Lost and Found!
Commentary
The promise of the resurrection is not only for Jesus, but for all who are lost – we shall be found. In the Acts passage, the Holy Spirit is found to be already present among those once far off who are now found near. The outsiders Cornelius and his household are welcomed into the fellowship. Jeremiah pines for those lost northern tribes dragged away by the Assyrian conquerors. They will return. Paul in Colossians puts it plainly – Christ is revealed in our infirmities, in our death, in our shortcomings, in our lostness, and so we are found, so we are raised in Christ. Mary of Magdala is certain that the body of Jesus is lost – and her relationship with the Risen Christ is restored. And finally, the lost relationship with heaven is restored for those who lost out. “This message is for you,” the angel on the tomb announces to the women!
Acts 10:34-43 or Jeremiah 31:1-6
Jeremiah 31:5 reads: “Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy the fruit.”
When Jeremiah spoke these words to the exiles, predicting their restoration to their homeland, he did not foresee that during the intervening years between exile and return, the poor Israelites who remained and foreigners from afar who were themselves exiled to Samaria, would begin to think of themselves as God’s chosen. They became the group we call Samaritans, a group very similar but wholly other than the Israelites. These people would become enemies of each other. I wonder if some of those Judeans who revered Jeremiah’s words would reinterpret this verse as a prediction that one day, they would drive out the Samaritans and reclaim their land, and their holy mountain.
These words from our holy scriptures belong to us as well, and we have a chance to reinterpret ourselves as well. We are all being called into one family through Jesus Christ. Might we see these words as looking ahead to the reconciliation of age-old enemies? Luke recorded the parable of Jesus about the Samaritan rescuing the Judean who was beaten by robbers and left for dead. (No Judean of that time would have used the words “good” and “samaritan” in the same sentence. Jesus had no problem with that).
And then there’s the Samaritan woman who listened to what Jesus was really saying when he talked about living water, and engaged in true theological dialogue with Jesus instead of throwing slogans around. We might see here the resurrection of the one humanity lost with the Tower of Babel, and foreshadowed in the miracle of Pentecost where all heard the Good News in their own language. Maybe we shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria and enjoy the fruits because in the words of Lincoln, we will listen to the better angels of our nature and realize we are not enemies, but friends.
Colossians 3:1-4
Paul in Colossians puts it plainly – Christ is revealed in our infirmities, in our death, in our shortcomings, in our lostness, and so we are found, so we are raised in Christ. I don’t think this means when Paul says that resurrected believers are to “seek the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth…” he is not saying that we’re to forget the Sermon on the Mount. You will recall that after the resurrection, Jesus gave his apostles the assignment to go into all the nations. Resurrected people live in the kingdom of God, and live by the kingdom’s rules, turning the other cheek, ministering to “the least of these.”
If you take a look at the notes accompanying the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53-8:11), you will discover it appears in different manuscripts in different places in the New Testament – including after John 21:25. In other words, the resurrected Jesus is getting actively engaged with the controversies of the world. We too are to stand against injustice and hypocrisy, precisely because we are raised with Christ.
Matthew 28:1-10
Each of the four evangelists has something important to tell us about the resurrection. Matthew is alone in telling us something about the guard placed in front of the tomb. The guards had their attention pointed outward – they wanted to prevent people from breaking into the tomb. These were irregulars, temple guards perhaps, who liked holding a weapon or wearing an emblem giving them a level of importance, but these were not the Roman legionnaires who marched across and conquered the known world. They would never have expected that the danger would come from within the tomb, not without, that someone would be breaking out of the tomb, not breaking in. The appearance of the angel filled them with such fear that the men were struck with a shock so profound – God is real, the heavens intrude on earth, and on the side of the crucified Lord! – that they were like dead men! And of course, the women who had come to minister to the body of Jesus were frightened too, but this is where I want to focus on what the angel says to them – “Do not you be afraid!” This message is for those of us who are faithful to the crucified God when all seems lost, when the world has been turned upside down, when there seems to be no payoff for being on the side of Jesus. The world is being turned back right side up!
The angel closes with these words: “This is my message for you!” Any time you think you’re nobody, remember – you’re the somebody the angel is speaking to. You’re the soul that Jesus died and was raised for.
Acts 10:34-43 or Jeremiah 31:1-6
Jeremiah 31:5 reads: “Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy the fruit.”
When Jeremiah spoke these words to the exiles, predicting their restoration to their homeland, he did not foresee that during the intervening years between exile and return, the poor Israelites who remained and foreigners from afar who were themselves exiled to Samaria, would begin to think of themselves as God’s chosen. They became the group we call Samaritans, a group very similar but wholly other than the Israelites. These people would become enemies of each other. I wonder if some of those Judeans who revered Jeremiah’s words would reinterpret this verse as a prediction that one day, they would drive out the Samaritans and reclaim their land, and their holy mountain.
These words from our holy scriptures belong to us as well, and we have a chance to reinterpret ourselves as well. We are all being called into one family through Jesus Christ. Might we see these words as looking ahead to the reconciliation of age-old enemies? Luke recorded the parable of Jesus about the Samaritan rescuing the Judean who was beaten by robbers and left for dead. (No Judean of that time would have used the words “good” and “samaritan” in the same sentence. Jesus had no problem with that).
And then there’s the Samaritan woman who listened to what Jesus was really saying when he talked about living water, and engaged in true theological dialogue with Jesus instead of throwing slogans around. We might see here the resurrection of the one humanity lost with the Tower of Babel, and foreshadowed in the miracle of Pentecost where all heard the Good News in their own language. Maybe we shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria and enjoy the fruits because in the words of Lincoln, we will listen to the better angels of our nature and realize we are not enemies, but friends.
Colossians 3:1-4
Paul in Colossians puts it plainly – Christ is revealed in our infirmities, in our death, in our shortcomings, in our lostness, and so we are found, so we are raised in Christ. I don’t think this means when Paul says that resurrected believers are to “seek the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth…” he is not saying that we’re to forget the Sermon on the Mount. You will recall that after the resurrection, Jesus gave his apostles the assignment to go into all the nations. Resurrected people live in the kingdom of God, and live by the kingdom’s rules, turning the other cheek, ministering to “the least of these.”
If you take a look at the notes accompanying the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53-8:11), you will discover it appears in different manuscripts in different places in the New Testament – including after John 21:25. In other words, the resurrected Jesus is getting actively engaged with the controversies of the world. We too are to stand against injustice and hypocrisy, precisely because we are raised with Christ.
Matthew 28:1-10
Each of the four evangelists has something important to tell us about the resurrection. Matthew is alone in telling us something about the guard placed in front of the tomb. The guards had their attention pointed outward – they wanted to prevent people from breaking into the tomb. These were irregulars, temple guards perhaps, who liked holding a weapon or wearing an emblem giving them a level of importance, but these were not the Roman legionnaires who marched across and conquered the known world. They would never have expected that the danger would come from within the tomb, not without, that someone would be breaking out of the tomb, not breaking in. The appearance of the angel filled them with such fear that the men were struck with a shock so profound – God is real, the heavens intrude on earth, and on the side of the crucified Lord! – that they were like dead men! And of course, the women who had come to minister to the body of Jesus were frightened too, but this is where I want to focus on what the angel says to them – “Do not you be afraid!” This message is for those of us who are faithful to the crucified God when all seems lost, when the world has been turned upside down, when there seems to be no payoff for being on the side of Jesus. The world is being turned back right side up!
The angel closes with these words: “This is my message for you!” Any time you think you’re nobody, remember – you’re the somebody the angel is speaking to. You’re the soul that Jesus died and was raised for.
