I. Not Turning Back Time 00:00
We come and cry out to you, along with Thomas, “My Lord and my God,” and we trust you. Help us to understand and to be transformed by the truth of the resurrection this morning. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
So as we were worshiping, this image jumped into my head of Superman. You know, the guy with the cape and the leotard, underwear on the outside, the whole deal. And I’m thinking of the classic cheesy Superman movies. In one of them (I think it was Superman III, maybe Superman II; I think it’s the Christopher Reeve version), he has to fly around the world fast enough to turn back time, and the world somehow spins with him. It’s very incredible. I mean, power beyond imagining.
And sometimes we can treat Easter kind of like that: Jesus did this superhuman feat, and he turned back time, and now maybe the world will be good again. And I want to just say here: besides the fact that Jesus’ resurrection was nowhere near as hokey, and the graphics were better, besides that, it’s also not what he did. He did not turn back time. He did not erase what had been done to him. He transformed all of time. He transfigured all of time.
II. The Great Song 01:38
Tolkien has a great illustration of this in his creation of Middle-earth (you know, where the Lord of the Rings movies occur). When he talks about the creation myth of this fantasy world, he talks about God and his angels, and they’re composing this beautiful symphony that is creating the world. It’s music. It’s this beautiful image of the patterns of reality in relation to one another, and this glorious music. And then there’s a discordant note, and this kind of represents Lucifer. He brings in this note that doesn’t work. It’s wrong. It’s rebellion. It’s jarring. It’s taking away. And it says that a third of those singing went with him. It’s all kind of a parable description of what we see in Scripture, how a third of the angels fell and all that.
But what’s beautiful is how Tolkien portrays God in this fantasy. He’s a Catholic guy, so he’s just imagining this. He doesn’t say that God then stops the song, or pauses the music and destroys those angels and then comes back and makes it all good again. No, no, it’s not that. It’s that over time, all of a sudden, you get this picture where even the discordant melody gets woven back into the main line, and the whole song becomes deeper and richer and more beautiful, because God is not deterred by our sin in his weaving of beauty and goodness. Yes, our sin hurts us, and yes, he grieves for the ways we don’t participate in his goodness and his glory.
But he is so good that what Jesus did is he took one of the greatest acts of sin in the world (killing God, killing an innocent man who was God, destroying him, pouring out betrayal and torture and death), and he weaves all of reality into a more beautiful song because of it. To the point where now the cross, the image of the crucifixion, is the most portrayed image in all of art, ever. How incredible is that? A torture device becomes this beautiful symbol of life and hope. I often compare it to this: imagine an electric chair being worn around people’s necks as a symbol of hope. It’s jarring to think of it that way, but that’s the idea. This was not a beautiful thing when it happened.
And yet God is so good that the resurrection did not turn back time, but transformed time. And all that happened before, and all that happens from now to eternity, is now in the light of the death and resurrection of Jesus. And so it’s all good. It all becomes good. It doesn’t dismiss or shortchange or eliminate the pain and the suffering. It incorporates it. In fact, Paul says our suffering participates in the suffering of Christ on the cross, and thus in the resurrection is reinterpreted and made good.
So I just wanted to start there, because I think on Easter it’s hard to conceptualize what it means, because it means more than any of us can possibly understand. And so sometimes we reduce it to something hokey or merely religious. You hear that kind of thing: it’s just something you talk about in church. But it’s so much more than that. Every day now is a day lived in a new world. And so today the title is “Easter: The New World.” We are living that now.
III. Looking for the New World 04:47
Now, as I was thinking about this, I was thinking about the fact that in history we have always been looking for the new world. That’s been the goal of every religion, every political system, every invention. Everything is meant to bring us to the new world. But let me say it this way: when humans try to invent this, it becomes this twisted thing. I’m calling it today utopianism, but it’s got all these phrases where basically they say, “If you will do what we say, if you will follow our program, and we get rid of all the bad people, then the world will be like new. Everyone will get along.” Imagine there’s no heaven. Imagine we could just make it happen on our own. Imagine we could make this world good. “All you have to do is do what I say and get rid of all the bad people.” Every religion since the beginning of time has talked like that, except for Jesus.
