Reflections: April 2021

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 25 April 2021, Fourth Sunday of Easter, by Carl Catedral. The scripture readings that day were Psalm 23 ; 1 John 3:16-24 ; John 10:11-18.

1 John 3:16-24

3:16 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us--and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. 17 How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

3:18 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. 19 And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him 20 whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; 22 and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

3:23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

I’m sure we all remember the anxious days leading up to or surrounding January 25, 2020. That was the date the Hong Kong government declared a State of Emergency as the threat of the novel-coronavirus loomed ominously. In those early days, you could have all the money in the world, but only two things mattered: toilet paper and surgical masks.

You probably wouldn’t necessarily know this about me, but I can be a very anxious person especially when I feel unprepared. I can pretend to be cool and act like everything will be okay. But on January 25 anxiety and fear began to overwhelm. At the time, Lydia was with her family in Thailand for Lunar New Year. So I was home alone, and I only had two masks in my possession. Everywhere I looked, they were all sold out.

Thankfully, at church on Sunday, Pastor Timothy gave me a few extra masks, so I could survive through the end of the week. Since Lydia was in Thailand, I deployed her on a mission to search out surgical masks before the anxious frenzy also manifested itself on the shores of Karabi. Thankfully, she secured two boxes before everything sold out, and I also figured out how to order another box online. So though the situation was looking grim, at least I was prepared now.

But this feeling of preparation was short-lived. A couple of weeks later, I remember seeing the Bethune house and other organizations asking for mask donations because domestic workers were running short on supplies. I had maybe 3 unopened boxes at that point, and Lydia said we should give some away. The anxiety inside me began stirring up once again, and I thought to myself and probably out loud: “What do you mean give away our masks? Are you crazy?” I had to breathe deeply and think happy thoughts to calm myself down. I did not want to give away our most precious commodity; somebody else with more supplies could do it. Thankfully Lydia is less anxious and more giving than me. We gave away two boxes and kept one for ourselves. And I’m still here today to tell you about it.

My anxiety about masks is a little bit silly, and embarrassing in retrospect, but I think it captures some of themes in 1 John 3:16-24 – which is the text that I will be focusing on today. In particular, the passage in 1 John lays out for us a call to love. Specifically, as Christians, we have been called to love boldly – that is, to take risks to care for others even when we feel anxious or afraid.

For me, giving away boxes of masks at the beginning of the pandemic was something I felt nervous to do. It felt risky to give away something that felt so valuable to me. For you giving away boxes of masks might not be something you are able to do, or it might not be something you think is a very big deal. But there are most likely things in all our lives that we do feel anxious about giving up. So today, we are going to talk about what it means to love boldly in concrete ways and why and how we have been called to do this.

As we read earlier, the passage in 1 John 3:16-24 opens by saying: “We know love by this, that he (Jesus) laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for others.”

So based on the opening verse of this passage, John reminds us of the sacrificial love of Jesus. God’s beloved son surrendered the riches of heaven to come down to earth as a lowly servant to live and die for you and me. This extravagant expression of love is the example that motivates and inspires us to also love sacrificially on behalf of others.

But what does this love actually look like? It looks like taking risks to love boldly even when we might feel anxious or afraid.

In v. 17, John asks a rhetorical question: “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?” In effect John is saying: “You want to know what bold, sacrificial love looks like? It’s not this: having enough toilet paper and masks, or other worldly goods you might need, and hoarding it for yourself rather than sharing it with your brother or sister in need.”

It’s interesting that John mentions the phrase “the world’s goods” in referring to the material things we have that we tend to hoard to ourselves rather than giving to others. In the Greek language that the passage was originally written in, the word for “worldly goods” is bios. It’s the same word used in the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 when the Father divides his property between his two sons when the younger one demands his inheritance. In that story, worldly goods or bios refers to property associated with someone who is rich and has a lot to give away. But the same word is also used in Luke 21 to describe the offering of the poor widow who gave away everything she had. She only had two coins, but Jesus saw and acknowledged her offering. He tells the disciples, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than any of them (the rich people); for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on – that is all her bios or worldly possessions.” (Luke 21:4).

