A Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter (Year B)
April 18, 2021
Text: Luke 24:36b-48
I speak to you in the name of our loving, liberating, and life-giving God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
In Luke’s account of the resurrection story, the risen Jesus appears to his disciples and shows them the marks of the nails in his hands and feet, similar to the account we heard last week in our lesson from John’s Gospel. He wants them to know, without a shadow of a doubt, that he’s truly been raised from the dead. Jesus says to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
“You are witnesses,” Jesus says.
Why do you think Jesus said this to his disciples? I mean, it seems rather obvious, doesn’t it? Of course they’re witnesses. They’ve seen and heard everything. They’ve been with Jesus and traveled with him since the very beginning of his ministry, through the best of times and worst of times. They’ve seen Jesus heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, and minister to those in need. They’ve heard him preach and share stories about the Kingdom of God and struggled to uncover their meanings. They’ve been his closest friends and allies.
So, of course, they’re witnesses.
Did he think they would somehow forget everything they’ve seen and heard over the past three years?Did he think they would forget the night before he died, that he was betrayed and handed over to the authorities and later crucified on a Roman cross? Did he think they would somehow forget the miracle of his resurrection? “You are witnesses,” Jesus says. Why do you think he would take the time to point out something so obvious?
Well, I don’t think it was merely an observation, and I don’t think he said it because he was afraid that they would forget everything they’ve witnessed.
When we hear the word “witness” used in our everyday lives, we typically think about people who are called upon to tell the truth, don’t we? We think about people who are called upon to share their experience of a particular event or situation. In legal proceedings, for example, witnesses take an oath, vowing to testify truthfully so that justice may be served. When there’s a car accident or a crime scene, witnesses are frequently called upon by the police to explain the situation with the hope that their testimony will help uncover the truth of what happened. Witnesses share what they’ve seen and heard, and I think this is why Jesus, in Luke’s Gospel, tells his disciples, “You are witnesses.”
It isn’t merely an observation. It’s a declaration—a calling from Jesus.
Jesus calls his disciples witnesses because he wants them to do something with what they’ve seen and heard. He doesn’t want them to keep it a secret. He wants them to go out and share this amazing story with the whole world—everything they’ve witnessed. He wants them to share the Good News that, through his sacrifice on the cross and resurrection, darkness has given way to the light and the forces of sin and death have been defeated forever. He wants them to share the truth of the resurrection that salvation has come to the world and that new life is always possible.
Friends, as followers of Jesus Christ, this is the message of hope we’ve been given to share with the world. New life is always possible.
Just as he called his disciples, Jesus calls us to do the same—to continue sharing what we know to be true about the Gospel, to continue bearing witness to the redeeming power of God’s love. If we believe the story to be true, that Jesus died to save us all and to proclaim victory over death, then we have every reason to share this Good News—the Best News—with anyone who will hear it.
But, in order to do this—in order to be witnesses for Christ—we have to be prepared and unafraid to share the story of Jesus wherever the Spirit may lead us. And, we have to be prepared and unafraid to share our story—our truth—as well. It’s the most important testimony we can give. When we’re honest about how God’s love has transformed our lives, nothing is more powerful.
About four years ago, I attended my first diocesan convention here in the Diocese of Alabama. It was held at the civic center in downtown Birmingham. The theme of the convention that year was, “Why Jesus? Telling the Compelling Story of God’s Love.” As you can imagine, we talked a lot about evangelism and the importance of being able to share the Good News of God in Christ with people who may have never heard it before or people who have been wounded by the Church or hurt by a particular set of beliefs about God.
During the convention, a priest in the diocese stood up and shared a story about evangelism. In her story, the priest shared that she had recently been invited by a couple with a newborn baby to come over to their home for a gathering of friends and perform a blessing for the baby. The priest already knew this couple, and she knew they weren’t regular church-goers. So, she took some time to explain to them what would be included in the blessing. Everything was great, accept for one minor detail. The parents looked at the priest and said, “We like a lot of what you’re going to say. We like that idea of praying for courage and strength, for kindness and wisdom. We’re on board with that. There’s this one part we have a problem with. It’s all this Jesus language. If you could just figure out how to take Jesus out of this, we’d be really comfortable because we find Jesus, religious talk, absolutely alienating.”
The priest then shared that, rather than getting upset by what the couple asked her to do, she took some time and talked to them about Jesus, and she asked them to talk to her about Jesus.
As I listened to the story about the parents with the new baby, I realized that we have important work to do as evangelists in the Episcopal Church. We have important work to do in bearing witness to the Gospel. We have important work to do in sharing our story with others, in sharing how we’ve come to know the love of God through our faith in Jesus Christ.
I think you’ll probably agree with me that it isn’t easy to talk about our faith, especially when the general perception of Christianity is that we’re a church full of hypocrites. I mean, how many times have we heard news of some influential pastor or church leader who was caught laundering money or who admitted to an adulterous affair? How many times have we heard news of churches advocating for public policies that would discriminate against or hurt those on the margins? How many times have we heard news of churches turning their backs on those who needed them the most?
And how many times have we thought to ourselves, “If that’s what Christianity is about, then maybe I’m not a Christian at all.” I’d be lying to you if I said I never had those thoughts as well.
But, the examples I just listed have nothing to do with Jesus. Jesus is our light and our salvation. Jesus is the one we call Lord and Teacher, the one we look to for guidance and direction in our lives. Through his life, death, and resurrection, we’ve come to know who God is and what God calls us to do.
Jesus doesn’t alienate others because they look different or act different.
He welcomes them with open arms.
Jesus doesn’t discriminate against those on the margins.
He loves them and says to them, “You are blessed.”
Jesus doesn’t turn his back to those in need.
He shows compassion and mercy, and he cares for them.
For these reasons and for so many others, the story of Jesus needs to be shared with the world. No, it isn’t easy to talk about our faith, especially when the Church has been responsible for so much pain and heartbreak, but the Gospel of Jesus—the truth of who Jesus really is—is too important not to share. Our story, the story of how Jesus has transformed our lives, is too important not to share.
At the convention four years ago, after the priest was done sharing her evangelism story about the couple with the new baby, she led all of the convention delegates through a short, spiritual exercise. She asked each of us to take a few minutes to come up with something called an “elevator speech.” For those of you who aren’t familiar with this concept, it’s very simple. In the business world, an “elevator speech” is a one to two-minute pitch that an entrepreneur has prepared in case the opportunity ever arises to present it to a business owner or investor. The intention of an “elevator speech” isn’t to sell something right away but to leave the business owner or investor with something to think about later.
So, our task, as convention delegates that year, was to come up with an “elevator speech” for Jesus. The point of the exercise wasn’t to come up with a way to change someone’s mind or point-of-view or to convince someone that they need to join our church. The point was to come up with a clear and simple way for us to talk about our faith in Jesus. The point was for us to come up with a way to tell our story and to invite others to join us in this life-giving faith that we all share.
Jesus calls all of us to be witnesses, but in order to do that, we have to be prepared and unafraid to tell the truth of what we’ve seen and heard. We have to be prepared and unafraid to go out and proclaim to the world that, through Christ, new life is always possible.
If you were to take a few minutes to come up with your own “elevator speech” for Jesus, what would you say? How has your faith in Jesus changed you? How has Jesus brought you from death into new life?
Amen.
A video of this sermon is available below, beginning at the 15:25 mark.
The Rev. Eric Mancil 