Because what does Jesus do? Jesus says, “If you want a new world, if you want to enter the kingdom, then I will die for you,” so that all the bad people, the really, actually bad people, can enter into the new world, can enter into life. He doesn’t get rid of anybody. He invites everyone in. And it’s not “if you just do what I say.” It’s “if you will accept my gift.” Because God’s love is not based on your performance reviews. Thank the Lord.
I was just thinking about this the other day. I was working hard to get everything done, and I was just feeling the burden of not being good enough. It comes up every once in a while. I know you’re shocked; I’m amazing. But I’m not good enough. None of us are good enough. And so you encounter the things and the burdens and the deadlines and the projects and everything, and you’re trying to put it all together, and you can fall into this trap where it’s all about what you can do. And all of a sudden it’s like, “Where is this anxiety coming from? Where is this stress coming from?” It’s because in some way, in my mind, I start to believe that my acceptance in God’s plan is based on how well I do; that his love for me is based on what I contribute: “If I can just do all of these things, then my life will be good. My family will be good. My house will be good.” It’s the same problem we’ve always struggled with. And what Jesus said is, “No, if you will accept what I have done, then you can live in that new world, in that true heaven coming to earth.” It’s truly incredible.
IV. Peace Be with You 07:48
And we see that in the story we told this morning, as the disciples are just now encountering the reality of this new world. We’ll start in John 20:19:
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” John 20.19
Okay, setting the scene, as we like to do. Jesus was just brutally murdered in front of everyone on a cross and buried. And not only that, every one of these guys abandoned him. Every one of them left him. In fact, some of them disavowed him, like Peter: “I don’t even know the guy.” All of his best friends abandoned him. If you’ve ever had even the slightest hint of this, like when cousin Joey didn’t invite you to the birthday party, but Jerry said you were going to go, and then they were making fun of you, and you’re like, “Oh man.” I’m thinking of as a kid; it was such a big deal back then: “They were talking about me behind my back.” It’s like that times a thousand. They let him die. Not one of them stood up to the Sanhedrin, to the Jews, and said, “Hey, he’s good, actually. He’s the Messiah.” Nobody. They all fled. Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter (Matt 26.31).
And Jesus, still very much a man, although we know he is God, comes back and does what all of us would do: “You wicked, evil traitors. You cowards.” That’s what I would do. “Are you kidding? I told you I was going to die. I said they will beat me and kill me, but don’t worry, I’ll be back in three days.” And where are they in three days? Are they at the tomb? Are they waiting for him? No, they’re hiding, and the door is locked. What if he couldn’t get in? They’re actively avoiding his ability to reveal himself. And he walks in there and he says, “Peace to you.” It’s incredible. It’s mind-blowing. It’s the new world.
Now, think about this. They’re panicked, huddled in the room. And here’s the thing: the verse starts, “On the evening of that day.” Which day? On the evening of the day when the women went to the tomb and saw the angels say, “He is risen,” and encountered Jesus, even though he looked like a gardener at the time, and came back and told the disciples, “He’s not there. The angel said he’s alive.” Mary saw this guy who looked like a gardener, and then he said her name, and she said, “Rabbi.” It was the whole thing. And then she recognized it was Jesus. And then Peter and John go running. We all know John was a faster runner; we get that. So they get to the tomb. It’s empty.
And what do they do? They go to the room and they bar the door. Because what they think is, “When the Jews find out that his body’s missing, they’re coming for us.” They didn’t think, “He’s risen from the dead, praise the Lord!” What do we sing? It’s, “For he is risen, just as he said. Quickly now, go tell the disciples.” It’s like, actually, no. They thought, “They’re coming for us. Maybe somebody framed us. Maybe somebody took his body and hid it somewhere so that they would come and kill all of us.” Zero faith. None whatsoever.
