The God Without Grudges--April 26, 2019
[Peter said:] Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying,
"He was not abandoned to Hades,
nor did his flesh experience corruption.”
This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,
“The Lord said to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.’ ”
Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.’ [Acts 2:31-36]
Or maybe more to the point, Jesus is not a sore winner.
Peter sees Jesus' resurrection as this huge victory over death, over the shame of being rejected, over all the enemies of God, and I think we can say even over the power and way of Rome, and the sway of the Respectable Religious Leaders over the crowds. Jesus has been vindicated by the resurrection—the one who was regarded as godforsaken is now reigning as "both Lord and Messiah" (and those are not terms taken lightly by first century Judaism—the word Lord in the Greek here is the word used to translate the holy name of God YHWH; to call Jesus "Lord" in this way hints at Jesus being everything that the God of Israel is and ever was). The one who was utterly defeated—and not even in a noble way (as we sometimes think of death on a battlefield), but as Public Enemy No. 1 by means of tortuous capital punishment—is now triumphant over those powers that put him to death between two shady bandits.
But to hear Peter tell it, Jesus is not a sore winner about this—in fact, the last sentence of this speech of Peter's opens up the invitation of being a part of Jesus' movement even to those who are responsible directly for Jesus' death (which, if we are honest, is us, too). It's not just that God has vindicated Jesus' reputation and now Jesus is going to get back at those who are responsible for his death. This is the same Jesus whose last words, according to Luke, are a prayer of forgiveness for those who have crucified him because they didn't understand what they were doing, and a word of mercy to one of those shady bandits who pleads with him on the cross. Jesus has no vendetta to pursue—instead, the very crowds who played into the drama that got Jesus killed are now being invited to turn and become part of the resurrection movement. They are invited to share in the same Spirit that was poured out on Jesus when he came up out of the river, the same Spirit that blew through the roomful of haggard and confused disciples earlier on this day of Pentecost.
That means that the first public sermon preached about Jesus' resurrection—at least the way Luke tells the story—is preached to people who had acted as enemies of Jesus. The enemies are welcomed in to be reconciled—they are not told that they missed their chance to get "in" with him when Jesus died. The criminal on the cross was not too late, and neither are these crowds on the other side of Jesus' death—they are offered reconciliation with this Jesus who is now alive again.
But to hear Peter tell it, Jesus is not a sore winner about this—in fact, the last sentence of this speech of Peter's opens up the invitation of being a part of Jesus' movement even to those who are responsible directly for Jesus' death (which, if we are honest, is us, too). It's not just that God has vindicated Jesus' reputation and now Jesus is going to get back at those who are responsible for his death. This is the same Jesus whose last words, according to Luke, are a prayer of forgiveness for those who have crucified him because they didn't understand what they were doing, and a word of mercy to one of those shady bandits who pleads with him on the cross. Jesus has no vendetta to pursue—instead, the very crowds who played into the drama that got Jesus killed are now being invited to turn and become part of the resurrection movement. They are invited to share in the same Spirit that was poured out on Jesus when he came up out of the river, the same Spirit that blew through the roomful of haggard and confused disciples earlier on this day of Pentecost.
That means that the first public sermon preached about Jesus' resurrection—at least the way Luke tells the story—is preached to people who had acted as enemies of Jesus. The enemies are welcomed in to be reconciled—they are not told that they missed their chance to get "in" with him when Jesus died. The criminal on the cross was not too late, and neither are these crowds on the other side of Jesus' death—they are offered reconciliation with this Jesus who is now alive again.
Maybe this shouldn't surprise us, since it's Jesus who had been preaching and teaching about the love of enemies. It just turns out now that even when he has the opportunity to get even, Jesus puts his money where his mouth has always been. It's easy to talk about loving enemies when you don't have the power or opportunity to get back at those who wish you ill—one could say that's just rationalizing a position of weakness you can't do anything about. But for Jesus to love enemies when he has the option not to be kind to them is radical. Jesus doesn't just invite followers when he's in need of followers—even after being raised from the dead, and even though he clearly has no need of others' approval anymore (if he's at God's right hand, that's enough of a stamp of approval for anyone, right?), Jesus is still holding out open arms when it's clear he gets nothing out of the deal. That is the mark of the community of Jesus' followers from the beginning. It is what allowed any of us to belong in this community, too, given that the Scriptures tell us our sin has all played a hand in the death of Jesus. We—you and me, as well as those crowds in Jerusalem listening to Peter, as well as people still hotly opposed to this Jesus—have all been "enemies of God" who have nonetheless been welcomed into the community of Jesus.
