Holy Bonds

(Uriel Presbyterian Church )

Communion Meditation

“Holy Bonds”

May 1, 2011

Second Sunday of Easter  A

Blest be the ties that bind?

Text: Acts 2:14a, 22-32 

14a But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 

22 "You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know- 23 this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. 24 But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. 25 For David says concerning him, 'I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will live in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption. 28 You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.' 29 "Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, 'He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.' 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.

John 20:19-31 

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

I’d like to begin this sermon with a little quiz.  Who remembers the show ‘Name that Tune’? Well, here’s the tune I’d like you to name...a little prize for the person who can give me the title first. (The musician plays a few notes from the interior of “Blest Be the Tie That Binds”...the first person who get’s right gets an easter egg) 

Now, who can complete the rest of the line “Blest be the tie that binds....(our hearts in Christian love ...the first person who gets  that bit right also gets a tootsie roll.) 

And finally, who can give me the entire second line? (“The Fellowship of kindred hearts is like to that above”.)

Excellent! Now what does it all mean? (Allowing folks to answer) 

So really, this hymn is all about the bond of love and friendship that binds christians together right? 

Golden cords, silken ties, bonds, duct tape, piano wire...basically they are things that hold other things together.  And there are other less tangible bonds like the holy bonds of marriage--we saw that this week in spades in London with the wedding of William and Kate Windsor.  2 billion people across the entire planet tuned in to witness the binding together of these two people in the bonds of holy matrimony.

We also hear Jesus talk about bonds in this passage this morning. In fact, while we hear each year about Doubting Thomas, we almost never pay attention to the very first words that the resurrected Jesus says to those gathered that first week.

Those words always  seem to get lost in the dramatic story of Thomas fishing around with his finger in Jesus side.  But it seems to me that what Jesus said should be every bit as important as “One step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. After all, he is come back from the dead, covered in the glory of the eternal God, ready to give them the secrets that they have slaved their whole careers as disciples for.  So what is it that he is bursting and overflowing with life to tell them?

It’s Easter evening still and 12 hours have passed since Mary Magdalene saw Jesus and spoke with him. Jesus appears in their midst and does only three things that are recorded.  The first he says twice: Peace be with you, though the words he says --“eirhnh umin” could...and maybe did... really mean  “Peace is Yours”, the emphasis being “peace is yours NOW”. 

Then he does something very curious. He BREATHES on them. It’s the only place in the whole New Testament where the word “emfusao (emphsao )” is used. Its the same word that we get “emphesema” from (that being a problem with the breath, in that case) Indeed, it is used only two places in the Old Testament even, in Genesis 2 where God breathes the breath of life into the lungs of Adam and he becomes a living being. It is used in Ezechiel 37 where the breath lays flesh on the dead dry bones and they come to life. 

First he gives them peace, then he gives them life, then what comes next? If this were a fairy tale with three wishes, what you wish for? You’ve been given peace, followed by life...what could possibly the next, last and terribly important wish you might hope for?

I’m not sure what I would choose, but it sounds like Jesus chose the exercise of power as the third thing. When you stop to think of it, it’s a really unlikely choice. He doesn’t tell them what his experience of death was like, where he’s been or what the game plan is now. His whole life has been poured out and spent, he is ascending very shortly to heaven, with only a limited amount of time to tell them all that they need to know, and the dynamics of power is third on his list of priorities. Or is it?

The exact way that Jesus puts it is: “Receive the Holy Spirit”. Ok, so far, so good. Then the next thing from his lips is “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” In other words,  you can either loosen the bonds of sin, or you can tighten them up so that no one escapes. First of all, it seems incredible that with no preface, no preamble Jesus just launches into this subject and just as suddenly, the scene ends and moves on another full week. But I’m thinking: “Wait! Don’t stop, don’t go; explain what you just said!”

It’s a variation on something that we’ve heard before in a different context, not in the gospel of John, but in the gospel of Matthew. First in , chapter 16, verse 19, where he’s talking to Peter and giving  him the keys to the kingdom and talking about what he binds on earth will be bound in heaven, and then a little later on in chapter 18 he’s talking to all the disciples about how to confront someone who has sinned, and Jesus concludes by saying WHATEVER you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and WHATEVER you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Now John reports that Jesus said something very like this with one of his first breaths as a resurrected Messiah. For the past 500 years this passage has interested people mostly in the tug of war between protestants and catholics , where the catholic church said “See! here is proof that only ordained people can forgive sins” and the Protestants shout back “It isn’t proof!”. But all that hot air has nothing to do with what John hears Jesus  saying. 

