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Preaching after Easter
In grateful memory ofCharles Cousar
David Bartlett
Trinity ?resbyterian Church,Atlanta, Georgia
During the years thatltaught at Yale Divinity School,Ihadaregular arrangement with ?ilgrim Congregational Church in the Fair Haven area of our town. For years Filgrim was pastored on a half time basis by divinity school students, and for three of those students over almost ten years, I was the designated substitute preacher. Like so many preachers, the pastors appropriately always wanted to preach on Easter Sunday, and like so many preachers, they also wanted to take the next Sunday off. So we reversed the usual pattern where seminary students always preach toe Sunday after Easter, and I preached that sermon. We will return to that fairly narrow construction ofthe tide I was assigned for this essay—how do you preach and what do you preach on toe first Sunday after Easter. I want, however, to start with looking at two ways of considering my assigned title from somewhat broader perspectives. First we need to note that of course we always preach after Easter. Were it not after Easter, we would not preach at all. ft is not only that Sunday is our day of worship , the Lord’s Day, because ft falls on the third day after Friday, on toe first day of the week, ft is also that were it not for that first Easter, we would have no church and nothing to preach about. Apart from Easter, it is unlikely that anyone would have remembered Jesus any more fully than we remember other purported Messiahs from toe turn of toe centuries . At best toe Good Friday narrative would be as memorable as Socrates and toe hemlock, but since in fact none ofjesus’ disciples came close to Plato as a memoirist, it seems unlikely that we would have even that. Easter is toe presupposition of our conviction that Jesus was and is God among us, and despite all those genuine Christians who think we would be better off with just toe sermon on toe Mount and no ^ b ^ a tic a lly spectacular events on Easter, I am quite sure that without toe faith in those spectacular events, no one would have bothered to pass toe Sermon on the Mount along, generation to generation. And Matthew, who wrete our favorite version of those teachings, did so under toe firm conviction that toe teacher was and is with us, till the end of the age—an entirely Easter based conviction. So in toe growth of the Christian faith, Christmas is after Easter. Lent is after Easter. Good Friday is only good because we celebrate it in the Easter conviction that Jesus is Lord. Lenten piety that pretends to wonder “Can we ever be forgiven?” and Good Friday preaching that pretends that it’s all over for us and God are just playing a kind of silly game of make-believe. That does not mean that we haven’t much to repent and even much to mourn, but not as those who have no hope.
II. A further way to ponder toe ways in which we preach after Easter is to remind ourselves that we can only preach because of our faith in Easter. Bultmann and some
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of his discipies sometimes seem to claim that Christ is risen only in our ^eaehing. I want to claim rather that he is risen also in our preaching. On the third day to he sure, but also every day that one of us stands up and dares to proclaim our interpretation of the word. I know I am preaching to the preachers (rather harder, incidentally, than preaching to the choir), and I know the title of this journal. So I remind us of what we already know, that we are never really adequate to the task and the call and the gift of preaching. What the risen Lord said to ?aul, anxious about his own inadequacies, is still the word for us: “My grace is sufficient for you and my power is made perfect in weakness” We remember that it is the risen Lord who says that. This is not an assurance based on the reminder that Jesus was a great teacher and an exemplary martyr. This is an assurance based on the assurance that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is with us all, not least when we get up to preach. Because he is risen. George Herbert wrote a magnificent poem on the plight and the hope which a preacher brings to the pulpit every time—every Easter and every Sunday after Easter .
Holiness on the head, Light and perfection on the breast. Harmonious bells below, raising the dead To lead them unto life and rest. Thus are true Aarons dressed.
?rofaneness in my head, Defects and darkness in my breast, A noise of passions ringing me for dead Unto a place where is no rest. ?oor priest thus am I dressed.
Only another head I have, another heart and breast, another music, making live not dead, without whom I could have no rest: In him I am well dressed.
Christ is my only head, My alone only heart and breast, My only music, striking me even dead؛ That to the old man I may rest, And be in him new dressed.
So holy in my head, ?erfect and light in my dear breast, My doctrine tuned by Christ, (who is not dead. But lives in me while I do rest) Come people; Aaron’s dressed.