And yet Jesus shows up and so kindly looks at them and says, “Peace to you.” Because they see him and they start thinking, “Oh God,” literally, he’s standing in front of them, but also, “What have we done? What have we done?” Even the joy of the resurrection could have been robbed from them if they were in self-recrimination, in that shame of abandonment: “What have you done?”
You’ll know this. Maybe you’ve lied to somebody or betrayed them, and they found out about it, and the next time you see them it doesn’t feel good, because all of a sudden, in your heart, you’re like, “What have I done?” Even if they don’t know, maybe your conscience hurts you. So imagine that moment where they see Jesus, and what could be a joyous moment could be ruined by the shame and guilt they’re feeling. And yet Jesus immediately cuts them off and says, “Peace to you.” It’s an amazing moment.
V. The Future Is Here 12:37
And I just want to say one more thing (and I promise we’re not going to do the whole story today; if you’re checking your clocks, we’re only on verse one; we’re going to do that for a bit). They’re sitting in the room, the door is locked, and yet the world has already been changed.
There’s this saying that Father Powell really likes. It comes from a science fiction writer. It says, “The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed.” And the idea behind it is that in technology there are breakthroughs that have happened, which people have access to right now, that we will get eventually, in five years. It takes a while for things to trickle down. You might remember when TVs were the size of this altar and about that heavy. Well, even while you were moving that TV up two flights of steps, there was somebody who had a screen this big. And then eventually we all get to have that. That’s kind of where the idea comes from.
This is way more profound. Jesus has risen from the dead. The whole new world has come. Everything has changed. And they’re huddled in a room in terror. Just like us: we live our life, and sometimes we go into our room and bar the door for fear of the Jews, when Jesus has already solved your problem. When did he solve the problem you’re facing today? Two thousand years ago, on the cross, with his death and resurrection. And yet we still fall into this pattern of locking ourselves away in fear and recrimination: “Well, you were the problem.” “No, you’re the problem.” We have all these ways of justifying and defending ourselves, when Jesus says, “Oh no, I’ve already purchased the victory for you today.”
VI. Shalom to You 14:46
And so let’s bring the even distribution of the future to us, at least. Start here. Let’s start reminding each other that the resurrection has happened. The future is here. The new world has come.
And so when you look at this, imagine that whatever situation you’re in, you can picture it as a locked room, and you’re in fear over this situation, whether it’s money or relationship or sin or whatever is just binding you up. Jesus walks in, and he looks at you, and he says, “Peace to you.” And that peace is not just, “Chill out, dude.” I say that a lot. I’m like, “Chill, guys,” with the kids, and I say, “Chill,” and what I mean is, “Just cease all activity.” That’s all I want: just stop for a moment, breathe. That’s not what he’s saying. He says, “Peace to you,” like shalom to you: all has been made good to you. Everything is okay. All manner of thing has been made well. Whatever you’re struggling with, peace to you. There’s an answer. There’s a solution. There’s provision. There’s life.
So wherever you’re at, you’re just like the disciples. The future was already there, and they just didn’t know it. It’s so hard to see, because we can see all the pain in front of us, or all the difficulty in front of us, or we can see the mountain. But that’s what it means when we sing that old song, “Turn your eyes to Jesus.” Because when you look at him, you will find the path. He’ll move the mountain. He’ll raise the dead.
That’s what it says about Abraham. He has the son he’s always prayed for, the son of the promise, Isaac, and God says, “Sacrifice him.” And the New Testament says Abraham believed that, to fulfill his promise, God could even raise the dead, and so he was willing to sacrifice his son (Heb 11.19). That’s the faith we long for. That’s the faith we look for. Let me tell you this: that’s the faith that allows you to see the new world. Because doubt blinds you to what God’s doing. Fear blinds you to what God’s doing. Sin blinds us to what God’s doing. But faith opens your eyes to see: “Oh, that’s where he’s moving. That’s what he’s doing.”
