risen Christ is alive and well in us.  Amen.