Alleluia, Christ is risen!

The four men and four women had been waiting for this moment for most of their lives.  They prepared for years.  The hours of training, the practice, the discipline, and now the moment had come to put it all into practice.  Most observers expected that they would be among the best, easily moving into the final round.  They each had prepared for what they expected to be a high point of their lives and their careers.  As the baton bounced on the surface of the track, the potential high point of their lives became a low point.

In the 2008 Olympic Games, both the US men’s and US women’s 4X100 Meter relay teams were expected to complete for Gold.  Both teams were filled with talented runners, who dedicated their lives to becoming world-class athletes.  Neither team made it to the final round.  In the preliminary races where each team merely had to show up and make three successful passes of the baton, both teams dreams of Gold ended when on the last pass of the baton they could not complete the exchange.  The hours of sweat, the dedication, the training, all to become a champion, that dream lost in an instant. 

As Jesus prepares to depart from his apostles he passes them the baton.  Jesus prays to his Father for the disciples who will remain in the world to carry on God’s mission.  They remain in the world to do the work of the Redeemer.  They will continue his mission, continue his work, at his command. 

What is their mission?  To hand on the word given to them.  The words they received from the Word incarnate.  They pass on the word of eternal life found in Christ.  Life won for all who believe through Christ’s work, work given to him by the Father.  Through the power of the word we may know Christ and his Father, the only true God.  In this mission the word is everything.  Through the Word God brought all creation into being, through the Word all of creation is redeemed, that we might participate in the things of God.  This word is truth, the truth of God.

The mission of the disciples centers on the word, because the word is powerful.  The word of God has the power to communicate God’s intent for us and the world.  The word is powerful because it creates reality.  Through the word bread and wine become body and blood.  Through the power of the word ordinary water washes away sin, and unites us with Christ.  Through the power of the word, lives are changed and repentance springs forth. 

The Word changes the world.  The world hates those who have received this powerful word.  The world resists change.  Now that may seem counter to what we see around us, for the world seems to change rapidly all around us.  Technology that is commonplace was unimaginable only a few years ago.  Societal standards and norms have changed more in a generation than they have in hundreds of years before.  As the phrase goes, “There is no constant but change.”  But the change that the word of God brings, the world will resist, because this change is not the change of the world.  The change brought by the gospel will never appear attractive to the world.  The world moves from life toward death, the Word brings life out of death.  The world seeks self-indulgence.  The Word seeks self-denial.  The world hates those who get in the way its aims.  The Word loves all, the unlovable, the inconvenient, and even his enemies.  It is the power of God’s word given by Christ to his followers, that brings light to the darkness of the world.  The Word shines a bright, bold light on the world and exposes the world’s lies.  For this reason, the world will always resist those who bring the light of God’s word into the world. 

Jesus knows the world in which he sends his Church to work.  He knows the trials and tribulation that awaits.  Jesus in his prayer asks his father three times to protect and keep the ones who have kept his word.   The trails that await the apostles and the young Church did not end as the Church became established.  Luther speaks of such trials, as he writes in his Large Catechism:

If we would be Christians, therefore, we must surely expect and reckon upon having the devil with all his angels and the world as our enemies who will bring every possible misfortune and grief upon us. For where the Word of God is preached, accepted, or believed, and produces fruit, there the holy cross cannot be wanting.  

The world hates those who carry on Christ’s mission because the evil one is at work in the world.  The evil one seeks to tear down and destroy those who carry Christ’s light into the dark world.  We serve God within a world lost in human sin.  Our service to God in mission is complicated by our own sin, and sin is where the evil one takes root.  Troubled by our own sin we listen to the voice that says, “you’re no real Christian, you hypocrite, you have no business speaking out your just as guilty as the rest of them.”  Or the voice that says, “You can’t possibly do that, it’s too difficult, and you don’t have the talent or the strength.”  When facing our own sin and failings, instead of giving ear to the voice of the evil one, we ought to run towards Jesus in repentance, confident in his grace and love for us. He intercedes for us now just as he did with the disciples before he left them.  He is our advocate, comforter, guide, brother, and friend. 

We may fumble and stumble in the race set before us.  But Jesus runs with us protecting us and strengthening us.  He prays to the Father, on the Apostles behalf that they may be sanctified in the truth, the truth of the Word of God.  Jesus knows that they must be made holy through the power of the word to carry on his mission to a hostile world.  The Apostles were sent out to serve God in the face of opposition.  The Church carries on the mission Jesus gave to the disciples.  We know God and his Word because of the life, testimony, and service of the Apostles and all the disciples through out the ages who continued that mission Jesus gave to his closest followers. 

Christ handed on the baton of his mission to his apostles, who passed it on to many others, who have passed it on over and over again.  Now we receive it and carry the gospel into a world that will hate us for it.  The Apostles gave their lives to pass on what Jesus had given to them, they risked their lives and gave their lives as witnesses to the gospel.  Today we might not experience the intense opposition the Apostles faced, but the world is still hostile to Christ’s message, the evil one is still at work in the world.  Here in the United States we may not risk martyrdom for speaking the truth of God’s Word, maybe just ridicule, derision, or laughter, but in other parts of the world Christians still suffer physical persecution, imprisonment, or death.  Christians in the Middle East are fleeing the lands were the Church has been present since Jesus himself was preaching on the hillsides and plains.  Iraqi Christians have been the target of kidnappings, beatings, and even murders.  Priests and nuns in Iraq have been killed in the streets.  Last year an Archbishop was kidnapped and died in the hands of his captors. This kind of hatred for Christ and his followers occurs in many parts of the world, China, North Korea, the Sudan, and others.   

To take what we have received and carry it into the world is a great challenge.  Like those Olympic athletes, our own talent, work, and dedication is wasted if we cannot receive what is given to us and pass it on.  As we run this race in the face of a hostile world it is easy to become discouraged.  But we have a great hope.  Christ our savior runs with us, praying for us, encouraging us, strengthening us.  The wind of the Holy Spirit is at our back as we run this most important race.  We remain encouraged and hopeful in the midst of each day’s challenges, because as Christ preserves us in the face of these challenges, the assurance of his return fuels our hope for the future.  A future where Christ’s return means the completion of God’s work and the renewal of all things.  All will be made true and restored to God’s intention. 

In a relay the strongest runner always races the anchor leg.  At Christ’s return the Church will pass the baton back to him, knowing he was with us along the entire race, but now he will bring the race to it’s completion.  He who began it will finish it.  He is the first and the last, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.  He is the victor, and we share in his victory. 

Alleluia, Christ is risen!