The Unity of the Early Church
The Unity of the Early Church
Year after year, those of us who attend church weekly hear the same stories over and over at certain times of the year. Last week, we heard of the Resurrection. On December 24th, we heard of the birth of Jesus. And today, the second Sunday of Easter, we hear the story of doubting Thomas.
We don’t know a lot about Thomas; he was not one of the four core disciples – Peter, Andrew, James, and John. But we might place him in that second group that are mentioned a few times, along with Philip. Here’s a few things we know about Thomas:
He was a twin. His name means “Twin” or “The Twin”. We don’t know anything about his brother, who may have died shortly after birth – in the old days, many times the weaker twin died before hospitals developed techniques to help weaker newborns.
Thomas speaks earlier a couple of times in the Gospel of John, when, as Jesus is leaving for the Bethany area to resurrect Lazarus, despite the fact that the people of the area tried to stone Jesus on their last visit, Thomas says, “We might as well go too so we may die with him.”
And then, the night of the Last Supper, when Jesus says he is going to prepare a place for his followers, Thomas says, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
From these two passages, we get the idea that Thomas is a straight-shooter, but a bit of a smart Alec. He gets to the heart of the matter and says what’s on his mind.
On the evening of the Resurrection, the disciples gathered together – except for Thomas. Jesus appeared to them, spoke with them, breathed the Holy Spirit upon them, and gave them the power to forgive sins or not forgive sins – a power we have today.
You know, we underestimate this power that we have to change the world around us. For there are many people who are walking around, carrying tremendous burdens of guilt for the sins they believe they have committed.
A woman feels guilty because she didn’t push her husband to go to the hospital soon enough – a man may feel just as guilty for not helping his wife enough when she was ill. An adult child feels guilt about not visiting a parent often enough. The parent feels guilty about mistakes they made raising the child. A young mother feels guilty when her children injure themselves, because she let them run around at the playground. Another parent feels guilt about forcing the child to go to school, where they are bullied, or for homeschooling them, because they missed out on some sport. A man feels guilt for things he has done to his wife; the wife feels guilt about things she said to her husband. Friends feel guilty about words and actions that have hurt friends. Everyone feels guilty about mistakes they’ve made that they later learned were against God’s Law.
And so, people find themselves alone in their shame, anxious that someone will find out what they have done and accuse them.
But we have the power to forgive on behalf of God and Christ. Jesus gave us that power and authority. For He knows that the people of this world need forgiveness. The ordinary people of the world never forgive. Yet we have the power to forgive sins.
In our Holy Communion service, the first thing we do is to pray to God and apologize as a group for many things we have done wrong. Then, we take time to speak to God privately, praying for ourselves or another. And then, the glorious point – we are forgiven! Our forgiveness is declared!
And this is not just words – Jesus gave his disciples – and thus, us – the power to forgive sins. Our problem is believing that our sins can be forgiven. But Jesus said that first Resurrected Sunday, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Don’t you believe Jesus? Don’t you believe that he can give that power to us?
Let’s go back a step. Before his crucifixion, Jesus repeatedly made statements such as “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). He used the holy name in a way that was thought to be claiming to be God by the Jews who heard him when he said repeatedly, “I AM” such-and-such, which was simply not done in those days. And the people understood that he was claiming to be God on the earth – or at the very least, to be in tight communion with God the Father. And so, when he was raised from the dead, that was God the Father confirming and ratifying that Jesus was telling the truth. God would not have raised a liar or a lunatic – but God raised Jesus from the dead. And so, we can believe that anything Jesus said is the Truth. In fact, He even said, “I AM the way and the TRUTH, and the life.”
And so, when Jesus says, “ If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”, we need to believe this. And if we are going to “love your neighbor as yourself” – when we speak to our neighbors, friends, and relatives – forgive the sins they confess to you – even if the sin did not hurt you, for it is hurting them. For sins always hurt more than one person – the sinner and at least someone else, even if indirectly.
Thomas was not there that evening, and did not hear this command and this granting of power. Where was he? Perhaps he was overcome by grief and fear, even more than the other disciples. Perhaps he had given up and found a large jug of wine. Perhaps he just needed time away to be alone, to think, to see what else he could do with his life now that his Rabbi was dead – the man that he had thought would overthrow the hated Romans. Whatever the reason, Thomas was missing in action that first evening.
