Lifting X-Wings

Acts 3:14a, 22-23
Psalm 16
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31

 

First Lesson: Acts 3:14a, 22-23

Challenges:

I have nothing against this passage: it's great and it puts things really nicely. I'll be honest though, while the book of Acts is one of my favorites (excitement, intrigue, suspense, downright crazy happenings...) I find myself often skipping over or at least skimming the many sermons found there. Again, they are good sermons, they are helpful and all that, but sometimes it's easy to not be interested by them. What can we do to make them interesting? Also, how important is it for us to have the context here?

Also, do you think that David actually prophesied that the Messiah would be resurrected like Peter says? We spent a great deal of time in my Old Testament class talking about how "Jesus wasn't in the Old Testament." Well, the New Testament writers certainly thought he was, and at a certain point you just have to realize that the New Testament writers are in the canon and you aren't.

Opportunities:

While everything I have said above is most certainly true, there are some amazing lines here that are powerful: But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. That's just a good line and a powerful thought.

The Good News: 

I find good news in something that happens outside of this lesson. The guy speaking is Peter, who had denied Jesus and run away while his master was being beaten and killed. Here he is giving a sermon that will make 3,000 people into believers.  The reversal that has occurred in the 50 days since the Resurrection is marked and inspiring.  God acts in the lives of people in a way that is truly amazing.

Psalm: Psalm 16

Challenges:

It might be tempting to look at this psalm and say, "well, it seems rather shallow because things are going well for this person."

Opportunities:

Sometimes unfair, unjust and unholy things happen to us, but sometimes we are blessed with prosperity too. You can find many psalms for the former situation, but it's important to have psalms for the later situation as well. The person in this psalm is doing pretty well and gives thanks and credit to God for that.

This psalm made me think of the words of Paul in Philippians: "I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty.  In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me..."  When we are in deep, terrible trouble we can turn to God...when we have been blessed with prosperity we can turn to God too.  It's about recognizing how important God is to us.

The Good News: 

"I have no good apart from you."  We might not always see God as being present, but that doesn't mean that God isn't there.  God is blessing us and protecting us even when we don't recognize it.

Second Lesson: 1 Peter 1:3-9

Challenges:

1 Peter can be tough for a variety of reasons: while it only talks a little about it here, it says some things about suffering that have been used over the years to tell victims of violence to "suck it up" and bear it. Also, when it comes to comments like "...you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." It seems like we're wading into "free will" verses "bound will" territory. If so, I doubt many people listening to you really want a detailed discussion of the theological fine points of this debate. 

Opportunities:

There are obvious connections with the Gospel lesson concerning belief, sight, and faith.  I'd go with that. Also, this is very much of a "hold on, things will eventually get better...hold on and live by faith" messages. 

The Good News: 

There is good news here because Jesus has been raised from the dead. It means that for the original hearers of this word, their present circumstances will not have the last word in their existence.  It means that all of the things the writer of this passage says are true. It means that this is all more than "pipe dreams" and "pie-in-the-sky."  It means we can live a new life here and now as well as in God's coming kingdom.

Gospel: John 20:19-31

Challenges:

Thomas seems to always be known as "the doubter."  It's easy for us to be really down on Thomas. Frankly is that fair? I mean it makes sermons a lot easier: oh Thomas didn't have faith, he doubted.  It's then easy to make assumptions and judgements about why he wasn't with the other disciples when Jesus appeared the first time. It'd be easy to say, "Well he was off hiding by himself...silly Thomas." Well, what if he wasn't there because he was doing something important and good? What if he was getting them food or out rescuing kittens stuck in a olive tree somewhere? (okay, that's a bit far-fetched, but you get the idea.)

Why can't we remember Thomas as the one that gave a statement faith that was absolutely amazing: "My Lord and my God!!" Why can't we remember him as the one who said that the disciples should go and die with Jesus (John 11:16).

And another thing: there's a complex and messy reason why "the Jews" are referred to again and again in this way. Just remember that thousands of years of anti-semitism (on the part of the church that is...) haven't happened yet.  The Jewish-Christian struggle at this time was more a very messy and tragic family argument.  It's very important to make it clear that "the jews" are not the "bad guys." The terrible shootings at Jewish Centers in the previous weeks should show us how very important it is to speak out against Anti-Semitism.

Opportunities:

I think we all have particular verses of the Bible that hit us hard and inspire us: John 20:31 does that for me. Having life in the name of Jesus is an amazing idea. It's become my way of describing what it means to be a Christ-follower or Christian.  Over the past few weeks how often have we seen people be able to have "life in the name of Jesus?" The Samaritan woman at the well, the blind man who can now see, Mary, Martha and Lazarus, and now Thomas.  I believe John 20:31 is the lens through which to read the entire Gospel.

People reading this "book" or "scroll" haven't seen Jesus the way Thomas has (and neither have we for that matter).  What do we find "unbelievable?" What challenges do we face?

Maybe it could be useful to point out that we all have "breaking points." And our breaking points are in different places. Thomas was ready to die with Jesus (of course he ran away like all of the other disciples), but he wasn't ready to expect Jesus to be alive.  Instead of dumping on Thomas, maybe we can look at our own situation.

Also, I know it's campy and "pop-theology" at it's best, but I can't resist this STAR WARS scene about belief: RAISING THE X-WING. Luke says "I don't believe it" when Yoda uses the Force to raise his star fighter out of the swamp. And Yoda responds, "That is why you fail." I know, I know it's a cheesy, but STAR WARS is awesome.

 

The Good News:

Again, Jesus doesn't abandon Thomas, he doesn't spurn him or kick him out of the group. He does exactly what Thomas asks. He's patient with Thomas, even though he chides him.  He guides him and us along.  Jesus doesn't wait for us to be perfect, he leads us toward perfection.  We're not going to get there in this life, but the journey will certainly be worth it.

And...

Here are some helpful quotes from The People's New Testament Commentary (it's really good, go buy it here.

On 20:20 (pg. 358) "The risen Christ is the continuing presence of the Crucified One.  John has been more graphic than any of the other Gospels in portraying the flesh-and-blood reality of the crucifixion.  Only John has nails.  Only John has blood.  Only John has the spear-thrust in the side.  While John has the most exalted Christology in the Gospels, in which Jesus is truly divine, he also is most insistent that Jesus is truly human, that Jesus' death was not a sham but the supreme insistance of the Word (true God) who became flesh (true human).  John's presentation of the Easter-Pentecost story does not consider the crucifixion as an episode of past history that is now superceded by the resurrection and the Spirit, but the continual making present of the significance of that event.  The exalted Christ doesn't put the nail prints behind him, but reigns only as the Crucified (=self-giving even unto death) One."

On Thomas (pg. 359) "Thomas's problem is not that he is a tough-minded skeptic who will not believe until he sees with his own eyes, but that he insists on submitting the revelation that has come in Christ to his own criteria.  He is thus the final example of an issue that permeates the Gospel (see 7:12).  With dramatic subtlety, the author leaves it to the reader to decide whether Thomas reached out and touched; presumably he did not."