Jesus Showed Himself Again

3 Easter          May 1, 2022

Acts 9:1-20   Ps. 30

Rev. 5:11-14    John 21:1-19 

 

Lectionary Link

 

The reason for the growth and success of the Christian faith can be explained in four words which are found in our Gospel reading for today: "Jesus showed himself again...."  The word show in the Greek is the same word for epiphany, which is in fact the name of the season after Christmas on our church liturgical calendar.

 

The post-resurrection appearances of Christ, are showings of Christ when he became known in distinctive ways to persuade and win the hearts of people.

 

Today, we have accounts of various kinds of epiphanies of the divine in our Scripture readings.

 

The divine showing for the Psalmist occurred when the Psalmist experienced rescue from death.  To have the experience of being rescued from death is quite a profound apparent awareness of God, one which will indeed make one into a writer of poetry and song, which is what Psalmist was, a poet and a musician.

 

John the Divine had been imprisoned on Patmos; the showings or revelations to him came in the form of nearly inscrutable visions giving him hope that the seeming great losers in the end will win.  The Lamb who was slain, Jesus, was victorious, and so John the suffering prisoner, comforted by fantastic showing visions, was given hope that though oppressed and persecuted he would eventually be raised up like the Lamb who was slain.

 

In the reading of the Acts of the Apostle, we have read the fantastic converting epiphany of the Risen Christ which happened to Saul of Tarsus as he was traveling to Damascus to seek to persecute, arrest, and even kill the followers of Jesus.  Perhaps we can understand how a showing to Saul might happen to one who was caught in the most serious event of religious hypocrisy imaginable.  Saul was a zealous Pharisee who knew the Torah backwards and forwards.  And yet he got himself engrossed in inter-religious competition.  He was offended and jealous of the devotees to Jesus of Nazareth, and angered that they would preach Jesus as the Messiah, when his particular sect, the Pharisees could not make that confession.  His anger led to his being an accessory to murder, simply because these followers of Jesus were in a Jewish sect which believed Jesus to be the Messiah.  Can we appreciate his religious pride steeped in anger at these followers of Jesus?  And Saul was acting out on his anger to the point of bringing followers of Jesus to public stonings.  Saul was ready to snap.  He was vulnerable for an event.  Why?  Saul knew the Ten Commandment, and the one which stated "Thou shall not kill;" and what did he find himself doing?  Killing in the name of Almighty God.  What a contradiction.

 

Saul snapped and his insides opened up to a showing of the Risen Christ.  The event was completely psychosomatic; it affected his physical sight.  He was blinded by the awful contradiction of being proud of his devotion to the Torah while killing in the name of the Torah.  The showing of the Risen Christ gave him a way out of his dilemma.  Saul was converted and eventually he recovered his sight as his inner moral self adjusted to new behaviors consistent with God's plans for his life.  Saul became Paul and he came to be the chief architect of Gentile Christianity, and as a former Pharisee, he rebuked Peter for being so stuffy about his behaviors toward Gentiles converts to the Gospel of Christ.  The showing of the Risen Christ converts and changes people.

 

Simon Peter walked with Jesus in his three years of ministry.  He had many showings of Jesus.  He confessed him to be the Messiah.  He was quite certain that he would be a strong and brave leader for Jesus.  In spite of his self-confidence, and his intimate time with Jesus, Peter still had need for further showings of Jesus.

 

What is one of the most painful things in life?  It is the experience of self-disillusionment.  "I thought I was more than I found myself to be.  A challenging situation put me to the test, and I failed my best friend, and I failed myself.  How can I ever let myself back into good standing with others, and with myself.  How can I be rehabilitated?"

 

The life of Peter is proof that we never stop needing another showing from the Risen Christ.  In the case of Peter, he needed to be rehabilitated and brought back into good standing with Christ and with his friends.  Jesus asked him three times whether he loved and liked him.  Peter had denied Jesus three times, and Jesus gave Peter three take backs.  "Peter do you love me,  do you love me, do you like me?"  "Yes, yes, yes, you know I do."

 

For you and me, when we need such really dramatic showings of the Risen Christ to deal with some serious problems, may we experience such wonderful breakthroughs.  But the showings of the Risen Christ do not have to be so traumatic and dramatic; they can be joyful caresses in the midst of the mundane, they can be the profound truth of beauty in art, music, and written word.  They can be in the middle of the night when we can't back to sleep.  The showings of Christ are waiting for us.  Let us not think that they have to be dramatic or traumatic to be truthfully meaningful.

 

And how do we know we are having these showings?  Joy, peace, smiling, laughing, caring, giving, loving and more, because the showings of the Risen Christ are tailored to the specifics of your life experience and mine.

 

And let the Gospel of our life today be: And Jesus showed himself again to us.  Amen.