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The claim that Christ lives in our preaching while we do rest is the durance that keeps preachers going after Easter.
III. With this confidence in mind, we cometo lo o k i^ a th e ^ w ^ ta m e n t lectionary textsfor Eastertide.John 20:19-23 is the briehut powerful story o ^ s u s ’^pearance to the disciples on toe evening of the first Easter. When our toxt talks about toe “fear of the Jews,” it can unfortunately reinforce toe ways in which we separate ourselves from our Jewish neighbors in ways that can move quickly toward toe hateful. John’s gospel was almost surely written by a Jew for Jews who believed in Jesus as Messiah. It was certainly written about a Jew. Erom time to time when I preach from the Gospel ofJohn, I start by saying a few words about toe problems raised by John’s feuds with his fellow Jews, toe language he uses that can too easily translate into deeply unchristian claims of Christian superiority . But if we want to avoid preaching on “fear ofthe Jews,” we want to acknowledge toe value of preaching about fear. Gf course all of us deal with personal fears on a regular basis, but in this text, the fear seems to be a fear based on toe assumption that toe crucified Jesus has been finally and entirely defeated and that we are without hope in the world. I am not alone in noticing that in toe United States, specially since September 11, 2001, we are often driven by fear. It finally struck me just recently that it takes two to make a terrorist. There is toe person who does something destructive or threatening, and there is toe person who is terrified. If we are to fight a war on terror, perhaps we need to begin with toe terror in ourselves—terror that concedes cherished rights and enduring principles because we are afraid. And what we are afraid of is that Christ is not risen ؛that God is not Lord ؛ that history has somehow slipped out of God’s hands, taking us along. It does not take too much imagination to see how in our ontemporary political discourse we are eager to follow the example of toe tefofied disciples and lock the doors. The fortress country locked against immigrants, toe fortress church locked against toe threats of secularism, the fortress soul locked against toe possibility and the promise that Jesus keeps appearing just on our side of every locked door. What he says of course is “?eace,” “Shalom.” That isatraditional Jewish greeting in toe first century as now, but it also has toe deeper meaning of peace, well being, confidence. The gift of God that drives away fears ؛the key to unlocking our doors. Jesus shows them his wounds, reminding us that toe risen Lord is always toe crucified Lord. Resurrection does not eliminate atonement ؛resurrection affirms and completes atonement. When Jesus gives the power of forgiveness to the disciples, he gives toe same power to us. The community that forgives sins is the embodiment of toe shalom that Christ brings. The community that forgives sins casts out fear. It is a community that lives with open doors, that lives in the light of Easter. John 20:24-31 is toe familiar story ofThomas. Sometimes the story seems almost too familiar. What can we say about it this year? Of course many of toe most important stories are toe familiar stories. Of course we tell of Jesus’ birth and crucifixion and empty tomb time and time again. There is no harm in thinking again this year about Thomas and saying toe things that we have said before. Christ did not condemn
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the doubter but blessed him. Thomas is a foreshadowing of so man) ־׳of us on all the Sundays after Easter. We are all invited to share in the blessing of hearing about the great miraele that Thomas saw. But perhaps there are a few less familiar insights to help our preaehing. Beeause we are thinking about preaching after Easter, notice that the Gospel sets our story on the first Sunday after Easter. We can guess that in John’s church, already the first day is resurrection day—both the first Easter and the first Sunday after Easter and every Sunday after that. John’s gospel reminds us that on the day we gather, Christ is present too. Some years ago I noticed that this pericope is not only a story about doubting Thomas; it is a story about disappointed Thomas. He was away on the great day of the first resurrection appearances, and he feels his own loss. Try reading the text with slightly different italics than usual. “Unless / see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails, and my hand in his side, 1 will not believe.” He is disappointed. ¥ears ago 1 attended a Billy Graham rally with members of my church, including one woman who had always seemed to me an absolute model of confident piety. Billy Graham preached as he was wont to do about knowing Jesus as our personal savior and having an experience of the living Lord. Afterwards, driving home, the woman who was so regular in her service to the church confessed, “J’ve been a Christian as long as 1 can remember, but 1 don’t think I’ve ever met the living Lord ٢٠had Jesus in my heart.” 