Church of the Holy City

A Garment of Praise

A Garment of Praise
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
Easter 2014
April 20, 2014

Isaiah 61:1-3 John 21:1-14 Psalm 136

Jesus was resurrected in the spring. There are several reasons for His resurrection in the spring. First, in spring all of nature is reborn from the death of winter. Second, the Jewish Passover is celebrated at the same time and Passover is a celebration of liberation from slavery. Jesus’ life and resurrection liberates the whole human race from the bondage of sin.
Nature celebrates the resurrection of the Lord with budding blossoms and flowers, and the warming of the weather. All the world rejoices in the resurrection of Jesus. The world comes alive with new life, even as Jesus gives new life to all who come to Him. The world dies in the winter, when all is covered with snow and the temperatures are without warmth. This corresponds to Christ’s death and the time when He is in the tomb. Then, in the spring, nature comes back alive and we celebrate Christ’s resurrection and the new life He brings to all seekers.
Springtime is also the time of the Jewish Passover. Passover is a celebration of the time when God delivered the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. This is a historical fact. But deliverance from slavery assumes symbolic meaning when we consider the resurrection. The New Testament records that Jesus ate the Passover meal with His disciples just before His betrayal. So the crucifixion and resurrection occur at just about the same time as does Passover. Even as the Passover celebrates freedom of the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt, so Jesus’ resurrection frees us from the bondage of sin and brokenness. Because Jesus overcame the forces of darkness, He can give the whole of humanity life and love from His resurrected Divine Humanity.
This is why I selected the passage from Isaiah for this morning’s Old Testament reading. It was probably written during the Israelites’ release from Babylonian bondage. So it refers to another historical fact of deliverance from bondage. But if this passage may have been written during the release from Babylonian captivity, it is also a metaphor for release from all oppression–including psychological and spiritual oppression. Isaiah’s prophesy is indeed general enough to cover spiritual and psychological distress. He preaches, “Good news to the poor.” God sends him, “To bind up the brokenhearted,” “to proclaim freedom for the captives and release for the prisoners,” “to comfort all who mourn.” The prophet brings, “The oil of gladness instead of mourning,” “a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:1, 2, 3). While these hopeful words can be applied to Israelites being released from the bondage of Babylon, their meaning goes beyond that specific historical event. The prophet will bind up the brokenhearted, comfort those who mourn, preach gladness instead of mourning, and praise to salve despair. These words are for all people, when they turn to God. And Jesus uses this same passage to describe His coming on the earth. In Luke 4, Jesus reads this passage in a synagogue and says that it is fulfilled “Today in your hearing.” Since He had just read the scripture, Jesus was pointing to Himself as the one who would do all those liberating things. So the historical facts of the liberation of the Israelites first from Egypt and second from Babylon become symbols for the liberating power of the risen Jesus Christ.
For we are all in need of liberation from the bondage of sin. We are all in need of a Savior. “All we like sheep have gone astray.” The horrors of human brokenness were apparent in the events of Good Friday. Humanity in a frenzy of mob violence sent an innocent Man to a horrible death. We have to capacity to injure others, to hurt others, or simply to ignore others when we are consumed with selfish desires. When we do anything harmful to others, to the least of God’s children, we are doing it to God. For Jesus is in each one of us, and each human being is a branch on the vine of Jesus’ loving community.
But Jesus is always calling to us, and has the power to bring us all into loving community with Himself. That is the message of Isaiah and of the resurrection. Jesus will heal the brokenhearted, will comfort those who mourn, will fill us with praise instead of despair, and anoint us with the oil of gladness instead of mourning.
I chose the reading from John for a reason. It is one of the more intimate resurrection stories. Jesus provides for the disciples a miraculous catch of fish–so great that they have to tow it back to shore behind their boat. This is an image of the countless good things that God will fill our life with, when we come to Him. This is why the Psalmist says that his cup runneth over. To those who come to Jesus, it will feel like our hearts are overflowing.
And what I like most about this story is what happens when the apostles come ashore. They find a fire of coals burning with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus asks the disciples to bring some of the fish they have caught to cook. Then Jesus says, “Come and have breakfast.” Jesus gives the apostles bread and fish and they eat breakfast together around the fire. This strikes me as an early kind of Holy Communion. It is a holy meal eaten in the very presence of God. As at the last supper, Jesus gives the apostles their food and they all eat together. I can just picture the breakfast. All sitting around a campfire in open nature beside the sea. There is a special mood that comes over me every time I am at a campfire. It is an intimate feeling. We sit together, enjoying each others’ company and watching the crackling fire. Even without the ritual and the church elements of bread and wine, the intimacy of campfires wherever they are makes for a kind of holy communion.
The early Christian churches were just that. Followers of Jesus who would come together to share a common meal together. As they were eating, they would tell stories that they remembered of Jesus’ life and His teachings. These were called “Love Feasts.”
In fact, Jesus gave little instruction as to how He wanted the church to be. Whether it is God’s will that the church grow up into the world institution that it has become is an interesting question. The Protestant Reformers thought that there was too much in the church that was man-made, not ordained by God. They rebelled against the Catholic institutions of their time. But the Protestant Churches have also grown into man-made structures, too. We are a long way from the common love feasts of the early church. We are a long way from merely sitting down to share a meal and stories about Jesus. Maybe we need to go back.
Today we see numbers in present churches dwindling. And yet we see that there are many spiritual people who do not align themselves with a denomination. Religious literacy is dramatically low. And yet culture is so filled with Christian ideals that I think that Jesus’ message survives. I think of a Canadian songwriter who sings about love. Some of the lyrics are, “One thing I know for sure/Loving one another is the only cure” (Lestor Quitzau/Mae Moore). And who can forget the Beatles, “All you need is love.” And Leonard Cohen writes spiritual music that reaches millions and millions of people. One such mega-hit was simply a chant of “Alleluia.” These songs, and songs like them, carry us back to the core message of Jesus Christ. It is the message of love. There are other cultural institutions that are replete with Christian ideals–such as social services, food banks, equal rights movements, universal health care, and so many other cultural expressions of Christian teachings about love and care for the neighbor. These songs and these social institutions carry us back to the experience of Jesus and His ministry on earth. And each time we help someone else–be it as a society or individually–it is as if we are sitting down to enjoy a common meal together with Jesus, with or without the campfire.

PRAYER

Lord, we give you heartfelt thanks. For you came to us when we had strayed far from your precepts. Your came to us when we were in darkness and you brought us light. You came to us and healed us. You were tempted as every human is, and you overcame hell. The forces of darkness thought that they had silenced you in your death. But you rose body and soul and are still present to us in your glorified Divine Humanity. The force of light that comes from you is unstoppable. No evil force can stand before the goodness and love that you are. You have performed the greatest miracle ever when you conquered death, to rise on Easter Day. And your resurrection from the grave is a promise that each one of us will rise, too, and come into your kingdom. To you we give our heartfelt thanks.

Lord, we pray for those who are sick. Send your healing love to those ailing, and comfort their family and friends. Lord, we ask for the grace of your healing love for all in need.

And Lord, we pray for peace in this broken world. Be with the people who are suffering in unjust regimes. Heal the nations of their conflicts. Let all peoples see that they are alike in wanting what is good for their country and for themselves. Where there is misunderstanding, grant that there be recognition of our common humanity. Bring your peaceable kingdom here to this broken world.