James T. Cleland - "The Wounds of the Risen Christ" Easter Service (April 14, 1968)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(soothing piano music) | 0:05 | |
(choir vocalizing) | 0:12 | |
(choir vocalizing continues) | 2:53 | |
- | Let us pray. | 5:53 |
Let the words of my mouth, | 5:56 | |
and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable, | 6:00 | |
in Thy sight. | 6:04 | |
Oh Lord our strength, and our Redeemer. | 6:06 | |
Amen. | 6:12 | |
Although John 20:19-31, | 6:20 | |
which was read as the lesson, | 6:26 | |
is one of the post resurrection stories. | 6:29 | |
It may seem to many of us as strange scripture passage | 6:34 | |
for Easter morning. | 6:39 | |
Why was it chosen? | 6:43 | |
It insisted on being selected on this particular Easter, | 6:48 | |
following the death of Martin Luther King, | 6:55 | |
and the student vigil, on our campus. | 6:59 | |
But why? | 7:05 | |
Well, let us look at the passage together. | 7:08 | |
The story begins on the first Easter evening, | 7:12 | |
it ends a week later. | 7:17 | |
The disciples were gathered together, | 7:22 | |
behind locked doors, | 7:27 | |
you bet they were locked. | 7:31 | |
The disciples were scared, | 7:34 | |
and understandably so, | 7:37 | |
suddenly Jesus appeared and gave them | 7:40 | |
the old Hebrew blessing. | 7:44 | |
Shalom, peace. | 7:47 | |
The disciples were filled with joy, | 7:52 | |
and understandably so, | 7:56 | |
but one disciple, | 8:00 | |
Thomas, was not present. | 8:02 | |
When they told him what had happened, | 8:06 | |
Thomas was frankly and emphatically skeptical. | 8:08 | |
His reaction was, "Unless I see the mark of the nails | 8:14 | |
on His hands, | 8:21 | |
unless I put my finger into the place where the nails were, | 8:24 | |
and my hand into His side, | 8:31 | |
I will not believe." | 8:35 | |
Thomas came from the Missouri section of Galilee. | 8:40 | |
He had to be shown. | 8:47 | |
A week later, | 8:51 | |
the disciples were gathered again in the room | 8:52 | |
and Thomas was with them, | 8:55 | |
Jesus reappeared and gave them the shalom, | 8:58 | |
and then offered His hands | 9:03 | |
and His side for Thomas experiment. | 9:05 | |
Thomas said, "My Lord." | 9:11 | |
He added," "And my God." | 9:16 | |
Then the author of the fourth gospel adds his punchline. | 9:23 | |
Jesus said, "Because you have seen Me, | 9:29 | |
you have found faith. | 9:34 | |
Happy are they that never saw Me, | 9:37 | |
and yet have found faith." | 9:42 | |
Many sermons have been preached on that statement of Jesus, | 9:45 | |
but not this sermon. | 9:51 | |
That punchline is not ours this Easter morning. | 9:56 | |
Why? Because many of us, | 10:01 | |
including me, | 10:05 | |
are disciples like the doubting, | 10:07 | |
questioning, incredulous Thomas. | 10:10 | |
What do I mean? | 10:16 | |
Some of us come to the resurrection faith | 10:19 | |
with raised eyebrows. | 10:22 | |
We are scientists by training, | 10:25 | |
and science suggests from the accumulated evidence | 10:29 | |
that dead men, stay dead. | 10:33 | |
Resurrection may be possible in principle, | 10:39 | |
but there is no sufficient evidence | 10:45 | |
of the kind we are normally used to, | 10:47 | |
regarding the resurrection of Jesus. | 10:50 | |
Therefore we are skeptical, agnostic, | 10:55 | |
others are equally doubtful | 11:00 | |
from a historian's point of view. | 11:03 | |
We wonder about the reliability of the witnesses, | 11:06 | |
about the contradictions in the post resurrection stories, | 11:11 | |
about the actual of occurrence, | 11:16 | |
we too are skeptical, agnostic, | 11:19 | |
like our scientific fellows. | 11:24 | |
We also are from the Missouri section of academia. | 11:28 | |
The one fact which might make us less doubtful, | 11:34 | |
is the reality of the living continuing Christ, | 11:41 | |
in the experience of others. | 11:46 | |
Even this would be neither scientific nor historical proof, | 11:50 | |
but it would be a reasonable inference | 11:57 | |
and the possible basis of our personal faith. | 12:00 | |
Well, there are enough folk who are exhibit A, B, C, | 12:05 | |
right through the alphabet for our consideration, | 12:11 | |
what do you think changed the disciples, | 12:15 | |
from worried, frightened cowards, | 12:19 | |
into willing martyrs, | 12:24 | |
but the confidence that Jesus was not holding, of death. | 12:27 | |
Why did the medieval church ascribe | 12:36 | |
to Saint Francis of Assisi, | 12:38 | |
the stigmata, | 12:41 | |
marks similar to the wounds of Christ, | 12:43 | |
except as an affirmation, | 12:49 | |
of the fact that Christ lived in him? | 12:52 | |
How does one account for the steadiness of Abraham Lincoln, | 12:58 | |
