Sunday 27th April 2025
Acts 5: 27-32 (or II Kings 7: 1-16)
Psalm 150 (or Psalm 118: 14-29; or 2)
Revelation 1: 4-8
St. John 20: 19-31
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you” John 20: 21b
When we finish a large task, we’re often tempted simply to sit back and to relax for a while… After cooking, eating and washing up after a large dinner, many of us simply want to relax for a while… If we have finished the final paper or the last exam of the college term, we likely want to catch our breath before moving on to something else…
I’d like to let you in on a little secret: After the busy-ness of Lent, and most especially Holy Week, many parish clergy would like to have a rest. (I know of one colleague who would always take his entire holiday during Easter season…)
This is really healthy – to a point… We are designed by our Creator to have both periods of work and times of Sabbath. “Sabbath,” after all, literally means “rest…” Some of us are constrained to work on Sunday. (Sunday is the traditional day of rest for Christians, because Jesus Christ rose again on a Sunday.) If we cannot rest on a Sunday, we need to find another time. We exercise self-discipline to take the rest that our bodies and our souls need… So, taking a time of disciplined rest and re-creation is appropriate; this honours our Creator…
However, it is possible to take the biblical injunction to “make the Sabbath Day holy” so seriously, that we run the risk of being a bit lazy! We can rest, and rest, and rest, and rest so long, we never get started – or if we start, we don’t ever finish the job!… That can’t be the right path either…
On the first night of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, most of the apostles are gathered together, sharing a meal, when suddenly! – the risen Lord Jesus himself shows up!… It is Christ, in all his risen glory… The very first words Jesus speaks is to reassure his astonished and frightened friends – “Peace be with you…”
Next, Jesus says, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you…” If I may speak a bit roughly about a theological truth, we can agree that the Lord Jesus has had a very hard 3 days or so: He was abandoned by his friends, tortured, and then viciously murdered on the cross. Then he went to the place of departed spirits, so that all the people of the world, past and present, would know God’s conquest of death and the harrowing of hell through the Son… If that wasn’t enough, then there is Jesus’ resurrection!… We might think that our Lord deserved a bit of a rest after all he went through!… But Jesus didn’t think so…
In fact, on the night of his resurrection, the Lord Jesus expects the apostles to go on doing his work. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you…” They are being sent out– to preach; to teach; to heal; to do the work of establishing the kingdom of God…
The risen Jesus Christ breathes on the apostles – what some Bible teachers call the “Johannine Pentecost” – the gift of the Holy Spirit rests upon the apostles, including pronouncing God’s forgiveness, his absolution…
In obedience to the Lord’s command, the apostles do just as the Lord taught them: Filled with the Holy Spirit, they go out – they are sent out – to do the work of the kingdom, and to heal… The apostles are sent out, and as the Church grows, the ministry of deacons develops to help carry out God’s work. The apostles are eventually replaced by bishops, their successors, and local presbyters, parish clergy, carry out the work under the oversight of the local bishop. The Church’s ministry has begun. Our ministry has begun in response to our Lord’s command: We are all to be sent out to do God’s work…
Now, some of us might want to say, “Wait a second! Wait a second! Jesus didn’t send out everyone… he just sent out the Church leaders, the apostles… Sure, the leaders are sent out. Peter Armstrong and Marie Loewen should be sent out to do God’s work… But I’m not a church leader…. I’m just Fred from the third pew. That means I’m off the hook – doesn’t it?…”
Well, guess what, Fred? The command of Jesus that we are to be sent out is for everyone…
God’s vision for his people is that when we are filled with God the Holy Spirit, we are all expected to go out, to do God’s work… We are reminded of that in today’s second reading:
To (Christ) who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1: 6)
Look! We are all “priests, serving Christ’s God and Father…”
John, the author of Revelation, expected this book to be read aloud to the entire congregation (“ Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it (v. 3)…) The word of scripture are to be proclaimed for the entire congregation… In Christ, we are all “priests, serving his God and Father…” All of us have access to God through Jesus. Every one of us is a kind of priest – whether we’re ordained or not…
St. Peter makes the same point – we are all priests – when Peter writes,
But you are a chosen rase, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (2: 9)
We can pray to the Lord any time we choose. In that sense, we are all “priests…” This command of Jesus to be “sent out” isn’t just for the clergy – it’s for everyone…
So, the first direction which the risen Lord Jesus gives to his friends is that we are all to be “sent out…” We aren’t meant simply to worship God on a Sunday morning, and then stay the same the rest of the week!… We strengthened by God the Holy Spirit as we gather together to hear God’s word written, and as we are sustained by the sacraments of the Lord; we joyfully gather together in fellowship…
But God doesn’t want self-satisfied disciples who feast on his Word, and then never lift a finger the rest of the week… We are all called to go out, because of what Christ has done for his by his death and resurrection…
What are you and I called to go out to do, when we go out into the world to do God’s work?…
You and I have 2 basic jobs: First, we are called to “live” in light of what Christ has done for us… We all have the privilege of living out God’s priorities in our lives… I encourage us all to vote; we take our part in making this country to be a better place. We are called to visit the sick, to seek relief for the poor, to bind up the broken-hearted… What sincere gestures can we make to bless others; to let them know they are truly loved?… That is part of what being “sent out” is all about – to live for Christ…
The second basic job is to use our voices, to bless others… We can encourage, not condemn. We can bless, not curse. We can share the good news in ways which are loving and sensitive. We can invite people to worship, or to a ministry of the Church. The first basic job is what we do when we are sent out. The second basic job is what we say when we are sent out…
On the night of his resurrection, the Lord Jesus astonished his friends with his presence. Christ assured them of his peace, and then he sent them out to do his work – to build his Church and his kingdom… These words of Jesus are not just for the apostles. They are not just for the Church leaders. They are instructions for us all – we can live for him; and we can speak in ways which advance his purposes…
To God be all the glory; now and for ever. Amen…