3 Easter Yr B

We hear in today's gospel as we heard last week from John, Jesus stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled, and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost. I read that there were ghost stories told in the 1st century, the great Roman author and statesman Pliny the Younger recorded one of the first notable ghost stories in his letters, Pliny reported that the specter of an old man with a long beard, rattling chains, was haunting his house in Athens. I imagine, like there were many stories about messiahs and prophets floating around, there were ghost stories as well. In this story, the author wants us to know that this was really Jesus, "Look, I'm real, I eat, give me something to eat and I'll show you." Is it just a ghost story, or something terribly more important about who we are and what we are to do? In this story, Jesus says "Peace be with you," and then Jesus goes on to tell them that they are to proclaim repentance and forgiveness and are witnesses of these things. An important detail in this story, a detail that we could easily overlook, is that Jerusalem is where Jesus' crucifixion took place, and it is where the disciples are when this story takes place. Forgiveness, repentance, and the offering of peace begins right where the disciples are, even though it is a rather hostile place for all of them at that time. What it means for us is that forgiveness begins right where we are. Not with someone else or someplace else, but right in our own homes, in our own cities and villages, and right in our own hearts. I think so often we think forgiveness is up to someone else, it's up to someone else to forgive us, but it's not, it's up to each of us, it's up to you and to me. Forgiveness and reconciliation only begin when our own hearts are softened. What's more, Jesus' friends in this story are startled and terrified. They don't have some sort of zen peacefulness, they don't have some sort of courageous exterior, they don't have the latest self help bestseller that tells them exactly what forgiveness and reconciliation look like, or the 7 habits of the successful forgiver, or the top 10 ways to reconcile with your neighbor. What Jesus is showing them is that the work he did on the cross and in the resurrection already made possible the new life that they are living. That work doesn't take away their fear, it doesn't take away our fear, but it does make it possible for us to live life's of forgiveness and reconciliation. Jesus did Jesus' job, now our job is to practice forgiveness and reconciliation in every aspect of our lives. So, there's a story I was so struck by a while back that I need to tell you about it again. In February 1993, Mary's son, Laramiun Byrd, was shot to death during an argument at a party. He was 20, and Mary's only child. The killer was a 16-year-old kid named Oshea Israel. Mary wanted justice. She said, "He was an animal. He deserved to be caged." And he was. Tried as an adult and sentenced to 25 and a half years -- Oshea served 17 before being recently released. He now lives back in the old neighborhood - next door to Mary. How a convicted murder ended-up living a door jamb away from his victim's mother is a story, not of horrible misfortune, as you might expect - but of remarkable mercy. A few years ago Mary asked if she could meet Oshea at Minnesota's Stillwater state prison. As a devout Christian, she felt compelled to see if there was some way, if somehow, she could forgive her son's killer. "I believe the first thing she said to me was, 'Look, you don't know me. I don't know you. Let's just start with right now,'" Oshea says. "And I was befuddled myself." Oshea says they met regularly after that. When he got out, she introduced him to her landlord - who with Mary's blessing, invited Oshea to move into the building. Today they don't just live close - they are close. Mary was able to forgive. She credits God, of course - but also concedes a more selfish motive. "Unforgiveness is like cancer," Mary says. "It will eat you from the inside out. It's not about that other person, me forgiving him does not diminish what he's done. Yes, he murdered my son - but the forgiveness is for me. It's for me." For Oshea, it hasn't been that easy. "I haven't totally forgiven myself yet, I'm learning to forgive myself. And I'm still growing toward trying to forgive myself." To that end, Oshea is now busy proving himself to himself. He works at a recycling plant by day and goes to college by night. He says he's determined to payback Mary's clemency by contributing to society. In fact, he's already working on it - singing the praises of God and forgiveness at prisons, churches - to large audiences everywhere. "A conversation can take you a long way," Oshea says to one group. Unforgiveness is like a cancer, forgiveness and reconciliation are like a healing balm. Forgiveness is not about being perfect, forgiveness doesn't mean a crime goes unpunished. But forgiveness is about living fully alive, forgiveness is death and resurrection. Forgiveness is what Jesus' activity is all about. The Greek word for being ‘saved’ is also translated “made well,” “healed,” or “made whole.” It refers not to some private transaction between God and the soul, but to the healing and transformation of the whole person! But the story is about something else too. It is about the peace that Jesus offers us, and the peace we offer one another because Jesus is present with us. We say to one another, Peace be with you, and the other responds, and also with you. You see, this reconciliation, this peace making is part of what it is to be whole, and it is what we do before we come to the table together. This forgiveness, and reconciliation, and peacemaking is amazingly important, because it bears witness to something that is incredibly important. Our gospel story today tells us to bear witness to this important thing. We bear witness to things that are important to us all the time, things that maybe are not quite so important. We bear witness to the great movies or television programs we've seen and want others to enjoy. We bear witness to the accomplishments, or failures, of our sports teams. We bear witness to the important events in our family or work lives. We bear witness -- that is, tell someone about -- the things that matter to us all the time. It's not really all that different when it comes to faith. Witnessing does not mean shoving our faith down someone's throat or threatening them with eternal hellfire if they don't believe like we do. It's simply telling others where we sensed God at work -- at home or work, at church or school, through a stranger or a friend, a doctor or teacher or neighbor, even through ourselves. Bearing witness is nothing more than saying where you think God is at work in your life and the world. We bear witness all the time; we're just not used to thinking about doing it in terms of our faith. We must bear witness to God's love in our lives, we must bear witness to forgiveness, and to peacemaking. Our lives bear witness to Jesus' love. We must bear witness that Love wins. Alleluia, Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!