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Perhaps some of you have seen the 1996 Nicholas Cage movie:   "It Could Happen to You".   

It Could Happen

            Perhaps some of you have seen the 1996 Nicholas Cage movie:   "It Could Happen to You".   

Bridget Fonda plays the part of Yvonne,  a waitress who hates her job at the diner.

A New York cop named Charley is having coffee in the little diner.   When he was finished,  he reached into his pocket to pay and leave his usual tip.   But he found he had just enough money to pay for the coffee....but none left to tip the waitress.    He was embarrassed,  so he offers the waitress a choice.  He promises to return the next day with double the usual tip.   Or he promises to split his lottery money with here.   He takes the lottery ticket out of his wallet,  which he had just purchased,  and holds it ups declaring that he will split the winnings.

Yvonne had just come from bankruptcy court that very afternoon,  because her runaway husband had run up her Master Card balance so high that she could not pay it off.   She is just beginning to accept the reality of her fate.  Still, she is good natured with Charlie, and takes him up on his offer of half the lottery ticket's potential winnings.

Well......surprise surprise shock, shock,  the ticket beats the incredible, impossible odds and wins 4 million dollars.   Charley comes to the diner the next morning to give Yvonne the good news.    Suddenly her tip for serving a cup of coffee was two million dollars.

As you can imagine,  her reaction was total disbelief.  "No way!   Is this some sort of cruel joke?  Can it really be true?"   Mostly all she feels is disbelief,  though some tiny flicker of hope registers deep inside Yvonne's brain.   Does she dare to believe Charley's good news could be true.

Her thoughts move very slowly into a mixture of belief and disbelief.    As the largeness of Charley's gift grips her,  she suddenly finds herself dancing and swirling through the tables in a scene of unexpected, and overwhelming, and hard to believe joy.

Now let's look at another scene of unexpected, overwhelming, hard to believe joy.  It doesn't come from Hollywood or New York,  but from the New Testament....specifically from the Book of Luke.

The scene is not entirely unlike that little New York diner.    There is a fish on the grill,  and sadness and confusion in the air.  The disciples of the slain Jesus have come together for a little refreshment  .   They have accepted their fate.  Their leader was dead.  Their hopes that Jesus would redeem Israel were bankrupted. Like Yvonne,  they had accepted their miserable reality.

Dared they believe that their rabbi could really defeat death?   What are the chances of that happening?   One in ten billion,  one in ten zillion,  one in infinity?

Yet suddenly,  there he was.  Jesus in their midst.   Or was it an illusion.  Maybe they were collectively imagining it.  Could that happen?     No, of course not.  They thought they were seeing a ghost and they were terrified.    It's too hard to believe.  

Jesus tries to assure his friends that what they are seeing is real...that the impossible has happened.    He says to them:  Why do you have doubts in your hearts.   It could happen!   Not only could it happen,  but it HAS happened,  and it has happened to you!

Of course, we know that in order to prove he is not a ghost.....Jesus has them look at his hands and feet.

Certainly there is nothing more ordinary than hands and feet. 

It is interesting that he doesn't say....look at my face...or listen to my voice.....nor does he give them a quiz to check out what they remember......but instead he says:   look at my hands and feet.    Presumably,  that is because he wants them to see the holes, or the scars.   

We assume that they would be able to identify him by his hands and feet,  because of the distinguishing marks from the crucifixion.

That thought raises an interesting question in my mind.

 Do you think you could identify someone close to you by their hands and feet alone?   For example,  those of you who are married....   If all you could see of your spouse's identity was their hands and feet.....could you pick your spouse from a line up of other people's hands and feet? 

Kind of a scary thought, isn't it?  I think I could probably pick out my husband's hands,    because of a distinctive finger that that has a slight bend in it from an old injury.  But I'm not 100% sure I could do it.

