Re-presenting the Living Christ to Others

The Rev. Robert P. Travis

Easter 6A Sunday Sermon – 8 and 10:30am Service, Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN

5/29/2011

Scripture Text: Acts 17:22-31, Psalm 66:7-18, 1 Peter 3:13-22, John 14:15-21

Sermon Text:

It has been bothering me, maybe for a longer time

than I previously thought,

what the non-Christian world sees of Christians.

Maybe you have heard what Mahatma Gandhi said,

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.

Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

How long does it take for people to understand,

that the living nature of Jesus Christ,

his death, his resurrection

and his continuing to live in the world

is most clearly revealed to others

in how we treat each other

and the world around us?

Little kids seem to get it,

as they get most things that are explained best without words.

Sometimes we see this when they make mistakes.

A father whose kids I baptized called me once to tell me,

that his older son was going around the house

just a few weeks after the baptisms,

chasing his little brother with some water,

he would catch him and say,

“I baptize you in the name of God, Father Rob,

and the Holy Spirit.”

I am humbled by that naturally,

but at the same time,

I'm not going to deny the truth in it,

because I know I re-present Christ,

to everyone who knows that I am a Christian.

You might say,

well, you're a priest,

you have to do that,

and I'm sure glad I don't have to do that.

But ordination is in this sense

little more than a job description,

The truth is,

you do, by virtue of your baptism,

we all have to re-present Christ to the world around us.

My friend Paul is a song writer,

and I have a favorite song on a CD he gave me.

The song describes how this little boy sees him,

one day at Church,

and Paul attributes this to his beard and his hair,

but I think it's deeper than that.

Paul overhears this little boy telling his mother about him,

(sing)

“I've just seen Jesus,

I saw him over there,

I knew him from the Bible,

but now I know he really cares.

He knew how bad I've been today,

but he smiled at me anyway,

now I know that he's alive,

'cause I've seen him with my eyes.”

I couldn't help but think of that song,

when I heard today's Gospel reading,

when we see Jesus in those around us,

that is the clearest way we know He's alive.

As Jesus said, Because He lives, we will also live,

and when people see us fully alive,

full of love,

they see Him.

All of our readings today, in some way,

are about the Risen Christ,

Jesus being alive,

being able to be known.

That is what makes our religion unique,

we believe that we can actually know God,

in the person of his Son,

through his Holy Spirit.

Jesus also says to us, his disciples

“if you love me,

you will keep my commandments.”

But when you hear that,

and hear what I have just said,

you might be thinking that we have to somehow,

try harder,

be good enough,

become enough like Jesus through our own efforts,

to make him alive.

That is not at all what I'm saying.

Jesus immediately follows his statement

about keeping his commandments

by talking about the Holy Spirit.

In our translation he calls the Holy Spirit,

an Advocate,

in others, a Counselor.

The greek word is παράκλητος (Parakletos).

A parakletos was a nautical word,

for a ship that would come alongside and help.

If a little ship was in distress,

a parakletos, a bigger ship,

would be sent to come along side and help the little ship.

It literally means, the one who comes alongside and helps.

This is the Holy Spirit,

who Christ says will be with us forever.

Not just when we're in distress,

but of course that's when we notice His presence the most,

but forever, because we need a parakletos forever,

if we're going to re-present the living Christ,

to each other and the world around us.

Jesus says we know the Spirit of truth

because he lives with us, “abides with you”

and he will be in us.

That is the great part of the resurrection of Jesus,

because you know,

when he became incarnate among us,

he humbled himself,

but he also limited himself.

By becoming a human being, fully human,

Jesus could not be everywhere,

and with everyone

at the same time.

But now in his resurrection,

through the power of the Holy Spirit,

he can be alive in each one of us

present with and through each of us,

at the same time.

He says the world will no longer see him,

as it doesn't,

but we will see him.

Those who love him, he will love,

and will reveal himself to them.

If you love him, but you don't think

he has revealed himself to you yet.

You might try what my Aunt Joanna did,

she is a very creative woman,

and a brilliant thinker,

and at my parents suggestion

when she was struggling to know Jesus,

she went off by herself,

and said once, “Jesus, if you're really alive,

reveal yourself to me in a way I can understand.”

He did reveal himself to her,

and she started a series of artwork

that has stretched through her life, dedicated

to showing how he had revealed himself to her.

That is exactly what the rest of the readings say,

about what happens next.

In the psalm we said:

“Bless our God, you peoples,

make the voice of his praise to be heard.”

In the first letter of Peter we heard,

“In your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord”,

that means make him the ruler over your deepest self,

as far and as deep as you have ability.

Then, when Christ is alive in you,

there will be a certain hope that sets you apart

from other people, to other people.

So Peter tells us to

“Always be ready to make your defense to anyone

who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you,

yet do it with gentleness and reverence.”

I would say, well of course we'll do it that way,

because Jesus lives in us,

and he would do it with gentleness and reverence.

But it seems that Peter knew something that we know today.

That even when Christ is alive in each of us,

we still have parts of us that tend towards our sinfulness,

until the end in which we are finished

being made perfect in Him.

So he cautions us to make our testimony of Jesus,

how Jesus is alive in each of us,

with Gentleness and Reverence.

That seems to be the Episcopal way,

and it is something we can and should uphold,

but gentleness does not mean to refrain from saying it,

or to be ashamed of saying it.

We have a special way of being part of the body of Christ,

and there are those who will respond to our

way of expressing the Gospel when other expressions

would cause them to run away.

So we have a responsibility to be ready,

to share the gospel,

in our own way, with those we meet and know.

This is one way in which Christ will reveal himself,

to those who want to love him, whom he loves.

Think about the people in your life,

who revealed Jesus Christ to you.

How did they do it?

Who told you, with words or actions,

what it means to be a Christian,

what it means to have Christ living in you in the world?

Can you do the same,

or will your way of expressing His life in you be different?

Regardless of how we make our defense,

regardless of how we proclaim the gospel,

Peter reassures us, we need not fear,

the way the world fears,

we need not be intimidated.

That's because we have the Advocate,

the parakletos,

to come along side us and lead us in the truth.

He is the Spirit of Truth,

and we can rely on him,

to testify on behalf of Christ,

and he will do it through our very lives.

And when he does,

just like that little boy did when he saw my friend Paul,

others will say,

“I've just seen Jesus,

I saw him over there,

I knew him from the Bible,

but now I know he really cares.”

I hope you will come to have that experience.