Now, timeth out here for a moment—let's hold Jesus' refusal to get revenge on those responsible for his death (a rare opportunity indeed--literature is full of people who seek vengeance for the death of a loved one or friend, but who else but Jesus has the opportunity to get even with his own killers?) alongside the signs of our own culture's thinking. This gracious invitation completely flies in the face of the conventional thinking in our whole culture. Conventional wisdom says you use your moment of strength to get back at those who have done you wrong, right? Don't get mad, get even. Even good old common sense tells us not to risk being burned again by people who have wronged us. The usual thinking of the day says that you are supposed to leverage your moments of advantage to squash your opponents--not to reconcile with them and invite them to belong with you.
And yet, right into that kind of world with that kind of common sense comes the message of the risen Jesus—the message that not only has Jesus been raised from the dead, but is using this opportunity not to get even but to welcome in even those who had been enemies and opponents of Jesus, even the crowds that got swept up in the violence, even the voices that so easily found themselves shouting "Crucify." The same Jesus whom we crucified is alive again, and is yet inviting us to be a part of his movement. Jesus is not looking to get anything out of the deal—just to hold out open arms, even if they now have nail marks on them. That's the kind of invitation that should turn some heads out there in the world if we are willing to speak it. What would it look like for us to make that kind of invitation today?
Risen One, You have this strange way of taking moments that seem weak to us and showing your greatest strength in them. Your offer from a cross of mercy and belonging echoes with dignity and authority, and your offer on the empty-tomb side of that cross of mercy and belonging surprises us who expect you to get even, or at least to keep your distance from us. And yet you have brought us in, enemies welcomed the whole lot of us, and called us to pass along that same welcome. Give us the boldness to do it today, and to speak the strange sounding message that you are not looking to get payback, but to hand out a free gift.
Now, timeth out here for a moment—let's hold Jesus' refusal to get revenge on those responsible for his death (a rare opportunity indeed--literature is full of people who seek vengeance for the death of a loved one or friend, but who else but Jesus has the opportunity to get even with his own killers?) alongside the signs of our own culture's thinking. This gracious invitation completely flies in the face of the conventional thinking in our whole culture. Conventional wisdom says you use your moment of strength to get back at those who have done you wrong, right? Don't get mad, get even. Even good old common sense tells us not to risk being burned again by people who have wronged us. The usual thinking of the day says that you are supposed to leverage your moments of advantage to squash your opponents--not to reconcile with them and invite them to belong with you.
And yet, right into that kind of world with that kind of common sense comes the message of the risen Jesus—the message that not only has Jesus been raised from the dead, but is using this opportunity not to get even but to welcome in even those who had been enemies and opponents of Jesus, even the crowds that got swept up in the violence, even the voices that so easily found themselves shouting "Crucify." The same Jesus whom we crucified is alive again, and is yet inviting us to be a part of his movement. Jesus is not looking to get anything out of the deal—just to hold out open arms, even if they now have nail marks on them. That's the kind of invitation that should turn some heads out there in the world if we are willing to speak it. What would it look like for us to make that kind of invitation today?
Risen One, You have this strange way of taking moments that seem weak to us and showing your greatest strength in them. Your offer from a cross of mercy and belonging echoes with dignity and authority, and your offer on the empty-tomb side of that cross of mercy and belonging surprises us who expect you to get even, or at least to keep your distance from us. And yet you have brought us in, enemies welcomed the whole lot of us, and called us to pass along that same welcome. Give us the boldness to do it today, and to speak the strange sounding message that you are not looking to get payback, but to hand out a free gift.
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