See and Know; a sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter

Luke 24:36b-48

36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ ³⁷They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ ⁴⁰And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he took it and ate in their presence.

44 Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, ⁴⁶and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
   be acceptable to you,
   O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Revelation.

It’s more than a book.

(A book whose title, by the way, is not “Revelations”. It’s “Revelation”, specifically, The Revelation to John.)

Revelation.

The revealing of something, like an unveiling, a “Behold!” that gives us a glance at something we’d not have seen otherwise.

We’ve talked before about how God’s grace dwells in our hearts so that we can be inspired to follow, how without that grace we would be lost, utterly unable to make any single right or good choice because we are fundamentally bereft and fallen creatures.

I submit to you that God’s grace is also the means by which we receive any revelation of God. Without God’s inspiration, we wouldn’t be able to make any guess about the nature of God.

That’s probably why we so often shape our image of God after our own image. It’s really hard to let go of our self-centeredness and let God show us something different. It’s a lot easier to assume that the things we treasure most about ourselves are also characteristics of God.

Example: I like to spend time in nature. I like music. I assume that God creates the world to make a great and varied symphony of birdsong, clapping leaves of trees, popping and whispering and sometimes roaring streams… That is all so beautiful, and I enjoy it so much, and it brings me such peace, that I assume that God loves it and creates it specifically for that purpose.

And I also assume that the hammering and banging and ripping and growling of human development and technology is a blight upon that natural symphony. I don’t care for it. It makes me tense and stressed, so I assume that God does not intend that in creation.

But God creates us with imagination and productivity, and blesses us in the exact way that we are created. Who am I to say that God doesn’t intend us to have smog-producing automobiles and deforesting houses and landscape-stripping mining? I don’t like them, but that doesn’t mean God doesn’t bless them. I have a hard time - a really hard time - imagining how God could have intended us to use our gifts and imagination in that way, but that doesn’t mean I’m right.

Maybe the ongoing development of humankind is the perfection of creation, and the natural world around us God intends to be stripped in the name of progress.

What do I know?

The Psalmist reminds us:

There are many who say, ‘O that we might see some good!
   Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!’

That doesn’t mean that there are many who are ready to see some good. I can easily say, “Man, I wish I could see some blessing in this day!” and still focus on the stress and weight and busy-ness out of which that cry comes.

In fact, I think that the cry to see blessing always comes from us when we’re least prepared to see it. I say that because I know that in every moment of every day, we are surrounded by blessing! All we have to do is look up from our navel-gazing and realize just how good God is.

God doesn’t call us to navel-gazing. God calls us to creation-gazing. God calls us to look up and see what’s going on around us.

God calls us to see the world the way God does.

When Jesus appeared to the disciples (and scared them half to death), he said, “look… see… witness…” because he didn’t want the disciples to live in fear, locked into their cloistered little safehouse.

And, by the way, this moment in Luke’s gospel is one of those I really enjoy.

It’s nearly evening, and the day is almost over,

 the disciples have completely forgotten their manners, and Jesus is coming in after a busy day of defeating death and hell, and he says to them:

Have you guys got any grub around here?

Oh, well, yeah, J.C., we’ve got some leftover fish.

Welcome back to normalcy. Welcome back from navel-gazing.

Sometimes, we get busy focusing on everyday problems, and we need to be reminded of the big picture. Sometimes, we’re so focused on the big questions that we need to be reminded of the everyday stuff.

The bottom line, I suppose, is this: God will show us what we need to see when we need to see it.

The question is, will we open our eyes?

Peter is addressing a Jerusalem audience full of the people who had condemned Jesus to death, and his accusation clings to a word that rankles us today. How would you like Peter to say to you:

friends, I know that you acted in ignorance.

How does that make you feel?

Ignorance is a four-letter word today. Ignorant is an insult. But only because we have confused ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance is when we don’t know better; stupidity is when we know better and we still make a poor choice.

Ignorance is being blind to God’s revelation. But Peter is seeking to open the eyes of the Jerusalemites and turn them around to act in the truth of Christ.

We spend a lot of our time in ignorance. But we don’t have to.

¹See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God.

God loves you more than you love your children; more than you are loved by your parents. You’re stuck with your family, and sometimes that’s easy and sometimes it’s really hard. But God chooses you, and you know that’s not always an easy relationship.

Yeah, you know what you’re like.

But look! See how much God loves you.

You are God’s child.

Look at how God sees you! Look at how beautiful and amazing you are! Look at how completely, how full of blessing God has created you!

God loves you because God sees what you are created to be.

Now look at your neighbor. See how perfectly God has created each of you.

Now I want you to go from here today and see every single person you encounter with God’s eyes. Let go of your bitterness and your prejudice, your history with your neighbor and that nasty thing she said about you twenty years ago. See how wonderfully and marvelously God has created them.

And then God will start to do miracles through you.

The revelation is being offered to you. Just open your eyes.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.