2011-05-29 (am) John 20.

19-25 Receive the Holy Spirit

Have you ever noticed that Jesus always says the right thing at the right time? He is flawless in this ability. When tempted by Satan, he quoted scripture to the devil. When the Pharisees tried to trick him with sneaky questions, he asked questions in return. He was brilliant, he never missed an opportunity, and he always spoke clearly, concisely and creatively. What Jesus says to his disciples in this mornings passage is truly amazing and wonderful. May God grant us the ability to hear and receive them, through the person of the Holy Spirit at work in this room! We catch up to the disciples in Jerusalem, on Sunday, the first day of the week, the very same day Jesus rose from the dead. Hed already appeared to the women; hed already walked with two disciples from Jerusalem to Emmaus. But now the disciples were standing around, in a room, together, afraid. They were afraid that the Jews would find out that they were meeting, so they met in secret. Thats one amazing thing about Christians. When persecuted, when fearful for their very lives, they will risk their lives to get together, to be together, and to worship together. We can easily imagine them, speaking in hushed tones. So, you saw him? Yes. What was he like? He was brilliant! He was surely like Moses was when he came down from the mountain, only stronger. It was like looking into the sun, but your eyesight didnt get worse, you could look away and you wouldnt see spots, rather, when you looked away, it was as though you could see things more clearly. The shadows were
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sharper; the light brighter, solid things looked more solid. It was like looking at a scene in a mirror, theres a slight distortion, but you can see some things clearly, and then, when all of a sudden, you realise youve been looking in a mirror, so you turn and really look at the real thing and it makes more sense. It was like that. Jesus disciples, the scattered flock from Friday, were together again, but desperately missing their leader, aware of the gaping hole in their ranks left by Judas. But they were together, they dared that much. The flock always finds a way to meet. They were scared out of their wits! They were not behaving like wed expect. Seriously, if youd spent 3 years learning from God himself, youd think youd be confident and, ready, and powerful, but not these guys, they were totally human, totally like us! Sure, they had put their faith and trust in Christ, they had expectations, they had hopes and dreams, and it all came crashing down on Good Friday. They couldnt turn Gods promise into action. They knew everything they needed to know, but they

couldnt execute it. But when they heard the reports of the resurrection, heard the stories, seen the empty tomb, it gave them a glimmer of hope. Excuse the poor analogy, but it was like in game 5 against San Jose, when Vancouver pulled their goalie and they had the bad icing call go in their favour and there was just enough time on the clock for them to maybe tie the game. And then, when Kesler did, there was that glimmer of hope, maybe theyd win the game. And then when Bieksa scored in double overtime, it was, in a very, very small way, like the joy of Jesus showing up.
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They went from being scared, unsure, insecure, waffling, to overjoyed. suddenly, there was Jesus, standing among them, in the flesh.

For

God with them,

Emmanuel. All their doubts were relieved. It was true, really true. Those who hadnt yet seen him believed! Gods promises are real and he always delivers on them! Jesus shows up and the first thing he says is Peace be to you. Why would he say that? Wed expect him to say, Hi! Im back! Did you miss me? Or, I told you so! Instead he says, Peace be to you. It is as though the peace hes offering is a physical peace, a peace that passes understanding, a tangible peace. Its a loaded

statement. What Jesus is truly offering to them is real peace, real reconciliation between them and God. It is not like the peace we talk about, or joke about, or you know, Peace, dude. Thats human peace, thats often a noble peace, but its also a very limited peace. You know that that kind of peace is like a fog on a bright morning, eventually the sun will burn it away, and eventually the peace will disappear. I graduated from Port Moody Senior Secondary in 1991. That year, President Bush decided to invade Iraq because Iraq had invaded Kuwait. Canada was considering what role to play, since, in our very recent history our military action was in peacekeeping missions. People were protesting the Canadian government to maintain this peacekeeping role. The protesters in no way wanted our soldiers to take on a role of aggression. I became involved in a protest to the government on two levels, a banner and
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petition signed by schoolmates and by marching in a peace rally in downtown Vancouver. It struck me as strange to be shouting, What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now! In a manner that, though non-violent, didnt seem very peaceful either, especially using the tactics of a drill sergeant. Jesus does none of that. Hes the prince of peace, hes the means of peace, and hes the bringer of peace. He came into a conflict. He came to earth. He came to bring peace by being the means of peace, by giving himself up as a sacrifice. Ever since the Garden of Eden, people have been afraid and hiding from God. Now, God, Jesus stands in front of people and says, Peace be unto you. Jesus comes and says, I have made peace between God and you. Receive it; accept it. Lauren, you accepted Gods peace long ago, in your upbringing in the

