Christ is Risen -- Now What?
John 20:19-31
I sought to hear the voice of God,
And climbed the highest steeple;
But God declared “Go down again,
I dwell among the people.
(by John Henry Newman)
Sing: “Looking for God in all the wrong places.”
“Looking for signs, instead of at faces.”
Let Us Pray: God, Great Creator, Great Mystery, just as Thomas, we sometimes doubt, and we want signs of Christ living in the world. We want things we can touch. Today, as we gather to remember the love and hope you have shown us through Jesus, may we continue to look and see that love and hope in the faces of all of your people, and all of your creation. Help us to strive to promote that love and hope daily in and through our lives. In your many names we pray, AMEN.
With Easter last week, we celebrated and rejoiced that Christ is indeed risen and we profess our faith – NOW WHAT? What are we called to do with that faith? In our scripture, Jesus tells the disciples, “As God has sent me, so I send you.” As believers, and disciples, we are called to live as Jesus did. Jesus lived his life in service of the poor, the sick, the oppressed and repressed – the outcasts. Jesus wanted them to know the love God had for them.
We, therefore, are called to do the same. We are called to serve that same purpose, not just locally, and not just to the GLBT community, but throughout the world. We must continue the struggle for our rights, but in standing in solidarity with another cause, we might just find a way to move both causes forward. As MCC has come to be known as the “human rights church,” we are called to recognize the numerous injustices that are being perpetrated in so many areas, and we are called to speak out against them.
Eco-justice is a word often used to relate to the injustice being done to our environment. However, eco-justice actually encompasses much, much more. It encompasses all types of injustice – surely, ecological and environmental, but also economic, social, sexual, and religious. Just as we have received new life through Jesus, we are called to bring new life to people, and all of creation, through living as Jesus did, and spreading the news of God’s love for all people. This is a call back to justice, for an equal sharing of God’s creation among all people. It is a call to be transformed by a radical hospitality.
One of the biggest impacts of my trip to El Salvador was the constant experience of that radical hospitality in the people there. Even in the multitude of struggles they face, they live life to the fullest everyday with the love and hospitality of Jesus. I saw it in the people in the market places. I saw it in the people honoring Archbishop Oscar Romero, who welcomed us wholeheartedly into their celebrations, and even asked us to carry one of their banners. I saw it in the faces and welcoming nature of all the places we visited, except one – the United States Embassy (more about that in a minute).
In each meeting we had with various people and organizations of El Salvador, we were greeted with smiles and water and coffee – even at the meeting with the ARENA party (the political party accused of plotting the assassination of Archbishop Romero. They knew who we were and why we were there, but they still showed hospitality. This radical hospitality was even more apparent as we came to the day we had to leave. The woman who owned the bed and breakfast got up with us at 3:00 am, and prepared coffee and breads for us. Then, when the van that was to carry our luggage to the airport did not show up, she had us throw our luggage in the bed and cab of her truck and then drove our luggage to the airport.
Image the shame I felt then, when visiting the US Embassy, that we were shown none of this hospitality. We were hustled like cattle through metal detectors and then led into a room, where a hostess rudely ushered us to sit down. There was barely a welcome, and no type of refreshment whatsoever was offered. This was also the only place where we were told we could not take pictures. Our own nation did not welcome us. We in the United States could learn much from the people of El Salvador.
In my studies this semester, I have been learning about Archbishop Romero, and his faithful leadership of the oppressed and suffering people of El Salvador. Along with this, I have been reading books about liberation theology by Father Jon Sobrino, who personally served under Archbishop Romero. We actually received a surprise, in-person greeting, from Father Sobrino as we toured the museum at the University of Central America, where 6 of his fellow Jesuit priests were brutally murdered. As we look at the life and death of Jesus, and the life and death of Archbishop Romero, we can draw many similarities.
Just as Jesus defended the poor and oppressed to the very end of his life, so Archbishop Romero defended the rights of the poor and oppressed of El Salvador to the very end. Just as Jesus denounced some of the cruelty and laws of the powerful institutions of his time, so did Archbishop Romero. Archbishop Romero personified the call that Jesus gives to all of us – to live our lives as Jesus did – to show that God loves all people. We are called to be the hands, feet and voices that cry out for justice. It takes more than mere words. It takes determined, purposeful action. It is demanding justice and liberation. Archbishop Romero was a martyr, as Jesus was a martyr, dying for what was just. Just days before he was assassinated, Romero said “If I die, I will be resurrected among the people.” He had given hope to his people. He had shown them just how much God loved them, and was with them, even through their struggles. Now, he was not comparing himself to Jesus, but he wanted people to continue his dream, he wanted to live on through his people. He wanted the people to live on with the same hope Jesus had given him. He is a legacy to his people, just as Jesus is a legacy to all of us as he died for our justice. Now, as Jesus lives in each of us, we are called to let Jesus live through us.
Christ is risen – NOW WHAT?? We are not all called to be martyrs, but how will each of us be remembered, what will be our legacy? Will we be seen as people who strove to speak and live as Jesus did? Will people see the risen, resurrected Christ in us? Will Christ be able to say “I was resurrected among these people?” Let it be so, AMEN.