AEaster2 Acts 2:14a, 22-32; Psalm 16; I Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31 March 30, 2008 From Psalm 16: My heart is glad and my spirit rejoices; my body also shall rest in hope. For you, O God, will not abandon me to the grave, nor let your holy one see the Pit. You will show me the path of life; In your presence there is fullness of joy, And in your right hand are pleasures for evermore. When Peter spoke to the crowds, he used these verses of Psalm 16 as though they had been originally written about Jesus. That God would not let Jesus, the Holy One, experience corruption. That Jesus would not be abandoned to the grave. It’s understandable that when Peter said this psalm, through his experience of the Risen Christ, that the words to him rung absolutely true. It made sense to him that King David was prophesying way back then about Jesus. We don’t know for sure who wrote this psalm or why. King David prophesying the resurrection of his Jesus was Peter’s take. It is thought also to have been written as a prayer to be said before being admitted to the Temple. Perhaps it was simply written by a very thankful person who had narrowly escaped death and was once again on a path of life. It was certainly written by someone who wanted to hold on faithfully to God as their good above all other. Someone who wanted to keep that trust they had found in God and not get sidetracked by putting their trust in any other place. It was someone who, in their closeness to God, found insight, (my heart teaches me night by night) found joy, hope, and life itself. And so, Peter’s new point of reference shedding new light on his former understandings? King David’s foresight of a risen messiah? There is much debate among students of the Bible as to whether or not the Old Testament was infused throughout with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. I think we don’t have to decide whether this psalm was foresight or hindsight. I think it can be both. In Ecclesiastes we read something so provocative: I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. That which is (now), already has been; that which is to be, (now) already is; and God seeks (in the now) out what has gone by. (3:15) –repeat- If we take heed to these words, then our concept of linear time and our debates of what point of time mandates another is a moot point. Past, present, and future are all held by God, in God. And in God, all is already complete. And life lived in God is one big NOW. God’s presence, God’s desire to create anew, God’s desire to save what has been lost, permeates everything, everywhere. And so, we can look back or predict future. And even though life may seem incomplete looking forward or unresolved, unfinished looking back, in God, there is a wholeness, a completeness to life. What makes the difference in our perception of things is the vantage point where we stand. Peter’s vantage point was the living risen Christ in every direction he looked. For us who choose Christ Risen as our vantage point, we are much like both Peter and the psalmist. In that Light of Christ, when we look back and reflect upon our lives, we recognize back then what we now have come to know in Christ. Christ’s love now is echoed all through our years. And we see that the grace of God that we know in Jesus has been with us all along. When we look to our future, we look forward with that same Light, and we can trust that that same grace that is now with us, and has been, is fully in our future, too. For Don Burroughs, whose life in Christ we give thanks for today, we can look back and see grace abounding. The presence, guidance, and love of Christ there. A young, wounded soldier learning to love his enemy. A school administrator facing into the days of school integration and walking into what was enemy territory to everyone. And from his very core, carrying in with him the reconciling love of Christ that had touched his life so deeply. As to the future… We can recite Psalm 16 and know in some way that whoever sang it and wrote it down for whatever reason, was also prophesying about our Don. For all who look to the future, holding up the Light of God’s love they have known in Jesus Christ to see ahead will see then, in God, by God, that what has been true in life, is true now, and will always be true. And so, we are bold enough to claim that: Don will never be alone, because Christ has never before abandoned him. Don knew him as a young man, in his family and career life, and richly through his recent years. The Christ Don knows will go before him to prepare the way, as he always has. The Christ Don knows has nourished him with spiritual food from a table, shared with a community that loves him. And the banquet above is prepared for him. The Christ Don knows will continue with him on the path of life And Don will find a fullness of joy and sheer pleasure in his presence. What is in God is now, has been, and will be. Looking at life and living it from this vantage point Can take our old linear perspective With its unresolved past and its unpredictable future And wrap it all up in Christ’s lively presence and God’s loving hold. And we, too, can live restful lives, free of the regrets of the past and our fears for the future. For, no matter where we have been or where we are going, God is now… God was with us all along… God has already gone before us.