Christ has Risen! He has Risen INDEED! HALLELUJAH!!
We begin our journey through the Easter/Resurrection Season with the start of our series on the first Letter of St. John to the churches of Jesus Christ.
This Sunday we will look at how the Disciples went from "overjoyed" when they say the Lord that first Easter Sunday night, to John writing to all the churches so as to "make our joy complete!" Have you ever wondered what changed from the OVERJOYED TO COMPLETE JOY? We will look at this in the series: The BIG "SO WHAT?" of JOY!
In John 20: we see the Disciples on the night of the first Easter
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may[a] believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
These last few verses describe the purpose for which John wrote this Gospel and now we see the 1st Letter he writes to the churches, where in chapter 1 he states that:
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our[some manuscripts say YOUR] joy complete. 5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
So what happened between the OVERJOYED disciples of John 20 and the St. John who writes about 30 years or more later about making "our" or "your" JOY COMPLETE!
The word for COMPLETE is the Greek word: "Pleroo" or pronounced: "play-ro'-o"
Which means to be complete filled to overflowing. JOY is "Chara" Together it is the fulfillment of JOY. This is what John "the Elder" wanted to share with his family as he writes in 85-95 AD. He wants them to know that, as heresy is encircling the churches and some are following the ways of "Gnosticism" (which taught a secret knowledge that spirit was entirely good and matter entirely evil.) the truth would be revealed and JOY complete. The family of God to whom John is writing would had to deal the Docetism, from the Greek "dokeo" (to seem) which claimed Christ only seemed to have a body, (John's account of Thomas being invited to touch Jesus' hands and side blows this out of the water). The church also had to deal with Cerinthianism, named after the leading spokesman, Cerinthus. He taught that the Divine Christ joined the man, Jesus at his Baptism and left him before he died. Also the teaching the matter, or the body is evil and therefore what you do in the body is not sin, the Gnostic heresy led to licentiousness with horrible sinful things. This is the reason for the words in 1:8 "if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."
St. John will deal with these heresies and how the family of the church should live together in LOVE.
Today we see the fulfillment of JOY in the letter to set things straight among the family and we can understand that the disciples, "the 12," without Thomas or Judas would be as the Greek Word: "Chairo" states, rejoicing exceedingly in John 20:20 when our Resurrected Lord Jesus appears in the room and takes away darkness and fear to show them who HE is. They would definitely be OVERJOYED. I often think that this is the fulfillment of what Jesus promised on Maundy Thursday at the Seder (his Last Supper) when He said in John 16:22-24
22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. 23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. Sounds amazingly similar to what has happened.
May we be OVERJOYED as we experience HIS TRUE PRESENCE in worship, word and Sacrament together as HIS Family. I think John would agree it makes our joy complete.
Christ has risen! He has risen INDEED! HALLELUJAH! AMEN
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