A Living Hope

The best news for the Easter season is that God has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I don’t know about you, but I am always grateful when there is a sense of living hope for all people.  Easter is that living hope and the welcome news of new life for all of God’s creation.

In our reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter “raised his voice and addressed the multitude.”  He was excited by the Easter news of Christ’s resurrection.  Peter said, “God raised Jesus up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.”  And Peter wrote a letter in which he said,  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, 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.”

The reality of our lives today is that our world is troubled by violence, international conflicts, and hundreds of deaths from a capsized ferry, a major landslide and a missing airliner.  Tragedy and evil acts are seemingly unending.  In the midst of all the suffering and death Jesus is raised from death and, as we are told, he appeared to his disciples.

The Gospel of John tells us, “Jesus came and stood among the disciples and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.  Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’” Then he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Thomas who was not with the disciples at the time of Jesus’ appearance was not convinced.  He wanted proof.  He was one of those people who said, “seeing is believing,” and unless he could see the “mark of the nails in his hands” he would not believe. 

We should remember that Thomas was no different from the other disciples.  The disciples had to see in order to believe in Jesus’ resurrection.  As we heard, “Jesus came and stood among the disciples and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.”  Only then did the disciples rejoice. 

During the week following his appearance to the disciples Thomas probably anguished over his doubt because of the testimony of his disciple colleagues.  But then Jesus appeared again and this time he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands.  Reach out your hand and put it in my side.  Do not doubt but believe."  Thomas was then convinced and expressed his new-found faith, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."  From this point on the faith of the disciples and of all Christians has relied on the disciples’ experience and testimony.

This story in John’s Gospel concludes by informing us and all who hear and read about the resurrection that “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples… but these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”

Two things are important in these events of Easter.  First is the written testimony of scripture reflecting what we read this morning in Psalm 16:  “You will show me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.”   The second matter of importance is the body of the church, the people who are given “a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

The Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann comments,  “In the horizon of Easter, it is faith that counters the anxiety of the world, confidence that God’s goodness will give the gifts we need.  It is hope that counters the despair of the world.  The church has confidence that the future -- as bewildering as it is -- is in God's good hands. The walk with the risen Christ is an ongoing process of having our anxiety transformed in faith, and our despair transformed in hope.  While our anxious, despairing world is inevitably self-destructive, the church alternatively lives in buoyant faith and daring hope that issues forth in an emancipated life in the world.”

Good friends, Easter lives on.  Let us all participate in and enjoy a new birth into a living hope for all creation.  Amen.