Discipleship
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:30-31
As we walk through this story in John’s gospel, chapter 20 and verses 19 through 31, what unfolds before us is fear that is tempered by the presence of Jesus. The story takes place on the evening of the day that we now call Easter. The day of the Resurrection. It is evening and the disciples are gathered in the Upper Room, the meeting place that was most familiar to them, most comfortable to them, and they are discussing the message delivered to them by Mary Magdalene, that was confirmed by Peter and the Beloved Disciple – the tomb is empty. Jesus was resurrected. Their fear continues until Jesus stands among them, offering them peace and reassurance. This provided them relief from their anxiety, and they subsequently rejoiced. They now had hope. They now had a future.
Though, this sense of assurance is short lived, as seven days later, on the following Sunday, the disciples were once again doubting. They were once again perplexed. They were once again afraid. They were once again in hiding. Jesus came to them a second time as he was knowledgeable of their trauma. Jesus came to them a second time as he was aware of their questions and concerns. Jesus came to them a second time because they were scared.
It was not only Thomas who is a doubter. The entire resurrection story is a story of doubt. Mary doubted when she first went to the tomb the week before. Peter and the Beloved Disciple also questioned that day a week earlier, and even upon seeing the empty tomb, remained bewildered.
Doubt. Doesn’t the story, this day, strain our ability to believe? Do you have an Upper Room experience of confirmation?
Then Thomas, seven days after the resurrection event, and after a spiritual conversation with Jesus, made the boldest confession of faith that has ever been recorded in the scriptures when he proclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas made the confession of faith for the other ten disciples gathered in the Upper Room. Thomas gave us the words of our confession of faith this day. With that confession, and with the receiving of the Holy Spirit, the eleven were able to go forth as missionaries.
I live in South Carolina, which was one of those “hold-out” states during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the governor refusing to order stay-at-home isolation mandate and declare that all nonessential businesses be closed. I was the envy of all my family and friends who were being “government controlled” in Pennsylvania, my home state. Those who lived in the Keystone State, where liquor stores were closed along with hair salons, could not believe that those of us in the Palmetto State could dance unrestrained. But then, South Carolina always waltzed to a different tune, as we were the first state to leave the Union on December 20, 1860.
Governor Henry McMaster refused to issue a stay-at-home order. He questioned the constitutionality of such sweeping executive action. The song changed on Monday, April 6, 2020, when the cell phones of 5 million state residents rang with that civil service reverse messaging system. Governor Henry McMaster issued a stay-at-home order and that all nonessential businesses closed because all 46 counties were now infected with the coronavirus. This made South Carolina the last state east of the Mississippi River to issue such a coronavirus-related mandate. So then, South Carolina mirrored the rest of the nation, the rest of the world – social isolation.
On Sunday, April 5, 2020, a mega-church pastor stood behind his pulpit. His white suit, with a lavender shirt and tie, augmented by the matching handkerchief in his pocket, with everything being highlighted as four men, all in dark suits, surrounded him. There he stood, pointing his finger at the video camera, as before him was an empty Covid virus sanctuary, once packed with thousands. He chants, “Wind, almighty, strong, south wind, Heat: Burn this thing, in the name of Jesus. I say, Satan you bow your knees. You fall on your face.” He then yelled “Covitd-19,” while leaning forward, stretched over the pulpit, he bellowed. It was harsh and loud. Droplets spewed forth from his mouth. He emptied his lungs to the point of asphyxiation. Unyielding, he continued, “I blow the wind of God on you. You are destroyed forever, and you’ll never be back. Thank you, God. Let it happen. Cause it to happen.”
Kenneth Copeland. Televangelist. He bears the scars of his ministry. He has a net worth of 760 million dollars. Three airplanes, one of which is a Citation jet. A private airfield. A 33-acre estate.
A man in a white robe stepped into a nearly empty room. There were ten other men seated there, one was absent, the doubter, another in guilt, the betrayer, had gone to a lonely tree on a hillside. The ten were afraid. Not of the coronavirus from which we once feared and still shapes us this day, but they confronted another uncertainty in life, as deadly as the coronavirus – maybe more so – being arrested, imprisoned, executed. The man in white moves his lips in the form of a passionate kiss and then he blew – it really wasn’t a blow; it was more like a puff. And Satan did come to his knees.
Jesus. He bears the scars of his ministry. Pierced hands. Perforated feet. Punctured side. His net worth? No more than the white robe that shrouded his beaten body.
One man is a charlatan; the other man is our Redeemer. One man is motivated by greed; the other man knows only sacrifice. One man is egocentric; the other man is humble. One man is a lie; the other man is truth. One man lives in a world of shadows; the other man is the light of the world.
Today – this day with so many uncertainties – we need the breath of a Savior, not the breath of a charlatan.
On that day, that evening, that Sunday, the day we now call Easter, Jesus breathed upon the ten the breath of life. The following week, Easter 2 on the liturgical calendar, the day also known as Low Sunday, the eleven were again gathered, and now the doubter, Thomas, received the breath of new life.
In our devotional reading for this morning the word for “breath” that Jesus blest the disciples with is the same word that was used to recount the giving of life in the creations story. We read in John’s gospel, “And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” In Genesis we read, “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
It was the breath of the Holy Spirit. It was the breath of life. It was the breath of empowerment. Upon being blest with the Holy Spirit Jesus instructed the eleven, “If forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” In other words, Jesus commissioned the eleven to become missionaries. Jesus commissioned them to be evangelists. Jesus commissioned them to be healers, ministering to all who are in need.
