Easter 5 B – 04 28 2024

In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for his departure. This part of the Farewell Discourses. Jesus knows he will be going home, and he wants his disciples to be prepared. This is a pastoral moment, reminding them that they will not be alone, as he says “I am the vine and you are the branches.

Vine and branches – connected to each other. They are intertwined to the point that you have to work hard to tell one from the other. Jesus and his disciples are best friends. This sounds so good until Verse 2 comes along. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 

Notice Jesus says that if the disciples are bearing no fruit, the branch is totally removed. It is those who are bearing fruit that will be pruned in order to bear more fruit. The disciples have already been bearing fruit, thus Jesus wants them to continue.

This is true, in order for new buds to form there needs to be trimming or cutting off. How many flowers do you have to cut off once they have bloomed and begin to wilt, before new ones can form and grow? Just like the Easter flowers that I have at home.

Jesus actually says that any branch that does not bear fruit needs to be cut off. Wait a minute does this mean that Jesus is letting his disciples know that as they continue without him that they will be expected to continue changing? I believe so. At this time, they don’t know what those changes will look like. Throughout their life with Jesus, what they have been taught and had been doing has come into question.

His disciples had questioned him as he continued to reframe their faith. Jesus was letting them know that he wouldn’t be there physically ready to answer the way that he had been. At the same time, he was reassuring them that he would not be leaving them alone.

You see Jesus says, this cutting off or pruning is not what cleanses you, but it is the word that he has spoken to them that cleanses. He says I know that you are scared of this pruning or cutting off, but it is not about your salvation, rather it is about bearing fruit. When you abide in me and I in you an d do the cutting or pruning, you will bear fruit, people will see me in you.

Cutting and pruning means change and I doubt the disciples were looking forward to it, but yet what had they been doing since they began to follow Jesus. Jesus had been reframing the law that they had learned. Jesus had been teaching that in order to love one another, meant that one would need to change their way of thinking and their actions.

The disciples had been doing it, but did not always find it easy. It often went against the culture and government’s laws. They were often in a difficult spot and as we move into the early church, sometimes they were jailed or stoned.

There are times in our lives that we are challenged to make changes that are not easy. Jesus is letting his disciples know that without cutting or pruning or making changes that they would not remain connected to him and would not be bearing more fruit. When we are not connected to him we began to die and lose the strength that we receive from him.

This cutting or pruning is not something that we do by ourselves. Jesus doesn’t say, “I’m going to sit and watch you stumble through fear while you see the change that could be made or make attempts to do it as Jesus knows that not one of us can make changes on our own. Jesus says apart from him, we can do nothing.

Unfortunately, my call here is to stir the pot and ask questions, as well as make suggestions on how to do things differently. This may make you feel uncomfortable. Although, my job is not to force you to do something.

There have been a number of events recently that people just expect to happen the way that they have always been done. If I don’t know how they have been done, they may not happen the same way. The seven last words of the church are “We’ve never done it that way before.

Each one of us and this includes me gets used to something always happening the same way and it make us feel comfortable. We know what to expect. When someone suggests or actually does something differently we may squirm in uncomfortableness.

A friend of mine is a pastor at a church where they said they are church of the future because they have a church in the round and have chairs that they can move around. That is no longer new, thus it is not the future. They also said that they are open to change, but when the pastor moved something in the worship space, people were up in arms and said that’s not what we are comfortable with, and it really had to go back the way it was.

Change is often more difficult in churches, especially when you have been attending the same church for a while. It’s a place where you just want to come and breathe a sigh of relief that you can come and worship or attend an event and you know what to expect. How ever it was done in prior years is what you have come to expect.

I can tell you that change is not easy as I have made many changes over the past few years. It is even harder to be the one who is called to suggest changes. I do not like to see people uncomfortable, but we learn in our training that entering into someone else’s uncomfortableness is not healthy for me or them. It is important for me to acknowledge it. I find joy in seeing light bulbs go on and changes are made to bring more health or as Jesus says bear fruit.

What allows us to make changes are staying connected to Jesus. The Greek word for abide is meno which means residing or dwelling in. Jesus dwells within us and this is connection. Jesus told his disciples how many times not to be afraid. When the pot stirrer is working and questioning and making suggestions, I challenge you to go and talk to Jesus about it.