1 know the language is peculiarly Baptist, but the sentiment is ecumenical: she was disappointed. With my friend in mind, I have tried to preach Thomas for those who are disappointed , ft is not that they don’t believe resurrection is possible; it is that they are always left out of those resurrection appearances. 1 ask how Christ can be present in ways that are perhaps not so traditionally individual, but more communal. I ask whether there are more quiet assurances than the greatevangelist’s stress onaparticular personal experience. 1 hold out hope that though we now see in a mirror darkly, one day we shall see face to face and know even as we are known. ?erhaps most important, in this sermon as in almost every sermon on Thomas, I move to the final blessing. “Thomas, have you believed because you have seen? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” In the Gospel of John, the first disciples are the eyewitnesses, and all the rest of us are ear-witnesses. We come to believe not so much because of what we have seen as because of what we have heard. By the time we get to the Sunday after Easter, our congregation is pretty much back to those who without trumpets ٢٠lilies have heard the Gospel week after week. Tike all of us, they may be disappointed from time to time, but they keep showing up. John tells us what we need to tell them on the Sunday after Easter. (Maybe what we need to tell ourselves.) “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have eome—or are coming—or are hoping—to believe.”
IV During the Sundays after Easter, we notice that the Revised Common Lectiouary omits readings from the Old Testament and includes readings from the Book of Acts. As is so often the case with the lectionary, we notice the difference between lectionary time and canonical time. In the canon the story of Rentecost comes before Acts 3,4,
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8, or 10 and is the presupposition that illumines and shapes those other stories. In the lectionary we get to Aets 3,4,8, and 10 before the Holy Spirit deseends in Jerusalem, o ^ u r s e just as Easter is the presupposition of every sermon aboutJesus, the first ?enteeost is the presupposition of every story about the ehureh. However, it may be helpful if you are preaehing Acts to point out how the narrative unfolds in Luke’s work in contrast to how it unfolds in foe lectionary readings. Alfred Loisy saidfamouslythat،،Jesus preached the Kingdomandgotthechurch.” Loisy clearly assumed that this was a major disappointment, but for Luke and Acts, the church is a parable of the Kingdom—a foreshadowing and indeed a kind of emhodiment of foe fullness of what God intends for creation.
The Acts textfor the second Sunday ofEaster. Acts4:32-35,understandably concludes before the frightening cautionary tale of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11 but i^^licab ly omits foe exemplary tale of Barnabas, whose practice, like his nickname, should provide nouragem ent for our congregations. The assigned text itself inevitably casts foe shadow of Marx over foe practice of foe apostles—from each according to his or her capacity, to each according to his or her need. Whether this represents a normative early Christian practice or a little blip on foe march toward a more entrepreneurial economy, the text rightly reminds us that foe Easter life claims all of us, even our wealth, for the sake of the Risen Lord and his Kingdom. The church becomes the parable and the prophet of that claim.
The Acts textfor the third Sunday ofEaster is Acts 3:12-19. As is too often foe case, foe suggested lection removes ?eter’s speech from its context. He is responding to the crowd’s excitement at the healing of the crippled beggar. The sermon is an example of the theme of ?enteeost preaching? ؛eter speaks what Pentecost declares, “God’s deeds of power” (See Acts 2:11). Peter’s speech itself makes entirely clear the link between God’s mighty act in raising Jesus from the dead and the mighty act of foe healing that has just taken place. While many of us are cautious about claiming ^ysical healings or even religious reorientations as signs of God’s transcendent power. Acts is entirely clear. Christ is risen. In part Christ is risen into foe church. And when church heals or restores, it is witness to the gift of resurrection.
