B, Easter 3 - Acts 3:14-16, 1 John 3:2-3, Luke 24:45-49 "The Author of Life"
1 John 3:2–3 (ESV)
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet
appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we
shall see him as he is. And everyone who
thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Luke 24:45–49 (ESV)
Then Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that
the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of
sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from
Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these
things. And behold, I am sending the
promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with
power from on high.”
*******
The Author of life is raised by God from death. The Author of life opens the minds of those
who are gathered before him. And he
calls those gathered to wait; to wait to
be clothed with power from on high.
The power with which the church is clothed is the power of
life! This life-power is the authority
of Jesus’ resurrection. The promise of
God is this: we are made his children.
Life is authored within us by the resurrected Author of life, Jesus
Christ, the Son of God!
God has placed us in a holding pattern of life. Although we experience the corruption of
dying and death in our daily existence, we are called to expect the revelation of
being like Jesus. But this will only be realised
when we see him as he is, at his return, at our eternal resurrection. Until
then, we are dying in this existence! But
we’re dying to live!
The holding pattern is revealed within us as faith, having
been clothed with power from on high.
Faith is not a feeling, although faith can make us feel good at times,
for which we are thankful! But faith gives
each of us an expectation of being made like Jesus, despite what our
experiences and feelings tell us in this world.
As we age, we experience, the effects of sin on our
bodies. Some of the things we suffer
might have come as a result of sinful deeds.
From the sinful things we’ve done!
But the reality is, even if we did nothing wrong, if we did not sin, we
would still suffer from our human being, being human, that in its very nature is
sinful.
The nature of our being; its feelings, its thoughts, its
works, the mechanics of our physical bodies, our senses of sight, touch, taste,
smell, and hearing, exist and fail in the deconstruction that’s death. Therefore, we all suffer!
Jesus came into his own dying creation to reinject it with life,
lost when humanity was separated from the tree of life. For Jesus to fix his creation, he suffered in
his creation, suffering that led to death.
The Creator died in his very own creation, so life could be recreated
within a creation existing in death.
After Jesus was raised and ascended into heaven, and was
hidden from our sight, it may have seemed that all returned to what it was
before. After all, death still exists! People are still given to following the
deadliness of their human nature and hide their sin. But the reality of true life is now a reality
of faith, that exposes the truth about us and the truth about Jesus Christ!
Peter and John are in the temple after the first
Pentecost. The apostles’ minds had been
opened by Jesus as he appeared amongst them after the resurrection. They no longer cowered and hid from the
Jews. In fact, at Pentecost they
proclaimed the risen Lord to the Jews, and many became believers.
A man, lame from birth, begging at the temple, walks as a result
of Peter’s proclamation. They who had their minds opened by Jesus, now
open the minds of others. This was not an
act of Peter or John, but rather an act of the Holy Spirit, working with and
through the apostles, and within the man who having been healed, “entered the temple with them, walking and
leaping and praising God.” (Acts 3:8 ESV)
The irony of this first healing event should not ever be
lost on us! Here the man whose sinful
nature prevented him from entering the temple, now enters the temple. His inability to enter was not from any sin
that he had done, but rather it was the consequences of the nature he received
at birth.
Like him we are lame in every way before God and have no
earthly way of entering into his presence. But now like the lame man who walked and leapt
his way into the temple, praising God, we can praise God in his presence too!
But the temple curtain has been torn, and God is no longer
found at his mercy seat in the Holy of Holies.
Where is God if he is not in the temple sanctuary?
Well, God is in his sanctuary! However, the sanctuary has changed! God now lives within his children. He tabernacles within! God now enters the Jerusalem temple, as Peter
and John enter the temple, as the dancing praising healed man enters, and also enters
in those who had received the Holy Spirit, as a result of that first Pentecost.
We know that the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the
Romans in seventy AD. From Good Friday,
God no longer sits on his mercy seat in the Jerusalem temple. In mercy he now rests in the hearts of those
who believe. God now covers the sinful
nature of believers, despite the sin that still comes from believers. By 70 AD, the believers had long been
dispersed by persecution from the Jerusalem temple. God’s mercy now sat in the hearts of the
dispersed, and the temple was sacked. It
no longer had a purpose in God’s plan of salvation!
Today, God gathers us as church in Jesus’ resurrection
victory. He gathers us by the power of
the Holy Spirit and will continue to do so as he has promised! The promise we have is that we are God’s
children now, called together in power from on high. Faith in the name of Jesus has made you
strong. Jesus sees and knows you! The faith that’s received from Jesus, by the
Spirit, gives you the perfection of Jesus, for life eternal as we die.
So, God authors holy life in you now, through his holy word
and holy sacraments. Repentance and
forgiveness of sin, confessed, received, believed, and seen only through faith,
enlivens and enlightens you, despite the corruption you see working within.
As God opens your mind in his word, he shows you two
things, which matures faith within.
First, he enlightens us with an ever-increasing sight of the
sinful nature and its deadliness. This
would drive us to despair and eternal death if he did not graciously and
mercifully reveal it to us in a timely manner.
God does not expose us to more than we can bear.
The second thing he does after revealing an ever-increasing
sight of our sin is an ever-increasing sight of his merciful presence in his
word and sacrament. This occurs when we
are gathered, being forgiven, and fed, so he might continue to tabernacle
within us as church. We then disperse,
taking the mercy of God out into the dispersion where others have an
opportunity to see Jesus working within us, through the power of the Holy
Spirit, to confess him and to confess his forgiveness of our sin.
The maturing of faith allows you to witness what Jesus Christ
works within your being, despite being sinful.
You clearly see your sin and inability to work your way out of it. But through knowledge of Jesus, his death and
resurrection, and the acts of the Holy Spirit, mature faith finds it’s completion
in hope.
Therefore, everyone who hopes in Jesus Christ is purified
as he is pure. The Holy Spirit works
this deposit of the pure holy of holies within you, where the Father sits enthroned
on his mercy seat. Jesus is the mercy seat
of God, the Author of life within.
So, as forgiven and covered sinners, we trust less and less
in ourselves, and wait more and more, for the Author of life and his eternal
lifegiving goodness.
Amen.
