Have you ever imagined what it would be like to have Jesus visit
your house for dinner sometime? I’m sure
I’d be a nervous wreck. Even though we
know Jesus sees and knows everything I’d still want to make everything as
perfect as possible. The house would be
scrubbed clean like never before.
Absolutely everything would be put away and perfectly tidy. All those little tasks that I’ve been meaning
to get to but keep putting off would get done.
As for food, I
don’t know what I’d want to have. I’d
probably be heading to the organic and whole foods section at Wegmans. I certainly wouldn’t be putting out Twinkies
for dessert!
And then what
would I actually say and do? I mean, he
knows everything, right. So there’s no
point in trying to hide anything, but shouldn’t I at least try my absolute
best?
And I’d be nervous about what he’d say
to me. What sinful practices do I have
that he would call me out on? Would he
find anything to praise me for? And what
things am I unknowingly doing wrong that he will want to correct?
And what, oh what, would I do if he
looked me squarely in the eye and said those most fearful and dreaded of all
words, “Go, sell all that you have and then come, follow me”?
I think we all live with a limited
knowledge of what God wants for our lives, and we take comfort in that. We tell ourselves that since we can’t be
sure, maybe what we’re doing now is okay and therefore we’ll keep doing
it. We avoid doing anything extremely
different from anyone else around us.
After all, why risk embarrassment or being called a religious weirdo if
God really is okay with us as we are? We
just tell ourselves that we’re good people as we are, and when it comes to
judgment day we hope we can use the argument that we tried our best, and hope
it’s good enough. Yet all of us has at
least a little feeling of fear and guilt because we know we don’t really try
our best for God’s kingdom. We just hope
God’s grace will get us through anyway.
But if Jesus comes to visit – face to
face – from then on there’s no denying what he tells us to do. And we’ll certainly run into that
uncomfortable position of telling ourselves that since Jesus knows what’s on
our minds that we should think only good, healthy, wholesome thoughts. Of course the moment we tell ourselves to do
that we can’t help but think of the meanest, ugliest, or naughtiest, or most
inappropriate thoughts possible. It’s
just like going down a hallway with a bunch of blank doors on either side. You could care less about what is behind any
of them until you get to one that says, “Do Not Enter.” Of course you’re immediately filled with
curiosity and want to do just that!
In our gospel reading Jesus shows up
with the disciples. It’s still the
evening of the resurrection so it’s all pretty new to everyone. He arrives completely unannounced so they
have no chance to prep ahead. And if
anyone deserves criticism it’s the disciples.
They all -not just Peter- promised to stay faithful to him no matter
what. Then they all failed
abysmally. They fled at the first sign
of hardship. And crucifixion was just
beyond anything they could comprehend.
Perhaps they thought Jesus would get a reprimand or maybe some sort of a
penalty; but not death and certainly not crucifixion.
Sometimes critics of Christianity say
the disciples just made up the whole thing about Jesus, or that there was no
resurrection and the disciples just created myths that there was. These critics have no idea what crucifixion
was really like. It was not only a painful
way to die but it was the ultimate shame.
No one wanted to be associated with a crucified person. It would do damage to your family honor for
generations if someone had been crucified.
Crucifixions themselves were horrific
– gory, loud, and raucous. There would
be fighting and screaming and vomiting.
You’d have nightmares for a long time afterward. There is no way a religious movement could
have begun out of a crucifixion. No one,
absolutely no one, would join a movement based on a crucified leader! The only way Christianity ever got off the
ground is through divine help.
Anyway, the point is that the
disciples truly deserve an upbraiding from Jesus! They should be shaking in their shoes to see
him. They have failed, failed, failed. You’d have nothing to worry about what Jesus
would say if he visited your home for dinner compared to the disciples.
And indeed they are terrified when
they see him. Of course they really
think he’s a ghost – some evil specter from the grave come to haunt them. But he’s not a ghost. He’s real flesh and blood.
Is he mad at them? Is he ripping into them for their
failings? Is he warning them that they’d
better shape up or he’ll be sending them to hell? No.
There’s none of that.
Commentator Joel Green points out that
Jesus says to them, “It is I myself! It
is really me!” (NICNT, 854) He seems happy, delighted even, to see them. He goes out of his way to prove to them that
he’s real flesh and blood. He lets them
see him and touch him. He eats in front
of them. This is truly him, truly and
completely resurrected!
The remarkable
things continue. Not only are they
forgiven but he continues to equip them to do what they have been failing at
all along. He opens their minds to
explain the scriptures, he explains why what happened had to happen, and he
promises they will be receiving power to do the work ahead.
God is truly
amazing and awesome. Think about it –
God lives a lifetime for us, then dies at our hands (we kill our only hope), but
God is still not condemnatory in return.
Instead God forgives and still wants to empower us for the future.
If you look over
the gospels you see that Jesus does challenge his followers. He points out their flaws and he does push
them to do better. But his greatest
criticism is not for those who fail. It
is for those who think they are right already and have no need to improve. In other words, his criticism is for those
who think they are righteous. It is the
religious leaders, those who consider themselves to be legally righteous, those
who think they know what God is and is not up to that really receive Jesus’
harshness.
The fact that
we’d probably all be nervous to have Jesus have dinner at our homes because we
know we are falling short of what is required of us by God is probably the
exact attitude we should have.
What would Jesus
really say to us? I don’t know. It would vary from household to household and
individual to individual. Indeed we
should always be examining our lives and seek ways to improve, for all of us
can be better as disciples. But more
importantly, I think we should recognize the delight that Jesus has in us. He loved his disciples – not love in a
mandatory and grudging way – but love in an ‘I like you’ sort of way. The remaining eleven disciples, the women who
were followers, and the others who were close were all friends. These were people who enjoyed hanging out
together.
While God is
all-powerful and aloof and frightening to approach, God is also filled with
smiles and joy and delight in us. God
loves to see us grow and flourish. God
loves to see us succeed and have happy times.
Certainly God gets disappointed in us and probably frustrated with us,
and even angry with us. But God’s chief
interest is to find delight in us, his creatures whom he made in his own image.
I hope that your
faith is not a burden in your life, but a source of joy and happiness. I hope it is a connection you can use for
comfort and support. And I hope the
future that God calls you to is filled with brightness and possibility. This world is important. You are important. God died for it all, and like the disciples
God invites you to share in that so that God’s kingdom can abound.
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