Dear
friends: grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our
Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ
Let's
pray:
I'm
reading a book called, The
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,
by Rebecca Skloot.Henrietta
Lacks was a mother of 5, the wife of David Lacks. She lived in the
Baltimore, Maryland area, where her husband worked for Bethlehem
Steel – one of the many poor families drawn North from the south of
the United States, looking for work. Henrietta developed cancer, and
was treated for her cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Medical Centre.
During
an examination, and without her permission, slices of the cancer and
normal tissue were taken from Henrietta. There was clinical work
going on at Johns Hopkins to see if human cells could be kept alive
and growing in the lab. With these living cells, medical testing for
drugs and treatments could happen in a controlled setting in
laboratories. It would be a medical breakthrough that would allow
for so many other medical breakthroughs. No one asked Henrietta for
her permission to take the cells because she was black, and the
doctors thought they could do what they wanted.
Up
to this point all human cells, cancerous or normal, had died in the
lab after a few days, at most. But not Henrietta's. Her cancerous
cells did die. They reproduced at an amazing rate. The doctors had
found what they were looking for - “immortal” human cells, taken
without the knowledge or permission of Henrietta Lacks.
Henritta
died in 1951. But her cells are still living, and over the past 60
years, her cells have been in space, have been subjected to nuclear
explosions, have helped develop cancer treatments, and have been
subjected to un-numbered medical and drug trials, for cancer, in
vitro fertilization, polio, mapping the human genome. There have
been muti-millions of dollars made from the cells of Henrietta, and
yet her own children can't afford medical insurance. If you piled
all of Henrietta's cells grown in the lab on a scale, they'd weigh
about 50 million tons. The cells of Henrietta Lacks - I use her name
deliberately, because for years and in the lab her cells have only
been know as HeLa -the first two letters of her first and last
names.. The cells of Henrietta Lacks live on in those perfect
growing environments called petri
dishes
in labs all over the world. But what is life? Does Henrietta Lacks
live on?
It
was the day of resurrection – last Sunday it began – when women
came back telling tales of Jesus alive. All of First Church
Jerusalem were behind locked doors, for fear that what happened to
Jesus would happen to them – that the Jewish authorities – and
that's what John meant by that phrase “the Jews” - that the
Jewish authorities would arrest and kill them. Suddenly, in spite of
the locked door, Jesus was there with them. In the middle of their
fear, dread and astonishment, Jesus says “Peace be with you,” And
then he showed them the scars – those horrible signs that it was
him.
Then
they knew. They had heard or a few had seen what had happened on
that Friday – the cross, the nails, the spear. They knew there'd
be scars. It was him. Then Jesus said again. "Peace to you.
Just as the Father sent me, I send you." Now, what does that
mean?
Breathing
on them, Jesus said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive
someone's sins, they're gone for good. If you don't forgive sins,
what are you going to do with them?"
But
Thomas wasn't there – maybe he was getting food, maybe he was
visiting his twin – but he wasn't there. And when they told him
about Jesus, he said what you or I would say - “I don't believe it.
Unless I see the scars and touch those holes myself, I can't believe
it was him.” Doubting Thomas – poor guy. But if you look back,
those there when Jesus showed up the first time saw the scars and
then knew. They saw the scars. Thomas wanted to see the scars.
So,
eight days after that – that would be Monday – tomorrow – and
wouldn't that be a repeating of the first day? On a 7-day cycle,
isn't day 8 really Day One - the first day of creation, when God said
“let there be light, and there was”? On this Day One of a new
creation, the followers were again together, and there was Jesus, the
new creation, again, “Peace to you.” This time talking directly
to Thomas, he said, “Touch these hands, put your hand in my side.
Don't be unbelieving. Believe.”
And
Thomas is all, “My Master! My God.”
Then
Jesus is like, "So, you believe because you've seen with your
own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe
without seeing."
Then
John adds a sort of wrapping up – about why he wrote his telling of
the story of Jesus: Jesus
provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this
book. These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the
Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and
eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.
John
wrote his Gospel – his telling of the life of Jesus for many
reasons. He wrote to provide an eye-witness account of the life,
suffering and death, and resurrection of Jesus. He wrote to
encourage those who were already believers in Jesus – those who had
been grabbed by the news that God has come to us in human form in
order to give us forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. He also
wrote so those who don't know about Jesus might also be grabbed by
the grace and mercy of God in Jesus and believe and have life.
In
Greek, there's three words for life. Two of them are similar in
meaning – bios
and psyche.
This is biological life – that all living creatures have. The
cells of Henrietta Lacks have this life. But the word John uses for
life is zoe.
You might know someone named Zoe – there's a Sesame Street
character names Zoe, now that I think of it.
Zoe
means life
– eternal life – literally, “life of the age,” life given to
those who believe, given to those born of God, life that, according
to John, transforms us from merely existing to living in the
abundance and eternity of God; new creation life, of which the
resurrected Jesus is the first example. This life was present from
the beginning and lies at the centre of creation: right at the
beginning of his Gospel, John wrote in Chapter 1, verse 4 – “in
him – in Jesus – was life – was zoe
- and
the life – the zoe
- was the light of all people.” This life
connects the deepest purposes of God with the ultimate purpose of
John's Gospel - “These are written down so you will believe that
Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing,
have real and eternal life (zoe) in the way he personally revealed
it.”
We
are often like the disciples – behind locked doors – more psyche
that zoe.
Just existing, living like cells in a safe petri dish, not living in
God's peace and with the Holy Spirit. We are like the guy in the
movie Failure
to Launch,
in which a thirty-something slacker suspects his parents of setting
him up with his dream girl so he'll finally vacate their home. He
won't get out of the basement. But what ultimately gets him out of
the basement, what gets the disciples out from behind locked doors,
is love.
Are
you merely existing, or are you living? I am not talking about
parachute jumping, amazon jungle slashing, bull running living. I am
talking about "getting centred on the things of God" living, and doing
the things God calls us to do – about going and doing as Jesus did
– Because doesn't he send us, just as the Father sent him? We are
made new creations, in order to be agents of new creations.
Maybe
the thought of getting out of the basement, getting out from behind
locked doors and living the Jesus-life terrifies you. It terrified
the disciples. But then Jesus came and lovingly said, “Peace to
you.” Maybe you feel totally inadequate for the Jesus-life. The
disciples felt that way. And then Jesus said, “Peace to you.”
And he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” The
Holy Spirit will inspire and guide and strengthen and comfort and
give words and inhabit you.
Maybe
there are conflicts and troubles in your life– like Thomas calling
the other disciples liars
or deluded.Maybe
there is unconfessed sin – something you think could never
be forgiven. There were conflicts for the disciples. They did not
suddenly become sinlessly perfect. But there was Jesus, saying for a
third time, “Peace to you. Come out of this room, out of this
basement, into the new creation life of God in Jesus. Believe. God
is for you. Believe. There is forgiveness of sins in Jesus.”
Take
the nail scarred hand of Jesus and follow, out of the petri dish, out
of the basement, out from behind locked doors, into life. Amen
