In the Late Apostolic period of the Church, Easter was thought of as a Season not just a day. This Season was known as the Great Fifty Days of Easter. This Easter Season began with Easter Sunday and continued until Pentecost. The number fifty reflecting the Year of Jubilee when all things were set back to God's original intent for Israel. This speaks to us that the Salvation work of Jesus has set right all things restoring God's original intent for humanity.
“Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord”. (20)
In the very early Church Easter was not thought of as
simply one day on which the resurrection of Jesus is to be observed, rather,
the early Church saw Easter as a season of fifty days which began with the
glorious resurrection and culminates with the manifesting of the Holy Spirit on
the Day of Pentecost which is found in the Book of Acts:2
The Jubilee Year
This was in part because the early Christians wanted to
emphasis that our lives were to be lived out in light of the resurrection of
the humanity of Jesus and that the number fifty was drawn from and chosen from
the Old Covenant Jubilee Year which restored all things back to the way that
the Lord God had always intended for the people of Israel. Lev:
25:11-13
This Jubilee Years occurred every fifty years, so the
number fifty was chosen to demonstrate that living in light of the glorified
Jesus was what the Lord God had always intended for his human children; this
means that, when we come to hear the Gospel message and believe it and come to
see that Jesus is the Son of God and embrace that truth, we enter into what the
Jubilee Year only hinted at, which is life lived in and with the risen Christ.
This is the way it was always intended to be.
Jesus Comes to Them
The resurrected Jesus came and showed himself alive to his
frighten Disciples who gathered in fear behind a locked door in that upper room
on that first Easter.
“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the
disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders,” Jhn:20:19
It was here, in uncertainty, that the Disciples
attempt to make sense of the events of Jesus’ arrest, crucifixion and death and
then came the reports that Jesus had been seen alive by members of their own
group.
As they collectively consider these events, they are then
startled by the appearance of their Master Jesus himself standing in their
midst.
“Jesus came and stood among them and
said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his
hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord”. (20)
Jesus has come to them, there in the midst of their coming
together. Their Lord calms the fears and uncertainty each is having by showing
them his wounds.
“Jesus came and stood among them and
said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his
hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord”. (19-20)
As they perceive that it is Jesus himself, the fear is
transformed into joy.
In the Shadow of the Cross
Jesus held forth his wounds for the Disciples inspection,
the wounds are forever the visible witness of the cross of our Lord, that Jesus
faced pain and even death and overcame them both and brings that same victory
which is his to any who will receive it.
All things, including our lives, are
forever changed by and through Jesus, we have seen that the Jesus who we
encounter throughout the ages is the same Jesus who died. Through our grasping
that Jesus had died; the cross, in that way, cast a shadow upon all of us as
Jesus’ wounds attest to.
In Light of the Resurrection
Yet, the wounds of the cross are not found only upon a dead
and buried savior who gave up life merely for cause, no; those wounds are found
on a living Savior who now lives and stands before us all extending his hands
declaring “peace be with you” just as he did centuries ago in that upper
room to his frighten Disciples.
Jesus is this day and every day
displaying his wounds for us to see and holds them forth to us in clear view
for all to behold all that we might know both his death and resurrection, the
cross and the grave.
Shadow of the Cross and Light of the
Resurrection
When we see these wounds upon a resurrected Savior and come
to grasp their meaning we will be transformed and forever changed through the
outworking of the salvation acts of Jesus.
We now live in the shadow of the cross
and the light of the resurrection, life can never be the same. We have entered
into the life which our God has always intended humanity to live.
Living As One
The early Church came to be transformed by the truth of
Jesus’ death and resurrection. This truth reordered who and how they saw, not
only themselves, but all humanity. They began to grasp that the love of God
displayed in and through Jesus was not a conditional limited love which had
bounds and limits and was based upon relative association, but was for any and
all.
The early believers not only looked to
their own needs but in light of the Salvation work of Jesus they began to
extend this love into the lives of other believers and beyond.
“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. 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 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 and put it at the apostles’ feet,
and it was distributed to anyone who had need.” Acts: 4:32-35
This truth of the Salvation work of Jesus dismantled the
old way of perceiving others as non-apart of their scope of concern and removed
the old disenfranchised model of thinking which they had been brought up with
and had characterized the way they saw the people in world and how they lived
their lives individually and collectively.
As St. Paul wrote:
“So from now on we regard no one from
a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so
no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has
come: The old has gone, the new is here!”2Cor:5:16-17
St. Paul is telling us that through
Jesus all humanity regardless of from what nation they are from they can
experiencing oneness and unity in Jesus, they can be that “new creation” which
God has meant them to be. That all people are invited to look upon the
crucified Jesus who through the Gospel message stands before them holding forth
his wounds and declaring “peace be with you”.
As the reformer John Calvin stated "Christ Comes to
us Clothed in His Own Gospel"
St. Paul also prefixed his statement with the understanding
that our salvation is not something which we ourselves have done, but rather,
is an act of God himself for us.
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself
through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was
reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against
them.” (18-19)
Love as Evidence of Salvation
The Early Christians saw themselves as part of a greater community of life to which they were compelled to reach out to others. St. Paul addressed the compulsion of the divine love of God to extend the message of God’s love for humanity as displayed in the person of God’s Holy Son Jesus through his dying and rising again.
“For Christ’s love compels us, because
we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he
died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for
him who died for them and was raised again”. (14-15)
St. John writes to the early Church and the Church
throughout the ages that the love shown to us all should be displayed by us all
and seen in it’s purest form to all, especially to other believers.
Early Christian's saw this out flow of divine love as
evidence of a person's hearing and receiving the Gospel, of Jesus’ death and
resurrection.
“we declare to you what we have seen
and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our
fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
“We are writing these things so that
our joy may be complete.
This is the message we have heard from
him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at
all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in
darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he
himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of
Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin”.1Jhn:1:3-7
The Holy Spirit is telling us through St. John’s Epistle,
that when we hear the Gospel and come to believe; it should change us and bring
us forth into the light of God’s love for us.
We live now in the shadow of the
cross, seen in the wounds of Jesus, which are displayed upon a living,
resurrected Savior, and in light of the resurrection.
Jesus has died and is rose again and lives providing us a
new life. We now can live the life our God has always intended us to live, a
restored life with our God and with one another.
We can move forward in this life knowing that Jesus has
removed anything which could keep us apart from our God. Does that mean that
just because sin has been dealt with that our God has relinquished his concern
over how we live? No, what this means is, that we do not need to fear that
through our own actions that somehow God’s love for us will be withdrawn even
when he does not approve of our choices or our actions.
All the more, we should live in loving
response to his very own Holiness and love for us and live toward others and
God in the same way.
St. John tells Christians that we should be very aware of
how our actions and words affect others
“If we say that we have fellowship
with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true;
but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship
with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all
sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he who is
faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.” (6-9)
Through Jesus we have been invited into the pure fellowship
of love which in and through Jesus our God has provided for us all, a
fellowship which sees beyond any boundaries. We are to live always in peace in
the shadow of the cross and in light of the resurrection.
We have been united in Jesus with our God and with one another,
this is the way our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit have always intended us to
live. This is a lesson of a Season of Easter.
Benediction: May we each and all ever
live in the shadow of the cross and in the light of the resurrection and with
our God and one another, today, tomorrow and forever more Amen.
Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor
Topinabee Community Church
Topinabee Michigan
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