The Acts textfor thefourth Sunday ofEaster is Acts 8:26-40. The story of Philip’s baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch is one in a series of stories ofhowthe power ofthe resurrection ^reads,starting with the firtw it^ se s at Easter, then Jews of every tongue at Pentecost, then the eunuch, perhaps a Gentile whose interest in Judaism has brought him to Jerusalem, and finally, as we shall see on foe fifth Sunday after Easter, the power ofEaster extends to touch the Gentiles as well. As a professor of homiletics, I am pleased by the fact that when Philip evangelizes foe eunuch, he starts by explaining a biblical text. This passage, which includes word and baptism, provides a nice balance to foe story ofthe road to Emmaus in Luke 24, which includes word and meal. More than any other Gospel writer, Luke asks what it means for Christ to be present in foe life of the church and says (among other things) what the magisterial reformers said: the risen Christ is present when the Gospel is
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preached and the sacraments celebrated. Luke does not write about resurrection and then church; he writes about resurrection into Church. That is not all that resurrection means for Luke, but it is an inescapable implication of his two volume narrative.
For thefifth Sunday ofEaster; the textfrom Acts is Acts 10:44-48. These versions are the conclusion to the remarkable story in Acts 10 where ?eter is persuaded that toe good news of the risen Lord is intended for Gentiles as well as for Jews. In these verses toe Holy Spirit validates that claim, descending upon Jews and Gentiles alike. It is of course entirely right to think that Acts 10 is about inclusion, but Luke always preaches inclusion for toe sake of the Gospel. It is not just that we all come together; it is that we all come together under toe power of the Spirit and in praise ofthe risen Lord. So we do not inclusively proclaim toe goodness of inclusion; we inclusively ^oclaim the power of toe God who raised Jesus from toe dead.
The text for the sixth Sunday after Easter prepares us for Pentecost, just a week away. We have already noted that Resurrection and ?entecost arc both ^esuppositions for the texts from Acts assigned for toe preceding weeks, so in an odd way, as far as Acts is concerned, we are ending at toe beginning. The reading. Acts 1:15-17 and 21-26, somewhat strangely omits the sad story ofthe fate of Judas. The omission of these verses, along with the decision not to include toe story of Ananias and Sapphira in the readings for toe Second Sunday ofEaster almost makes it seem as if those who design our lectionary want to keep our readings child friendly, or soothingly untroubling . Omitting judgment from Luke’s narrative can make it inaccurately seem that God no longer insists that unfaithful actions have fateful consequences. Luke would be amazed. In toe choosing ofMatthias,however, we have a concrete instance of what I claim Luke is about. The resurrection witnesses must continue because toe resurrection continues. The way we bear witness to the ongoing resurrection is, of all things, to get our church structure right. Resurrection faith is always more than loyalty to Christ’s church. But it is never less than that. Neither the church nor the loyalty is optional.
.٧ Finally, part of what we are pondering in this essay is not just what toe preacher preaches after Easter, but how the preacher is able to preach after Easter. Despite all our attempts to celebrate every Sunday as toe Lord’s day and every Lord’s day as resurrection, we preachers inevitably feel a kind of letdown after Easter or after any service and sermon that seems miraculously to show forth the Risen Lord. Inevitably, before we know it, it’s Monday morning again, and there are only six days before we are supposed to do it again. Maybe we can let church be a promise not only for our people,butfor us. Maybe we can remember that this is not just the community where we minister, but toe community where we receive ministry. This emphatically does not mean that toe sermon is the place to turn yourself into a client and your congregation into therapists or that onfessional preaching is a matter of confessing my ennui rather than Christ’s triumph . But we need to find toe ways and toe comers of our church life where we are
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supported and sustained and know the power of the risen Lord. In my own present pastoral experienee, I have been astounded to discover that a small group 1 reiuetantly agreed to lead has beeome an essential manifestation of the Body of Christ in my own life 1 think we need to be open to that kind of Easter surprise, maybe even expect it, certainly keep an eye open for it. If it is just too hard to find that in your own congregation , sneak over to Saint Anne’s to take the eucharist some morning or catch the choir concert at the church across town. Let clergy groups be part of church for their members or take a Sunday sabbatical and go to Friends Meeting and sit there and don’t say a thing. I think you will discover that Christ is risen indeed.
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