Jesus is Risen! - Now What? Tell Imus

If you’re tired of hearing about Don Imus, you came to the wrong place. Mind you, I hadn’t intended to talk about him. In last week’s Easter message I said the evangelists don’t intend to address either “how” or “why” questions about Jesus’ resurrection. Their focus, ours too, is on the “so what” question. The title of that sermon was, “Jesus is Risen! – So What?”

I said, answering that “so what” question, “Easter is God’s new way of saying, ‘I meant what I said and did in my Son, Jesus. I’ve come down to deliver you from bondage to sin and death. I’ve come down to save the world, not to condemn the world.’”

Every year, on the week after Easter, we hear about Thomas. My first thoughts about this week’s message focused on what it means to believe, or how we might distinguish our beliefs from our believing. That seemed like a reasonable follow-up to the “so-what” message. But in the wake of the Don Imus debacle, “Show-Me” Thomas and his poking fingers will have to wait until next year.

Throughout the week that doomed Don, what played out was another example of our culture’s doing a poor imitation of church. Many of the right words were in play: confession, contrition, penance, forgiveness, and forgetfulness, but too few Christian attitudes, principles and behaviors were on display.

Despite the abundance of “reverends” on so many talk shows, Jesus was under-represented. Most talking-head clergy sounded like graduates of the schools of Annas and Caiaphas, rather than alumnae of the Sermon on the Mount.

It’s verse 19 – 23 from the 20th chapter of John’s Gospel that’s on point here. See, the focus here is, “Jesus is Risen! – Now What?” That was missing from our “Christian nation’s” response to the peculiar pain Imus inflicted on the women from Rutgers as well as the sadness and outrage we felt.

Look at what happens in this upper room on Easter evening, before Thomas’ goings and comings redirect our focus. First, Jesus shows up. Amidst the disciples’ worst fears, Jesus hasn’t abandoned them.

Next, before they can react or respond, he offers Peace, Shalom. This isn’t wishful thinking on Jesus’ part. Neither is it some high-fivin’ homeboy’s way of saying, “Whazzup!” Nor is Jesus suggesting that they get caught up in some inner tranquility.

What Jesus is bringing and giving is the belonging and wholeness that comes from the dawn of God’s Kingdom Rule. It’s God’s new gift, through this risen Christ, from the future, here and now! Look at the third verse of Herbert F. Brokering’s hymn, Alleluia! Jesus is Risen!: Jesus the vine, we are the branches; life in the Spirit the fruit of the tree; heaven to earth, Christ to the people, gift of the future now flowing to me.

Then Jesus shows them his hands and feet. Though fresh from the future, in some sort of different body that’s able to move through locked doors, this risen Jesus has continuity with the Jesus they knew, loved, and watched get buried. They’re ecstatic.

Lest they miss the true source of their joy, he tells them again, “Peace be with you.” Rejoice in this life-giving, freedom-bringing, home-making Shalom. Under this holy rule, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

Don’t miss this. This verb, “has sent,” is the past perfect form of the verb, “to send.” That means it’s an action begun in the past, which continues in the present and goes into the future! Isn’t that cool? And you thought those Language Arts teachers were wasting our time!

Breathing on them, Jesus says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This breathing-thing is crucial. We should hear, here, the same activity that occurred in Genesis where the Spirit-wind blew over the chaos and tamed it. We should hear, here, the same Genesis-action by which God breathed God’s own self into a mound of clay.

With this new-creation action, Jesus declares, Have on you, in you and with you that Advocate I promised you. Be empowered and become emboldened to do as I have done. “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

This is huge. This is not merely Jesus inventing some ritual action we call confession and forgiveness. Jesus is doing more than establishing what we call the Office of the Keys so pastors can comfort the anguish of morally afflicted members.

You see where this is goin’? What the disciples hear Jesus say – by the way, he’s speaking to us as well – are words from the same guy who washed their feet. This same Jesus said, “If, I, your Master and Lord, have washed your feet, you should do likewise. I have given you an example.”

The One who’s sending them is the One who told them to love others as he loved them. That same One said, “By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The last paragraph of Easter Sunday’s message was, “So what will you remember? Will you remember, tomorrow, and the day after, that because we are an Easter people, we not only remember differently, we live differently, and God’s world is alive, anew – for the love of God – Alleluia!”

Where were all the Easter people on Easter Monday when Don Imus needed them most? The only one who came close was, C. Vivian Springer, the women’s basketball coach at Rutgers, and even she, in her own woundedness couldn’t get all the way there.

Don Imus is a public sinner. We’re not talking politically incorrect, intellectually challenged, morally bankrupt, ethical lapse, or slip-of-the-tongue. We’re talking, the guy doesn’t get it. But the only difference between Don Imus, public sinner, and you and me, is the word, public.

