Sermon for Third Sunday of Easter
Have you anything to eat?
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
I really like the post-Easter stories of Jesus and his followers as told by the Gospel writers. I guess what appeals to me most is their humanity. Last week we heard of Thomas’ doubts. This week we see how human the resurrected Jesus still is – “Have you anything to eat?,” Jesus asks his disciples. And then today’s text tells us they watched Jesus eat what they provided for him. Doesn’t get much more normal and human than that!
I am also still struck by how much fear is present in all of the post-resurrection stories. Last week we heard of hidden disciples, locked in a safe house because of their fears. In today’s text, Jesus’ very presence still frightens the disciples – Is this Jesus or some ghostly figure?
All the gospels describe Jesus’ female followers going to the tomb on that first Easter morning and finding it empty. And then these same women hear the news that Jesus is not there and that he has risen from the dead. And then, all the gospels record that the women’s first reaction is not celebration but fear.
In Mark’s gospel resurrection report, which we heard on Easter Sunday this year, that fear is “terror and amazement” leading the women to say “nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” And, amazingly, that’s where Mark’s gospel, the account of Jesus’ life and ministry here on earth that scholars assume to be the first gospel written and, perhaps, the best first-hand account of Jesus here on earth, that’s where Mark’s gospel ends. Not in celebration, but in the very human emotion of fear.
It was terrifying for Jesus’ followers that he was dead. And then it was, perhaps, more terrifying that he was alive.
The women at the tomb that first Easter Sunday morning did not come there looking for hope. The were searching for a place to grieve. They wanted to be left alone in their despair.
Think of how terrifying the news of Jesus’ resurrection must have been to them that day. God was calling them to return to the same world that had just crucified their Lord. A very dangerous gift when you think about it – hope in the power of God, the unending reservoir of God’s forgiveness and an abundance of God’s love. And, if they really believe what they have just seen and heard, they are going to be considered fools, first by the male disciples and then by the entire community. Who could, who would believe such a thing?
Our call today is no less different. We are to be fools who dare believe that God can call dead things to life.
God can call dead things to life.
Articles about the death of the church in the USA are not new. If you do a quick online review, you will find similar stories going back 60 or more years.
This year during Holy Week several new studies were reported, new studies that paint a picture of the continuing decline of the Christian Church, and religious faith generally, in the United States.
A new Gallop poll shows that fewer than half of US adults now say they belong to a church, synagogue, or mosque. This survey indicates that religious membership in the US has now fallen to 47% among those surveyed, representing less than half of the US population for the first time since Gallop began collecting this information some 80 years ago.
As recently as 2018, 50% of US adults still claimed membership in a religious congregation. That was down sharply from 70% who said so in 1999.
According to this new survey the decline is widespread, with an 18 point drop for Roman Catholics and a 9 percent drop for Protestants. These declines are across the USA and cross all ages, economic, racial, and political groups.
And the number of those who claim no religious preference continues to rise, the so-called “nones.” And these “nones” are not just among the young – those expressing no religious preference have grown among all age groups, including the elderly.
Some of these results, I believe, relate to people now being more honest with pollsters. I always suspected the poll results that reported that 40 – 50% of those surveyed used to claim they had been in church the preceding Sunday, when we knew that number was closer to 20% even years ago. In the past people appeared to tell the pollsters what they thought they wanted to hear or, at least, were a bit embarrassed to admit they did not attend church very much.
And, there is some evidence that when once a person would say he or she is Lutheran, for example, if they had attended a Lutheran Church in their youth but no longer did, now people may be answering more honestly that their religious attendance ended long ago.
These new surveys also counter a claim made some years ago that it was the so-called “liberal” churches that were shrinking while more “conservative” churches were growing. If that was ever true, recent surveys now suggest otherwise. There is even some evidence that the so-called “liberal” churches, often called the “mainline” churches, have stopped shrinking and are beginning to show some membership growth.
I like statistics and find this all interesting, but I do not find it alarming or calling for any sense of woe-is-us. The church of Jesus Christ has always been just one generation away from extinction – each new generation must find God’s love in and for their lives for themselves.
Our responsibility in all of this is to show forth our faith in our daily lives. It is vitally important, of course, to tell others about Jesus’ love for humanity, but unless we show that love in our lives, no one will believe us.
Other studies have indicated that the rise of non-believers, the “nones” as they are called, is directly related to people’s rejection of the image of Christianity as the church of “no.” Younger people especially want nothing to do with a church which is defined by what it is against. I honestly believe that there is no future for any faith group which preaches hate or judgement, no future for a faith group that does not embrace gay people and people of all races, no future for any faith group which does not recognize the equality of women in the pulpit. And the polls seem to support this belief.
Rabbi Neil in his sermon last weekend called on us to be “abolitionists of hate.” That is clearly our call as Christians and it is the only way, I believe, for the Christian church to grow and thrive in 2021.
In today’s gospel lesson Jesus makes another post-resurrection appearance to his disciples. And asks them, “Have you anything to eat?”
What we have for this world “to eat,” so to speak, is that dangerous gift I referred to earlier – hope in the power of God, the unending reservoir of God’s forgiveness, the abundance of God’s love. God’s forgiveness and love calls us, leads us, to acts of love for others, feeding others literally, as the disciples fed Jesus nearly 2,000 years ago, and feeding the world with the love and acceptance of God.
So, here is the Gallop poll we all should answer – how are you, how are we, feeding the world with God’s love today?
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sermon for:
April 18, 2021
