The Resurrection
of
Our Lord Jesus Christ
Sunday 1 April 2018
LESSON Acts
10:34-43
or Isaiah 25:6-9
CANTICLE Psalm
118:1-2, 14-24
EPISTLE 1
Corinthians 15:1-11
or Acts 10:34-43
GOSPEL John
20:1-18
or Mark 16:1-8
Preaching
Text
Acts
10:34-43
Peter began to speak to Cornelius and the other Gentiles: "I
truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who
fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of
Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ – he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea,
beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing
good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in
Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to
death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed
him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as
witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to
testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.
All the prophets testify about him that
everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his
name."
In
the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Today, as we celebrate the Lord’s
resurrection, we find evidence that the power of this resurrection has caused
an amazing transformation in Peter. Just
a few short days ago, we witnessed Peter betraying Jesus, denying that he even
knew him. Today, we find this chief
among the apostles boldly proclaiming Jesus Christ in a place that would have
been the last place in which Peter ever would have been found if it were not
for the transformation brought forth in him by witnessing Christ risen from the
dead and by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus had breathed upon
them on the evening that brought that first Resurrection Sunday to a close.
Remember who Cornelius is. He is a Roman centurion. He is a Gentile. This moment in Peter’s life and proclamation
of the Gospel took place after the Day of Pentecost that we will celebrate
seven Sundays from today. In the days
that followed that first Pentecost, Peter and his brother apostles believed
firmly that the Gospel promises of the resurrection and the love of God made
known in Jesus were only intended to be shared among those who were Jews. But Luke tells us that one day Peter was on
the roof of the house in which he was staying taking a nap before partaking in
a meal. And as he slept, Peter
experienced a vision in which the Lord presented him with a large sheet
containing animals regarded by the Law of God to be unclean and thus not to be
eaten. And in that vision, Peter is told
to rise, kill, and eat. He is bold in
telling God that he will not do so, for he has never eaten anything
unclean. This command is given three
times. And at the end of those three
commands, God gently rebukes Peter with the words: “Do not call unclean what
God has made clean!”
Moments later, certain visitors from
Cornelius’ house came to that house in which Peter was found with an invitation
for Peter to come with them. They had
been sent by the centurion who was directed by God to have Peter come and give
a word to Cornelius by which he and his whole house would be saved. If it had not been for the vision on the roof
that Peter received, surely Peter would not have entertained the thought and
would have rejected the invitation. But
Peter accepted the vision, and went to Cornelius, trusting in God.
That is where today’s lesson from Acts
begins; with Peter among Cornelius and his household, boldly proclaiming Jesus
Christ risen from the dead, opening the way to eternal life. And an amazing thing happens. These Gentiles believe the Gospel and embrace
Christ. And what is even more shocking,
at least for Peter, is that when these ones embrace Christ, the Holy Spirit
descended upon them also, as the Holy Spirit had descended upon the apostles
and the community of faith in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. And Peter was so moved by this that he
directed that water should be brought, and that these ones who had received the
Holy Spirit and embraced the Gospel should be baptized into the death and
resurrection of Christ!
Why do we hear this story? Dear friends, it is not merely intended to be
a story from ages past for us to marvel at and delight in, giving thanks for
what God has done in the past. We hear
this in order to be inspired to go and do likewise, to be as bold as Peter in
proclaiming the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, not only in
places where we expect to make such a proclamation, but especially in those
places where we think that this good news will never be received and where our
proclamation in word and deed will never be accepted. We may no longer speak of the world in such “black
and white terms” as “Jews and Gentiles,” and yet if we are honest, such
divisions do still exist among us in our own day and generation. If we are honest, there are persons among us
in our own day and generation of whom we make the judgment that they would
never embrace the Christian faith rooted in the proclamation of Christ, true
God and truly human, who suffered and died for us and for our salvation, and
who rose from the dead to open for us the way to eternal life. And when we make such judgments, we fall into
the temptation to share our faith only with “like-minded persons” among whom we
expect to share some degree of joy in the Easter message of life and salvation.
Only, dear friends, remember the words of the
Great Commission. When, on the fortieth
day of the Resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven, he did not tell us to only
go to those who look like us, or sound like us, or those whom we think may be
receptive of the Gospel. And he most
assuredly did not tell us simply to open the doors of a house of prayer in
which we gather to share our faith among one another and hope that somehow someone
might wander into the open doors and take their place among us. Instead, Jesus says: “Go into all the world…
make disciples of all nations… baptize them all in the name of God.” Jesus truly meant for us to go forth
everywhere, to witness to Christ and the power of his resurrection. On my more cynical days, I wonder if perhaps
it would have been better if the resurrected Jesus would have risen from the
dead and pulled the apostles in close to him and whispered to them: “I have
risen… don’t tell anyone!” Remember how
well, after all, that worked when Jesus told those whom he healed not to tell
anyone. They couldn’t spread the news
fast enough!
Jesus has commanded us to share the good news
of his resurrection with all people. And
how I wish that we had that zeal found in those who were healed by Jesus, who
couldn’t tell others fast enough, or tell enough people what Jesus had done for
them. And should we not have that same
zeal? Have we not also been healed? There is no greater healing than the transformation
that comes through the resurrection. Christ
risen from the dead gives us boldness to share with all, even if right now we
cannot imagine sharing so freely. Christ
risen from the dead gives us hope that we, who one day shall fall asleep in
death, and partake of a sabbath rest in the grave, shall experience a
Resurrection morning when Christ shall call us by name to enter eternal life. And our hope, my friends, should be that on
that day we are surrounded by so great a cloud of persons who have experienced
that resurrection and come to the fullness of the knowledge of the love of
God. But how shall they know if we are
not willing to boldly proclaim to them the news that Christ is risen. Let us, therefore, be bold in proclaiming our
resurrection hope, not only to one another, but more importantly, to those who are
Cornelius in the world around us today.
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In
the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Rev’d Timothy
Alleman
Rector
The Church of the
Holy Cross
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