Firstly, this isn’t addressed to just the disciples. It is addressed to the whole community of faith that was assembled in that room. All of them received the peace that Jesus gave and the breath of Jesus’ spirit, they all heard the words that followed.  But it’s impossible not also understand that binding and loosening is involved here, every bit as much as the binding and loosening of the grave clothes that had so recently wound their way around Jesus body. 

We talk about the bonds of matrimony, and the bonds of friendship, but Jesus was not talking about the bonds of power over other people, but the bonds in which these first believers were wrapped so tightly in.  Jesus is talking about the bonds of forgiveness and unforgiveness. First he gave them the gift of peace, then the gift of life, and finally, the gift of forgiveness. 

I might not have made this connexion had it not been for my own Easter evening last week. It was the evening after the busy and tumultuous events of Easter Sunday and I was sitting in my upper room at home flipping through TV channels and flipped to PBS. And there, on the screen was the modern equivalent to what Jesus said to the disciples. It was a the first half of a two part programme called “Forgiveness: a Time to Love and a Time to Hate”.  I sat there and watched and heard the stories of people who had been brutalized and people who committed brutal acts, people who hated and people who forgave, but also the stories of people who couldn’t and wouldn’t forgive, who argued persuasively against cheap grace and easy forgiveness.  It was one of the most profound experiences I have had with this concept. It was an incredible gift to someone who has never seriously been crushed or wounded to see through other eyes and to hear their wisdom and their advice. 

The second part of this series is being broadcast tonight at 9  pm on South Carolina Educational TV channel 30. I recommend you watch it, even though it is not easy to watch, but in it, I felt that I was touching something sacred. I especially feel that as I worked with this passage of scripture today. Because in thinking about this passage, I came to a realization about why Jesus chose the power of forgiveness as his third gift to us. 

It is not about the power; it is about the bonds themselves. The small community of Christ was gathered in that room that stank with three days of fear, and tears and anger and loathing both of  Jerusalem and of themselves for having failed Jesus.  Jesus wasn’t only giving them power to bind or loosen others, he was giving them power to bind or loosen themselves. You see, there are positive bonds, like marriage and the  bond say, between mother and child, but bonds can definitely be constricting and repressive as manacles, shackles and winding cloths. 

In two short phrases he says to these people who are tied up in knots;” come forth, be ye loosened from your guilt”. “If you loosen others from their guilt, you will be loosened, but if you fail to do so, you will be bound as tightly as they are.” “If you forgive other’s sins, they will be forgiven and you will be free. But if you refuse to forgive them, those sins are retained, and you are  stuck.”  As Christ’s followers and resurrection people we must allow the bonds that we sang about at the beginning of the sermon, those bonds that bind us need to be expansive with forgiveness, and not strangling with withheld emotions and hate. 

In just about a month this presbytery will be voting on Amendment A. The entirety of the amendment says this: 

“Standards for ordained service reflect the church’s desire to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life (G-1.0000). The governing body responsible for ordination and/or installation (G.14.0240; G-14.0450) shall examine each candidate’s calling, gifts, preparation, and suitability for the responsibilities of office. The examination shall include, but not be limited to, a determination of the candidate’s ability and commitment to fulfill all requirements as expressed in the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W-4.4003).

Governing bodies shall be guided by Scripture and the confessions in applying standards to individual candidates.”

It sounds pretty innocuous...and it is; it even sounds theologically sound...and it is. But to some churches and individuals that are holed up  in their upper rooms with the doors barred against this amendment, it sounds like a death knell. There is the stink fear, and tears and anger and loathing both of  the church and of themselves for having failed Jesus. This amendment to the book of church order are exactly the sort of thing that Jesus is teaching us about. There are some churches and some pastors and some sessions that are ready to snap; to walk out of the Presbyterian community simply because they can’t endure a bond that would allow gay and lesbians to consider Christ’s call of service.  They have allowed the bonds of percieved-sin-withheld to strangle them instead of forgiving and finding peace and life. 

It looks now that it may pass, since 84 presbyteries have already passed it. With 29 presbyteries still to cast votes, only three more yes votes are needed for it to  change our book of order.*  

But now here comes the challenge to us at Uriel and in Providence Presbytery. Will we forgive those who storm and rage and rail, or will we withhold forgiveness and compassion for those who would be our enemies? God forbid that we should withhold what Christ has given to us freely! Plus if we retain those sins, they bind us in the end. If we can find it in ourselves to display compassion and true “fellowship of kindred hearts” we will have gained what Christ gave himself up for...peace and life and the forgiveness that passeth all understanding...even our own. 

Amen

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* UPDATE: As of the July 10th deadline,  Amendment A has passed the presbyteries (it passed in Providence Presbytery on Pentecost Sunday), as has the New Form of Government. The other major amendment, to add the Belhar Confession to the book of Confessions received a simple majority, but failed to gain the 2/3 majority it required to add it to the 'Confessions"