The New Adam- John 20
The Bible begins with human beings in a beautiful garden- paradise. They have a life of perfect relationships with God, with each other, and with the rest of creation. They live in harmony. … But they decide to believe a lie, that God really doesn’t want what is best for them- that God is hiding good things from them. And to get at those good things they have to ignore God’s directions. … The human beings decide to eat from the forbidden tree that provides the knowledge of good and evil. … So far, they have only known good, but now they have to leave the garden to experience evil. They rejected God, and God’s guidance for their lives. That sin infected all the generations like a virus. Jealousy leads to anger and then violence. Pride led to the need to protect one’s status using lies and manipulation. Living with the possibility of violence led to fear and prejudice and inhospitality towards the other. Sin manifests in a thousand different ways as one sin causes two more in response. … The story of the Bible is about God’s plan to get humanity back into right relationship with Him, with one another, and with themselves. …
In John’s Gospel, in chapter 20, each time the resurrected Jesus appears it is the first day of the week. When Jesus appears to Mary outside the empty tomb, it is early on the first day of the week. In todays Gospel reading, when Jesus appears to the 10 disciples, John tells us again that it was the first day of the week. And again, when Jesus appears to Thomas, it is 8 days later, which in the way that they counted time, put this encounter again on the first day of the week. … John is trying to tell us that the resurrection of Jesus has something to do with the first day of the week. In Scripture, the first day of the week points to the first day of creation- to the beginning of creation. … The seventh day is the sabbath. It is the day God rested from creating, and God’s rest is the reason given for the command for Israel to rest. That is the day Christ lay dead in the tomb- a day we remember as Holy Saturday. … But the resurrection of Jesus happens on the first day of the week, which means that the resurrection is the beginning of the new creation. Some have thought about it as the 8th day of creation- The first day of the new creation.
It is not a coincidence, then, that this new Adam is mistaken by Mary to be a gardener, which reflects the first Adam who tended to the garden of Eden. St. Paul explores this connection between Adam and Jesus in Romans chapter 5, where he says,
“Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Rom 5:18-19).
He also talks about this in his first letter to the Corinthians, saying,
“for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ” (1 Cor 15:22).
Christ is seen to be a kind of new Adam- A human being who was challenged to live according to God’s way, without giving into the temptations to believe lies about God. … Jesus succeeded in living obediently to the ways of God, and his resurrection was God’s stamp of approval on his life and teaching. … To call him “Lord” is to move out from under the tent of Adam, into the tent of Christ.
I would like us to just look through John chapter 20 a bit today, so some of these pieces might not seem to connect very smoothly, but there are a number of important things to look at here. … One of the things we notice, which we also see in other gospels, is that Jesus’ resurrected body has abilities that regular bodies don’t seem to have. Jesus (mysteriously not stopped by locked doors) appears in the room where the disciples have gathered, full of fear. He seems to be able to just appear and disappear. … Somehow, he has the ability to not be recognized, as we saw with Mary, when she mistook him for the gardener. But, then he is able to be recognized. … We see this with story about the disciples on the road to Emmaus, as well. … This new creation, this new Adam, is in many ways like the old creation- he can speak with his disciples, they can touch him, they can recognize him, they watch him eat- but there are ways in which this new creation is also very different- very new.
…
Into their fear he speaks peace- again and again he speaks the word, “Peace”. In Hebrew, the word is Shalom. It means, “nothing missing, nothing broken”. It means God, humanity, and the rest of creation in correct relationship marked by justice, joy, and fulfillment. It is the yearning of every human heart. It is the yearning of creation (Rom 8). … This is the first word he speaks to his disciples after he is resurrected, “peace”. This is what God has been aiming at since sin infected the world. God has been aiming at shalom, at peace, at harmony. Shalom is what the Garden of Eden was all about.
After this he shows them his hands and his side, so they can see his scars. Presumably he could have been healed from those wounds as well, but he chose to retain them. He kept those scars as a badge of victory, and as a witness to the work that he has done for the world, when he was nailed to the tree, … and then transformed that tree into the tree of life through his resurrection. … They see his scars and they know it is really him.
…
He then sent them out to continue his mission, and breathed on them, just as God breathed life into the human made of the dust of the ground in Genesis- we read,
I would like us to just look through John chapter 20 a bit today, so some of these pieces might not seem to connect very smoothly, but there are a number of important things to look at here. … One of the things we notice, which we also see in other gospels, is that Jesus’ resurrected body has abilities that regular bodies don’t seem to have. Jesus (mysteriously not stopped by locked doors) appears in the room where the disciples have gathered, full of fear. He seems to be able to just appear and disappear. … Somehow, he has the ability to not be recognized, as we saw with Mary, when she mistook him for the gardener. But, then he is able to be recognized. … We see this with story about the disciples on the road to Emmaus, as well. … This new creation, this new Adam, is in many ways like the old creation- he can speak with his disciples, they can touch him, they can recognize him, they watch him eat- but there are ways in which this new creation is also very different- very new.
…
Into their fear he speaks peace- again and again he speaks the word, “Peace”. In Hebrew, the word is Shalom. It means, “nothing missing, nothing broken”. It means God, humanity, and the rest of creation in correct relationship marked by justice, joy, and fulfillment. It is the yearning of every human heart. It is the yearning of creation (Rom 8). … This is the first word he speaks to his disciples after he is resurrected, “peace”. This is what God has been aiming at since sin infected the world. God has been aiming at shalom, at peace, at harmony. Shalom is what the Garden of Eden was all about.