So often when we begin feeling uncomfortable, we try and handle it on our own and this is when we get disconnected from Jesus. Jesus can speak through others, but we must be careful who we talk to. If we go and talk to someone who cannot listen objectively, then Jesus has a more difficult time speaking to you.

A healthy listener is not someone who tells you what you want to hear or tells you what to do. A healthy listener will help you discover options and as a result may help you find the one that is the healthiest, not always the easiest for you. Life is not easy, and we get tired. Change takes time and energy and there is only so much that we can handle at one time.

Hear the good news today, we are not alone when we are challenged to make changes. Jesus says that he is the true vine and we are the branches. Jesus abides, dwells, resides in each one of us. When we run from change, from pruning or cutting, Jesus says that we begin to lose our connection with him as we are trying to manage life on our own.

Jesus says recognize that I abide, reside, dwell in us as well as my words, when we recognize this, God is glorified, and we will bear more fruit as we allow Jesus to do the cutting and pruning This is how others will see Jesus in us and people will know that we are Jesus’ disciples.

Let us pray: Loving God thank you for sending Jesus to abide with us. Your cutting and pruning, making changes is not easy for us. Even though we see its necessity, we still want to run from it or try and ignore it. May your Holy Spirit help us to see what needs to change in our lives and life of our church in order for us to bear more fruit and that others will see that we are your disciples. In Jesus name, Amen

This is a special musical presentation of Partnership of Faith by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Luke 24:45-48

But what had to happen in order for the disciples’ minds to be opened? Jesus had first addressed them with ‘Peace be with you’. This peace in Hebrew is shalom. Shalom is more than just no stress or anxiety. It is about a well-being from the inside out. Jesus was sharing his peace with them and inviting them into it.

As a community of faith, we experience anxiety especially in times of transition and change. We have been getting to know each other. There was an initial meeting by zoom with the council. My live introduction to you was the weekend of the Green Team Sunday last April. I had met some of the leadership on that Saturday night. I was introduced to the congregation, and I believe I read a lesson and participated in the distribution of Holy Communion.

Oh yes, I sang with the choir. After the service was a congregational meeting. While the congregation voted I waited in the library. I waited and waited, and it may have been Addie who went by on her way out and gave me a thumbs up. Thus, it was a positive vote. I thought it was okay then to go back out to meet those who were going out to lunch with me.

There was a bit of anxiety until I had the thumbs up. This is all normal. We can say God’s will be done, but as humans there can always be doubt or anxiety. We have taken this time of transition on together and are making great progress.

The transition team has reviewed the demographics provided for us by Pastor David Sprang from our synod staff. Thanks to Rich, we are able to see those demographics scrolling in the narthex. We have also been formulating our gifts from our “Conversation With the Congregation”. This past week a few members of the Transition Team met with Katie Love to hear more specifically about the needs of our community. At our next team meeting we will formulate goals to present to you on Sunday, May 5.

This takes a great deal of work, but our transition team is working hard through this process. We continue to learn, and many connections are being made as our system here is beginning to reform. This will mean changes, but it is still a work in process. This can create anxiety, and this is normal. Without some anxiety or doubt, we don’t ask the questions in which to learn about ourselves and God’s will.

Let’s see what Jesus used to calm the anxieties of the disciples. We already mentioned the shalom peace that he offered to them. They thought Jesus was a ghost and he said look at my hands and my feet. Touch me and see, if you need to, as a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.

Jesus could see that they were still not sure, even though there was some joy expressed. Thus, he asked them for a piece of fish that was prepared over a fire. They had had many meals with Jesus. One that they probably remembered was the feeding of the 5,000 men, besides women and children where there was 5 loaves and 2 fish.

Also, the story before our Gospel lesson this morning, is the Walk to Emmaus where Jesus broke bread at the end of the day and their hearts were burning as they had experienced Jesus’ presence. They knew in that familiar meal, that this was Jesus, their risen Messiah. It is in the familiar that that they and we find peace in the midst of anxiety.

