Witness

Luke 24:36-48New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.

44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you:Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.

         Even if you do not pay any attention to professional basketball, there is a good chance that you have heard the name Lebron James.  Nike has a specific marketing campaign for Lebron with his own logo and of course, his own shoe.  They have t-shirts, hats and pretty much anything you can think of that bear this logo.  But perhaps the simplest design of the entire Lebron James marketing campaign is a black t-shirt that simply says “Witness” with the iconic Nike swoosh underneath it.  This simple design is meant for those who are witnessing Lebron James’ greatness.  Those familiar with the NBA know exactly what this shirt means when they see it, even if they aren’t a fan of Lebron’s.  In the simplest of ways, this shirt allows others to know that the person wearing it is fan of Lebron’s.  

In the time of Jesus’ death there were still a lot of questions.  The followers of Christ were still reeling from what was going on.  They were processing what he had taught them, trying to make sense of it all.  The meaning of the simple Nike t-shirt is obvious to those who know a little about professional basketball.  However, the experience the disciples had with Jesus in the Upper Room is not as obvious to understand but it does tell us some important and crucial things about the Christian faith.  First, honest and real fellowship with Christ can be haunting.  And yes, I mean like ghostly haunting.  Jesus had to go out of his way to prove that he was not a ghost.  The only way he could get the disciples to believe that he was not a ghost was to eat solid food in front of them.  There is humor in this!  Imagine standing in front of the resurrected Christ and asking him to eat something just to make him prove he is not a ghost.  “Hey Jesus, you I don’t doubt that you’re real but uh, Peter over there doesn’t.  Can you eat some fish to prove that you are not a ghost.  I totally get it Jesus but Peter is struggling.” That may not have been exactly how it went down but the disciples did not believe what they were seeing.  Jesus had to prove himself to them.  Jesus is still doing this for us today. We may not be asking him to eat fish in front of us, but how often do we want Jesus to prove himself to us?  Some of this morning may still be searching for that proof.  When Jesus appeared, the disciples were terrified and filled with fear.  When we are honest and real in our relationship with Christ, there will be times that we are uncertain.  There will be times when we ask Jesus to prove himself again and again.  Jesus’ resurrection meant that what he had been saying was true.  It meant that Jesus had not been bluffing. It meant that Jesus was who he said he was and at times that can be terrifying.  The transformative and unifying power of Christ was real and that can be scary to us.  

Second, it meant that the resurrection was real.  This may seem obvious but how often do we think about the resurrection in passing?  We give it some thought on Easter Sunday and then we shift our focus back to the cross the rest of the year.  It was not uncommon for someone to die on a cross in the time of Christ.   However, I think we can still say that it is pretty uncommon for someone who has died to have their flesh and bones resurrected three days after their death.  For example, I loaded pigs out the other night and when I got home to take a shower there was a man-eating centipede that was a footlong that came out of the shower drain right before I was about to get in.  So I did what every brave and heroic man would do, I turned the shower on and hoped like heck the water would wash it back down the drain.  Well, it never fully went down the drain but after heroically splashing water on it before entering the shower it was stuck in the drain and I assumed it drowned.  I safely took my shower making sure the man-eater never got up and went about the rest of my day.  Upon getting home that evening, Cheyanne informs me that there is a man-eating centipede in the shower.  And I think to myself it can’t be.  He drowned.  Then it dawns on me, if it came up the drain, most likely, water does not bother it too badly.  This meant that I had to engage in hand to hand combat with the footlong 4lb and again, I was heroic.  Cheyanne nor Griffin are here to dispute this claim so it is my story and I will tell it how I want.  I was surprised that the beast came back to life even though I should have known better.  The disciples were in a similar boat when it came to their dealings with Christ.  The cross is important but so is the resurrection.  Jesus died in an act of supreme act of sacrifice, love and forgiveness but if it weren’t for the resurrection we would not remember the actions of the cross.  The resurrection was necessary because it justified the cross and solidified the person and godliness of Christ.  The resurrected Jesus was a live, real person.  That same person is alive in you.  

And lastly, Jesus commissions us to bear witness to everyone.  As Christians, we are called to share the words and actions of Christ with the world.  There are various ways to do this.  Based on our own personality and comfort, there are different ways we each do this.  The story of Jesus, no matter how we choose to tell it, leads to a change of heart and mind.  A relationship with God causes change.  It may be subtle changes at first, almost unrecognizable.  Before we know it, we are bearing witness without really thinking about it.  Jesus did not tell the disciples to simply stay in the Upper Room and appreciate amongst themselves what he had done.  He told them to go and share the good news with all.  And just like his invitation at the communion table in this very same room, Jesus reiterated the importance of sharing this love and grace with all.  Jesus welcomes each of us to the foot of the cross but he also invited each of us to the empty tomb.  One without the other makes the story incomplete.

Everything we need to know about Jesus comes out of this scripture.  From the haunting, transformative power of a relationship with God to the reality of the resurrection and the necessity of the cross to the commissioning of his disciples to share the good news with all.  Each of these pillars of faith point to the love of God.  I had the privilege of doing a wedding yesterday and I shared with the couple that each day offers us several choices.  We will get some of those choices correct and others we will get wrong.  But love is not necessarily found in always making the “right” choice.  There is love to be found in the choice itself.  God does not give us a choice as to whether or not He loves us.  The choice comes from how we decide to reciprocate that love if we so choose.  And if you so choose, wear your proverbial Nike t-shirt that simply bears the word “witness” in the world as Christ has called us to do. Amen.