April 26, 2009 - Easter 3

Jesus Sends Us to Witness
Luke 24:36b-49
Easter 3 – April 26, 2009

It would be hard to find a more bewildered, confused group of people than the disciples Luke tells us about this morning. As the story begins, they hardly know which way is up anymore – and who can blame them?

Here we are again, on that first Easter Sunday night. The women have found the empty tomb & told the others, who found it a story too hard to believe. Two disciples had encountered Jesus on the way to the village of Emmaus, although they didn't recognize him until they sat down to eat together & Jesus blessed and broke the bread the way he had done so many times during his life with them. So Cleopas & his unamed friend went straight back to Jerusalem to tell the rest of Jesus' followers what just happened.

And when they get there, they find everyone talking excitedly, saying “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” (That would be Simon Peter.) So they start to tell their story of how they had walked and talked and eaten with Jesus, and while they are in the middle of telling their story, Jesus himself comes and stands among them.

Well, Luke tells us that they are startled and terrified. Despite the fact that Jesus had told them more than once that he would die and be raised from the dead, despite the fact that they were just talking about how Jesus had appeared not only to Peter, but to two of them at the same time, they can't believe their eyes! They just aren't expecting to see their living, breathing Lord in front of them – it must be a ghost! And so even after Jesus shows them his hands and feet & proves that he is flesh and blood, even as they start to realize that this is really happening and are filled with joy, Luke says they were disbelieving & wondering. The fact of the physical resurrection seems too good to be true – even with Jesus standing there.

They hardly seem like the best candidates for the job of witnesses, because if there's one thing that I've learned from my many years of watching Law & Order, it's that it's not enough to have seen something happen. If you're going to be called as a witness, you have to be willing to go in front of other people and tell them what you have seen. That's what witnesses do – they tell others what they have seen. And Law & Order has also taught me that witnesses can have a hard time up there on the witness stand. Chances are good that they'll be grilled by the other side, that they'll be challenged and pushed. The opposing attorney will try to poke holes in their story, to find the inconsistencies, to catch them off guard with questions they weren't expecting or don't know the answers to.

It's what makes so many of us a little uncomfortable, a little hesitant to be witnesses to Jesus. If the disciples wondered and disbelieved while Jesus was standing in front of them asking if they had anything to eat, how can we be sure that the resurrection is true and not just some old tale passed down and exaggerated the way stories are? And so we worry about how our testimony of what we have seen and experienced of Jesus will hold up to the questions that others will inevitably ask if we get up there on the stand. We wonder how we will be able to answer the questions that we just don't know the answers to, the ones that no one seems to have a good answer to. Even in our best moments of faith, when we are filled with joy at what Jesus has done, we may find ourselves disbelieving and wondering and doubting our abilities as witnesses.

But even though that bewildered, confused group of disciples seemed the least likely ones you would want to take the stand as witnesses, that is exactly what Jesus says they are. Jesus says to them, “You are witnesses of these things.” You are the ones who will be called to tell the story, to share what you have seen. And as hard as it might be to believe from their initial reaction here, that's just what they did. It's exactly what we see Peter doing in the first lesson today: standing in front of the Israelites in the temple and preaching to them, telling them the story of Jesus, who was raised from the dead, encouraging them to repent so that their sins would be wiped out. The whole book of Acts – which is Luke part 2, really – tells the story of how this group of disciples became witnesses to all nations, sharing the good news of Jesus and proclaiming repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name.

So what happened? How did they become witnesses? How do we become witnesses?

Well, first, Jesus comes and he eats with them. That seems so simple, but in those days eating a meal together was about a whole lot more than just the food. All through Luke, we have countless stories of how Jesus ate with people. He invited them to join him at his table. With all of the dietary laws and rules about who was clean and unclean, eating a meal together was a sign of welcome. It said that you were accepted and acceptable. And so here, just before he ascends into heaven, Jesus eats with them again just as he had done so many times before, letting them know that they have been forgiven, and nourishing them for the road ahead.

And then, like any good attorney, Jesus preps them to take the stand. He goes over what their testimony will be. He explains the scripture to them, opening their minds to understand it, to see what God's plan of salvation had been all along & how Jesus had fulfilled that plan. He
And finally, as Jesus sends them as witnesses, he reminds them that they don't go alone. He will be sending what the Father had promised – power from on high that will clothe them. Whenever they witness, whenever they share the amazing things they have seen and heard, the power of the Holy Spirit will be with them. The Holy Spirit will give them the words to say, whether they are testifying before the authorities in open court or just sharing their story with someone they meet along the road.

These three gifts that Jesus gave the first disciples for their lives as witnesses are the same three gifts he gives us today. Here in worship and in our daily lives, Jesus feeds us and teaches us and clothes us so that we can share what we have seen. Together, we share a meal with Jesus, the host who invites us to come and join him at the table. He feeds us with bread and wine, his own body and blood, reminding us that we are forgiven and accepted, and in this meal, we are strengthened for the journey ahead of us.

Jesus also gives us the gift of the scriptures too. We read the Bible and hear it proclaimed in sermons and songs, and as we listen and study, Jesus opens our minds to understand what we are reading, helping us to live our lives and speak our words at witnesses to what God has done and is doing in us and in the world.

And finally, after we have been fed and taught, Jesus sends us on our way, saying to us, “You are witnesses of these things.” Even in our doubts and disbeliefs, Jesus chooses us to share what we have seen and heard. That's all he asks us to do. He never says we need to have all the answers. He never says we need to be 100% ready. Because the power to be a witness doesn't come from inside us – it comes from the Holy Spirit, who clothes us and speaks through us.

You are witnesses of these things – so go tell somebody!
Amen.