Time has gone on quickly, hasn’t it? It seems like just
yesterday, it was Easter! But, in fact, next week is Pentecost already. We are
almost out of the season of Eastertide. You may not think about the time
between Easter and Pentecost as being a season of the church year; but it is.
It focuses on one specific aspect of being a Christian, just like the other
seasons of the church year do. Advent, for example, focuses on our need for a
savior; and anticipates the unexpected way that God sometimes answers our
needs. Lent, of course, is very different. Lent emphasizes our inability to
follow the savior when he comes to us. Human sin comes to the forefront,
together with our inability to follow Jesus to the cross. And next week will
begin the season of Pentecost. During that season, we’ll reflect on the
sometimes surprising places the Spirit leads us. But today – well, today we’re
still in Eastertide. Eastertide focuses on how we respond to the risen Christ.
That’s why the Christ candle has been on our altar ever since Easter Sunday.
This candle signifies a risen Lord, one who is master of every time and place;
one who is even master of death itself.
But how in the world do we relate to a risen savior? That’s
the question that Eastertide asks us to consider. We know how to respond to the
man Jesus. We listen to his teachings… we accept the guidance that he offers
us… and we try to follow his example. But what do we do about a risen Christ?
How can we relate to him? Jesus tried to prepare his disciples for just that
problem when he instructed them in the upper room the evening before his death.
The gospel of John relates a long sermon that Jesus offered his disciples. We
can find it in chapters 13 through 17. You heard a very small piece of it in
the scripture reading this morning (John 15:9-17). In this part of Jesus’
sermon, he instructs his disciples to “remain” in him; because that is the only
way that they will be able to love one another in the way that Jesus wants them
to.
“Remain” in the risen Christ. That’s what we’re told to do. And
the word “remain” is a good translation of the Greek word that Jesus uses. The
New International Version of the Bible uses the word “remain.” But I prefer the
traditional translation “abide.” That’s the word in the King James Version. Jesus’
take-home message is that he wants his disciples to “live” with him – and in
him – after his resurrection. And “remaining” isn’t quite the same as “abiding.”
The word “remain” sounds like a command you’d give your dog Fido. “Stay, Fido!
Remain!” And Fido, being a very well-trained dog, will “remain” there until you
tell him that he can go someplace else. But “abide…” “Abide” is a place to live
permanently! We might “remain” at the mall for a few hours; but we “abide” in
our home. The word even sounds cozy!
“Abide…” It calls up an image of a big, overstuffed chair in front of a
crackling fire. As you put on your slippers and pick up the newspaper, you
prepare to “abide” in a place of comfort and security. Your faithful dog FIdo
comes over and flops down at your feet; and if you don’t sigh in contentment,
he’ll do it for you. This is your home! It’s where you “abide.”
And many times, abiding in Christ is just like that. There
are days when we know beyond a shadow
of a doubt that we are wrapped in Jesus’ arms, abiding in the love and comfort
of his presence. On those days, the presence of Christ is as close as our own
heartbeat; and we know it. We face even major difficulties as though they were
only minor inconveniences; because Jesus is right
there, a part of us. Those are the days we cherish!
But sometimes, abiding in Christ isn’t quite that easy. Sometimes
abiding in Christ takes everything you’ve got! Let me give you an example of
what I mean. When I was a child, my parents owned a boat – a 30-foot
cabin cruiser that we kept just outside of Port Clinton on the Lake Erie shore.
When we took it out on the lake, the point was, of course, to “abide” in that
boat. When the waters were calm, that was easy. But if Lake Erie got a little
choppy – as Lake Erie tends to do, fairly frequently and with very little
notice – then we had to hang on for dear life to “abide” in that boat!
Sometimes it was all we could do to keep both feet on the deck. As the waves
tossed our boat this way and that – up and down and side to side – we’d grab on
to the sides to keep from being hurled into the water.
It sounds like life, doesn’t it? We get tossed from side to
side and up and down; and sometimes we’re not sure that we’ll be able to hang
on! We want to abide in the risen
Christ, but our problems are so huge, and we get so tired of dealing with them,
that we start to lose our grip on the side of the boat. Little by little, we
begin to slide towards the water. We cling more tightly, desperate to hang on;
but when an unexpected wave hits us, our grip fails; and we feel ourselves
falling… But we don’t fall; because when we lose our grip, we realize that we are
being held by our risen savior – the
one who is Lord over the wind and the waves. Jesus is hanging on to us as tightly as we are hanging on to him! “Abiding” isn’t something that we
have to do all by ourselves. Jesus helps us do it. There is no trouble, no
obstacle, no problem so powerful that it can knock us out of the presence of
the risen Christ, because he is
helping us to abide there! Jesus has assured us that he not going to lose any
one who is given to him by the Father. And that’s all of us! He’s not going to
lose us; and we’re not going to lose him, whether we feel his presence or not!
Whether we’re abiding in comfort or being tossed around by angry waves, Jesus
will always help us to stay by his side. That’s what it means to have a risen
Lord. He abides in us… and we abide in him. Forever!
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