Go: Into All The World
7 April 2024
“Go into all the world and proclaim the good news[a] to the whole creation. Mark 16:15
Christ is Risen! Christ is risen indeed!
We enter into the liturgical season of Easter as we continue to celebrate the resurrection – but even as we celebrate, we need to keep in mind this isn’t the ending of the story – resurrection is just the beginning. The beginning of new life.
In the book, The Last Week, Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan points out “Two themes run through these stories that sum up the central meanings of Easter.”
<M> What do you think are the two themes that run through the stories that sum up the central meanings of Easter?
Think about the empty tomb, the road to Emmaus, the revelation to the disciples, and even the conversion of Saul to Paul.
Borg and Crossan writes:
“The first, in a concise phrase, is Jesus lives.
Jesus continues to be and to operate. The spirit, the presence, his followers knew in him before his death continues to be known. Jesus lives.”
The work He started continued through those who followed Jesus in ages past and continues through Jesus’ followers’ today.
“Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20
“The second is: God has vindicated Jesus. God has said “yes” to Jesus and “no” to the powers who executed him. Easter is not about an afterlife or about happy endings. Easter is God’s “yes” to Jesus against the powers who killed him.
The stories underline this in different ways. In Luke and John, the risen Jesus continues to bear the wounds of the empire that executed him. In Matthew, the risen Jesus has been given authority over all the authorities of this world. Mark, writing most concisely among the authors of the gospels, says simply, “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified; he has been raised.”
The authors of the gospels do not speak about Jesus’s resurrection without speaking about his crucifixion by the collusion between collaborators and imperial power. In the words of the earliest and most widespread post-Easter affirmation about Jesus in the New Testament, Jesus is Lord.
And if Jesus is Lord, the lords of this world are not. Easter affirms that the domination systems of this world are not of God and that they do not have the final word.”
So in our celebration of Christ’s victory over death, let us not think that this is the end, and more importantly, that that’s it.
The declaration that Christ is Risen is therefore declaring two things – Jesus lives, and God has vindicated Jesus.
Good Friday and Easter is both personal and political.
We have talked a lot in FCC about personal transformation, but not so much about political transformation.
I know many of you have issues with the word political. But political is at the very heart of Jesus’ message.
“Go into all the world and proclaim the good news[a] to the whole creation. Mark 16:15
What is the good news? Christ is risen! And that declaration is in itself political – when we declare Jesus is Lord, then the lords of this word is not.
Politics isn’t about who wins elections. It is about how the world is run.
The story of Holy Week as Mark and the other gospels tell it enables us to hear the passion of Jesus—what he was passionate about—that led to his execution. His passion was the kingdom of God, what life would be like on earth if God were king, and the rulers, domination systems, and empires of this world were not. It is the world that the prophets dreamed of—a world of distributive justice in which everybody has enough and systems are fair. And it is not simply a political dream. It is God’s dream, a dream that can only be realized by being grounded ever more deeply in the reality of God, whose heart is justice. Jesus’s passion got him killed. But God has vindicated Jesus. This is the political meaning of Good Friday and Easter.
Even as we celebrate Easter and Christ’s victory over death, war is still happening in many places.
The past six months of Israel’s military campaign following the attack has also brought “relentless death and destruction to Palestinians”, with over 107,000 people reported killed or injured, the vast majority women and children.
Earlier this week, seven people working with the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) have been killed in the Gaza Strip in an airstrike. They had just left a warehouse after helping unload 100 tonnes of food aid to Gaza. They are – Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, Laizawmi “Zomi” Frankcom, Damian Soból, Jacob Flinkinger, John Chapman, James “Jim” Henderson and James Kirby.
I want to honor them. I want to honor them for their courage, and their sacrifice.
I want to remember all those who have died in this conflict whose names we do not know – Palestinians AND Israelis AND others, civilians AND children. I want to remember others who died in other conflicts.
Because when I proclaim Jesus is Lord, I am saying Yes to God’s kingdom of peace, justice, love – where there is everybody has enough and systems are fair.
I cannot proclaim “Jesus is Lord” without saying stop all wars NOW. I cannot proclaim “Jesus is Lord” and at the same time believe military might and violence is the solution. I cannot proclaim “Jesus is Lord” and at the same time support the death penalty.
In the last two paragraphs of the Last Week, Borg and Crossan wrote:
The personal and political meanings of Holy Week are captured in two nearly identical questions. The first is one that many Christians have heard and responded to: Do you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior? It is a crucially important question, for the Lordship of Christ is the path of personal liberation, return from exile, and conscious reconnection to God.
The virtually identical but seldom asked question is: Do you accept Jesus as your political Lord and Savior? The gospel of Jesus, the good news of Jesus, which is the gospel of the kingdom of God, involves both questions. The gospel about Jesus, the good news about Jesus, which is the gospel of the Lordship of Christ, involves both questions.
Holy Week and the journey of Lent are about an alternative procession and an alternative journey. The alternative procession is what we see on Palm Sunday, an anti-imperial and nonviolent procession. Now as then, that procession leads to a capital city, an imperial center, and a place of collaboration between religion and violence. Now as then, the alternative journey is the path of personal transformation that leads to journeying with the risen Jesus, just as it did for his followers on the road to Emmaus. Holy Week as the annual remembrance of Jesus’s last week presents us with the always relevant questions: Which journey are we on? Which procession are we in?
“Go into all the world and proclaim the good news[a] to the whole creation. Mark 16:15
The good news is Jesus lives! Jesus is Lord!
And we participate in what Jesus was passionate about – the kin-dom of God – how life would be like on earth if God ruled.