But the other disciples found him that week and told him the news. Typically, Thomas told them straight out – “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.” Did he think they were trying to pull a prank on him, like young men do, even if it was in poor taste? But he agreed to join the disciples the next Sunday evening at the upper room.
And then Jesus appeared again. After greeting the disciples, he turned to Thomas and said, “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!” When faced with the facts, Thomas believed. In fact, Thomas is the first person recorded as declaring that Jesus is God.
And now the disciples were united once again. The Eleven all now believed.
In our call to worship, taken from Psalm 133, the unity of the people is encouraged. “How very good and pleasant it is when the people live together in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon were falling upon Mount Zion For there the LORD ordained his blessing, life forevermore.”
This psalm refers back to the anointing of Aaron as the first high priest of Israel, a lavish ceremony when valuable olive oil was poured on Aaron’s head – not a couple of drops, but an extravagant amount, like would later be poured on Jesus’ head by Mary of Bethany.
It then refers to the dew of Mount Hermon, the highest mountain in the holy land, part of what we today call the Golan Heights. The dew of Mount Hermon brought water to much of the rest of Israel, flowing into the fresh water Sea of Galilee and then down the Jordan Valley, like the snowfall and rain in the mountains of California supplies life-giving water to the entire state. This psalm is picture of extravagant joy – “when the people live together in unity!” It is a picture also of the early church!
Look what began to happen because of their unity, according to Luke, who wrote the Book of Acts: “32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.”
The Apostle John, many years later, looked back and wrote a letter known as I John to various churches, because there was creeping into the stories of Jesus the idea that the disciples had seen a spirit or ghost of Jesus. John was very clear about what he had seen:
“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.”
Just as John began his Gospel speaking of Jesus as the Word of God made flesh, in this letter, he wants us to know two things: Jesus was the Word of God that brings life, and that John had seen and touched Jesus in the flesh.
“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 joy complete.”
John goes on to tell us that he is in fellowship with God the Father and with God the Son, who is Jesus the Christ – Jesus who is the Messiah, for that is what the Greek work Christ means.
Fellowship is a word we use a lot around the church. What it means is a bit stronger than friendship – it almost means family. The thousand year old college of Oxford uses the word to describe those men and women who regularly teach at the college – they are “fellows” of the college, almost like in a tight-knit family-owned business, the long-time employees of the business who have lunch together and vacation together and spend Friday evenings together are almost family.
John wants us to know that he is that close to God the Father and God the Son – and that fellowship is open to us – with one condition. John says, “ If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,”
The picture is of a group of men and women who hold each other to high standards of behavior. But the reward is that we can sit down and talk with God the Father and Jesus the Son. And this, my friends, is why we speak of Christians as being “in communion” with each other. We trust each other to the point of sharing food with each other, which was a precious thing in ancient times.
John goes on to say: 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 is not in us.”
This passage is used by the Lutheran churches to introduce Holy Communion. In the same way, we begin Holy Communion with a common prayer of Confession.
We also emphasize our mutual friendship by sharing the peace of Christ – which is a time to apologize to each other for the hurts we have caused by saying “Peace be with you.” We repeat certain words together, because this reminds us of our common beliefs about Jesus the Son and God the Father. And then, we pray together the Lord’s Prayer, which is largely about forgiving each other of our trespasses, our sins, our debts to each other, as well as submitting to God’s will.
A core part of Holy Communion is the theme of unity, for when a group of believers is unified, we have the assembled power of the Holy Spirit burning in each of us. One Bread, One Body.Our individual gifts are magnified through the efforts of each other. And just like the disciples, and the early church – great things will happen.
And so, let us be unified in our desire to bring hundreds and thousands of people together in the love of Christ and the fellowship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Join me in this prayer:
Heavenly Father,
We ask today that you unite us in our desire to do your will.
We ask today that you bring us together in our actions to spread your fellowship.
We ask today that you show each of us our part in your great world mission.
And we ask that you would help us to be one in heart and mind, with your grace empowering us to accomplish great things for you in the time you give us in this life.
Pull us closer, Lord, to each other and closer to you.
This we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
And if you have not experienced Holy Communion recently, find a church which offers Communion, and join them in worship in person. Amen?