April 11: Christ Appears to His Disciples
♫ Music:
Day 49 - Tuesday, April 11
Title: CHRIST APPEARS TO HIS DISCIPLES
Scripture: John 20:19–23
In the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples had met together with the doors locked for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood right in the middle of them and said, “Peace be with you!”
Then he showed them his hands and his side, and when they saw the Lord the disciples were overjoyed.
Jesus said to them again, “Yes, peace be with you! Just as the Father sent me, so I am now going to send you.”
And then he breathed upon them and said, “Receive holy spirit. If you forgive any men’s sins, they are forgiven, and if you hold them unforgiven, they are unforgiven.”
Poetry & Poet:
“What Happened Then”
by Paul Mariani
Do we understand what happened then?
The few of us in that shuttered room,
lamps dimmed, afraid of what would happen
when they found us? The women back
this morning to tell Peter what they’d seen.
Then these two back from Emmaus.
And now here he was. Here in the room with us.
Strange meeting this, the holes there
in his hands and feet and heart.
And who could have guessed a calm like this
could touch us. But that was what we felt.
The deep relief you feel when the one
you’ve searched for in a crowd appears,
and your unbelieving eyes dissolve in tears.
For this is what love looks like and is
and what it does. “Peace” was what he said,
as a peace like no other pierced the gloom
and descended on the room.
CHRIST APPEARS TO HIS DISCIPLES: SO, SEND I YOU
The shock and surprise felt by the gathered disciples may be somewhat paralleled in our reading of this astounding passage––even with its inviting, yet mysterious implications. Despite the many years that separate us from “that shuttered room,” the predicament of the disciples is not too different from our own. In its matter-of-fact telling, Paul Mariani’s poem invites us into an imaginative, first-person reconstruction of John 20. Like the bewildered friends of Jesus, we might be equally astounded that he would enter the locked room of our lives and announce the gift of his peace to us.
But one thing surely unites us to “that shuttered room”––And then he breathed upon them and said, “Receive holy spirit.” Jesus is not physically with us, but his breath is.
In this way, Jesus follows through with his great promise to them––the gift of another Counselor in his place (Jn. 14). He told them that it would actually be better if he went away and left them with his Spirit. While they would only come to understand Jesus’ words by living through the momentous events the book of Acts records, we are better positioned, perhaps, to see that this gift can impart Christ’s presence to anyone, anywhere, and at all times.
But, while the appearance of the Risen One certainly startled his friends at first, his presence conveys a powerful and clear message: “Peace be with you!”
Today’s devotional image comes from Ivanka Demchuk, a contemporary icon maker from Lviv, Ukraine, who says that, “Creating icons means implementing the best aesthetic achievements of our time, so they are closer to our modern perceptions.” In her image, we recognize the familiar, yet always odd appearance of holy persons rendered as icons. Yet, here, these traditional features are met with a richly saturated surface giving a more contemporary texture to the scene. What’s arresting about her image, however, is the stark, unmistakable division of light and darkness.
The presence of the Risen One dispels darkness, and in the light of his appearing, the disciples can see the wounds he bore in love - “the holes there/in his hands and feet and heart.” As the guilt and shame wells up in them, they hear his voice again: “Yes, peace be with you! Then, there was calm and the “deep relief” of reunion.
Bestowing his peace––this is what his Spirit does and it’s the means of our sending. In sharing the Spirit of his gift, the locked room of our lives is transformed into a hospitable space of welcome where forgiveness is freely shared. God forgives us, we forgive ourselves, and learn to forgive others even as they learn to forgive as well. Only the Spirit of Christ could work such miracles in our midst!
In this way, we operate as Christ’s sent ones when we participate in the Spirit’s peace. So, be still. Receive. Listen with the kind of listening that today’s piano composition from Margaret Clarkson invites. Trust his Spirit. As our poem reminds us, “For this is what love looks like and is/and what it does.”
Prayer:
“O Lord, my God,
Grant us your peace; already, indeed,
You have made us rich in all things!
Give us that peace of being at rest,
That Sabbath peace,
The peace which knows no end.”
Amen.
–––Augustine of Hippo
Dr. Taylor Worley
Visiting Associate Professor of Art History
Wheaton College
About the Translation of the Bible for the 2023 Lent Project:
J.B. Phillips New Testament Translation of the Bible
J.B. Phillips (1906-1982) was well-known within the Church of England for his commitment to making the message of truth relevant to today's world. Phillips' translation of the New Testament brings home the full force of the original message. The New Testament in Modern English was originally written for the benefit of Phillips' youth group; it was later published more widely in response to popular demand. The language is up-to-date and forceful, involving the reader in the dramatic events and powerful teaching of the New Testament. It brings home the message of Good News as it was first heard two thousand years ago.
https://www.biblegateway.com/
About the Artwork:
Appearance to the Ten
Oil on panel
Ivanka Demchuk
About the Artist:
Ivanka Demchuk (b. 1990) is a contemporary Ukrainian liturgical artist. Demchuk, like many contemporary Ukrainian iconographers and artists, is a graduate of the Sacral Art Department at the Lviv National Academy of Arts. She is known for pushing the boundaries of a conservative art form based on traditionally historic prototypes, forms, and colors. She creates artworks for the spiritual enrichment of the viewer, illustrating a new religious essence as an alternative to producing classical canonical examples, and researching principles of interpreting icons without losing sacral significance.
http://sacredartpilgrim.com/schools/view/40
https://day.kyiv.ua/en/article/culture/ukraine-has-great-potential-development-modern-icon
https://stories.spu.edu/ivanka-demchuk/
https://iconart-gallery.com/en/artists/ivanka-demchuk/
About the Music: “So Send I You” from the album Peaceful
Lyrics:
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
So I send you to labor unrewarded
Unpaid, unloved, unsought, and unknown
To suffer from scorn, scoffers and mockers
So I send you to toil for me alone
I send you to bind the brokenhearted
To work and to weep over lost and wandering souls
To bear the burdens of a lost and dying world
So I send you to suffer for My sake
Jesus said unto them, "My disciples
Peace be unto you, My children
As My Father has sent me
Even so, I send you now!"