We’re also talking about someone who, like us, is never going to make it on his own. Look at Acts 5:31, from a testimony Peter made, after he, like us, had been breathed on and sent, “God exalted him (Jesus) at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”

Who, in the name of God, is going to give repentance, i.e., change of mind and change of heart, to Don Imus? It seems to me, if the man has a snowball’s chance in hell of getting out of the pit, it will only be because someone like you or me, an Easter person, washes his sinful, undeserving feet – even before he confesses adequately or apologizes appropriately.

That’s how it was, and is, for us isn’t it? While we still were in our sin, God so loved the world that he sent the Son to save the world not to condemn the world. Jesus is risen – now what?

Look, Don Imus is both responsible and, in this case, blameworthy for his actions. We have a right to expect there to be consequences. He may even suffer through these. What we don’t have a right to expect are consequences intended to inflict pain, cause shame, or spring from revenge. That’s not what forgiving or retaining sin means under God’s Shalom.

I’m not imagining y’all rushin' outa here to go phone Imus. But I can imagine, in fact I pray for, and will do whatever I can to help your leaving here and finding someone you know, close to home, maybe in school, perhaps in the next pew, at work, or where you volunteer who is responsible, blameworthy and stuck in a Pit they can’t get out of on there own.

The public of their sin may even have been directed at you. If you, an Easter person, don’t tell them the Good News, that Jesus is risen – now what, means Jesus has opened his crossed up arms wide enough to include them in his new Shalom loving and belonging, how will they ever trust that message enough to believe the risen Jesus just might give them repentance, too? If you don’t embrace them with God’s otherwise, how can they ever know risen Jesus now has a place for them at this table?

The new creation power Jesus gives us by the presence of the Spirit is the mighty dose of grace we need to carry on, to put into real people and real places the Shalom Jesus went ahead to bring back for us. It’s a huge task. It can often be very nearly unbearably unpleasant. Look at verses 30-31: But these (signs) are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and through that believing you may have life in his name.

Jesus is risen – now what? It's time to wash feet, even of the nastiest, not nice at all, down-right ugly and undeserving. That’s what believing and living in Jesus looks like.

Gardening This Side of Eden

If you were to walk through our Courtyard garden you'd probably notice the absence of intruding weeds. I thought that was because the volunteer work crews who prepared the beds did such a great job removing the old growth prior to setting in new plants. WRONG!

On a recent “field trip” into the Courtyard with a youth bible study class - we were planting tulip and daffodil bulbs in response to Matthew 6:28 ...consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin... - I learned the deeper truth. The reason there are so few weeds is that the work crews installed a fabric barrier to keep weeds from pushing up through the topsoil. Not a bad thing.

But the unseen barrier intended to prevent unwanted sprouting up, hindered firmly our putting anything down! Planting bulbs to reinforce a truth about God's love and care - and the futility of our worry in the face of grace - turned into nearly impossible work. Work we weren't equipped for. Tablespoons were no match for the fabric's thickness.

Without making a conscious choice our focus shifted from casual and delightful planting, to fierce and furious assault with all manner of misplaced tools - like screwdrivers, scissors, paring knives and fingernails. Some of the kids threatened to give up the effort. But two adult leaders, Carl and Pastor Chuck, wise gardeners, encouraged us to embrace the new challenge with patience, diligence, respect for our misplaced tools, and some graceful-humor.

Visible barriers are much in the news lately. Terrorism continues to be a barrier to a free Iraq, as well as safe and easy travel here at home. Religious dogmatism plagues our politics and clogs our courtrooms.

But it's the unseen barriers that keep challenging people of faith to fend off worry and embrace grace. Poverty continues to firmly hinder families from putting down deep roots in our neighborhood. Domestic violence remains a barrier to our children's flourishing into adulthood, especially our young black males. Racism, even twelve weeks after President Bush signed the ingeniously titled Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization of 2006, is still a barrier to full-bloomed rights and civility.

Most of us keep finding ingenious ways to lay a thick barrier between our talk of faith and our walk of faith. And some of us keep assaulting internal and external barriers with all the wrong tools, like: moving out of the city, embracing a prosperity “gospel,” and fleeing into the anonymity of mega-churches!

The truth is, God has equipped us to move - to be led is more accurate - gracefully, through every barrier and into Kingdom fruitfulness. Matthew's Jesus goes on to say, “But strive first for the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” God is ready, willing and able to entice and to equip each of us to join God in the possible work God never tires of, or worries about - creating again, saving anew, and blessing once more.

And God keeps penetrating this garden we call First Trinity - as a means of grace - with wise gardeners, miracle growers. They encourage us not to give up, teach us to embrace each new challenge, and invite us to delight in both the hard work and the promised new blooms that God grows when we keep on Sharin' Plenty Good News!

Believing in God is Risky Business

I've been paying attention lately not only to what Jesus says, but also to how he says it. It's dawned on me that what's important about what Jesus says goes beyond the content of the message. An important part of Jesus' message is the way Jesus delivers his message.

Jesus seldom, if ever, begins his message with words like:
• My Mom said something strange to me at a wedding the other day
• I was in this living room when the ceiling suddenly fell in
• or a funny thing happened at the well when I went for a drink.

