[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage #603, Easter 3, 4/6/08

[rmcgregoralbq at aol.com]

Easter 3 – April 6, 2008

Acts 2:14a, 36-41
Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19
1 Peter 1:17-23
Luke 24:13-35


Believing Is Seeing

God is on the move in all of these texts, not out in space somewhere but right here, in this very room.   "When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.  And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting."  (Acts 2:1-2)   "Then I called on the name of the LORD: 'O LORD, I pray, save my life!'"  [And the Lord did.] (Psalm 116:4)  "You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish."  (1 Peter 1:18-19)  "When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight."  (Luke 24:30-31)  God is all about, saving people's lives, ransoming people, filling people with God's Spirit, walking beside people to the table, but only those who believe can see him.  

It was not to Pilate that the risen Lord appeared.  It was not when he and his wife sat down to dinner in their compound on Mount Zion.  It was not to the Jewish authorities that he appeared.  Ooo, how satisfying it would be to us for him to have appeared to Annas or Chaiaphas, to make them grovel, but he did not.   How satisfying it would be for us to have the corroborating evidence of the resurrection from a hostile witness, but we do not, because only those who believe can see.  Nowhere is that message more clear than in the Gospel of John.  Consider the end of the story of Jesus' healing of the man born blind (John 9) or consider Jesus' words to Thomas, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."  (John 20:29)  It was in the context of a communion meal, a believers’ meal, that the disciples recognized the one who had accompanied them toward Emmaus.  Otherwise, the risen Lord was just another guy on the road.

The Psalmist believes in God's saving power, believes in God's involvement in his life.  That is why he can see himself as the recipient of God's gracious act when he recovers from grave illness or threat.  "The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish."  (Psalm 116: 3)  That is why he can come to worship with joy and thanksgiving visualizing God's receiving his libation.  "What shall I return to the LORD for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD..."  (Psalm 116:12-13)

 Luke tells us that a Jewish audience heard Peter preach on Pentecost, and three thousand of them believed, were baptized and received the Holy Spirit.  Then, we presume they could visualize the resurrection.  Then they could see the risen Lord in at least that sense.  Why didn't the rest of Jerusalem see anything?  Why was it not the Jewish faith in Jesus that evangelized the Roman world?  Why has it always been that only those who believe in the risen Lord see him?  Perhaps that is exactly the way God wants to be seen, by believers.  Perhaps God has no interest in being seen otherwise.  Perhaps there is no value in God's being seen otherwise.  Perhaps "seeing is believing" puts humans in charge of what is seen, and God can't be in that relationship to God's creation.  I don't know.  What I do know is, when it comes to God, "believing is seeing".


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