Rev. George Miller
April 17, 2022
John 20:1-23 & John 21:1-14
On April 3, a storm came through our county. The next morning, FaceBook was filled with posts
of Avon Park people showing photos of the damage.
LarryBob’s neighborhod near Lake Glenada was hit with softball sized
hail.
I drove to Lake Glenada to see. It
was the worst thing I’d seen since Irma.
Branches down. Shiny sport cars
with cracked windshields. Metal awnings with
holes punched through.
Homes of the elderly residents with up to ten broken windows. Blue tarps and plywood covering sides of
building.
Larry was with a group of men, ranging in all ages, cleaning up. Debris picked up with a Case Tractor, powerwashing
homes, chainsawing wood, walking down the street with leaf blowers. Women cleaning their yard.
There was LarryBob, helping out, saying hello to everyone, checking to
see how neighbors were doing.
LarryBob not only represented himself, but he also represented our church
very well. So much so that people contributed
to our beard campaign.
I came to the LarryBob’s community unprepared to see the devastation, but
was uplifted by the camaraderie.
Something tragic had happened, yet there was this community that came
together, serving, fellowshipping, and empowering one another.
Talk about wellness; about picking up your mat to walk; about life after
destruction.
How life can go on by the coming together and not by the tearing apart.
Could this be what part of the Resurrection is about, is this an aspect
of Easter joy?
Lake Glenada’s folks experienced a great storm in the evening, but by the
light of a new day, camaraderie and teamwork had come their way.
In their unified existence, there was laughter, jokes, encouraging words,
acts of unselfishness and generosity.
Camaraderie. Community. Coming together. Finding courage to move on.
That’s what we’re discussing today.
The last time we met was Maundy Thursday.
As the lights dimmed and darkness crept in, the world seemed hopeless
and devoid of God.
In John’s telling of the Gospel, we see how being scattered and scared
seeped into the people.
Peter denies being a follower of Jesus.
Mary Magdlene comes to the garden alone.
The disciples fearfully hide out, sequestered behind locked doors.
This storm of Crucifixion had rained down upon the world, making
everything look bleak and impossible.
Jesus, the one walked beside, offered wellness to, spoke with, and showed
new way to be a kingdom, has been
Betrayed
Humiliated
Shamed
Silenced.
…Or so the authorities thought.
What the Roman military didn’t realize and the Temple Priests clearly
forgot,
Is that God cannot be silenced.
The Gospel cannot be stopped.
And the Holy that dwelled within Jesus could not be discarded like trash.
For though Friday was bleak, and Saturday seemed to last forever, Sunday arrived,
and God recreated the world again.
One aspect of this recreation the Resurrection caused was a stronger
community.
In John 20, Mary Magdelene is at the place where Jesus is buried. Seeing the stone rolled away, she makes haste
to the disciples to tell them the news.
Later, as she stands in the garden, she weeps similar tears that Mary and
Jesus had shed. Distraught, sad, alone.
Then she hears a voice; a familiar voice calls out her name. She discovers she is not alone, she is not abandoned,
but Jesus, her Rabbi, is right beside her.
The storm of the crucifixion has turned into the reuniting of dear
friends.
Later, the disciples are behind closed doors, petrified, afraid for their
lives. Will they be next? What can they do? Is their ministry to be over forever?
But Jesus appears to them. He
calms their inner emotional storm. He
says “Peace be with you” just as he had offered them assurance when they were
in the boat.
The Resurrected Christ breathes upon them the breath of Life, encouraging
them to forgive, a week later providing Thomas the assurance he needs.
In chapter 21, we watch how this rag tag group of men have begun the
healing process.
The disciples leave behind their fear filled room, no longing hide behind
a locked door, and they go fishing.
There they are, in public, upon the sea, where anyone, priest, peasant,
police officer can see, and they fish.
And they are naked. This seems
like such an odd detail for John to mention, but it makes sense.
First, their nakedness brings us back to the Creation. Adam in the Garden, not ashamed.
But it also means something else.
A person does not go naked if they feel vulnerable, ashamed, or in fear.
Peter’s nakedness can symbolize a newfound freedom, an innocence, a sort
of safety that he has felt since the Resurrection.
The empire tried to kill their
spirit by killing their King, but since the Resurrection, the disciples have refound
their spirit, refound their joy, their will to live, and they have refound a
way to be in community.
During this moment of bravery and boldness, innocence and nakedness, Christ
appears to them by the shore
With an encouraging word, he empowers them to pull out a net full of
fish. With the invitation of a loving parent,
he says “Come, and let’s eat.”
And Jesus, who the world tried to kill, feeds this community of fishers
and tax collectors and doubters with bread and with fresh fish.
After they are fed, Christ tells Peter to feed the sheep and follow him.
In doing so, Christ creates a whole new community that learns to live,
lead, and to love by his example.
The Resurrection creates a new community where wellness can be offered to
all, by all.
Where each person is empowered to feed; empowered to offer wellness.
Each person is filled with the Holy Spirit to do justice, love kindness,
and walk humbly with the Lord.
For centuries folk have wrestled with the Resurrection, what does it
mean, why does it matter, how did it happen?
Today, after all we’ve been through for due to COVID, and after what was
witnessed at Lake Glenada, the resurrection can be about God creating
community.
How God can even turn a tragedy into an opportunity for folk to come
together.
How God can take a senseless, needless, unnecessary death, and find a way
to bring about a sense of
wholeness, sense of hope, some sense of unity if we are open to it, if we
can see it, and if we are able to find a way to leave our rooms and locked
doors.
The Resurrection may mean something different to you, and next year it
may mean something entirely different to me, but today, after last week’s storm,
Easter 2022 means, to me, how Jesus Christ, even when faced with death,
is able to unite, empower, offer wellness.
How thanks to the Resurrection, God remind us that we are part of
something greater, bigger, and better than ourselves.
For that, let us say, Amen.
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