Rev. Dr. Joel D. Biermann
John 20:21-23
April 23, 2107 2nd Sunday of Easter
As a rule, beginnings come first, and endings come last. You read the preface before you read the postscript. You watch the opening scene before the credits. You begin your meal with a salad and wrap it up with dessert. You begin your day when the sun rises, and get ready to complete it when the sun settles over the western horizon. The starter pitches the first, and the closer gets the ninth. Beginnings are first, at well…the beginning. Endings come at the end. Unless, you’re one of those people who peek at the final pages of a book first, to see how it ends, and then go back to chapter one. In that case, everything gets turned around. Of course, such a practice seems somehow to violate the very laws of nature. It’s an affront to the order of things.
Easter certainly challenges the usual order of things. The whole reason that people resist the message of Easter is that graves are supposed to be the end, and not the beginning. Dead people do not come back to life. Death is the end, not the beginning. But, there are actually a number of endings and beginnings that are pushed out of place on Easter. Mary’s grief ends and her joy begins at a tomb. For the disciples, the third day of grieving brought an end to resignation and despair, and inaugurated a new conviction and courage that would become a hallmark of the eleven. In both of these cases, the ending and the beginning seem to have been reversed. But, perhaps the most significant inversion of endings and beginnings was the resurrection itself. The resurrection of the dead is the last great event that will be recorded in the history of this time-bound world. But, that event was snatched out of its place at the end, and brought forward into time and inserted at a beginning. The resurrection of the dead, was previewed on Easter, and the out-of-place end event brought a remarkable beginning.
Jesus’ resurrection did mark the end. It was the end of his earthly ministry, and the completion of the mission he had been sent to accomplish. He had come according to God’s plan to fulfill the Father’s purpose. The Father sent Jesus to redeem and restore his good creation. Of course, that purpose had to be accomplished through the cross. It’s important to remember that the suffering and death of Calvary were not an interruption of Jesus’ work, but the fulfillment and culmination of his work. He had been sent to suffer and die. That had always been the plan. Jesus began his ministry with the cross as the goal. The cross was the place of sacrifice, the place and the means for sin’s horrible price to be paid. Jesus paid it. He suffered God’s wrath. He suffered hell—separation from the Father. He died. His earthly mission was complete. The resurrection on Easter morning was the proof of the work’s completion. The debt of sin had been canceled. Sin, Satan, death, and hell were all defeated. There was nothing more to be done. That’s why Jesus descended to hell—he went there to declare the absolute victory and the salvation of God’s creation. Jesus’ work was complete. But the work of the disciples, the work of the church, was just beginning.
Easter marked the conclusion of Jesus’ earthly mission, and the commencement of the disciples’ mission. That was the point of that period of forty days that elapsed between the resurrection and the ascension. Those were the days of transition. The end of the Easter mission was the beginning of what would be the disciples’ Pentecost mission. During the days after Easter, things were not the same anymore. Jesus would appear and spend time with his chosen disciples, he would even eat with them and teach them, still answering their many questions; but he was not with them the way that he had been before Easter. Now, his time with them was intermittent, now he was just visiting to equip and encourage—he wasn’t publicly preaching or healing or living with them anymore. That work was done. Now, a new work was about to begin, now it was time for the work of the disciples to begin. Of course, the eleven had already been practicing for this new mission. Jesus had sent them out on short mission trips, and everything he’d taught them had been with this new beginning in mind. Now, though, it was time to do the actual work. Easter was the beginning of the disciples’ mission.
Jesus’ post-resurrection work preparing his disciples began already on that first Easter evening with the first word of Jesus to his disciples: “Peace.” That’s what they needed to hear. It was more than a friendly greeting. This word was the assurance that things were right. Remember, things had not gone well for them on Thursday and Friday. They had all deserted Jesus and fled for their lives. When Jesus spoke the word of Easter peace, it was the assurance of reconciliation. The relationship with Jesus and with the Father had been restored. The emptiness had been filled up with the living presence of Jesus. The time of sorrow and futility was over. Easter had finished it forever. Now, it was time to move forward with bold confidence.
Easter means the same thing for you, the disciple of Jesus, here, today. The anxiety and stress of life is blown away—you have God’s forgiveness and peace. You live in harmony with God, at peace as his own child. He will not change his mind about you. Your future is secure for eternity. And, the time of frustration, worry, and heavy-hearted disappointment or defeat in your day-to-day living, is also over. Jesus is alive. He is at work in you and for you. His purposes will be accomplished in your life. There is no reason for despondency or fear. Jesus, your Lord, lives. Easter ends all that tears us apart and drags us down. And, Easter begins a life of new purpose. Jesus twice assured the beaten down and defeated disciples of his peace, and then he gave them their new reality: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” That’s it. That’s the mission of Jesus’ disciples. Over those next forty days, it was the recurrent theme of every encounter Jesus had with the eleven: “Go. Go and make disciples. Go teaching and baptizing. Start in Jerusalem and keep going until every person in every place knows God’s reality. Go!” That was the mission of the disciples. That’s still the mission for you, Jesus’ disciple.
