March 30 2008:    Second Sunday of Easter.

Theme: The One who is Risen, is the One who was crucified.

Just before Christmas last year, there was a programme on TV in which the cameras followed JK Rowling, the writer of the Harry Potter books, whose personal fortune now amounts to some £600 million pounds. She took the cameramen back to the house in Edinburgh where she had stayed when she first arrived in the city, nearly twenty years ago. The flat turned out to be in South Lorne Place, a side street just off Lorne Street. She showed the camera team the living room in the flat, and standing there spoke of what it meant to return to the house, spoke of the memories it brought back to her, and of how life had changed since then.

The gospels speak of a house in Jerusalem, also in a side street, or to be more precise, an extension built on top of a house in a side street. It was known as the Upper Room. It belonged to a mysterious owner who is not named, but there is no address for this room, and no one knows where it was in Jerusalem.

Here, Jesus and the disciples came in those last days in the city. The Upper Room was large enough to hold the twelve disciples and Jesus. It was furnished, with benches with cushions and a table. It was here, on the evening of the Passover festival that in those deeply significant moments, Jesus took a bowl, and a towel and washed the feet of the disciples, and then as they ate together offered them the bread and wine of the new covenant.

But what we often miss, is that in those quiet moments together in the Upper Room, Jesus goes on to speak to the disciples of what was about to happen,

the great and deep events about to take place………

He told them that He was about to leave them, and that He would be with them only a little while longer.

As the disciples try to understand what Jesus means, Jesus declares to them, these wonderful words:

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."

Here, then, before the cataclysmic events which are to follow, are words of great comfort…… a message of peace for the disciples. Why a message of peace ? Well, words of Jesus show us that what is about to happen is all in the Father’s purpose.

This, then, is the Upper Room, before the storm breaks……………

When we meet the disciples, when we read about them in John’s gospel chapter 20, we find them again in the Upper Room. Only, this time the doors are locked. Gathered here after the crucifixion of Jesus, the disciples are now at the heart of a hostile city. And the disciples themselves are men locked in fear – real fear. For the Temple authorities are looking for them.

This, then, is the Upper Room, after the storm has struck……………

The disciples talk together in quiet words, subdued tones………

about the news that the tomb up in the gardens,

is empty………..

Then, the gospel tells us, Jesus, the risen Lord Jesus came and stood among them. And said those sublime and holy words – Peace be with you

What a moment of the deepest contrasts, of eternal significance………

Here are the disciples, locked in fear, afraid, confused,

And here is the risen Lord Jesus now among them……….

who says: Peace be with you….

What peace ? Well, before all the events in Jerusalem had taken place, the betrayal, the the arrest, the trial, the crucifixion, in this same Upper Room,

Jesus had spoken to them of peace………

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me

this is the peace of Jesus Himself… knowing through all that had happened, , the betrayal, the the arrest, the trial, the crucifixion, that this was all in His Father’s care, that this was all in the Father’s loving purpose……

We see that peace in Jesus: His calmness during the arrest, His quiet silence at the trial, His words of forgiveness at the cross…… and in those words at the end, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit……

Oh to have such peace ! inner peace. With such inner peace, as we see in Jesus, the decisions we take would be of the deepest and wisest kind, when life threw up its great challenges, with such peace we could face them, with quiet and sure and steady strength……. But, such peace, is the gift of Jesus Christ to us,

listen to Him, He says:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me

here is the word of the risen Jesus for you Peace be with you ! Peace be with you !

Chapter 20, of the gospel of John , the gospel tells us that Jesus, the risen Lord Jesus came and stood among the disciples.

And the gospel goes on to reveal to us something deep and profound and glorious. As we see Him in the Upper Room Jesus is among the disciples is the One who is risen, but …………… we are told, He showed them the marks on His hands and in His side. He who stands risen in the midst of the disciples is the One who has the marks of the cross, and the wound of that terrible spear in His side.

The One who is Risen, is the One who was crucified.

What might this mean ?

Well, it is difficult to put into words the full significance of this,

but you could put it like this:

the One who was crucified, who was nailed to the cross, who died there,

is the One who now stands among the disciples………

The authorities thought that His life and His name had been taken away from the face of the earth. The cross seems to be the triumph of the hostility of human beings, of the world, towards the living God. The cross seems final.

But here, the One who was crucified, is Risen !

The victory is His. His word to us is this: …….. take heart ! I have overcome the world. Though threatened, on every side, often overwhelmed, as a Church, it sometimes seems – in Him the victory is ours.

His word to us is this: …….. take heart ! I have overcome the world

Paul puts it in a different way, but the message is still the same: Jesus was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by Gods power: we are weak in Him, yet by God’s power we live. By God’s power we live………

in Him the victory is ours.

Let us go deeper still into this………

Let us return to the Upper Room for a moment,

For Jesus, who is Risen, as we see Him in John’s gospel, in the Upper Room

has entered into a new stage of existence,

yes, the disciples recognise Him.

This is the same Jesus,

but He is changed.

In what way ?

well, as we see Him with the disciples in the Upper Room,

Jesus is beyond death and sin,

remember what He says ?

…….. take heart ! I have overcome the world.

He has conquered, overcome,

death and sin,

He has overcome death on the cross.

So then, it is important to ask……..

By what strength did He do all this ?

He has done all this, overcome, conquered death, and sin,

overcome the hostility of his enemies in love,

in the strength of the Holy Spirit………

the Spirit has guided Him,

filled Him with strength,

filled Him with wisdom,

with always new, clear, new refreshing life,

the Spirit has given Him life giving power

And now, to the disciples in the Upper Room, behind those locked doors, the astonishing word of Jesus is - ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’.

Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit, breathes the life of the Spirit into the disciples, Jesus passes on the Holy Spirit to them.

This is His loving, parting gift to them.

And the Spirit is His loving, gift to us too.

The Spirit will take from what is Christ’s and make it known to us,

not only in our heads, or our hearts, but unfolding throughout our lives.

The Spirit who lifts us draws us up into in the wonderful life of the Father and the Son. The Spirit who is living water for us, when we are thirsty, when we are wearied, the Spirit is new strength for us, when dead, the Spirit is Life for us.

Jesus Christ, crucified and risen is here and among us.

His word to us is: . take heart ! I have overcome the world.

His gift to us is: His Spirit, to be our strength and our life.

AMEN.