Yosemite Worship, April 23, 2006
Message shared by Rev. Donald Ng of the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down!
John 20:19-31
A minister tells about an event in 2000 when his younger son was a hiker on the Appalachian Trail. He was hiking to cover twenty miles when a storm so vicious came that it froze the batteries in his flashlight. Before he was able to find shelter, he collapsed.
He remembered trying to put himself down right on the trail so someone would find his body when spring came.
The newspaper headlines read: “Hiker pelted by ice storm recalls slow dance with death.” He laid there while the storm raged around him until morning. When he awoke he wasn’t sure whether he was alive or not. His body temperature dropped somewhere below 90 degrees. The hiker said, “I finally decided I was alive. I decided to walk the two miles back toward the forest road and hope that someone would find me.”
Most people are astonished when he tells them the details of the story, especially when they learned that in the following fall, he returned to the trail to complete his hike from Key West, Florida to Cape Gaspe, Quebec. The newspaper reporter said, “this 19 year-old Eagle Scout isn’t likely to quit.”
This young man experienced what only a handful of humans have undergone: a genuine resurrection. Like others who have come near death and know the powerful joy of returning to the land of the living, this young man is a witness to the truth: “you can’t keep a good man down.” He found a new vision that has unleashed personal strength and community joy. He found a determined commitment to gaining new skills needed to do what work that needs to be done. He rediscovered that God loves him and will work through his life and even triumph over death in astonishing ways.
This was also true for Jesus and thus became true for the earliest disciples. When the scorn of Good Friday was refuted on Easter morning, Jesus was determined to fulfill his role in God’s plan. Jesus trusted the mercy of the Father to shatter the finality of death for new life. Death could not keep Jesus down.
In a similar way, the fear of Good Friday became faith for the earliest disciples and the terror of that first Easter morning became their training in discipleship. When we live our lives in discipleship that may sometimes lead us to fearful and death-defying situations, we know that God will be with us. From these opportunities to serve Christ, we too will discover personal strength and faith like the earliest disciples. No obstacle or persecution will keep us down too.
“Peace Be with You”
Jesus wasn’t telling the disciples that if they went and did certain things, then they would achieve peace. Rather, Jesus spoke “peace” to them prior to any action on their part. Many people are trying to make peace, but that has already been done. God has not left it up for us to do; all we have to do is to enter into peace.
Closing Prayer
May Christ be near you to defend you
within you to refresh you,
around you to preserve you,
before you to guide you,
behind you to justify you,
above you to bless you and
comes to you with his peace. Amen.
Message shared by Rev. Donald Ng of the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down!
John 20:19-31
A minister tells about an event in 2000 when his younger son was a hiker on the Appalachian Trail. He was hiking to cover twenty miles when a storm so vicious came that it froze the batteries in his flashlight. Before he was able to find shelter, he collapsed.
He remembered trying to put himself down right on the trail so someone would find his body when spring came.
The newspaper headlines read: “Hiker pelted by ice storm recalls slow dance with death.” He laid there while the storm raged around him until morning. When he awoke he wasn’t sure whether he was alive or not. His body temperature dropped somewhere below 90 degrees. The hiker said, “I finally decided I was alive. I decided to walk the two miles back toward the forest road and hope that someone would find me.”
Most people are astonished when he tells them the details of the story, especially when they learned that in the following fall, he returned to the trail to complete his hike from Key West, Florida to Cape Gaspe, Quebec. The newspaper reporter said, “this 19 year-old Eagle Scout isn’t likely to quit.”
This young man experienced what only a handful of humans have undergone: a genuine resurrection. Like others who have come near death and know the powerful joy of returning to the land of the living, this young man is a witness to the truth: “you can’t keep a good man down.” He found a new vision that has unleashed personal strength and community joy. He found a determined commitment to gaining new skills needed to do what work that needs to be done. He rediscovered that God loves him and will work through his life and even triumph over death in astonishing ways.
This was also true for Jesus and thus became true for the earliest disciples. When the scorn of Good Friday was refuted on Easter morning, Jesus was determined to fulfill his role in God’s plan. Jesus trusted the mercy of the Father to shatter the finality of death for new life. Death could not keep Jesus down.
In a similar way, the fear of Good Friday became faith for the earliest disciples and the terror of that first Easter morning became their training in discipleship. When we live our lives in discipleship that may sometimes lead us to fearful and death-defying situations, we know that God will be with us. From these opportunities to serve Christ, we too will discover personal strength and faith like the earliest disciples. No obstacle or persecution will keep us down too.
“Peace Be with You”
Jesus wasn’t telling the disciples that if they went and did certain things, then they would achieve peace. Rather, Jesus spoke “peace” to them prior to any action on their part. Many people are trying to make peace, but that has already been done. God has not left it up for us to do; all we have to do is to enter into peace.
Closing Prayer
May Christ be near you to defend you
within you to refresh you,
around you to preserve you,
before you to guide you,
behind you to justify you,
above you to bless you and
comes to you with his peace. Amen.