God honors the widow because she displayed an amazing sacrificial love while those who were rich gave away money in a way that wasn’t risky or sacrificial for them at all.

The point of the story about the widow is not that we should be reckless in giving away all our possessions, but that giving to and loving one another boldly is something that requires vulnerability and risk and often those with the most possessions have the most difficult time loving in the way Jesus has commanded us.

So I think it’s important to acknowledge that the most sacrificial, bold givers and lovers of God and others are those typically overlooked by society. They might be the single moms who tirelessly work multiple odd jobs to take care and provide a hopeful future for their kids. They might be the domestic workers who faithfully send home remittances to their families even though they sometimes hardly have enough to live on and support themselves.

Loving sacrificially then is not about giving things away because we have a lot to give. It is often an inconvenient love that puts us in vulnerable positions. But we do it anyway because we are so consumed by love for those around us. A sacrificial love is a bold love because it often means giving up something we value to care for others who are even more vulnerable than us. It means confronting our anxieties and fears about our own well-being to consider what others might need. So no matter how rich or poor we are in the world’s eyes, if we have something – our time, our money, our talents, our listening ears – we can offer what we have boldly, or sacrificially, as a means to love one another as God has commanded us.

But why was the author of 1 John so adamant about this kind of bold, sacrificial love on behalf of one another? In the letter’s historical context, there were factions forming in the early church. People were having theological disputes about whether or not Jesus was fully human. For those who denied Jesus had real flesh and blood, it became more important to them to focus on spiritual or “otherworldly” concerns rather than earthly things. One of the results was that they stopped caring for the physical needs of the people around them – especially the poor.

Sometimes today we divide one another into the categories of praying Christians versus action Christians. For example, there are people in my life who tell me that I focus too much on issues of justice and not enough on spiritual things. They wish I would be more of a praying Christian. Then there are the “action-based” Christians who maybe sometimes feel like they don’t need to pray because they are frustrated by “praying Christians” and would rather focus on doing “actual” work. But justice is a spiritual thing that requires prayer to sustain us and fill us with loving compassion; and likewise, prayer is a spiritual thing that requires us to love through tangible acts of justice. One without the other is incomplete.

So John is showing us that there is no such thing as praying Christians vs action Christians. Instead, he shows how our call to love each other boldly and tangibly - not only impacts our interactions with others, but that it also can transform our relationship with God – specifically in our understanding of prayer.

In verses 18-19, John says, “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” And by this” – the word this refers to the previous verse where we are called to love “in truth and action.” So by this (loving in truth and action), we will know that we are from truth and we will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” So what John is saying then is that when you take steps to love one another boldly and tangibly, you will find reassurance for your hearts anytime you begin to feel condemned.

Have any of you felt condemned, or insecure about your identity as a Christian or feel like you’re not doing enough for God or to love the people around you?

You might be a mom or dad working hard to care for your kids and yet they are still having a hard time in school or getting into trouble, and you feel like it’s your fault or you should be doing even more. Or maybe you are someone who has been advocating for justice for migrants or refugees or the situation in Hong Kong or Myanmar, and you feel hopeless or overwhelmed by what’s happening in the world and wish you could do even more as well.

If you feel this way, John’s words offer comfort and reassurance in stating that when you are engaged in the active work of loving one another, you can find assurance in your heart. And even if you still feel condemned and think you are not doing enough, John says in v.20, “God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” God knows the motivations of our hearts and our desire for integrity to match words with action. So even if the world misunderstands and condemns your actions so that you feel condemned in your own heart – John is saying “Do not be discouraged because God sees you and your love for others.” It’s like the story of the widow who gave up all she had – her bios – her two coins. She might have gone unnoticed by society, but God did not fail to see her. And he does not fail to see you.