You’ll know this. You’ve probably encountered people in this very room to whom you bring a situation or a problem, and they say, “Well, God’s got that. Look at this. Didn’t God do this for you?” And all of a sudden that problem that was unsolvable, just from that little bit of encouragement, that reminder of who God is and what God has done, it’s like, “Oh yeah. I don’t know how he’s going to solve it, but I know he will.” You’re starting to live in the new world, the resurrected life. If it’s not good yet, it’s not the end yet. He makes all things new (Rev 21.5). As Winston Churchill said, “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” Now, what’s really funny is that you attribute all these quotes to Winston Churchill. I have no idea if he actually said that, but it’s a good one. Everybody attributes it to Winston Churchill. Great.
VII. He Showed Them His Hands 17:36
20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. John 20.20
What did I say? He didn’t erase the evil. He incorporated it into good. He redeemed it. He transfigured, he transformed. He still has the scars. I mean, when I hit my thumb with a hammer, it’s sensitive for a few days. He has holes in him. And he’s probably still feeling the experience of the cross. It doesn’t just go away. He bears the suffering. Now, I don’t know, of course, what resurrected life is like, but I know he has his wounds. I know he bears them with him. But he says, “Look at these.”
“Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” I love that. When they see his wounds, they’re able to receive the gladness of the resurrection. It’s not just some fake. It’s not a hallucination. It’s not ethereal. It’s not a spiritual resurrection. It’s a bodily resurrection.
VIII. As the Father Has Sent Me 18:29
In verse 21:
21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” John 20.21
In case you were wondering what the message is: peace with you, shalom with you. “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” Now, this is where it becomes a part of our life. This is where the resurrection meets us. It doesn’t just restore us. It commissions us. It sends us out. As the Father has sent Jesus, even so I am sending you.
Jesus, in the modern lingo, was a man on a mission. He accomplished his task. He had great project management skills. He got the things done that the Father told him to do. He went where the Father told him to go. He took the time to reconnect with the Father, to unite on the mission, and to go conquer the world. We’re all called to be like that in our life.
Now, I’m using modern business language to break it forth from this spiritual “You should pray and read your Bible more.” It’s like, no, there are things you’ve got to do. Yes, pray and read your Bible more, please. But there are also things you’ve got to do. We’ve all been commissioned. Every one of us encounters people who need to know that Jesus is here, that he’s resurrected, people who need to be invited to the new world. And I don’t just mean people who are not Christians. Like I said, every one of us has probably gone to somebody and brought up a situation, and they talk about Jesus, and you’re like, “Oh yeah, that’s right. I need to live in the new world.” So we’re also called to just bring it forth in each other’s lives, to remind one another. We are sent in the way that Jesus was sent.
IX. The Pardon of God 20:50
What does he do? He brings the peace of God to the world. Now, Jesus says earlier in John, of the cross:
31 “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John 12.31–32
So he’s talking about the cross, and he says the cross is the judgment of the world. It’s really amazing. We judge ourselves by crucifying Christ. That’s the idea here. Humanity, when given the option to accept God, crucifies him. He comes while we’re sinners, and we crucify him. That’s our judgment. “Wicked sinners, to hell with the lot of them.” That’s what you think. And yet on the cross, what does he do? He draws all people to himself. What does he say? “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing” (Luke 23.34). That’s the pronounced judgment. The gavel strikes, and he says, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they’re doing.” It’s incredible. Everyone is offered forgiveness. You can’t imagine a worse person: “Oh, this person, though, they’re really bad.” No. Everyone: “Forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”
So if Jesus pronounces the judgment of the world on the cross, and we’re sent the same way he is, then we’re called to walk the world as the pardon of God, bringing the peace and forgiveness of God everywhere. There’s no justification for unforgiveness within Christianity. There’s nothing anybody has ever done to you that deserves unforgiveness, because they did it all to him, and he still forgave them. That’s our job: to walk around and say to everybody, “I forgive you.”