The torch was passed at Easter. Salvation had been won. Restoration was done, grace was secured. Now the messengers were being sent. Their work was unambiguous, and it was life-consuming. What Jesus had accomplished, they would proclaim. What Jesus had secured, they would deliver. What Jesus gave, they would give. The peace he brought to them, they would bring to others. All over the world, from Jerusalem to the far corners of the most remote, God-forsaken place on earth, God’s message of peace would be delivered one person at a time and people would be God-forsaken no more. That was the mission that began on Easter.
God the Father sent Jesus. Jesus sends you. Easter is the beginning—the beginning of your mission, the beginning of your service to those around you as you deliver God’s gifts to them. How is your God-given mission going? Christians have a tendency to celebrate the Easter ending, but downplay or dismiss the Easter beginning. We like the end of futility and fear. We like the end of condemnation. We like the end of death and hell. The ending we like. The beginning, the Easter mission, the going and giving part…not so much. But, both are parts of Easter. Easter is an ending and a beginning. To neglect the beginning of the mission is to miss the fullness of Easter, it is to diminish the work of Jesus. Easter means the end of you having to worry about getting right with God—Jesus has taken care of that. But, Easter does not mean the end of your responsibility to those around you. In fact, Easter mean the beginning of your mission to share God’s truth and grace with those around you. Easter does not exempt you from service, it equips and sends you for service. The mission cannot be ignored. It is the mission of Jesus. It has been given to you.
Doing the mission does not save you. It does not make you more acceptable to God. It does not earn you more grace or qualify you for more blessings from God. Doing what Jesus sends you to do is actually not about your relationship with God, it’s about your relationship and responsibility to those around you. The mission is waiting. The people around you are waiting. They may not know it, and rarely admit it; but they are waiting. They are waiting for what God has for them. They are waiting for you to bring it to them. You have no choice. Jesus has risen. He has sent his disciples. He has sent you. You cannot opt out. Easter needs to begin in your life. You are to go with the Gospel. You are to live every part of your life following Jesus, obeying the Father’s will. What difference does the Easter resurrection make in your life? It should make all the difference in the world. It should affect your job, your marriage, your kids and the way you raise them, your hobbies, your leisure habits, your yardwork, your attitude, your driving, your giving, your shopping, your talking, your everything.
The mission will not be easy. You’re going to need help. That’s why Jesus gave his peace. The certainty of your eternal right standing with God is the foundation and unshakeable reality that makes your mission possible. But, Jesus gave more. He gave his peace, and then he gave the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ breath, his spirit, gave the Spirit; it gave his Spirit; it gave the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit was hovering over the waters of creation on the first day of the universe. The same Holy Spirit was exhaled in the Garden of Eden into newly shaped mud and Adam became a living being. The same Spirit blew through the valley of dry bones and Ezekiel watched a slaughtered army rise up alive. That Spirit was breathed in the upper room on Easter and all the disciples were made into new creations. Now, they were God’s living army, his servants, his messengers ready to do his mission. The work that began there in the upper room is not done, yet. And the Spirit is still being breathed out onto God’s people, today, to prepare, protect, and empower Jesus’ disciples to do the mission. God breathed his Spirit onto you. He breathed his Spirit into you. At the baptismal font, not only did he claim you as his own, but he also filled you with his Spirit. You are equipped. Jesus has called you. He’s given his Spirit to you. You are ready for the mission. You are ready to deliver God’s reality, the reality of Jesus’ resurrection, to those around you. Through you, the Gospel of Christ continues to spread out into God’s world. Through you, God makes people into his people. Through you, God remakes people one at a time as each one hears and receives what God gives. You are God’s chosen disciple to do his chosen work.
The Easter endings are familiar, now it’s time to embrace the Easter beginnings: the beginning of your mission to live and declare the reality of God’s truth and grace, the reality of Jesus’ resurrection, for this world. Your work is clear. It’s waiting for you. It is not too late to start. Maybe you’ve never quite taken the mission seriously before. It’s time, now, to begin. It’s time to end your days of spiritual sloth and apathy. It’s time to get busy doing the mission Jesus has given you to do. It’s Easter. The tomb is empty. Death is done. Now, the mission begins. Amen.