Social Isolation and -- Peace

2 Easter - Cycle A

You know, they were in that Upper Room for fifty days. Fifty days. They fled there after he was crucified, and ventured out, mmm, once for fish, according to John. But they did not speak to another soul, until the Holy Spirit threw them out of there at Pentecost.

Well, we know Thomas didn't stay put. His first trip out, he was checking out the lay of the land. Just how serious was this danger they were in? Were the soldiers rounding up disciples? What was the word on the street?

Thomas was the intrepid one. Before they ever got to Jerusalem, when they didn't want Jesus to go there because they knew he'd be arrested, Thomas told them that he was read to die. Maybe he was the one they sent for groceries those seven weeks.

Seven weeks. I wonder how they got along.

But today's story happens in Week One. Week One was the scariest. When they didn't know. When they had no idea what they were facing. When they had no idea how long it would be. All they knew was--outside that door, there was death. Between them and the people who wanted to kill them there was one locked door.

They weren't faithful. They weren't committed. They weren't dedicated. They were scared.

And then, that's when, there he was. Right in the midst of them.

He came back to his closest friends who, when he needed them, ran scared. There's the evidence, the holes in his hands. That is what happened after they ran scared. And three days later still were scared.

And he said to them, Peace.

The hardest betrayals to take are the ones by friends. Have you ever been abandoned by a friend?

Junior high. I had defended my friend all through grade school. Whenever the other kids said nasty things about her, cuz' she was different, her clothes were different, she had a lot more money than any of us, I was her friend. But Junior high, suddenly she was cool, and I was not. And she abandoned me.

She was scared. I can see that now. Afraid to be judged by the company she kept. Junior high judgments are harsh. They can feel mortal. And in junior high I was not cool. So she left me behind.

Okay, now that's not anything compared to failing to show up for the trial. But it's enough to give me a glimpse into the magnitude of his words when he came back to them, when he showed them his hands and the hole in his side, and he said to them, Peace.

He knew who they were. He knew when it got real that they got scared. He knew what they could do and what they could not. All of that was there in that one word, Peace.

And we too are scared. The central feast of our faith, Jesus has conquered death, that's the season we are in. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, not heights nor depths, not life, not death, not things present nor things to come...

My God, what is to come? What damn fool is going to make what damn decision, and all our care will be for naught. And we'll be lying in some bed surrounded by masks with some tube stuck down our throat. And if not that for me personally, then the whole show grinds to a halt anyway, all my plans, all my finances, all my future.

I mean, I'm doing my damnedest to do this thing right. But I am scared. Maybe you are too.

That's Week One.

And Week -- what is this? -- Week Four? I'm as scared as ever. And now I'm getting testy. And I know I am not the only one. People who think social distancing is essential and people who thing it's time to end it -- a lot of us are on our last nerve.

And still he comes through that locked door, and he says, Peace.

He says, I see you. I know you are doing your best, and your best isn't always very good. And you are scared. And you are testy. And you are tired. You are just tired. Peace.

Can we believe in such a Savior? A savior who sees us just as we are, who sees us better than we are willing to see ourselves, and not only ourselves but even all those bobo-heads out there who do not deserve... do not deserve peace?

You know, in past years I have heard theologians try to explain the resurrection of the body in some philosophical or metaphorical way that makes it easier for those of us with our doubts to swallow it. Gosh, I hope they didn't bother with their rational playground this Easter. Because not of us are in that playground right now. We are not thinking. That's the pre-frontal cortex. We are in what is called the lizard brain, the amygdala, the scared spitless brain.

That is the Upper Room, the evening of the Resurrection, the scared spitless room. And we are right there with them, if not scared about dying, then scared about what we are going to lose.

Peace. Receive the Holy Spirit. Receive the love of God. And if you can, if you can, when you can, share it. Share some of that love and that forgiveness with other people who, like you, or even more than you, do not deserve it.

That for me is a lot harder sell than the resurrection of the body. That for me means the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus himself, has to take over, has to possess me, has to live and move in and remake me.

Now Luke and John diverge on this Holy Spirit issue. For Luke, the Spirit comes at Pentecost. With wind and fire, the Spirit fills the disciples and throws that locked door wide open, open to the world, and tosses them into it. That's when Peter, who once ran and hid, now stood up and gave that speech we heard this morning. He told the whole world that Jesus is alive.

But for John, the Spirit came that first night, behind that locked door, as gently as a breath, a gesture, a word. Peace.

The Church feels no need to reconcile timelines here. The Bible holds up one truth in one season and another truth in another season. The truth I hear in these two stories is that of a seed planted and a seed bursting forth.

What was the Spirit's purpose in John? Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. When Jesus comes through our locked door and says Peace, when he breathes forgiveness for our fear, our testiness, our impatience, our frustration, our rage, he plants a seed of forgiveness. He will send us to do likewise.

And that is a hard sell.

So it doesn't happen all at once. The disciples sat with their fear, their frustration, their rage at those who killed their friend for seven weeks. But also with the Spirit. They sat with Jesus.

And then, they went forth.

And they went forth in power.

And they went forth to love.

They went forth to forgive, as they had been forgiven.

They went forth to share the glorious Good News to anybody they met, deserving or not.

We too will go forth. I don't know if it'll be at Pentecost. That's the end of May. We'll have to figure all that out, how to do it safely, how to do it with love.

By the way, when we go forth, we won't have to prove to anybody that we have faith. We only have to prove that we have love.

Between now and then, we can do what the disciples did with their seclusion. They prayed. They planned. They grew in love. That seed of the Holy Spirit, that seed of forgiveness and love for the whole world took root and grew.

The Way of Love.

Turn -- from whatever draws you away from God.

Learn -- study the Gospel every day of these days to mold your minds in the image of Christ.

Pray -- for those you love and for those you do not love.

Worship -- remember who is God and who is not God.

Bless - practice now in whatever way you can to bless.

Go -- we will go.

And finally, rest -- don't forget to rest. Let go and let God.

Peace.

Amen.

window by Pieter Coecke van Aelst, 16th century

folio by unknown artist, 1190-1200

Easter Lily Cross by Olive E. Whitney, 19th c., in the public domain

photo of lecture hall at Princt on used under the GNU license

flair from Facebook.com