But God does not only see you, he offers a profound promise. Verse 21-22 states, “Beloved, if our hearts to do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.” He tells us that when we love one another practically through truth and action, we can boldly ask God whatever we want, and we will receive it.

It’s important to see then that God wants to answer our prayers and invites us to pray boldly and expect his favorable response. I think part of what’s happening here is that when our hearts are so consumed by the desire to love one another boldly and practically, God is compelled to answer our prayers because we won’t be praying thinking only about ourselves. Our prayers of intercession on behalf of both ourselves and others will be informed by the actual care and service we have already been providing for those in need.

We see then that prayer, and specifically the prayers God promises to answer, are connected to our obedience to God’s command to love one another boldly and practically. So loving boldly through action and praying boldly for God’s faithful response are two integral parts of a larger whole.

But maybe you are still feeling discouraged because you don’t know where to start or what next step to take in obeying God’s command to believe in Jesus and love one another as v. 23 states. I feel this all the time – not just when I felt anxious about giving away boxes of masks last year. But I’m learning loving boldly in this way gives us confidence to keep taking small steps along the way to become a little bit braver and a little bit more loving.

For me the story about giving away boxes of masks doesn’t just start and end there. The reason I even considered giving the boxes away in the first place was because Lydia and I had relationships with domestic workers. Through our relationships with Edwina, we visited the Bethune House – the migrant women’s shelter and learned more about the struggles migrants were facing. We also visited Chater Road on Sundays and heard the stories and heartbreaks of other domestic workers. So those experiences made me take a step to give away my extra masks because I knew there were those who needed them more than me.

And after taking that step, I took other steps to sign petitions on behalf of migrants – and at first that made me nervous. Then I started attending more rallies advocating for migrants’ rights, and then I was invited to read solidarity statements during these rallies. And every step of the way, I was usually very anxious and little bit afraid to do those things because I felt incompetent and worried about my own safety and well-being. But I kept trying take these these small steps that led bigger steps and more risks.

And like I said at the beginning, taking these steps to love boldly will look differently for everybody and will most likely evolve over time. Giving away two boxes of masks now would not be that meaningful for me, but it was a start.

We all have things we are nervous to do. Maybe you feel nervous to read or pray at church or are hesitant to volunteer your time. Maybe you feel worried about putting your name on a petition; or you feel hesitant about reaching out to someone you haven’t talked to in a while or taking steps to make a new friend. Maybe you’re afraid to speak out about injustices you see around you. Whatever you’re facing, the invitation God has for us today is to take small steps to love boldly and sacrificially even when we feel anxious or afraid. In loving sacrificially in this way, John says in vs. 24, that God will abide in us and that we will know his abiding presence through the Spirit that he has given us. God presence made known through his Spirit will reassure our hearts and empower us to love one another boldly with the love we have first experienced and received in the sacrificial love of Christ.

So as we close today, let’s ask ourselves: what are the boxes that you are holding onto that Jesus is inviting you to give away or let go of? What is the condemnation in your heart that you don’t have to feel anymore? What are the bold prayers motivated by bold actions that you can pray on behalf of others?

“We know love by this, that Jesus laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.”

Brothers and sisters, Jesus’ extravagant, sacrificial love for us is the good news of hope and reassurance even when we feel anxious or afraid. Just as he has loved us boldly, let us love one another boldly.

Let us pray.

Loving God, you see us and promise to answer our prayers. We pray for those hurting and in need all around us. May you comfort and provide for them; and may you inspire boldness in our hearts to lovingly share what we have and to speak out on behalf of those in need. In your name we pray. Amen.

# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, April 25, 2021

“Proclamation and demonstration of the Gospel”

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 11 April 2021, Second Sunday of Easter, by Tony Chan. The scripture readings that day were Psalm 133; Acts 4: 32 -35; John 20:19-31,

Last year, I learnt a fascinating love story from a donor whose name is Daniel. When I called him to get to know him after his donation, Daniel told me the reason why he donated the money and it was because his fiancée (now wife) asked him to do so. He said his fiancée asked him not to buy an expensive engagement ring. Instead, he donated the money to a community development ministry in Nepal to help the poor to survive the hardship they’re facing.

