April 11, 2010
(Second Sunday of Easter)
(From The Lectionary Page)
The Seeds of Forgiveness
Easter Sunday was an amazing day here at the cathedral. Lots of people around, and a lot going on. Among other things happening, the small people of the cathedral engaged in a hunt for Easter eggs right out here in the garden. My daughter Mikaelee shared a story with me about this event. Apparently, two visiting children missed out on the fun. They went to their car to fetch their Easter baskets. When they arrived in the garden, they discovered that the hunt was nearly over. Most of the eggs had been found, and excited children were enjoying their prizes, when they noticed these two children, crying and eggless. After convening briefly, they proceeded to redistribute the eggs until everyone had some. Don’t you just love to hear stories like that? I’ve met numerous big people in my life that could learn much from those kids.
All of last week was a spectacular time here at the cathedral. Beginning Thursday and lasting through Sunday morning, we experienced Christ’s Passion and Resurrection, in our Episcopal liturgical setting. It is always awe inspiring to do this, though afterwards it can be hard to know just what to do with it. It requires a lot of us to stay with the story through those three days, and then, somewhat exhausted, we try to make sense out of it, to figure out what happens now.
For this reason, it occurs to me that Easter comes in two distinct steps, or phases. First, like the disciples, we learn that Christ is in fact risen. And we learn that in some way this produces forgiveness. These things make up what I would call the initial phase of Easter.
It very nearly leaves us, like the disciples in today’s reading from John, wondering what it all means, and what has really been effected by these events. They have not been moved so much as they have been frightened out of their wits. They are where they were on Good Friday. They are scared and confused. And deep inside, they feel guilty. They know that while their Lord met with his time of trial, they fled in fear and left him to his fate. What could we have done? If we stayed with Jesus, we simply would have met with the same fate. What would that accomplish? These and other such rationalizations are designed to help one cope with failure, to ease the guilty conscience. But we see today that it has not worked so well for them. Even on Easter Sunday, they are stuck in Good Friday.
Nevertheless, Christ has indeed risen, in spite of the failures of his followers. His appearance to them today quite simply shocks them out of their fear, at least momentarily. Jesus’ presence to them seems to help them make some connections with all of the events of the last few days. His presence suggests that human life has dimensions that they could never have guessed. Looking back at Jesus’ teaching, it becomes clear that this is what he was trying to tell us. Now we see it for ourselves.
But much like us, the disciples need to be kicked into Easter. This is where we see the second dimension of Easter. Easter must produce in us life, like we’ve never experienced it before. The mechanism for this new life seems to come in the form of forgiveness. Rather than accusing the disciples of what they have shown to be quite guilty of, Jesus comes to them offering peace, the product of forgiveness. Jesus does not tell them that their actions were ok. He doesn’t excuse their failure with such rationalizations as they themselves tried to do. He doesn’t go there because these things do not represent truth; they offer no transformation. That would only justify the way things already are. It would be a glossing over the truth, painting it in a slightly skewed way, again, for the purpose of justifying their innocence. Jesus will have no part in this. Jesus shows them his hands and his side, bringing the disciples face to face with the truth of what has happened. And yet, he offers them peace rather than accusation. Only then can the disciples rejoice. They have been forgiven. They are back to a beginning alright. But it is a beginning that they could not have imagined.
“…he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” This image of Christ breathing on the disciples recalls the creation story from Genesis: “…then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.”[1] The disciples are quite literally made into new persons. Jesus’ forgiveness has endowed them the Holy Spirit, with new life. John Henry Newman said once that the effect of the Spirit is that it “refashions us, soul and body, after Jesus’ own likeness, that we might be raised up with him.”[2] This life is related generally to truth and specifically to forgiveness. Jesus could only endure the cross by seeing beyond himself to the good of all humanity. This complete selflessness allows him to forgive even his murderers. So this life that the disciples have now received has to do with looking out beyond the walls behind which they have been hiding. They now see beyond themselves.
In this second phase of Easter, the disciples learn that this is not simply an unexpected happy ending to their story. The Spirit given to them will not allow them remain as they are. The seeds of new life have been planted in them. And these seeds must grow. The gift of forgiveness must be used, not hoarded. Our own little egg hunters experienced this first hand. They found that what had seemed like a gift for their own use had become a tool for ministry. They could not enjoy their gift knowing that others were without it. They looked beyond themselves, and found that the gifts they had received could help them connect with others.
I think that this story says volumes about the forgiveness and peace that Jesus gives the disciples. He now sends them to do for others what he has done for them. He did not forgive them just for them to feel better about themselves. That feeling would soon be gone, and it would be for them as if Jesus had not been part of their lives. For that new life to grow in them, they must forgive others. It is no accident that Jesus’ sending of the disciples is followed immediately by discussion about forgiveness. The forgiving and retaining of sin is not designed to give them power over others. They already have the model for forgiveness in Jesus himself. Like him, they must actively seek out ways in which to spread this forgiveness. In essence, their lives must begin more and more to look like forgiveness.
So the second part of Easter, then, is living forgiveness, letting forgiveness grow in us. But we don’t have to generate that forgiveness from nothing. Christ is doing it already, regardless of the ways in which we fail. Forgiveness is growing among us. It’s already happening. In the nearly three years that I’ve been with you here at the cathedral, I’ve seen it. I’ve felt it. It’s happening, and it’s growing. I could share numerous examples, both big and small, in which I’ve witnessed such forgiveness among you. But my aim is not to embarrass anyone, and we don’t have that much time. I must say, though, that it is always surprising, always humbling. It’s one thing to acknowledge that God is among us. It is quite another, as you know, to experience it. That experience is happening in our midst. I pray that we can continue to take in such experiences and let them grow, among us and beyond us, that we might all have life in His name.
Amen.
[1] Genesis 2:7, NRSV
[2] From Newman’s sermon titled, “Christ, A Quickening
Spirit.” John Henry Newman: Selected Sermons, Prayers and Devotions
(New York: Random House, 1999)