Consider what we do here on Sunday morning. We hear the Word and receive the sacrament, Jesus. This is where we can find peace. It is familiar. It is one place where we encounter Jesus through Word, Sacrament, music and each other. This is why if there are too many things different in worship we feel a little uncomfortable. I’m not saying it isn’t healthy for us to do new things, but too many at one time and our uncomfortableness can become a hinderance in having open minds to understand the scriptures.

Jesus also reminded the disciples of what they had learned from their Jewish faith through the law given to Moses, the prophets, the Psalms and what Jesus, himself had taught them. He said, thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and the repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Jesus tells them that they are witnesses of these things.

Again, Jesus was bringing the familiar stories back to their memories. He was pointing out that what he said would happen to him had happened. Then in a sense we have Luke’s Great commission. Now it is the disciple’s call to proclaim in Jesus’ name repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations beginning with Jerusalem.

They are called to be witnesses or a record of these things that they have learned, seen and experienced. This does not mean that they won’t have anxiety and doubts, but that their minds will be more open to understand the scriptures in the light of the resurrected Jesus. Jesus had been reframing the law given to Moses and the prophets in all of his teaching.

The Greek word for understand is soon-ee'-ay-mee which means to bring together, which for the disciples meant everything that they learned in their Jewish faith and what Jesus had been teaching them. It is about seeing how all of it connects. This could only begin to happen when they could trust Jesus.

That is when anxiety decreases, when we realize that there is a person whom we can trust. Is that not the reason we come here on Sunday to be reminded of how much God loves all people? Even though we may have heard the Biblical stories before through our three year lectionary cycle, when our minds are open we can hear something different every time.

This is the process that the transition team is going through and which you have been invited into and have participated. Remember I just said that connections were being made as we processed through Who we are, in other words how God has gifted us; and Who our neighbor is by reviewing demographics and meeting with Katie, and now we are working on What is God calling us to do.

The more open that we are, the more that God in Jesus Christ can reveal to us. There is an energy here that the Holy Spirit is creating to move forward. It can be exciting and yet create anxiety all at the same time. The key is for us, as it was for the disciples, is whom we place our trust.

We come back again to where is our mind and heart are focused. Today we gather to sing praises, hear the Word and share in the sacrament. I always believe that Jesus has something for us to hear every time that we gather together. How much we hear is based on letting go of those things that bring us anxiety. Jesus greets us today with ‘Peace be with you’. He offers us shalom, inviting us to rest in him.

We are challenged, as the disciples were to go out and be witnesses to that which we have heard and experienced here. Being witnesses is tapping into the source which is in within us.

Then he opened our minds to understand the scriptures, and he says to us, “You have heard the message that was written, that the Messiah was to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins was to be proclaimed in his name to our neighbors, beginning in Okemos, Williamston and….. Jesus says to us today you are my witnesses.

Let us pray: Great God you have called us to be witnesses here in this place and neighborhood. May your Spirit continue to help us rest in your peace that our anxiety and doubt may be in the background that our minds may be open to understand your scriptures and your direction for us. You give us what we need to do your ministry here in this place, in our neighborhood. May your Spirit continually help us to tap into the tools and the energy that you provide for us to be your witnesses. In Jesus’ name, Amen

This is a special musical presentation of Gaelic Alleluia by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of Run, Mary, Run by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

In a few of the churches that I have served for a period of times during worship, people were given an opportunity to share God moments. God moments were where they had seen God at work in the past week. Another way we can ask the question is to ask, “Where have you seen Jesus this past week?”

Often, what we hear and see news today it is often negative, it doesn’t help  through the day. It may make us angry, sad or depressed. We know the news does not always give us the good news. Although, at the end of a broadcast and sometimes only on Fridays, they do share a good news story.

As Christians, it is important for us to stay connected to Jesus and one hour a week does not do it. We are bombarded with so many different things even in a day. There are family issues, work issues, school issues, health issues, whatever group we may belong to will have some issues or negativity.

In this Easter season, in order to experience and be connected to our risen Savior, I challenge us to ask this question at the end of every day, “Where have I seen Jesus today?” What a positive and healthy way of connecting with Jesus at the end of the day.

It may be much easier to hand all of those things that have stressed us out during the day over to Jesus. By asking this question, the answer can remind us that we were not alone during the day. Jesus was there walking beside us and in us. Could this be where the peace comes in?