Daniel told me his wife thinks it is more meaningful to spend money to help the impoverished community rather than spending money on expensive jewellery.
Can you imagine how interesting it was when Daniel actually proposed to his wife? He didn't use a ring but the donation receipt.

This is indeed a beautiful and touching story; not only did the husband give the wife what she really wanted, but also their love story's blessings extend to the needy far away.

Yes. Today's message is about giving. But not just giving. It's about the demonstration of the Gospel; together with the proclamation of the Gospel, God is glorified, and His people thrive.

Today's scripture readings from Acts shows that the early Church in Jerusalem has grown rapidly after the resurrection of Jesus. Thousands heard the word and believed in Jesus and got baptized. Of course, we know, in accordance with the custom of that time, the numbers recorded in Acts include only men. The actual total number may be twice the amount provided in the text.

In spite of the fact that the early Church was small, had no money, and the government was against them, the brand new, fast-growing Christian community achieved a remarkable unity as well as a great testimony that the Gospel was spread to many.

My sermon's focus today is that to achieve such a mission, the proclamation and the demonstration of the Gospel are equally important.

As many of you may have an impression from the texts that it's all about giving and helping those in need, v.33 is often missed out by readers. "With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all." This verse speaks of the great power by which the apostles testified to the resurrection of Christ.

Luke, the author of the Book of Acts, inserted v.33 into the middle of the discussion about the believers' shared possessions to illustrate the relationship of the proclamation of the Gospel to the demonstration of helping the needy.

To testify to the power of resurrection, the early church leaders worked on proclaiming the Gospel, while the whole community worked on demonstrating the Gospel by sharing their estates and helping the needy.

Now let me first focus on the demonstration of the Gospel. In v.32, "Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common."

The early Church's practise reminds us of the mission of the Messiah that Jesus read in a synagogue. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." The year of the Lord's favor is a year that the poor are freed from their debts, meaning everyone is free from any bondages. Everyone gets to start over and live an abundant life. The Messiah frees people not just in the spiritual dimension, but also in the physical dimension.

However, many believers missed this integrity of the Gospel. They either neglect the part of helping people physically, which means they just spread the Gospel through words and talking without demonstrating the Gospel's freeing power, or they put evangelism as a priority over helping people's physical need in this living world. In this case, helping the needy becomes the means to convert people into Christianity.

I once heard an interesting (and ironic) story. A man was trapped under the car in an accident, and it was so painful. A Christian passed by and talked to the man, saying, "Hey, do you feel pain? You gotta believe in Jesus. He cares for you, and he is the liberator of pain." However, the Christian did nothing to help the man get out of the pain.

Does it sound familiar with your experience living in a Christian community? How would this man feel? Of course, it's terrible, and he wouldn't believe in Jesus then.

The Gospel is good news to everyone that God liberates us holistically. And when we join God's mission to spread the Gospel, we do it holistically, which means we proclaim the good news, and we act to demonstrate the good news. We act to free everyone from physical plights.

In the texts today, the power of resurrection impacted the early church members; their action demonstrated Jesus's mission to free his people from poverty.

Like Jesus, they do care about the needy. They sacrificed their possessions to help them, leading to a beautiful scenario: "There was not a needy person among them." Just like the wonderful scene in today's Psalm reading: "How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!"

I say this is the result due to the impact of the power of resurrection, because this beautiful scenario in the early church community appeared not before but after Jesus's resurrection. For the early Church, resurrection is something they actually, genuinely encountered. When Jesus appeared to them before his ascension, he asked them to witness to the Gospel. There is no way the church can neglect this very command, and to them, the Gospel is not verbal but should be put into practice for others to witness

Today is the second Sunday after Easter; is the power of resurrection still with you? Or is it gone after the Easter holiday? Today's message reminds us that if we truly believe our Lord has risen, we are energized. We ought to follow His command and witness the Gospel in our community.