After this he shows them his hands and his side, so they can see his scars. Presumably he could have been healed from those wounds as well, but he chose to retain them. He kept those scars as a badge of victory, and as a witness to the work that he has done for the world, when he was nailed to the tree, … and then transformed that tree into the tree of life through his resurrection. … They see his scars and they know it is really him.
…
He then sent them out to continue his mission, and breathed on them, just as God breathed life into the human made of the dust of the ground in Genesis- we read,
“then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being” (Gen 2:7).
… Interestingly, the word for Spirit and breath are the same word in Hebrew and they are also the same word in Greek- the languages of the Bible. … The first humans, who received the Lord’s breath, or the Lord’s Spirit, were made in the image of God, to reflect God into the creation- to act in a god-like way to the creation as they tended to the garden. … And here we see Christ breathe his Spirit into his disciples as he charges them to continue his mission to go out into the world to reflect his image into the world- to be his body in the world. In a sense, he is remaking humanity.
Attached to this mission is the task of defining sin and forgiving sin. It is important to identify sin. … What is not in continuity with the kingdom of God? What misses the mark regarding who God has made you to be? … This is where everything went wrong in the first place. The capacity to pronounce forgiveness of sin also requires retaining a definition of sin. This is not to be seen in a merely judicious sense. The saints will often teach us to see sin in the sense of a doctor diagnosing an illness, so that the appropriate treatment can be applied. … Sin is the failure to achieve the purpose for which we were created. It is what is preventing our souls from functioning in a healthy way. … To be a sinner is to be lost in an illusion about reality. Our choice to sin shows what we really believe about reality- it exposes our belief in an illusion about where we will find joy and meaning and fulfillment. … The availability of forgiveness does not mean that sin doesn’t matter, or it is to be taken less seriously. It means there is a treatment for the disease. … I remember one episode of the Simpsons where the Simpsons family visits Canada. Homer decides not to worry about getting hit by a car while crossing the street because Canada has free healthcare. … Sin has a treatment. Forgiveness is available, but that doesn’t mean it is not to be taken seriously, or that it can’t still cause harm and chaos if left unchecked. … So, forgiveness can be declared by the body of Christ, and it is also important that the body of Christ retain the definition of sin as a dangerous disease. … Here, the ancient church saw Christ grant the Church, through the ordination of ministers, the ability to grant forgiveness of sin to the truly repentant.
…
Thomas, of course, missed everything. He stands in for those of us that want to see in order to believe. He only wants the experience Mary had with Jesus. He wants the experience that the 10 disciples had with Jesus. He wants his faith to be based on an experience like theirs. And his belief isn’t that different from the belief of the 10. They didn’t really believe Mary, they were still hiding behind locked doors, until Jesus came to them. Thomas was no different from the other disciples. … But when Jesus shows himself to Thomas, Thomas’ faith would be declared with the highest recognition of who Christ is-
Attached to this mission is the task of defining sin and forgiving sin. It is important to identify sin. … What is not in continuity with the kingdom of God? What misses the mark regarding who God has made you to be? … This is where everything went wrong in the first place. The capacity to pronounce forgiveness of sin also requires retaining a definition of sin. This is not to be seen in a merely judicious sense. The saints will often teach us to see sin in the sense of a doctor diagnosing an illness, so that the appropriate treatment can be applied. … Sin is the failure to achieve the purpose for which we were created. It is what is preventing our souls from functioning in a healthy way. … To be a sinner is to be lost in an illusion about reality. Our choice to sin shows what we really believe about reality- it exposes our belief in an illusion about where we will find joy and meaning and fulfillment. … The availability of forgiveness does not mean that sin doesn’t matter, or it is to be taken less seriously. It means there is a treatment for the disease. … I remember one episode of the Simpsons where the Simpsons family visits Canada. Homer decides not to worry about getting hit by a car while crossing the street because Canada has free healthcare. … Sin has a treatment. Forgiveness is available, but that doesn’t mean it is not to be taken seriously, or that it can’t still cause harm and chaos if left unchecked. … So, forgiveness can be declared by the body of Christ, and it is also important that the body of Christ retain the definition of sin as a dangerous disease. … Here, the ancient church saw Christ grant the Church, through the ordination of ministers, the ability to grant forgiveness of sin to the truly repentant.
…
Thomas, of course, missed everything. He stands in for those of us that want to see in order to believe. He only wants the experience Mary had with Jesus. He wants the experience that the 10 disciples had with Jesus. He wants his faith to be based on an experience like theirs. And his belief isn’t that different from the belief of the 10. They didn’t really believe Mary, they were still hiding behind locked doors, until Jesus came to them. Thomas was no different from the other disciples. … But when Jesus shows himself to Thomas, Thomas’ faith would be declared with the highest recognition of who Christ is-
“My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:28).Jesus says to Thomas,
“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
… There was a time when those original witnesses would die, and we would be left with their stories and the accounts of their lives. So when he says “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” he is talking about all of those who believed their story. … Jesus is talking about you. Blessed are you because you have trusted this amazing story, even though you have not touched his scars.
God has begun a new creation with the resurrection of Jesus. He succeeds where Adam failed. … He has opened a door to his kingdom so that we can leave the old order of things and, instead, belong to the New Creation. This is the Exodus from slavery to sin and death. This is the entrance back to the garden. Amen.
God has begun a new creation with the resurrection of Jesus. He succeeds where Adam failed. … He has opened a door to his kingdom so that we can leave the old order of things and, instead, belong to the New Creation. This is the Exodus from slavery to sin and death. This is the entrance back to the garden. Amen.
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