The eleven followers of Jesus isolated themselves in the Upper Room, a room that was familiar to them, a room they felt safe in, the room where they received the Lord’s Super on Maundy Thursday and became the church. The church was not conceived on the Day of Pentecost, but it was birthed when the disciples gathered around the table and received the body and blood of Jesus for the first time. It was now, post-resurrection, in this same Upper Room, that the church once again gathered.
They were isolated. They were afraid. Will the Jews come and get them? Will the Romans arrest them? Is there a future?
But in their isolation, they were not idle. They had a purpose. They had a calling. They had a mission.
We can only imagine the discussions that took place among them. They probably reflected on the events leading up to this moment of uncertainty. They must have pondered the teachings of Jesus. Though, with their calling to be missionaries, they certainly discussed what they were going to do going forward. How could they minister in the name of Jesus? How could they be productive in the name of Jesus?
And as we know, each of the eleven, and the new twelfth, Matthias, each chose an independent missionary journey.
Uncertainty does not have to mean idleness. As the eleven disciples planned the future of the church, we can plan on helping others. As the eleven disciples were empowered by the Holy Spirit, that same Spirit empowers us today – we can serve; we can help others; we can still do good.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor who eventually realized that Adolf Hitler was so evil that he had to be removed from office. Bonhoeffer then became involved in a plot to overthrow the Fuhrer and the Nazi regime. Arrested on April 5. 1943 for his participation in the plot, Bonhoeffer spent a year-and-a-half in Tegel military prison. He was then moved to Flossenberg concentration camp where he was executed on April 9, 1945.
Bonhoeffer’s time in prison was not a time of idleness. He wrote letters to his fiancé Maria von Wedemeyer, which were smuggled out by a sympathetic guard. The letters cover a multiple of subjects and have been preserved for us in the book Letters and Papers from Prison. In one letter Bonhoeffer wrote, “The Church is the Church only when it exists for others…not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live for Christ, to exist for others.”
Even as we sit in our homes today, beyond playing iPad games and streaming movies, we are the church; we do exist to help others. Thankfully we are not in Tegel prison, but nonetheless, we are imprisoned in our own unique way. We have television. We have Netflix. We can order from Amazon. There is food in the refrigerator. Yet, we know, self-isolation because all of the hours of our day are not occupied, doesn’t mean idleness.
We can do, as Bonhoeffer did, use our time productively. As Bonhoeffer wrote letters, so can we. A Hallmark card randomly sent to a member of your church family would be a welcomed surprise. And perhaps, we can use texting for something other than spreading rumors – it can be used to send messages of encouragement.
Martin Luther was the catalyst of the Protestant Reformation. Luther was defiant of many of the theological and ecclesiastical positions of the Roman Catholic Church. Luther was declared a heretic on January 3, 1521 by Pope Leo X. Even so, Luther continued to be so bold in his proclamations condemning Roman Catholicism, that he was called before the Diet of Worms to defend his accusations. The proceedings were presided over by Emperor Charles V. At the end of the convocation on May 25, 1521, Luther having refused to recant of his views, was declared an enemy of the state and of the church. With this pronouncement, any person, at any time, at any place, could murder Luther without any legal ramifications.
Frederick II, Elector of Saxony, and an ardent supporter of Luther, took the activist to Wartburg Castle in Saxony for protection. Confined, Luther had a Bible with him in his confinement. The Bible had two opposing pages, with one page having the scriptures written in Greek, and other page having the same passage were written in Latin. Luther took this time of isolation to translate the Bible into German, the native tongue of all his people, so everyone, not just the priests, could read the Bible. Regarding this endeavor Luther wrote, “Meanwhile I am translating the Bible, though I have undertaken a task beyond my strength”
Is there any hinderance to our sharing the Gospel message with others. It is always important to hear the Word of God, but is anytime, in the uncertain days of the present, more urgent than now. The message of hope. The message of healing. The message of community. If one can put down the bottle of spirits for the real Spirit, creative ways will be discovered.
There is so much that we can do each day, absent of focusing on a ministry that is restricted to participation in a church sponsored event. We can write cards showing that someone is remembered, not forgotten. We can text messages, not a message of bullying or rumor mongering, but a message of love and concern. To the lonely there is the telephone, not to be used an as an instrument for a selfie, but to use the phone for what a phone was intended to be used for – to talk to another person.
When Isaac Newton was in his 20s and a college student at Trinity College, Cambridge, the Great Plague of London hit. From 1665 to 1666, a quarter of the London population would die. At this time all the students were sent home, which was the seventeenth century form of “social distancing.” For the next year Newton stayed at home – isolated – at Woolsthorpe Manor, the family estate about sixty miles northwest of Cambridge. This year has often been called the “year of wonders” in Newton’s life. He continued working on mathematical problems, writing papers that became early calculus. He acquired a few prisms, and wrote theories on optics. Outside his window was an apple tree. He would often sit in the garden looking at the tree, contemplating new scientific theories. Though a falling apple never struck him on the head, falling apples gave him the concept of gravity. When Newton returned to Cambridge in 1667, he was made a fellow in six months and a professor two years later.
Isolation is not synonymous with idleness.
Shall we close by singing Edwin Hatch’s hymn which was written in 1878:
Breathe on me, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
that I may love what thou dost love,
and do what thou wouldst do.