Author: Rev. G. Michael Rose

May 2019

On: By: Rev. G. Michael Rose

Dear Redeemer Family:

“But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe. A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” The he said to Thomas, “Put you finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”” John 20:24-29

They sat in the crowded pews and wondered whether they belonged there last Sunday. They heard the story of Christ’s resurrection – for the first time or the seventieth – and wondered what to make of it. Perhaps “they” even climbed into the pulpit last Sunday and led the congregation in the shout of “Christ is risen!” They are all Thomases, part of the community of the faithful but still not entirely satisfied with simply believing the witness of someone else.

Thomas is like us, and like him, we may be a little irritated that we, unlike so many other “true believers” that clog our airways and Bible bookstores, haven’t had a firsthand experience of Christ’s presence. Not everyone has the courage of Thomas to voice his doubts so clearly, but odds are good that everyone has had a moment of similar frustration.
Some Christians try to overcome the frustration with facts – experiments about the power of prayer or archaeological evidence for every event in Scripture – but the vast majority of believers through the ages have had little more than what Thomas had in the verses at the top of the page (the Gospel lesson for the Second Sunday of Easter): the witness of the community. It is the community, in all of its diversity and various experiences of Jesus’ presence, that ultimately gives witness and endures when this Gospel of John reaches its final chapter.

The gifts Jesus gives in person to the gathered community in John are really no different from those given to the Church in every age: the offering of Peace, the charge to forgive and be forgiven, and a physical reminder of his suffering that we can see and feel for ourselves. The body we see and touch – bread broken and a fragment of that living body of Christ – is no less real.

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!
Pastor Rose

April 2019

On: By: Rev. G. Michael Rose

“I will lift the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.” Psalm 116:13

Dear Redeemer Family:

On the night of the Jewish Passover, the most sacred of Jewish Festivals commemorating when God brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, as the family eat the Seder Meal, somewhere during that time, the youngest person present asks “The Question.” It is, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” The oldest person there present then reviews all that God had done to save His chosen people from slavery in Egypt, and how God brought them out with “a mighty hand.” This has been repeated in every Jewish home on that night for nearly 4,000 years! Why? Because it is important, very important!

In the same way, as we proceed through the Season of Lent, we recall, remember and hold dear, all that our Lord has done for us. The Season of Lent is a review, if you will, of Jesus’ steady and unflinching walk to Jerusalem and the waiting cross, all done to secure our salvation. It is important to remember that our salvation comes at a very high cost, the life of the Son of God. The Author of Life gives up His life for the life of the world. It is a tremendous act of love for us all. It is something which we hold on to and cherish.

The salvation of the Israelites cost the Egyptians the lives of their first born all the way to the first born of Pharaoh. But the salvation of the world comes at the price of the life of God’s only begotten Son. This is the greatest act of grace God has ever done. But it does not end there.

Lent, and the story of the journey of our salvation, does not end at the foot of the cross. No. It ends, and begins in a strange sort of way, at the empty tomb. It is there that the Lenten journey really ends, and where our redemption is secured. At the door to the tomb, with stone rolled away, and burial cloths left behind, we can truly behold the glory of God’s plan and act of salvation for us. For it is there, in the emptiness, that all is fulfilled. There we know that Jesus, the Author of Life, cannot be held by death. He bursts death’s bonds, and destroys the power of sin and evil in one overpowering act. He is raised. And we behold, and testify to the wonder of it!

Why is this Easter morning different from all other mornings? Because it is on that morning, God freed us from all that would enslave us. And for that, we must always remember, believe, and cry out in praise!

In Christ,
Pastor Rose