What Happens Next?

               “On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with

                the doors locked...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.”   - John 20:19-20

   Most of us spend so much time working towards something, that we miss the big picture. How about milestones or those big events of life? Planning a wedding, an anniversary, a birthday, or a reunion is huge. But what happens after the party’s over? As with any event, we find ourselves asking: ‘What is next?’ That question summarizes a place where all of us have been, When it comes to understanding and applying the meaning to key Christian holidays such as Christmas or Easter once they are over, living out the meaning is an area of weakness for the church. In my observation that subject has never been fully developed.

  Proverbially speaking it is the day after “the big event.” And what usually follows the big event? It is the “big let down.”  This reaction is not unusual. In fact it is a normal part of everyone’s emotional/spiritual curve.

  This introduces us to the rest of the Easter story and what happens next. Now, think of the disciple’s account. John’s gospel sets the stage in verse 19: The Doors Are Locked. This one descriptive phrase outlines the mood of the entire city of Jerusalem: fear and apprehension. It has been reported that Jesus is alive, but from John’s account that was yet to be verified by the disciples. None the less, the rumors were circulating already around Jerusalem. The tomb is empty. Unexplained questions abound: Who rolled the stone away? What happened to the body? Is Jesus alive? It is presumed that the Pharisees and religious authorities were in fear and panic over the rumors. In the other gospels we learn that they concocted and circulated a cover-up story: The body was stolen while the guards were asleep.

   The disciples seek refuge in a locked room for fear of more trouble with the Jewish leaders. Jesus enters through the locked door and offers them peace. Peace in the midst of turmoil. The peace Jesus offers is personal and corporate. This must have been very reassuring since the disciples had abandoned him just a few days earlier in the garden. He restores and renews them with a personal peace. And then there is the peace that is defined earlier in John: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives...Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid…” (John 14:27-28). Also in Philippians we are told that the peace of Jesus Christ will guard our hearts and minds.

   But Jesus has bigger plans; ones of empowerment and sending witnesses to world. He breathes on them and they receive the Holy Spirit. They are given authority as apostles of the new church of Jesus Christ. “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven...if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

  So where do we go from here? What does the empty cross and the empty tomb mean? How does it change our relationship with God? The empty cross and the empty tomb are only the beginning. What Jesus Christ is doing is preparing us. How and for what purpose? Let’s start with a popular definition of the meaning of Christianity: Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins.           

  Have you heard this before? Is this true? At the cross Jesus took the penalty of sin on our behalf satisfying God’s justice, no dispute there. But what is the result of that statement? We are saved from judgment and Hell but is that it? When you get down to the “nuts and bolts” or the “nitty-gritty” it is only a half truth. What’s missing from the statement? How does God look at us now? Does the Holy God now accept us and if so why? The missing piece is righteousness. What does it mean to be righteous? “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” is what Jesus said. Jesus is not criticizing the external show of the Pharisees but instead he is revealing a deeper, inner requirement of obedience to the Law. So how do we become righteous in the eyes of a Holy God? The answer to that question is what happens next in the Easter story. The Reformers help us to shape our understanding.

  How many have heard of the word “imputation” in the Christian phraseology? Not many I suppose. But it is the key to what Jesus has stated and what happens next. It means to ascribe or attribute the righteousness of Christ to the believer as if it was his/her own. Remember Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit on the Apostles? This is the key to understanding imputation. Through the Holy Spirit, Christ’s righteousness is conveyed or imparted to us. This on one of the central truths that comes from the Reformation. The status of righteousness is given to all believers because of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. Consider what Paul writes in Ephesians 1: “He has made us accepted in the beloved.” Who is the beloved? It is Jesus Christ! Yet we are simultaneously righteous and sinful. Westminster states we have a never-ending conflict between the flesh, the world and the Devil. I think we all know and can appreciate this paradox. Read Paul’s conundrum in Romans 7 about doing what he doesn’t want to do.

  The Reformers teaching of imputation has a double effect. When God imputed my sin to Jesus on the cross that is real; when God imputes Christ’s righteousness to me that too is real. This is known as synthetic justification implying not an artificial or fake situation or one that contrived in the lab, but a new creational aspect to what was. God declares us justified not because of what he finds under His analysis of us alone but what has been added to us by Christ.

  So at the cross we see how Jesus died for us as the once and for all sin offering, as well as an act through which we now gain God’s favor. Brothers and sisters, Grace covers All! From the empty tomb we are challenged to take our Christianity to the next level. We are traveling towards that next level through scripture. Be ready to step it up and be prepared to be challenged personally. Are you excited to see WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Harry