In our gospel lesson today, we find the disciples locked in a room for fear of the Jewish authorities. Just as we made it clear on Good Friday, it was the Jewish authorities who enforce they what they feel was God’s law. We can’t lump everyone into a category.

In the Gospel of John, the disciples had heard that Jesus had risen from Mary Magdelene. Peter and the other disciple, who may have been John, ran to the tomb and saw what Mary Magdelene had seen. It says the other disciple believed and they went back home.

Since they had not seen Jesus, they still didn’t know how the Jewish authorities were going to respond to this. They could be out looking for the disciples. Jesus knew that they needed to have some tangible evidence that he had risen. Thus, he appeared to them through the locked doors.

Jesus first words were, “Peace be with you”. He then showed them his hands and side. At that point the disciples believed it was Jesus and they rejoiced. Jesus said to the again, “Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me, so I send you”. He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” In a sense this is John’s account of the coming of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit, the part of the trinity that would live within them and empower and guide them in continuing Jesus work on earth. There was one disciple missing, Thomas. We don’t know exactly what he was out doing, but even if he was fearful, it didn’t stop him from going outside the doors.

When Thomas returned, the disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”. Thomas said, “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”. He has often received the nickname , ‘the doubter’. But was he really any different than the other disciples? He had even gone outside the locked room.

Jesus came back at that point and offered to let Thomas touch his hands and side and said do not doubt, but believe. Thomas made a statement of faith, “My Lord and my God!”. The other disciples rejoiced, but had still not left the room. Jesus did not have to come back, he could have relied on the other disciples, but Jesus knew that Thomas needed this reconnection.

Thomas is not any different than any other follower of Jesus. It was and is hard to believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead. It is hard to believe that Jesus takes the time to love each person on this earth. It really is a divine thing and definitely not humanly possible.

It is when we doubt that we begin to ask questions and can begin to learn and grow. We can learn things by rote, but then they are only facts and often do not sink in as reality for fus. What do we usually say, “The only stupid question, is the one that is not asked”. Jesus knew his disciples were questioning his resurrection, thus he came to them and was commissioning them to continue his work.

He knew they were fearful and would not be able to continue his work unless he reassured them that he had risen and was still there for him. They need his peace to break down the walls of fear. It was in their reconnection with Jesus that the walls of fear began to be broken down and they once again experienced his peace.

We are no different. There are days that we struggle to experience Jesus and receive his peace. Sometimes we need to look for Jesus activity in our world. Jesus does and will come to us as we seek him. Jesus knew his disciples were seeking him and his peace to begin to break down their walls of fear.

Our Lutheran theology says that we cannot even come to Jesus on our own. Luther’s explanation to the first article of the Apostle’s Creed says that – I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy, and kept me in the true faith.

Thus, I believe the Holy Spirit is prompting us to ask questions and draw us closer to Jesus. The Holy Spirit can help us break down our walls of fear in order to experience Jesus and his peace. Thankfully we are not on our own. Jesus model for us was to let go and realize that it is not all about us.

As followers of the resurrected Christ, I challenge each of us to find or continue finding a few minutes every morning to remember who we are and whose we are. In reality, remembering our baptism at the beginning of worship during the Easter season, helps us remember who we are and whose we are.

I have chosen a few verse from next week’s Gospel lesson for us to recite every morning or at some point during the day.

⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, ⁴⁶ and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day ⁴⁷ and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. Luke 24:45-48 NRSVU Please detach this from your bulletin to use this week.

Then at the end of the day ask the question “Where did I see Jesus at work?” I would be happy to hear them. Please e-mail them to me. The Holy Spirit will be with us to encourage us and help us to see Jesus at work. This is what will bring Jesus’ peace to our lives. Doing these things will help us stay connected to Jesus and not get bogged down in the crap of our world.

Let us pray, Gracious God you are always wanting to connect with us. You came down to earth through your son Jesus. He continues to model for us how to connect. Today we were reminded that your Holy Spirit is always with us to help us be connected to you. We thank you for this as we cannot do it on our own. May your Spirit prompt us to read the Bible verse at least at the beginning of the day and to help us reflect at the end of the day where we have seen you at work in us and others. In Jesus name, Amen.