Now, let me be clear here. I have done this on my wife a couple of times. She’s very mad at me, we have a fight, and I walk up to her and I say, “Babe, I forgive you.” It doesn’t work. Wrong time, wrong place. Because what I said was, “I forgive you,” but what I meant was, “You were really awful earlier.” She can read between the lines. No, my point being… you know what this means? It means you don’t get to hold on to that person who cut you off on the freeway, or the boss who snubbed you for the promotion, or the person who lied about you to your friend, or the government that stole all your money. We just don’t get to be angry about things. He took it to the cross, and we have to forgive people and give the peace of God to everyone. This is what we’re doing. We’re bringing the new world of forgiveness, life and peace to the world.
X. Receive the Holy Spirit 23:30
To put the finest point on this, Jesus gives the disciples their power and mission, in verses 22–23:
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” John 20.22–23
What is he saying? That we get to go around deciding who receives forgiveness? No, no. He’s making a point, like, “If you drink water, you will live. If you don’t drink water, you will die.” Does anybody think they’re giving us an option? No. They’re saying, “Please drink water.” What’s he saying? Forgive people. If you don’t, they won’t be forgiven. Spread the news. There are a lot of people walking in unforgiveness and condemnation and shame and guilt, and it’s leading them to death. So let’s introduce them to life, by the forgiveness, the peace, the power of God.
And how do we do it? Through the Holy Spirit, because you’re just not good enough. Coming back to the theme: you’re not good enough. But by the power of the Holy Spirit you can overcome it. You can be transformed to be like him.
My dad shared with me this morning that that word, “he breathed on them,” is the same phrasing as the word in Genesis chapter 2, when God forms man out of the clay and breathes into his nostrils the breath of life (Gen 2.7). So what does it mean? It means Jesus is not just giving them the Holy Spirit. He’s re-creating them. Through the fall we were all sinners under Adam. We were all broken by the fall. Through Jesus we have a new Adam, the man, the human who made it clear what being human is all about, and he re-creates us.
You know, when you get baptized, you get anointed with oil called the oil of chrism, as you’re re-created. You die with Jesus, and you’re re-created in new life. You’re now truly human, as he is human, and you’re being made to be more like that. That chrism oil, when it’s blessed by our bishop, he breathes on it, as a symbol, but more than a symbol: as a sacramental vessel for Jesus’ breath of life into that oil. Everything we do points to Jesus and the new life and new creation and new world we get to be a part of.
So as we look at the resurrection, we have to remember that everything has changed. If you see something that looks like the old world (unforgiveness, sin, temptation, doubt, fear, all of that stuff), it’s the enemy trying to lure you away from the reality we get to live in. And what I mean by that is this: there actually is no substance to the old world anymore. The rules are different now. There used to be one thing, and then there was Jesus, and there was another thing. We don’t live there anymore. If you feel condemned today, you are not condemned. Your feelings are lying to you.
Okay, let me make one quick point. Guilt can be a signal that you were doing something wrong and you should stop. That’s fine. Shame says you are bad because you did something wrong. That is not real. It’s not true. It’s a lie. You are under the righteousness of Jesus, and he has already paid for every sin you’ve committed, before, today, forever after.
What I’m trying to say is: join me. Join Jesus. Let’s all go to the new world, because it’s the one we’re living in. And if you just deny reality, it punches back. Reality doesn’t give up. You can’t escape it. And the reality is: you are loved. You are accepted. You are a new creation. You have the power to walk the world as the forgiveness of God. And peace is yours today, right now.
I’ll say one last word on peace. The peace God gives them is not false. It’s not naive optimism. It’s a peace through the cross, and on the other side, peace: a peace you can hold on to no matter what. You can imagine the worst day you’ve ever lived, or the worst day you could possibly ever live, but, let me say this, you will never be in a place where that peace cannot reign in your life. So today, as we enter the new world, as we live as the new creation, as we bring Jesus’ forgiveness and peace to everyone, let’s walk as banners of Christ’s peace. Amen.