Claimed, gathered and sent

Here is my reflection on this coming Sunday's gospel. This was shared with the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church via our weekly e-ministry.  Gospel: Luke 24:36b-48 36b Jesus himself stood among [ the disciples ] and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, “ Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts ? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence. 44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses...

This is the sermon I preached on 4/8 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church and St. Mark Lutheran Church. The gospel text is John 20:19-31 . I learned a lot in seminary. One thing, however, that always sticks with me is about how we are to understand and interpret scripture. We need to remember that God is always the One doing the acting in the Bible. When we hear today’s gospel lesson, don’t we end up concentrating on “doubting Thomas?” I know that’s what happens to me and so we think that’s what the lesson is all about, but it isn’t. We need to return to the maxim that God is always the One who is doing the action. That being the case, we will look at today’s gospel through the lens of what God is doing and what kind of response that should elicit from us. First of all, we need to realize that there are many, many things God is up to, while we’ll only focus on a few. You have to admit that Jesus makes quite an entrance. Here is this group of his followers huddled toget...