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No Schwarzenegger Sanction - April 15, 2007

No Schwarzenegger Sanction

Luke 24:37-43

April 15, 2007

Rev. Dave R. Garwick

Last night, Ann and I attended a wedding in St. Paul for our oldest godson.  The reception was wonderful.  But you know, for all the weddings I do, there is something I just do not get:  how the bridal couple likes to hang around with the guests all night long (well, not exactly ALL night long).  After the wedding it's the reception, hardly ever at the church anymore, but usually some distance away, which adds maybe another hour to things.

Then, after you get there, there is usually another hour or so of waiting for the bridal party to show up and then get organized.  Then there is the meal which takes another good hour or so...followed by the toasts and the speeches.  Then comes the dessert.  THAT then is often followed by the "main event" - the dance, which goes on and on and on, long after the parents and everybody else over fifty has gone comatose.  And the bridal couple is still there!  And the quite often, the next day the couple is STILL around for the gift opening with friends and family!

I just do not get it.  When WE got married, I just wanted to get out of there and get the show on the road.  We had a dessert reception AT CHURCH and we were GONE.  Quite frankly, I was not there to spend time with anybody but my brand new wife.  I had more of an Arnold Schwarzenegger attitude at the moment:  "Hasta la vista, baby!"  We were out of there.

In all seriousness though, I think that the way couples stay so long with the guests is really a commendable thing which maybe shows a graciousness of appreciation for their friends and family.  This is also more like the way it used to be done back in "the old country" and is still traditionally done in a lot of ethnic communities.  After all, the wedding is not a private affair but is a communal thing.  So hats off to you.

Jesus himself kind of did the same thing.  After all He had been through - the betrayal and arrest and torture of Maundy Thursday, then the crucifixion on Good Friday and the trip to Hell on Saturday - if I had been Him on Easter morning and had risen from the dead, I would have been out of there.  Homeward bound, man!  Mission accomplished:  the bonds of sin had been cancelled, death itself had been killed, the gates of Hell had been breached, the grave clothes were all neatly folded, the Holy Spirit was waiting to take over on earth as soon as He left, His spot was already reserved for Him at the right hand of God the Father...and besides all this, His closest friends on earth had ditched Him anyway.  I would have taken the Schwarzenegger Sanction:  "Hasta la vista, baby!"  And that would have been the last anyone would have seen of me until the Second Coming.

But Jesus had once called Himself the "Bridegroom" of the Church.  And LIKE bridegrooms these days, He did not 'high tail' it out of there.  He came back and He stayed around - for fifty days, no less!  Once again, for the umpteenth time, He does NOT do what is in His own best interests, but what is in OUR best interests.

How many times do we hear Jesus' words and promises on Sunday morning, and then fall back into our own ways by lunchtime?  How many times have we heard Him promise, "Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in your midst?" - but then go on as though he really is NOT present?  How many minutes does it take for the Good News to be washed away by the flood of distractions and self-centeredness and fears and doubt?

"Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."  [The apostles] were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.  He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?"

You see, even those who knew Him best, who knew Him face to face, had the very same problems as we do - so that even the Resurrection, no more than twelve hours old, had already been washed away by the fear and doubt of followers who thought they were alone.

"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."  When He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet."

But even with all this - actually BECAUSE of all this - they still could not believe - this time not because of fear and doubt, but because of something else.  The story continues that they still did not believe it, this time because of joy and amazement.  So, Jesus now asks them a question.  Not one of His tricky questions like He used for the purpose of trapping others who were trying to trap Him;  not a philosophical riddle, not something about the mysteries of faith.

His question was simply this:  "He asked them, 'Do you have anything here to eat?'  They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and He took it and ate it in their presence."

The bridegroom Jesus returned and remained for guests who were AT the Resurrection but not really taking part in the Resurrection, to bring doubting and frightened and distracted followers into the Resurrection itself - not with fancy teachings or philosophical arguments, but by being right there with them, not as an idea, not as a figment of their imagination, not as a memory, not as a ghost...but fully and truly alive with a body that could actually eat and digest food.

That is what Holy Communion really is and why we need to receive it every opportunity we can, because in it, Jesus IS truly present:  "This IS My body given for you...This IS the cup of the new covenant, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins."  As with His fist followers, Jesus IS really and truly here, as I said before, for many of us who last week attended the Resurrection but who may not really be taking PART in the Resurrection, to bring doubting and frightened and distracted followers into the Resurrection itself - not with fancy teachings of philosophical arguments, but by being right here with us, not as an idea, not as a figment or our imaginations, not as a memory, not as a ghost...but fully and truly alive, EVEN IN His body and blood.

And that is why we say again what we said last week:  "Christ IS risen!"  (Congregation responds with, "He is risen indeed!")