SENT BY JESUS
A sermon by the Rev. Dr. Marie Sheldon
Harundale Presbyterian Church
Text: “Jesus said to
them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you’” (John
Scripture Passage: John 20: 19-31
Recently I was plowing through an old
file labeled “Sermon Fodder” and I came across an article about an “older”
woman giving advice to baby boomers about the benefits of aging. As a bona fide boomer, I was interested in
what she had to say, and so I took yet another respite from trying to organize
my home office to read an article of interest.
When the interviewer asked the woman how she developed her positive
attitude about growing older, she said, “Its all a
matter of role models. I looked around
me and saw two kinds of older people.
Some chose to stay isolated – not wanting to reach out – not wanting to
learn or be with people. Most of the
time, they just wanted to talk about their aches and pains. Then there was the other
kind of older people. They were
brave enough to walk into new groups, even when it was scary sometimes. Their bodies hurt, too, but they decided to
put some of those aches on the back burner in order to get out and be with
others. It doesn’t have to be an expensive
outing. Sometimes just sharing a piece
of chicken at home is enough. I decided
to be like the second group of people.”
I thought
about what that woman had to say when I read today’s gospel lesson. We don’t know the ages of the disciples who
were huddled together in a room somewhere in
One of them was missing that night, and we tend to give him a bum rap. It was Thomas, who modern society has dubbed “Doubting Thomas” – as if that were his first and last name. The gospel does not tell us why Thomas was absent. Was he down with the flu? Did he have a tiff with the disciples who were too frightened to leave? Was he out on an errand bringing n some fresh food for the rest of the gang? We don’t know – but what we can be certain of, is that he at least had the gumption to cut loose and get out of that web of paralyzing fear.
It really doesn’t matter why Thomas wasn’t present. What does matter is that while he was gone, something very important happened. Jesus showed up in the midst of the cowering disciples – managing to walk right through those securely locked doors. First, Jesus gave them the traditional Hebrew greeting of “Shalom.” “Peace be with you. May all go well with you.” Then in order to convince his friends that he was for real, Jesus did a little show and tell, pointing out the wounds in his hands and feet and side. This was no ghost. It was definitely the same Jesus who had died on Good Friday. There is no record of the disciples saying a word. In fact, they must have remained frozen with fear, because Jesus offers his peace greeting a second time. And then he said, “As the Father sent me, so I send you.”
That was a scary message. The disciples felt safe and secure locked away in that room. Why leave? Why take risks? Why upset the status quo? There were several reasons implicit in Jesus’ words, “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” Think about why Jesus was sent: to teach, to preach, to offer healing and reconciliation. Jesus’ life went on, but his personal ministry ended on Good Friday. He’d completed his task so far as redemption was concerned, but there was still a lot of work to be done, and so he sent his disciples out – telling them to offer people the gift of forgiveness.
But guess what. They still didn’t go – not for another fifty days at least. It took Pentecost and roaring winds and tongues of fire to change those disciples from couch potatoes into evangelists.
And so I’m
here for a couple of reasons this morning.
One is to paint Thomas in a more flattering light. Yes, he was a doubter. Yes, he wanted hard evidence that Jesus was
alive – but at least he moved himself out of that room and walked the streets
of
The other
reason I’m here is to get us thinking about our own discipleship. It is so easy for us, two thousand years
later to wonder about Jesus’ choice of disciples. Why choose uneducated fishermen who vie for
power in the kingdom, bicker with each other, and miss the main points of
sermons and teaching most of the time?
Why choose a tax collector with a reputation of ripping off his Jewish
sisters and brothers in order to glean a better salary from the Roman
government? Why pick Judas, who not only
did some creative accounting with the disciples’ money, but also betrayed Jesus
in the
That’s not the question I’m going to try to answer. Instead, I’ll pose another one. Why did Jesus choose us? Jesus chose us because now, nearly two millennia since he walked the face of this earth, he still needs people to be sent out so that the work of the kingdom can be done.
Jesus offered
peace to those disciples who were afraid.
We need to do the same thing.
Jesus wanted them to go out and share the Good News of the
The earthly ministry of Jesus Christ is over. The ministry of the disciples is over. The ministry of all those Christians who tried to keep the Good News going, and have now returned to their eternal home is over. We’re the ones who are here now and now we are being sent by Jesus.
The disciples weren’t perfect. At times they were egotistical, narrow-minded, prejudiced and stupid. Most of them deserted Jesus. Peter denied him. Judas betrayed him. Thomas doubted him. And yet Jesus sent them out. If they hadn’t gone, Christianity would have died, and there certainly would not have been a Harundale Presbyterian Church at 1020 Eastway.
And now, Christianity is entrusted to us. We are sent by Jesus. We’re not perfect either. Sometimes we’re egotistical, narrow-minded, prejudiced and stupid. Sometimes we deny, betray and doubt Jesus. And yet, we too are sent out even though sometimes we’d rather play it safe and lock ourselves behind closed doors.
What doors do you keep locked in order to avoid being sent out? Remember, Jesus can walk through them, and whisper into our hearts, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Will we go out? I hope so.
May God bless us as we go!