Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

When we have questions we like to get answers.
If the nature of the question is informational we turn to resources. Often the internet. We also pull out encyclopedias, manuals and dictionaries, or spread a large atlas across the table. If the nature of the question is philosophical we turn to books, articles, or friends and teachers for opinions and the history of those questions and answers. For ethical questions about life and society we listen to what family and friends say, listen to debates and discussions, maybe read in a journal or get advice from a column in a magazine, or otherwise read up on the topic.

Often we also turn to the Bible to find answers for our questions. Not only for the big questions in life, but we also tend to look to the Bible to give us concrete guidance in behavior or decision making. When we do that, we frequently end up using the Holy Scriptures of our faith in the same way that we use other written texts - as an encyclopedia, as a place to look something up, extract the answer, and go with it. We watch social issues interest groups exercise this practice. Yet, anyone who is just a little bit familiar with the complex body of texts that comprise the Bible, knows that the Biblical material will bring up contradictory answers in most any case. As much as we have tried, we have not solved one social issue by using the Holy Scripture as a source of encyclopedic information. The supreme wisdom and authority of the Biblical Word lies elsewhere.

Maybe surprisingly, the appearance stories of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke on that first day of Easter are a great help in this quest how to use the Bible and let it speak with the authority of the risen Christ. All of the Easter stories in the Gospels have in them fundamental proclamations of the core promises of God who has proven to be alive, risen from the dead. And all have in them the element of doubt, fear and disbelief of the disciples in the face of the immediate, overwhelming clarity of the Easter proclamation. On one level the doubt and fear of the disciples reflect the shock about the unexpected encounter with Jesus, but on another level they already reflect our own question: And what now? How are we continuing from here on?

The Easter day in Luke is a very long, drawn out day. First, in the morning the women discover the empty tomb. Then Peter goes to the tomb to see for himself. Later two disciples are leaving for Emmaus, which in itself is quite a trip. They are the first ones to whom Jesus appears. He explains to them the scriptures and in the evening they share a meal during which they recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Jesus disappears and the disciples return to Jerusalem. By now the day should indeed be over, but this day, this very first day of Easter, is far from being over. Back in Jerusalem, the two disciples are met by the eleven disciples and before the two can tell their story, they blurt out that Jesus appeared to Peter and that the Lord is risen; only then can the two tell what happened to them on the way to Emmaus and at the table.

And if all that has not been enough yet, in the middle of the excitement of exchanging all this unbelievable news, Jesus appears and says, “Peace be with you.” It is still Sunday, the first day of Easter. Or the eighth day, the day of fulfillment, of the new creation. A day whose hours count differently. Jesus invites them to touch him, he demonstrates that he is real by eating a piece of broiled fish. He eats dinner a second time!
Jesus is real. Yet he is different. He is there, raised from the tomb, speaking, blessing, bringing peace, but he can appear and disappear at any moment. He does not die again, he is not simply brought back from death. He is raised, present, real, but completely differently real, in divine appearance.

Children are the ones who count time differently than we adults do, and they also may have an easier time than we to “get” this reality of the Easter Jesus. I remember how hearing the Easter stories opened a space of wonder that Jesus was there, real, not deceptive, not like in a fairy tale. I felt safely secure in telling of these stories, the presence of this risen Jesus. At the same time I knew this experience was finite, was past. And that was sad. But also not. Because the storytelling could create the presence of Jesus and the experience of peace.

That is exactly Jesus’ point for his disciples and for us as well on this first day of Easter that does not want to end. Before he disappears and the divine appearances of the risen Lord are over for good, Jesus reaffirms once more what he already told the Emmaus disciples: the scriptures shall replace his special presence when this special time is over. All of the scriptures:
He mentions the books of Moses, the prophets and the psalms. Those are the three parts of the Hebrew Bible. Jesus gives the disciples and us the Word which he himself is. And the message, he says, is the promise of God which has come to reality and fulfillment in the dying and raising of Jesus: repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

Repentance and the forgiveness of sins are the hallmark of the new creation. Therefore he comes through the closed door not saying, “Hi,” but “Peace be with you.” And we are to proclaim this Word to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Jesus’ presence in the word that we proclaim and the sacrament which we share is no different than the presence of Jesus on that long, long first Easter day. The power which we need to follow through with the task of proclamation and witness is given in the very next moment. “I am sending upon you what my Father promised,” ... you will be clothed with power from on high. (Cf. Luke 24:49) After that Jesus is taken up and he ascends. The day is finally coming to a close.

In the course of the events of this Easter day, dear congregation, we have found ourselves commissioned with the proclamation of God’s Word, all of it, not just some of it. Not our favorite or most opportune passages but the entire Word. Because only the entire Word is Jesus Christ. In the Christian witness the Holy Scriptures can never be used as a quarry, like an encyclopedia from which we can pick and choose as we like. In word, in sacrament and in service we do have to proclaim forgiveness of sins and repentance. This way the Christian witness will infuse our world with peace, that peace which only the presence of God in Christ can give us. In this space of repentance and forgiveness, our ethical questions and judgments will orient themselves along the promise of God that grants life and love and peace to all.

The authority and wisdom of the Biblical word for which we are looking is the living Christ himself. May his peace which surpasses our understanding guard our hearts and our minds this day and always. Amen.