Let No One Deceive You

Sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Pascha / Easter (RCL – Year B)
Offered by Nathan Ferrell at HS, Bellmawr & St. Luke’s, Westville

Texts: Acts 3:12-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48

I recently heard a story, from Bart Campolo, of a 14 year old boy in Philadelphia who had been sentenced to time in a rehabilitation program for violent juvenile offenders. He had shot and killed an innocent teenager to prove himself to his gang. At the trial, the victim’s mother sat impassively silent until the end, when the youth was convicted of the killing. After the verdict was announced, she stood up slowly and stared directly at the convicted boy and stated, “I’m going to kill you.” Then he was taken away to serve several years in the juvenile rehab facility.
After about six months, the mother of the slain child went to visit his killer. He had been living on the streets before the murder, and she was the only visitor that he had in jail. For a time they talked, and when she left she gave him a little money for cigarettes. Then she started step-by-step to visit him more regularly, bringing food and small gifts.
Near the end of his three-year sentence, she asked him what he would be doing when he got out. He was confused and very uncertain, so she offered to help set him up with a job at a friend’s company. Then she asked about where he would live. He had no family to return to, so she offered him the temporary use of the spare room in her home. For eight months he lived there, ate her food, and worked at the job that she found for him.
Then one evening she called him into the living room to talk. She sat down opposite him and waited for a moment, collecting herself. And then she said, “Do you remember in the courtroom when I said I was going to kill you?” “I sure do,” he replied. “I’ll never forget that moment.” “Well, I did it,” she went on. “I did it. I did not want the boy who could kill my son for no reason to remain alive on this earth. I wanted him to die. That’s why I started to visit you and bring you things. That’s why I got you the job and let you live here in my house. That’s how I set about changing you. And that old boy, he’s gone. So now I want to ask you, since my son is gone, and since that killer is gone, if you’ll stay here. I’ve got room and I’d like to adopt you as my own son if you let me.” And so she became the mother he never had, and he became the son whom she had lost.

During these great fifty days, we are celebrating the reality of our risen Lord and the new life that he has brought to humanity. During these days, we sing with joy, we proclaim the “alleluia”, we speak of the joy of the resurrection. This is good and right thing. But this does not simply do away with the pain and trials of life.

“Little children, let no one deceive you.” My friends, we need to be honest and to recognize that, though Christ is risen, though death and the powers of hell have been overcome, that evil still exerts much influence over our lives. Think about this poor mother who lost her son for no reason. None at all except for a stupid, nasty game played by other young boys.

2000 years after the incarnation and resurrection, after the coming of Christ into the world, this remains a dark and evil world. The power of Christ’s resurrection life has changed and transformed countless billions of human lives over the years. But it has not seemed to make much of a difference in the general direction of life on this planet. Even today, poverty inflicts unnecessary pain on billions of human souls. Recently I heard a news report of a densely populated region in central China that is the steel mill center for China’s rapid development. Among the people of this province, birth defects are 6 times higher than in the rest of the country. Through our own actions today, we are causing cancers and birth defects and new viruses that cause great harm, as well as causing mass extinctions of other species and changes to our entire global environment.

This world of humanity remains a dark, dark place. But it is precisely there that our Lord comes, dies and rises again.

My wife, Erin, is an artist, an oil painter. If you’ve ever watched an artist begin to work on a blank canvas, you will soon realize that a good, memorable painting requires multiple steps and layers to achieve the desired effect. Erin likes to paint with bold, bright colors. But before she can begin to use these colors, first the entire canvas or board must be covered with a dark brown or black base layer. Without this darkness beneath the painting, the colors will not be as bold and bright and noticeable.

Now think back to the mother over in the city who lost her son in a violent crime, and yet who gained an adopted son 3 years later. Nothing could ever replace the son that she lost. There is no way to explain away her pain, and we can never minimize it. And yet, out of this pain, new life has emerged. New hope, new possibilities.

We know with certainty that sin is detestable to God. What did we hear proclaimed today in John’s first letter? “No one who abides in God sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him.” God longs for us to live a life without sin, a life without lies or deception, anger or wrath, a life without violence or bloodshed, greed or selfishness. Sin breaks the heart of God and it causes us pain.

But the truth is that without our sin, then we would never know the new life that Christ brings to us now.
Without the pain of the cross, then the apostles would not have been struck with wonder and awe and joy when they encountered their Lord, now risen and alive in their midst.

Without the struggle of our lives, then we can never know the joy of victory, the peace that comes from accomplishment, the possibilities of a new beginning.

Let no one deceive you. In this midst of seeming darkness and struggle, new and full and abundant life is available through the risen Lord. Where do you see it springing up and bearing new fruit?

May the eyes of our faith ever be open to notice and to see our Lord as he goes about his redeeming work among us. Amen.