The early Church worked so hard to be witnesses of the Gospel as they waited for Jesus to come back. As a faith community of one heart and soul, they love one another. They cherish people more than any earthly possessions.

To cherish people more is the key to let go of our attachment to possessions. If we love our possessions more than people, we surely don't want to give away our estates. And the question here is, how do we transform our minds so that we do cherish people more? Let's turn our eyes to Jesus.

Jesus's resurrection is inextricably connected with his crucifixion. God did not just raise Jesus from any death, but death on the cross, signifying ultimate self-emptying and sacrifice. Jesus died bankrupt and bereft, stripped of all earthly possessions. Yet, Jesus didn't just die. Most importantly, He was raised from the dead, redeeming the relationship between God and His people and creation.

The crucified and risen Jesus inspires his followers to find a new life that is far more important than any earthly possessions.

Like Daniel and his wife in the story I told you initially, they undeniably live a life that cherishes people more than any earthly possessions. For them, they don’t want to be shaped by material things that the world values nowadays. Sometimes it's just the commercials' strategy to tell us it is a must to have a high-value ring for a man to express his love to his beloved. But it is not the value shown in the bible, nor the lesson Jesus taught us. The bible and the testimony of Jesus encourages us to sacrifice our possessions to help others because people are more precious.

A reminder here about the text: we should not picture that all early church members were placing all their property in a common fund. This congregation did not form a communal society that required all possessions to be put in a common pot. Donations were given on a voluntary basis.

In the coming chapter, Acts chapter 5, Peter rebukes the couple Ananias and Sapphira for trying to deceive the Church by making it appear as if they were more generous than they really were. Peter comments, "While you kept it, didn't it remain your own? After it was sold, wasn't it in your power? How is it that you have conceived this thing in your heart? You haven't lied to men, but to God." (5:4). In other words, their sin was dishonesty, not the fact that they still owned property. The gift in the community was completely voluntary.

Another clue telling us that their gifts were voluntary is, as we can observe in the New Testament, many of the believers lived in their own homes (2:46; 12:12). This tells us they had their own estates. They did not simply sell everything and pool all the money. Rather, they sold it off piece by piece, as needed. They continued to live in their own houses but were willing to give to the community when needs arose.

Sisters and brothers, to demonstrate the Gospel, we need to make sure that there is no one who is in need in our community. And the problem is not in what we have; it's in our attachment to what we have. We can have our possessions, they are good. However, we don't attach ourselves to the possessions but to the loving community, people. Like the crucified Jesus who emptied himself for His beloved people, or the united early church community, we don't claim private ownership of any possessions. When we see someone in need, we can sacrifice to help.

Today's message is not just to encourage you to sacrifice, but also to celebrate the Church's testimony.

From the beginning, the Church has been committed to the principle of giving, and it still is. Today, the Church is making a difference worldwide because it comprises millions of individuals who cherish people more than earthly possessions. Millions of Christ's followers are energized by the power of resurrection and wholeheartedly follow the example of Jesus's sacrifice.

In fact, if all the good things being done in the name of Christ were to suddenly stop, the world would spin into chaos. Thousands would become homeless; hundreds of thousands would have no food to eat; millions of children wouldn't have decent clothes to wear.

Although, there are still those in need in the world, unlike the beautiful scenario in Acts. The Church is genuinely making a difference. This the Gospel. This is a demonstration showing the whole world the power of Jesus.

Praise the Lord!

As I pointed out earlier, in the middle of the discussion of generosity. v.33 is about the proclamation of the Gospel.

"With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all."