Lutheran church. You recognised that Gods peace was with you, though for a time you did not experience it as deeply. Were glad that God brought you here to experience his peace more deeply again. He could have brought you anywhere, to the Lutheran,

Pentecostal, Alliance, Baptist, or any of the Christian churches, and you would have experienced his peace again there too. Were grateful that he brought you here, were blessed by you and we pray that well be a blessing to you. You have been a part of our fellowship for a while now and were encouraged in our own faith by your profession of faith. We are a gathering of the disciples, were aksi

in a building, talking, relating, sharing the truth of God with one another. And Jesus is present with us! You had expressed some fear and apprehension about standing before this fantastic group of people. I hope youve also experienced the peace that God gives! That

knowing Christ is alive, that hes ascended into heaven, that hes sent the Holy Spirit who has taken up residence in your heart, that such knowledge gives you great joy, just as the disciples experienced it! I hope and pray that it is true for all of us! Theres a scene in the beginning of the movie, Cars, where Lightning McQueen is being chased by a classic police car. The police cars age and sedentary lifestyle caused him to backfire, making McQueen think hes being shot at. So, McQueen drives faster and less in control which leads to a crazy sequence of events that leads Fillmore, the hippy Volkswagen Bus to ask, Im not the only one seeing this, right? Were not the only ones seeing Christ, incredible, amazing and wonderful as he is! He has been seen and witnessed for 2000 years, and Gods other activity promising the coming of Christ before that was witnessed by many others. The fellowship of believers is the opportunity to share and be encouraged by one anothers faith. This is where talking to our senior members is so vital. Theyve walked with Christ for a while, theyve been down the road. They know the challenges, the rewards, the vital things from the not so vital things. Jesus, in the room with the disciples proved that he was who he always was. He was no fake. Somebody didnt just dress up another person with a costume and some
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theatrical makeup. He was really real, truly alive, the very same person theyd seen die three days prior. He is alive! Peace be unto you. He said again. Then he continued to give them instruction. You are not the frozen chosen. Youre not to sit around marvelling at this great thing. Yes, Im alive. Yes, thats great news. But the reason Im alive is because the curse has been broken. The gulf, the fear, the separation between God and man is gone! Ive closed the gap, Ive built the bridge, and Ive done what the Father sent me to do. In the same way He sent me, Im sending you. You are my ambassadors. I am sending you into the world to teach the world about me, what Ive done, the peace I offer. Receive the Spirit. Youll need the spirit to do what Ive done; indeed, youll do even greater things than these. Then Jesus breathed on them. This sounds weird. Did he blow on them like he was blowing out candles? No, the picture we need to have in our minds, C.S. Lewis captured in the Narnia books. Read them again, notice that when the children or the Narnians needed courage Aslan breathed on them, and they were able to do what needed to be done. We need to think about God breathing life, the spirit of life into Adam. We need to picture Ezekiel breathing the spirit, through preaching, to the valley of dry bones, which came together, and the spirit was breathed into the men and they lived again! We need to think of the breathing of eternal life into the disciples, into us.

And we stand and we breathe in and receive the Spirit. And he gives us courage to do the work hes sending us to do. We spread peace. Not through marches and

demonstrations and boycotts and petitions and protests, but through the proclamation of what God has done, that God, through Christ has already reconciled sinful humanity to himself. What a curious phrase to conclude with, If you forgive anyone their sins, they are forgiven, if you do not, they are not forgiven. Do you remember when the friends brought their paralysed friend to Jesus? After cutting the hole in the roof and carefully lowering him down so that he was placed right in front of Jesus, do you remember the first thing Jesus said to him? Son, your sins are forgiven! Do you remember what the Pharisees said, Who does this guy think he is? Who can forgive sins but God? As Christs ambassadors, we offer forgiveness; we present reconciliation. We who have been forgiven much, shall we not forgive and keep on forgiving? In answer to Peters question, how many times shall we forgive, Jesus

answered, seventy times seven, in other words, be exceedingly forgiving, knowing that God exceedingly forgives, but should we not be forgiving, then that will be binding. God gives us a huge responsibility. He also gives us the person of the Holy Spirit to get it done. We all know that there are things that get in the way; we do not always remember that God forgave us first, even while we were dead enemies with him. Knowing that, knowing that God has forgiven us everything, who can withhold forgiveness? I have no right, since Christ willingly died so that I might be forgiven.
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What offense have I suffered that hasnt been suffered by Christ already? Absolutely none. Receive the peace Christ offers to you. Receive the Holy Spirit and he will live within you. Go into your homes, your neighbourhoods, your communities, knowing that Christ sends you and he equips you. Be ambassadors, telling people about your king and his kingdom. Tell them that they can be reconciled to God through Christ also. Forgive as youve been forgiven. Amen!