<M> What are the values of God’s kin-dom?
A world of justice that the prophets dreamed of – Amos’ dream of a world where justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, Micah’s dream where we do justice, love mercy and walk humbly, Isaiah’s dream where God will judge among the nations, where they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more, Jeremiah’s dream where we act justly one with another, and not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow
That’s God’s kin-dom
This week’s lectionary passage is from Acts 4:32-35
4:32 Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.
4:33 With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
4:34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.
4:35 They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
This passage echoes Acts 2:42-47
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
43 Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds[j] to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home[k] and ate their food with glad and generous[l] hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
No, I am not advocating for you all to sell your possessions and goods and become a commune. Instead, I want to express heartfelt thanks because time and time again, you have stepped up to support the work of this church.
Two weeks ago, we made an ask on behalf of Yanmei for her Clinical Pastoral Education course – we raised $3975 almost twice the $2200 we asked for. Thank you.
On top of that – even though our fundraising targets are increased (we hope to raise the whole renovation fund target of $100k in 6 months), you have stepped up and we are on target. Thank you.
We are not a large church – we have 123 members – and yet we do quite a lot with the resources we have. It is, for me, really stepping up with the 5 loaves and 2 fishes, and watching God work wonders with what we have. This is what keeps me doing the work I do. I know I serve a faithful community.
You have been a faithful community – when we decided to purchase this property, when we raise funds for T-Mart to support elderly transgender persons, and even support the ministry of those beyond our community.
So here I want to encourage each one of you to consider how you can participate in FCC. We have need for volunteers for our production ministry – to enable us to reach those we were previously unable to reach. (literally enable us to “Go into the world!)
But the powers of this world continue to rule over us and we often don’t see it. We are bound by and captive to the ways of this world.
In still some ways how we live do not reflect that Jesus is Lord. In our world today, we have developed unconsciously a consumerist attitude. It feeds on our selfish natures – and while we may declare Jesus is lord with our lips, when in reality we are Lord.
We are often preoccupied by what affects us – and not concerned about what doesn’t. The consumerist culture perpetuates that.
In one way, we behave like an audience. Last week during the Cloud project discussion that Zihao led, he pointed out that the space can shape how we relate to one another – and our current arrangement – what we call “theatre style” really feeds into that.
We have tried to address that in the past by creating an U-shape seating for the congregation – but because of the requirements to broadcast our services, we have reverted to this theatre style seating after the Covid lockdown.
Watching the service online on a laptop, or a TV screen, further exacerbates the feeling that you are “watching” the service, and not “participating” in the service. I know this cannot be helped for many of you – many of you are not in Singapore, some of you work on Sundays – and this is the only way you can attend service.
We watch movies, plays, TV….. we attend church. We hope to create ways both in person and online so you attend service rather than watch a service.
We have actively tried to address that – we use Menti to engage with you, and we are keeping this in mind as we think about how we want to renovate this space. We hope that this space will enable not just what we do as a church, but also align with our values and principles so that each person here can be empowered to live out their call as disciples of Christ.
This year, for our Maundy Thursday service, I intentionally did not set up the space for the service. I wanted those who came to help set up – because that is participation. That is becoming part of the service instead of just passively watching the service.
Every Sunday, at 1030 (and maybe a couple of minutes late), we come to expect that everything is ready and service can start. This creates a posture of consuming / watching instead of a posture of participation.
This sermon series for the Easter season is titled “Go,” because Christ resurrection is only the beginning for us. We are not called to be an audience or a consumer – we are called to be disciples to go out into the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.
I hope that as we work on the cloud project and envision how to redesign this space, we would also think about how we envision ourselves as a community – a community that empowers people to seek out what God has called them to – whether like An Ding who is working on a book telling the stories of survivors of conversion therapy in Singapore, or others who are working as missionaries serving Burmese refugees, or making mid-career changes to be social workers to serve others.
I asked at the end of Palm Sunday – what is that alabaster jar you are willing to break to follow Christ?
I want to close inviting you to think about this throughout the week –
How would you “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news[a] to the whole creation.” and participate in the kin-dom of God that is based on love and justice in both personal and political ways?
As you think about this I want to re-read to you the closing paragraphs of the Last Week
The personal and political meanings of Holy Week are captured in two nearly identical questions. The first is one that many Christians have heard and responded to: Do you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior? It is a crucially important question, for the Lordship of Christ is the path of personal liberation, return from exile, and conscious reconnection to God. The virtually identical but seldom asked question is: Do you accept Jesus as your political Lord and Savior? The gospel of Jesus, the good news of Jesus, which is the gospel of the kingdom of God, involves both questions. The gospel about Jesus, the good news about Jesus, which is the gospel of the Lordship of Christ, involves both questions.
Holy Week and the journey of Lent are about an alternative procession and an alternative journey. The alternative procession is what we see on Palm Sunday, an anti-imperial and nonviolent procession. Now as then, that procession leads to a capital city, an imperial center, and a place of collaboration between religion and violence. Now as then, the alternative journey is the path of personal transformation that leads to journeying with the risen Jesus, just as it did for his followers on the road to Emmaus. Holy Week as the annual remembrance of Jesus’s last week presents us with the always relevant questions: Which journey are we on? Which procession are we in?
God of the moon and stars,
We proclaim that Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed!
We proclaim the good news that
Jesus lives! And because he lives
He showed that God, you have said Yes to him, and “no” to the powers who executed him.
We proclaim that Jesus is lord,
And not power, not fame, not wealth, not military might, not nation, not violence.
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!
So Go – Go into all the world and the good news of the kin-dom of God!
