Long ago, the church established the season of Lent – a period of 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter as the time to get ready to remember the events of Holy Week and Christ’s crucifixion. The church also established a 50 day period between Easter and Pentecost in which we are to celebrate the good news of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. A 50-day celebration? That’s harder to pull off, especially for us Presbyterians who are notorious for rarely cracking a smile in church and always leaving parties early. How are we to celebrate Easter? How is the world supposed to see the good news of Easter manifest in our lives? For the next couple weeks, we will try to answer those questions by looking at stories found in the book of Acts, because there it describes what the first Christians did after they received the good news that Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead.
Here’s the first unusual thing the people in Jerusalem noticed after Easter: The followers of Jesus didn’t disappear after their leader had been put to death. Now self-proclaimed prophets and rabble-rousers were not uncommon in old Israel. These street-corner preachers had their 15-minutes of fame and then faded away pretty quickly, especially if they were arrested or killed by the authorities. But the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth oddly seemed to grow in strength after their leader’s death. It was not what the Roman authorities or the Jewish leaders expected – and frankly, it made them quite uncomfortable. They tried arresting them and threatening them, as they did with Peter in today’s reading from Acts 5, but the disciples only continued to preach about how God raised up Jesus whom the authorities had crucified on a tree. Finally the Jewish council members huddled together to decide what must be done with these “Easter” Christians.
It is here that we are introduced to Gamaliel, a wise leader of the Pharisees and liberal voice on the Jewish council. Gamaliel is mentioned in scripture as being the teacher of the apostle Paul, as well as remembered in history as a leader who was willing to speak up for women and others treated unfairly under Jewish law. Gamaliel challenged the council members not to be extreme in their reaction to the Christian disciples. He noted that most rebellious groups disappeared soon after the death of their leader, but then wisely added this: “If this plan is of human origin, it will fail; if it of God, you will not defeat it – and woe if you decide to fight against God!”
It is important to remember that the Jews were not of one mind about having Jesus killed. That is a flawed, racist and anti-Semitic myth that should have no place in the Christian church today. Gamaliel’s words that day likely saved the lives of Peter and the other disciples. And what he said long ago reminds us that even today there are Godly plans and ungodly plans active in the world. So here’s the $50,000 question: How can we tell them apart?
To answer that question, we need to come at this subject from a different angle. One of the popular Broadway musicals at the moment is called “The Book of Mormon.” It is a silly, irreverent story of two Mormon young men sent on their missionary assignment to the heart of Africa. Whenever I’ve met Mormon missionaries in their dark slacks, white shirts and narrow ties, I’ve wrongly focused on the fact that their goal is to talk to people in order to convert them to Mormonism. But as I learned on a recent radio interview I heard, while that may be the larger goal, the real value of these two year missionary assignments is to give an entire generation of young Mormons the experience of explaining their faith over and over again so that they are truly committed to the Mormon faith themselves. This type of assignment is not quirky or inappropriate; in fact, it may be a model we have been silly not to adopt ourselves. What if you spent a couple years intentionally talking and sharing with others about your faith? Wouldn’t that shape how you understand and appreciate the faith you profess by being part of this church? If you rang a doorbell to tell someone about Jesus, would you know what to say once they opened the door? If we don’t talk about our faith, even in broad terms – such as how we believe in prayer, believe that God’s love is stronger than death, and how we have the assurance that belief in Christ positively shapes the choices we make each day – then how is it possible for our faith to be real, to take root in the soil of our lives and bear fruit?
After Easter Sunday, the first disciples were like Mormon missionaries – men and women sent out into the neighborhood singularly focused on sharing their faith, the good news that Jesus Christ was not dead, but alive. And for us today, in this Easter season 2013, it is just as true that we are called to share this resurrection story with others in the world. For it is in the sharing we come to understand how it is life-changing, good news to which we can entrust ourselves completely. Now, to put your minds at ease, this sharing need not involve doorbell-ringing (although it might). It need not involve going to Africa or South America or Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (although it might). Being an Easter disciple means we quiet ourselves down and ask in prayer, “Dear God, how can my life share the good news of Christ’s resurrection? Loving God, what is your plan for me – for this chapter in my life? Lord, hear my prayer.”
That can feel like a very risky thing to pray. Most of us, and I’ll include myself in this statement, like to know where a road is going to end before we start walking down it. We’re like the wise guy who was walking through the cemetery and he read these lines on an old tombstone: Behold me now as you pass by. As you are now, so once was I. As I am now soon you will be. Prepare for death and follow me. To which the wise guy quickly replied: To follow you I won’t consent until I know which way you went.1 To pray to God about our life plan is precisely when Gamaliel’s question becomes relevant. We agree to be led by God’s plan and serve Christ faithfully wherever that may lead us. But how are we to know whether a plan is of our own spirit or of God’s spirit?
Here are two quick pointers to try and answer that critical question. First, if the still, small voice you hear inside you says things like “There’s nothing you can do here to make things better. You’re not the right person to help out, so why get involved?” that is not God’s voice you’re hearing. Honestly, would the God of all creation, who loves us so much that God sent Christ to die for us, be the one to tell us, “You can’t do anything here so why even try”? If ever there was someone who sticks up for the underdog, who surprises us with new possibilities, who believes in us more deeply than anyone else in the world, it is God! God knows that there is always, always something you can do in every situation to shed light where there’s darkness and bring hope where there’s despair. It might involve an action; it might involve prayer; but you are never, ever helpless and without a way to make things better. And so for Gamaliel’s question: God’s plans are the ones that lead you forward; they are never the ones that tell you to bury your treasure, hide your light, or strangle the seeds of faith God planted in you.
Second, from the other end of the spectrum, if the still, small voice you hear inside you says things like “You want this and this and that to happen and I’m sure God does too,” that is probably not God’s voice you’re hearing. There is no shortage of voices in the world telling you to be more spiritual and holy. Sadly, those same voices too often suggest that God doesn’t want anything for us different from what we already want for ourselves.2 This church could fill its pews by insisting that God only exists to confirm your every personal want and desire, but we’d lose our soul in the process.
The spiritual voices we should listen to remind us that we are not fundamentally free. Our lives have been drastically affected by where, when, and to whom we were born: male, female, black, white, young, old, born in America, Haiti, Larimer, Mt. Lebanon. The truer spiritual voices remind us that we are not truly free to act as we ought in this world, both by circumstance and inclination. We are all captive to fears, anxieties, pride, greed, lust, and prejudice. So the last voice we should be listening to is the one insisting that God is the God of the Status Quo – that we always know what is best for ourselves and Jesus rose from the dead simply to make sure we are free to pursue our own version of happiness. Rather the faithful voice we should heed is the one that says, “Let me show you a better way. With me you will find healing; with me we will work for change. I have come to set you free.” Back to Gamaliel’s question: God’s plans lead us forward and set us free – free to love, free to not be defined by the limits of this world, free to work sacrificially, extravagantly, implausibly, passionately for the salvation of this world each and every day of our God-given lives on earth.
God’s plans were unfolding in those days after Easter long ago. Gamaliel recognized it and wisely knew that every other plan must give way to God’s plans. God’s plan is unfolding in your life in these days after Easter. So boldly, joyfully pray the prayer of Easter season: Lord, what is your plan for this chapter of my life? Speak and I will listen. Lead and I will follow. Lord, hear my prayer.”
AMEN