What is "great grace"? the phrase is ambiguous here. Grace with whom? We can find out the meaning here through the text in a parallel statement in 2:47: "And having the goodwill of all the people". The Greek word that is translated as "great grace" is "Charis", the same as the one translated as "goodwill" in Chapter 2. This draws a conclusion that "great grace" means the community's favour with outsiders.
Yes. The early church community was having an excellent relationship with the district. And their generosity was so visible, witnessing Christ's power in the whole area. The community's generosity itself becomes a tangible "sign" that authenticates its message of Jesus. This becomes a "great power" for the apostles to give testimonies to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. That's the proclamation of the Gospel.
Now don't get me wrong. The Demonstration of the Gospel is definitely not a tactic to achieve the proclamation – to convert people into Christianity. To free people from physical pain and bondage is the thing that Jesus cares about so much; it is the Gospel itself; it stands alone beautifully.

To close my sharing, I would like to read the Micah Declaration on Integral Mission:

Integral mission or holistic transformation is the proclamation and demonstration of the Gospel. It is not simply that evangelism and social involvement are to be done alongside each other. Rather, in integral mission our proclamation has social consequences as we call people to love and repentance in all areas of life. And our social involvement has evangelistic consequences as we bear witness to the transforming grace of Jesus Christ. If we ignore the world we betray the word of God which sends us out to serve the world. If we ignore the word of God we have nothing to bring to the world.'

Amen

# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, April 11, 2021

Easter Message

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 4 April 2021. Easter Sunday , by Revd Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings that day were Isaiah 25:6-9, Acts 10:34-43, John 20:1-18.

I am happy and excited to see many of you in church today to celebrate Easter. I am also a bit anxious if the worship can be arranged smoothly with limited seats available and other complications. We are thankful to God and all volunteers who make our reopening of church service possible with their help.

Resuming public worship service in church is like an Easter gift from God. Many friends have longed to worship in God’s Holy sanctuary. During the Covid pandemic, one lesson I have learned is nothing can be certain except God’s love, and nothing can be taken for granted. We need to cherish for what we have right now and give thanks to God.

Message of Easter

Easter Sunday is a special moment for the church to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from death. Jesus’ resurrection shows life overcomes death. New life, new hope and new joy are always the theme for Easter.

In my sermon today, I would like to share a few reflections about Easter, with the insights taken from today’s lectionary readings.

The first reflection – affirm God’s sovereignty/wait with Joy

Today the book of Isaiah, Chapter 25 was read. Prophet Isaiah from the Hebrew scripture assured the Israelites in the old days that the Lord God is their saviour and redeemer. The whole creation is God’s gift to all his people. All people regardless of age, economic status and nationalities are all fed, and well fed. God is the source of life. Life and death are in His hands. The prophet affirmed that God is the one who saved and set the people free. But the people needed to wait, to wait for the Lord to come. When they wait, they should wait with joy and gladness.

Covid 19 pandemic is still on going and we don’t see how it may end in the near future. The economy has been greatly affected and higher rate of unemployment has been recorded. The political situations in different places including Hong Kong seems getting worse than better.

If Easter is to bring hope, the message from the prophet reminds us and those who are still struggling and living a difficult life to wait, not to wait with worry and sadness, but to wait with joy. To wait with joy is a choice. Quite often we may not able to change or control the external environment and other people, but we can definitely help our own self to change and make our own choice. I always remember a refugee friend who shared with me: I choose to be happy and to do something positive in the midst of uncertainty and difficulties. He said it in a sarcastic way: I have no choice! He is humorous.

As we wait, we acknowledge how the Prophet’s words on our Lord is being lived out in human history and He is the sovereign God of the whole universe. He helps us to recognize one truth: life and death, rich and poor, good and bad are all in God’s hands. Let us obey God like Jesus and go with the flow in life no matter what. Try to live every day and every moment with joy, and be aware of God’s presence in every aspect of our lives and every corner of our world. Sisters and brothers, let our life be focused in God and not on our human constraints and limitations. The resurrection of Jesus from death echoes the word from the prophet. Life overcomes death and joy overcomes sorrow.