except that he was dominated by a conception of God, | 13:03 | |
and by daily applications of Christ, | 13:07 | |
daily applications of Christ. | 13:14 | |
These last words, are found in his own handwriting. | 13:16 | |
What maintained and marked the life of Martin Luther King, | 13:23 | |
but the reliving of the spirit of Christ, | 13:29 | |
in the 20th century. | 13:33 | |
It is this kind of living down the long years, | 13:36 | |
which satisfies the Thomas in me, | 13:40 | |
or as Pascal said, | 13:44 | |
"The heart has its reasons, | 13:46 | |
the reason does not know." | 13:50 | |
Resurrection, had to follow crucifixion, | 13:53 | |
or this whole experience of living is insanity. | 13:59 | |
A tale told by an idiot, full of mayhem, | 14:04 | |
signifying very little that makes sense. | 14:10 | |
Moreover our reason comments, | 14:15 | |
if God is love and power, | 14:18 | |
as Jesus taught, | 14:23 | |
then the defeated defenseless love of Good Friday, | 14:26 | |
had to be followed by the triumphant power of Easter, | 14:31 | |
which gives the assurance of victory, to love. | 14:36 | |
The faith that Jesus was not holding of death, | 14:42 | |
is the promise of the ultimate triumph of good. | 14:46 | |
Easter is the festival assurance, | 14:52 | |
that we shall overcome. | 14:56 | |
Now, how shall we recognize these Christ men in heaven? | 15:00 | |
A crossword puzzle, gave me a hint. | 15:08 | |
I was looking for a four letter word, | 15:13 | |
to answer the definition, "memento of a wound." | 15:16 | |
The answer was, scar. | 15:24 | |
We shall look for their scars, | 15:30 | |
crucifixion scars on Jesus, | 15:34 | |
and Peter, yes and on Francis, | 15:38 | |
the marks of bullets on Lincoln, and King, | 15:43 | |
John Bunyan in the second half of "The Pilgrim's Progress," | 15:50 | |
has put the matter in unforgettable words, | 15:54 | |
the summons to cross the river of death | 15:58 | |
had come to Mr. Valiant for truth. | 16:01 | |
He spoke his last will and testimony. | 16:06 | |
"I am going to my Fathers, | 16:10 | |
my sword, | 16:15 | |
I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, | 16:18 | |
and my courage and skill, to him that can get it. | 16:24 | |
My marks and scars I carry with me, | 16:31 | |
to be a witness for me, | 16:37 | |
that I have fought His battles, | 16:40 | |
Who will now be my rewarder. | 16:43 | |
My marks and scars I carry with me, | 16:47 | |
to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles, | 16:51 | |
who will now be my rewarder." | 16:56 | |
So he passed over, | 17:00 | |
and all the trumpets, | 17:03 | |
sounded for him, | 17:06 | |
on the other side, | 17:08 | |
he had overcome. | 17:12 | |
Now, what does this say to us? | 17:16 | |
Do not expect resurrection without crucifixion, | 17:20 | |
in this kind of our road. | 17:26 | |
This is a word to all of us, | 17:31 | |
perhaps a special word, | 17:34 | |
to those vigil entities, | 17:37 | |
who have so successfully disrupted the timid tenure | 17:42 | |
of our lives this past week. | 17:46 | |
With innocence and honor, | 17:50 | |
with naivety and seriousness, | 17:54 | |
with controlled passion and solemn earnestness, | 17:58 | |
they have shaken us all, | 18:02 | |
whether we like it or have no, | 18:05 | |
but let them and us be aware that Good Friday, | 18:08 | |
precedes Easter. | 18:14 | |
That Easter is not understood without some experience, | 18:17 | |
in fact or in imagination, | 18:22 | |
of a Friday that was black and brutal, | 18:26 | |
and is perennial. | 18:31 | |
About 20 years ago, | 18:35 | |
Reinhold Niebuhr was accused of preaching a gloomy gospel. | 18:37 | |
He answered his critic, | 18:42 | |
"I shall be an optimist with you for eternity, | 18:45 | |
if you will be a pessimist with me for the next 70 years." | 18:50 | |
There are 50 years to go, | 18:57 | |
and these years will be mocked by bad Fridays, | 19:01 | |
which become good, only in the light of Easter. | 19:06 | |
And the reason Christ, | 19:14 | |
will still be recognized, | 19:17 | |
by His wounds, His scars, | 19:20 | |
thank God for Thomas. | 19:26 | |
Let us pray. | 19:32 | |
Oh God Who art the source of all true joy, | 19:37 | |
grant us a vision of Our risen Lord, | 19:42 | |
wounds and all, | 19:45 | |
that we may know the peace which passes understanding, | 19:49 | |
which the world can neither give, | 19:53 | |
nor take away, | 19:57 | |
and that pure joy, | 20:00 | |
which shall make radiant all our duty, | 20:03 | |
and our toil, | 20:07 | |
through the same Jesus Christ Our Lord. | 20:10 | |
Amen. | 20:16 | |
(soothing piano music) | 20:26 | |
(choir vocalizing) | 20:52 | |
(soothing piano music) | 22:27 |
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