[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage #602, Easter 2, 3/30/08

[rmcgregoralbq at aol.com]

Easter 2 – March 30, 2008

Acts 2:14a, 22 32
Psalm 16
1 Peter 1:3 9
John 20:19 31


Blessed Be God, And Blessed Be Us

If Peter had preached his sermon for a homiletics class instead of for his audience in Jerusalem, he would have been in even bigger trouble.  He would have raised the exegetical hackles of the teacher and everyone committed to preaching the plain and obvious meaning of the Scriptures.  Does this mean that there are times when a deep devotion to the understanding of a text in its original context blinds one to the Word of God, just like an absolute devotion to the observed reality might blind one to the resurrection of Jesus?  Peter's interpretation of Psalm sixteen is outrageous, but so is the resurrection claim.  Thomas will have nothing of it.  Why should he?  His commitment to the observed reality is deep.  It is deep, but the risen Lord is not impressed with it.  Rather, the risen Lord is impressed with those who can abandon their commitment to certain aspects of the observed reality in order to believe in what God has done.  Finally, faith is dependent neither on the observed reality nor on the Bible as a part of that observed reality, but wholly on what God has done.  Indeed, what God does changes the meaning of the Scriptures that precede God’s act.

What God did in the resurrection of Jesus is change the expectations of everyone who hears and believes.  King David’s expectation postmortem was to rest with his ancestors.  The Pharaoh of Egypt expected to take his place with the immortals, but none of the people who built his tomb had such an expectation for themselves.  The Stoics trusted that some divine spark would return to God but nothing one could call a self.  The Essenes may have had a vision of the resurrection of a cadre of heroes from the cosmic conflict, but not a place at the throne of God for you and me.   No one had such an expectation until God created it with the resurrection of Jesus.  The resurrection is not a manifestation of wishful thinking on the part of first century Mediterranean people but rather a new hope that was created by the creator.  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...”  (1 Peter 1:3)   “Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’" (John 20:29) 

Blessed be God and blessed be us because of the resurrection of Jesus.
God created new expectations.  If I might be raised with Christ to a heritage like his, then maybe I should have a say in the government of my country, not Caesar.  If one person can be raised to reign with Christ, then why not “one person, one vote”?  And, if I can expect to be raised with Christ, then why can’t I die a death like his, for the liberation of human beings. Blessed be God who transforms expectations by giving hope. Blessed are we when the hope of the resurrection transforms our expectations for ourselves and the world.


May these thoughts strengthen you. 
 
An Open Letter to Fellow Pastors 
>From Roland McGregor, United Methodist Pastor 
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