The second reflection - Forgiveness of Sins

The second reading today is taken from the book of Acts. This is another scripture with rich meaning. What I would like to highlight is about “the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name”.

St Peter, the early church leader, reminded Jesus’ followers in his time, “everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
We as Jesus’ followers and as Church, to receive forgiveness of sins through Jesus’ name is another significant message for Easter.

Human’s separation from God is the most fundamental Sin. When people are separated from God, all kinds of evils could have happened – hatred, greed, aggression, exploitation, discrimination, violence, murder and many more you name it.

God realizes the problems and pain of separation. In order to reconnect and reconcile with humanity, God came to the world and became human. Jesus, the incarnate, the God full of glory, humbled himself. He took up the cup of suffering, experienced humiliation and vulnerability as human flesh up to the cross. Because of his wounds we are healed and saved. Jesus is a wounded healer.

The significance of believing in Jesus and receiving forgiveness of sins through Jesus’ name is this:

We admit that we are from God. We are nothing and cannot be whole when we are separated from the Creator.

This is another message for Easter today: Receive the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name, rebuild the loving and close relationship with God through the risen Christ. In this connection, we are reminded to seek forgiveness and to forgive, so we strive to restore broken relationships with others in family, in church, in society and in nature. Forgiveness of sins includes personal and communal levels, sins of individuals and sins of the world, the systems. From the book of Acts, St Peter, the rock of the church, reminded Christians to be witness of Christ to proclaim Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, who was sent by God to save all from oppression. Sisters and brothers, when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus in Easter, let us take up the cross and be Christ’s witness to share the good news of forgiveness of sins so all people will be healed and reconnected to God through Jesus, the risen Lord. With the help from the risen Lord, may the church work together with God to create a world of new order, where new relationships are built with compassion, care, respect and understanding.

The third reflection – our love to the Lord

The third reflection is taken from the Gospel of John.
While we are longing for the church, for the worship, for the programs, one important question we have to ask is how is our longing for God and our love to God, Godself?

Mary who was the first person to see the resurrected Jesus enlightened us to reflect on this question. How much do I love God and the depth of my desire to him? Do we follow Jesus because of the help he gives us? Do we embrace God because God is great and can defeat my enemy? In Jesus’ time, many people welcomed and followed him at the beginning because they expected him to save their country Israel. When their dream was shattered, they turned to kill him.
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb to claim the dead body of Jesus in the early morning three days after Jesus was crucified. She went just simply because of her deep love to Jesus. Her intention was so strong. Even after Peter and the other disciple left the tomb, she stayed and tried every chance and every person she met there asking for the body of Jesus. Mary was so desperate.

While Mary was weeping, Jesus appeared to her and then charged her to share the good news of Jesus’ resurrection to his disciples. I have a question in mind, why did Jesus not reveal himself to these two male disciples but chose to reveal before a woman? This is a question open to interpretation as the text does not tell us. In my interpretation, I would suggest Jesus treasured the deep love and strong desire of Mary for him.

Therefore, I would say if Easter is a celebration of life, new life, it is also a celebration of love. A love that even death cannot take it away.
In this deep love and yearning to meet with her beloved master, Jesus appeared before Mary.

I was moved when I tried to imagine the encounter between Jesus and Mary.
How deep is our love to Jesus Christ, our Lord God? How do we express that love as we celebrate Easter today?

Conclusion

God has been expressing his love to us in human history and through nature. The most mysterious and profound way for expressing his love is God came to the world in human flesh. Jesus expressed his love to us through the new covenant he made and completed on the cross with his broken body. In Church, we have developed a series of Lenten devotionals with the theme: One in the Covenant of the Cross. I would strongly suggest you to continue to watch these devotionals and reflect on this theme and go deeper to experience God’s love in the season of Easter, as we are celebrating the new life of Christ. Pain, suffering and death are part of life and from where new life is reborn.

May the life and love of our risen Lord keep you strong and hopeful. Amen!

# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, April 04, 2021

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