The Rev. Noah Van Niel
The Chapel of the Cross
April 18th, 2021
Easter 3 (B): Acts 3:12-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48
Our readings are out of sequence this morning, so bear with me while we take a minute to sort them out. In Eastertide, our first lesson always comes from the Acts of the Apostles instead of from the Old Testament, as it usually does. These are important stories for the season as they recount how the Apostles took charge of the movement Jesus started. But when we read Acts before we read the Gospel, it can be confusing because the Gospel stories are describing events that come before the Acts reading. In other words, the reading you heard last should come first and the reading you heard first should come last. It’s important to get this sequence straight in our heads because otherwise it obscures a question that is highly relevant to our lives these days which is: How did the disciples get from Luke to Acts? How did they get from fear to freedom?
We should start in Luke 24 with the disciples scratching their heads, trying to figure out what on earth is going on. Empty tomb; reports of angels, Jesus sightings; this all doesn’t make any sense. And into this muddle Jesus appears and says, “Peace be with you.” This is, understandably, terrifying! They thought they were seeing a ghost! So, Jesus goes to great lengths to calm everyone down. “See me, feel me, touch me, feed me,” he says, trying to prove that it’s really him. The he explains how the scriptures foretold all of this, so it shouldn’t really be such a surprise that he’s alive. And then he gives them their mission: to be witnesses of these things to all the nations, starting in Jerusalem.
Now fast forward to Acts 3. Where we see Peter and his friends doing just that: witnessing, testifying, preaching boldly in the name of Jesus out in the middle of the city. These are very different disciples than the ones we just read about who were full of fear and disbelief; not to mention a very different Peter who, last time he was out in public, was denying he even knew Jesus. How did they get there? How did the disciples go from huddled in fear, doubting, disbelieving, to preaching and teaching and healing boldly in the name of Christ? It is a massive transformation of attitude and behavior.
Well, there’s a missing piece to this story. You get a hint of what it is in the final verse of the Gospel passage where Jesus ends his commissioning of the disciples by saying, but “stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” But you won’t get the full picture for a few weeks from now in the church year. You see, the missing piece to this story, the stepping-stone that gets us from Luke 24 to Acts 3, from fear to freedom, is Pentecost: the arrival of the Holy Spirit, in Acts 2. It is the Holy Spirit that gives the disciples the courage and the capacity to become the witnesses Jesus commands them to be. In appearing after his Resurrection, Jesus comforts and convinces them he is alive. But their hearts still needed to be emboldened and their relationships restored. The Resurrection provided the reassurance; Pentecost provided the power. The power to break through their fear and go and build the Church.
We have, all of us, spent the past year, teaching ourselves to live in fear. We’ve had to, for our safety and the safety of others. This form of fearful living was not cowardly or faithless, it was wise, and faithful. But it required us to rewire not just our habits, but also our hearts. We had to get used to living alone, or mostly alone. It has turned us away from togetherness. And after a year of living like this, we have fallen, begrudgingly, into something of a rhythm. We have been reprogrammed.
But as vaccines make certain activities available to us again, and yet as the virus continues to spread and kill people, we find ourselves in a strange in-between time. The threat is receding, but it is not gone. There is palpable excitement, but it is tempered by a lingering fear. We’re very much like the disciples when Jesus appeared, who “while in their joy [were also] disbelieving and still wondering…” That’s me these days. Joy. Mixed with disbelief, doubt, and fear. I anticipate in the not too distant future having those awkward post—vaccination interactions some of you have been telling me about: “I’m vaccinated…You’re vaccinated? Should we….can we…..do this? Take our masks off?” It feels exciting and terrifying. It’s a strange soup to be swimming in.
I’m making light of this, obviously, but the truth is there will be a time, probably many times over the coming months, when you will have to do something you have taught yourself to fear. Something you convinced yourself was dangerous because it was. And even though you may be fully informed as to its relevant risk levels, and all the metrics and science will be telling you it’s alright, it’s still will feel scary. But we are going to have do it. We are going to have to journey from fear to freedom. Because while this level of extreme caution is necessary during a pandemic, it would become unhealthy for our souls if it became our way of life when the threat has passed. To live apart, to stay locked away, is to let love anguish, is to let our souls wither, because the fullness of life to which Jesus calls us, is a life living with and for others. To recapture that life we’re going to have make the same journey the disciples did. For each of us that journey will be different. Maybe it won’t bother you to get together with your grandkids without your mask for the first time. Maybe you won’t be uneasy having people over for dinner and laughing around the table. But what about standing shoulder to shoulder with a stranger in line? What about going to a packed concert hall? Visiting a hospital room? What about sipping from the common cup? No matter how clear the CDC guidelines are, it’s only natural that as we progress, doubts will arise in our hearts. We will be disbelieving, trepidatious. “Is this really safe? Will this really be, okay?” The more we do it, the easier it will be. But it’s going to take longer than we may think. The psychological, emotional, and spiritual impact of this pandemic will long outlast the biological aspect of it.
Because to rewire our hearts, reprogram our minds, and release our souls from the grip that fear has had on them, we’re going to require a transformation that is as much spiritual as intellectual. It’s going to take more than facts and figures that convince us of the relative safety of certain activities. To get from fear to freedom, we’re going to need our own little Pentecost. We’re going to need to open ourselves to the workings of the Holy Spirit which can heal our hearts and inspire and encourage us. And not just for our own sake but for others. The Holy Spirit does not just help us as individuals, it calls us out of ourselves. It didn’t just make the disciples feel better, it brought the community back to life—it was the birth of the church and to this day it is the ligaments that hold together the Body of Christ; the thread that binds us together as people. The Holy Spirit can empower and embolden us AND rebuild our relationships, restore our connections. That is why we need it. Because God knows we need one another.
Now, we are not all the way there yet. We still need masks and distancing. So consider this sermon more of a pastoral prediction to prepare us for the future. Because the good news is that eventually we will be there. After living so long without the ability to see very far in front of us, to know that is a huge relief. But it’s going to take careful, prayerful effort to rewire our hearts and minds into how to live with other people again. And one of the things that may hold us back, and could keep holding us back, is the very fear that we had to cultivate to keep us safe in the first place. All of us are going to have to be patient in this process. Patient with ourselves and patient with those who are not moving at the same pace we are. Some of you will be ready to run on up ahead, and others will need more coaxing. That’s true of us as a society and it’s going to be true of us as a church. But remember, it took some time for Pentecost to come for the disciples. Weeks of Eastertide, working through the Resurrection and building up the courage, so that when those tongues of flame descended, the tinder of their hearts was ready to be set ablaze. It may not happen that quickly for us, but it will happen. And the dancing, and the laughing and the eating and the touching will resume, when the time is right. By the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, we will make it from fear to freedom. We and our community will be reborn. We’re not there yet. But we will be. And what a glorious day that will be. Amen.