Jesus never seemed to star in his own stories. And I wonder if that's because Jesus wasn't, as politicians say, "on message." Rather, it was because Jesus was IN the message. That's different from that huge billboard on U.S. 31 in Kokomo that says, "Jesus is the answer." Whenever I see that billboard my first thought is always, "What's the question?"

Why do we insist on deciding which are the questions to which God is the answer? Why don't we ever seem to get to those days when God will write a new law in our hearts? Maybe it's because we don't want to go there; or more accurately, we believe we can get their on our own, under our own power.

As long as our definition of freedom is a statement that says, "Freedom is doing what I want, when I want;" - instead of a question that asks, "What would I do with freedom if I had it;" we'll not only not arrive - we'll never even set out on the journey. As long as we keep saying that life gives us a God problem; instead of asking what it means to live life with a God Abba, we'll always be afraid to jump in and never do more than dip our toes at the water's edge.

Jesus was never interested in giving a history lesson, scoring intellectual points, winning the political argument, or prevailing in the theological debate. He only wanted to liberate people from sin - which means - MISSING THE MARK. Jesus wants to move us from self-center, which is DEAD CENTER, to LIFE CENTER.

What Jesus offers is something new. Into the sameness of our self-made security; into the tried and trueness of our traditions, Jesus offers us hearts that are ever-new. Discipleship with Jesus is never a once and for all proposition. See? The old order - the order that says God's laws control our behavior, but also allow us to control God's behavior, always says: "Sure, I believe in God." By which we really mean, "OK, I can live in a universe where God exists." But the new order, the order of new hearts that beat by continuing in Jesus' Word, keeps asking: what does it mean, now - today - that you believe in God?

If I ask you, “Does God exist;” there are a thousand faith-escaping ways for you to say “yes" to that question. But if I ask you, “Do you believe in God” - if you've given your heart to God; you can only say "yes" by risking your life.

Jesus, in the message of the cross - the message of God's coming for us with a broken open and poured out love - offers us a new way of seeing God; hearing God; living in God; and, loving by God - that's the Good News. And it's not, no matter what world or culture says, that there's no better way - there just is no other way - to overcome: every misplaced question; every misguided answer; and, become the humanity God intends us to be.

There's More to Belief Than Believing!

Count on it. Like clock-work. As sure as April Fool's Day is on this year's calendar, so the mid-term congressional campaigns - especially in the south and west - will bring out the “god-squad.” These are persons whose belief in believing is deep-seated. They say they're dead-certain that every word of Scripture is both fact and truth - making the Living Word of God's Bible a dead-letter.

They're quick to scream about “deadly sins” in the bedroom, and much hushed about death-dealing boardrooms. They're quick to shout down gangsta rap, but deadly silent about predatory lending. With a dead-pan face they denounce a bishop, not because he's divorced and “remarried,” one of Jesus' only two sexual / genital no-no's, but because he's gay. They're dead-sure that prayer will revitalize public schools, as long as the prayer isn't the Hebrew / Jewish Shema - the prayer Jesus likely prayed every morning and evening.

They're dead-reckoning about who God is and what God wants leads them to believe in RELIGION. And woe (now and for eternity) to any sinner or outcast who won't yield, pay homage, and bear-up under its dead-weight.

There's more to belief than believing, especially if by believing you mean belief in the God of the Hebrew / Christian Bible. If you listen closely to the “god squad,” and that's not always easy to do, you'll likely discover that they rarely speak for this Bible's God, and only occasionally speak about this Bible's God.

What they rant and rave about is belief in a certain brand of RELIGION. That word's origins were neutral enough. Borrowed from medicine, it refers to a suture / ligature / stitch used to close a wound. Theologically, religion refers to those customs, codes, rituals and BELIEFS that believers “tie” themselves to in order to nurture their relationship with God. (Of course, these include those which we believe God has given / commanded us - for our freedom to maintain a life-giving relationship and a home-bringing encounter with God.) Sutures tied too loosely leave a wound open to infection, or severe scarring. Likewise, those tied too tightly can cause necrosis - the death of living tissue.

Religion's current bad rap, and believing's all over the map, should neither frighten us nor weary us. Someone once referred to the God we believe in and relate to as a “dear and glorious physician,” the Healer of our every woe - no matter if they come from our too loosening or our too tightening. This God's overriding characteristic is constancy in coming FOR us - never AT us - a God with plenty good room. The Messiah's religious ancestors call this steadfast-love. Our religious ancestors call this grace.

This God's coming is invitational, welcoming, and nurturing. Venturing forward in response to this God's call is discipling together as saints and sinners, not as screaming squadrons. That's why we rejoice so boldly in Whom we believe. Sometimes we call that relationship belief. Other times we call it religion. When we bank on this God's Word, trust this God's promises, feed at this God's table, break ourselves open and pour ourselves out in the name of this God, our believing - north, south, east and west - is rightly called Sharin' Plenty Good News!

by Pastor Jeff Iacobazzi