Hands and feet are not the first things we notice about one another.   But those are about as human as it gets.   And in fact,  our hands and feet probably say something about who we are.    Hard working laborers;  calluses.   Hands that spend a lot of time in the sun.    Or those that clearly do not.   Some hands are delicate,  or perhaps well manicured;  or have dirty fingernails.   Sometimes the hands tremble or have age spots.   They wear a wedding band,  or other jewelry.    Fingernails are chewed off.   Callused fingertips from playing the strings of a guitar or violin.

Feet are much less visible for us than for the first century disciples,  who lived in a sandal-wearing climate.    We may go barefoot in summer months,  but most of the time our feet are covered up and you don't get to see the various and interesting shape of the feet and toes---  whether the middle toe is longer, or they are all basically symmetrical,  or whether toes have hair growing on the top of them,  or painted nails.   Feet may have blisters or warts or corns.  You know,  I've never found feet to be a particularly attractive part of the human anatomy,  either my own, or anyone else's.   But they probably do as much for our bodies as a lung or an ear,  and they take a lot of abuse.

Hands and feet are distinctively human.  And when Jesus invites the disciples to look at his,   they would have seen the scars left by the nails. 

When they looked at his hands,  they may also have remembered when they saw those hands break bread,   pour wine,  press mud against a blind man's eyes,   lifted a little girl from death to life.   When they looked at his feet,  they may also have remembered when he washed Peter's,  or the scandalous dinner party when the uninvited woman dried his feet with her hair.

Hands can make and bake,  touch and reach, lift and carry,  gather and give. 

Feet can stand and step and walk or kick a ball, make a visit or cross a bridge.

One look at the hands and feet of Jesus and we know where he's been.

Last week's scripture lesson was also about one of Jesus' post resurrection appearances.   In that lesson from John,   we heard about Thomas,  who wanted to see and touch,  and how Jesus said:  ‘Blessed are those who believe but do not see'---referring to the believers of the future----meaning you and me.

In his letter to the people of Corinth,  Paul suggests that Jesus appeared to Peter,  then to the twelve, then to more than 500 at one time,  and he adds:   "also to me".     Paul, of course, believed that his post resurrection experience of Jesus was no less real than anybody's else's,  in spite of the fact that it occurred neither in Jerusalem nor Galilee,  and well after all the previous sightings.

One of the challenges in understanding the appearance narratives is the question of Jesus having a body.....which in some ways,  is like his original body,  and yet in other ways,  is different from his original body.

On the one hand,  Jesus invites touching and is seen eating.  On the other hand,  there is the quality of his appearing,  even when the doors are locked.  There seems to be no barrier to his coming and going.

            I find it very interesting that in the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus,   three of them involve food.

Jesus cooking breakfast for Peter and six others on the shore of a lake called Galilee

Jesus being recognized over supper by the two Emmaus- bound travelers.

Jesus asking for something to eat in Jerusalem,  and then eating a fish before their very eyes.

Enjoying food is certainly a bodily pleasure,  but not necessarily something we might expect in a resurrected body   ----although,  there are multiple references to banquets in the Kingdom of God.....where we will join others at the table.

In fact,  that image is part of our Communion liturgy:   ‘By your Spirit make us one with Christ,  one with each other,  and one in ministry to all the world,  until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.'

Verses 36- 43 are all about Jesus' appearance to his disciples.   But in verses 44-49,  the focus changes.

First Jesus says,  what is written about me must be fulfilled .  Then he opened their minds so they could understand.

When it comes to understanding God, and Christ, and matters of the spirit, and eternal life,  we do have a hard time understanding.....so in my thinking,   when Jesus opened their minds.... That was a mind-boggling experience for the disciples.

And then he said:  ‘You are my witnesses,  and I am going to send you what God has promised;   but stay put in the city until the time comes when you have been overcome with power.'

Perhaps you already know this about the Bible,  but just in case you don't,  it is accepted that the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles is a two volume set, both written by Luke.    Acts picks up exactly where Luke leaves off.  The reason why they are not together in the Bible is because those who decided what went where determined that the four gospels should be grouped together.   But if you were to finish Luke 24 and turn to Acts One,  you would see what happens next.....and of course----about a month from now,   the church will be celebrating that occasion when the Power of the Holy Spirit did indeed come, as promised.   And that, of course, is Pentecost Sunday.

Jesus said to the disciples,

‘you are going to be clothed with power.   It could happen to you.  Wait and see.'
And of course, it DID happened, just as Jesus promised.

This is the third Sunday of Easter-----and I think in a lot of ways....the church of today still wobbles between disbelief and joy,  just like the first disciples did. 

In fact, maybe the real question that emerges from the story of Jesus appearing to the disciples is really a personal question:  ---not a theological question such as how did God raise Jesus from the dead...or why did God raise Jesus from the dead....but the much more specific: 

  How does Easter get into me?  Into us?   Christ in us.  Easter in us.

The Divine presence among us.   

In today's story,  the resurrection becomes as personal and intimate as a family sharing a meal.   In our own lives,  as well as in the rhythm of our liturgical year,   we have to learn to move from the pre-Eater Jesus  to the post-Easter Jesus.

How do we move from a finite human being of the ancient near east,   a healer, wise teacher, prophet, spiritual leader....to a divine reality who is one with God?

The followers of Jesus back then,  continued to experience him after his death,  but in a radically new way.

He was no longer just flesh and blood.   He was no longer limited by time and space,  but could be anywhere, any time.

Experiencing Jesus continues through the centuries.....and happens still.  Ranging from dramatic encounters--- to a quieter sense of a presence that is felt to be the living Christ.

So Jesus is not a figure from the past,  but of the present.   It could happen.  It could happen to you!    You could be bowled over by the Holy Spirit.

  People are.  I know I have been.   And one of those times was so powerful that it completely and radically changed the direction of my life .

I went to Annual Conference as a Lay Delegate for the first time in 1989.   By then, I was already doing regular lay speaking.    I also had a husband deeply engaged as a faculty member at Cornell,  three teenagers and a toddler,  not looking for or expecting any major changes in my already complicated life.

I attended an Ordination Service for the first time at annual conference that year, and also, for the first time,    the Bishop did a strange thing.   He stopped in the middle of his ordination sermon and said....'I want to ask if anyone here feels called to the ministry.    And if you do,  while we sing  this song together,  I invite you to come forward and take my hand.'

I always sit on the back row;  I am a very private person and don't tell people my plans until they are already accomplished;   I tried very hard to sit there in that chair.   I had no intention of walking down in front of a thousand people to declare......who knows what?

But it could happen.  It happened to me.   The Holy Spirit lifted me right up out of that chair---against my will,  and down I walked and took the Bishop's hand,  having no idea whatsoever where that would lead me.

It eventually led me to seminary....though finishing took six years.  It eventually led me to ordination,  though that had not been my original intent.   But God had a plan.

 And God's plan is always far better than ours! 

Jesus is indeed alive,  and through the power of the Holy Spirit,  does make house calls,  even today.

Remember the movie I mentioned at the beginning?   About Charley and Yvonne.    When Yvonne stopped dancing around the diner for joy and disbelief....she eventually said to Charley..."Why?  You don't have to give me this gift.  Why are you doing this?"

Charley's reply is classic.   "Because a promise is a promise."

            At some point along the way in our lives,  we have to accept God's gifts to us...the gift of forgiveness,  the gift of eternal life;  the gift of the holy spirit.

We might ask a question similar to Yvonne's:   "God, why are you doing this?  I am so unworthy of such a gift."

And God's answer might be something like Charley's.   "Because I have promised, and a promise is a promise."

It doesn't really seem like it is possible that death could be defeated.   But it has happened.

Death has been swallowed up in victory.  

It could happen.   It did happen.

The victory is yours,  if you accept the gift.

AMEN.