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
So I send you to be a leader who seeks for the presence
A leader who's eyes see the visions of God
And a leader whose ears are open to his words
And a leader who's guided continually by the Lord
I send you to leave your life's ambition
To die to your desire, and your self-will
To suffer for long in the fields of harvest
So I send you to feed the many hungry sheep
Jesus said unto them, "My disciples
Peace be unto you, My children
(My peace I leave with you, not as the world gives!)
As My Father has sent me, (even so,)
Even so, I send you now!" (2x)
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh (will you go when I send you?)
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh (will you do what I tell you?)
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Oh yeah
Will you go, will you go?
Jesus said unto them, "My disciples,
(I give you my peace)
Peace be unto you, My children,
(As the Father sent You, send me too Jesus!)
As My Father has sent me,
(I will go, I will go!)
Even so, I send you now!"
(If you're looking for someone to send)
Jesus said unto them, "My disciples,
Will you send me too? Don't cast me away)
Peace be unto you, My children
Your Father sent You, will You send me too )
As My Father has sent me,
(What a blessing, what an honor Lord)
Even so, I send you now!"
Jesus said unto them, "My disciples,
(I receive Your peace for the journey)
Peace be unto you, My children
(I'm going, I'm going)
As My Father has sent me,
(I'm sending you to the nations of the world)
Even so, I send you now!"
(I'm sending you, I'm sending you)
Jesus said unto them, "My disciples,
(If you are listening, I am sending You)
Peace be unto you, My children
(As my Father sent Me, even so I'm sending you)
As My Father has sent me, (Go, go, go, go)
Even so, I send you now!" (ooh send me Jesus!)
(ooh)
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
(I'm sending you, I'm sending you)
(Are you listening, I'm sending you) Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
(I'm sending you) Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
(As My Father sent Me)
(I'm sending you
Go, go, Go all out!)
Jesus said unto them, "My disciples,
My peace I give you)
Peace be unto you, My children,
(keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going)
As My Father has sent me, (I'm sending you)
Even so, I send you now!"
(Please go, please go, don't stay here)
Jesus said unto them, "My disciples,
(Please go, please go, don't stay here)
As My Father has sent me,
(I'm sending you)
Even so, I send you now!"
(Please go, please go, don't stay here)
Jesus said unto them, "My disciples,
(Please go, please go, don't stay here)
Peace be unto you, My children,
(I'm sending you, I'm sending you, I'm sending you)
As My Father has sent me, (I'm sending you)
Even so, I send you now!"
About the Composer:
(Edith) Margaret Clarkson (1915–2008) grew up and was educated in Toronto, Canada. For forty years she taught elementary school in Ontario. A gifted natural writer, she published hundreds of poems, articles, songs, and sketches, and seventeen books in seven languages. Hymn writing was her first love, and sprang from a lifetime of Bible study, personal Christian experience, and a disciplined lyrical expression. Her hymns were published in A Singing Heart (Carol Stream, Illinois: Hope Publishing Company, 1987). At its 1992 national convention, the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada named Clarkson a Fellow of the Society in recognition of her contribution to hymnody. The text of “So Send I You,” sometimes called the finest missionary hymn of the twentieth century, was written by Clarkson.
https://archives.wheaton.edu/agents/people/276
https://www.hopepublishing.com/20/
https://www.blueletterbible.org/hymns/bios/bio_c_l_clarkson_m.cfm
About the Performer:
Kim Sledge is an original member of Sister Sledge, an American musical vocal group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formed in 1971, the group consisted of sisters Debbie, Joni, Kim, and Kathy Sledge. The siblings achieved international success at the height of the disco era and Kim’s career spans decades outside of the group's work. Today, she is also a mom, a daughter, an auntie, a singer, a writer, and a whole lot of other things in between. But most importantly, she is someone who loves God and believes in the power of connection and encouragement. Her current work is all about elevating people through providing a platform and continuing her own creative projects.
https://www.kimsledge.info/kim-sledge.html#:~:text=Kim%20is%20an%20original%20member,of%20other%20things%20in%20between.
About the Poetry and Poet:
Paul Mariani (b. 1940) is an American poet and university professor emeritus at Boston College. Mariani specialized in modern American and British poetry, religion and literature, and creative writing. He was educated at Manhattan College, Colgate University, and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. From 1968 until 2000, he taught poetry and literature at the University of Massachusetts. From 2000 until his retirement, he taught poetry and literature at Boston College and held a chair in the English department. Mariani has lectured and given readings widely in the United States and abroad and has published over two hundred fifty essays, introductions, chapters in anthologies and scholarly encyclopedias, and reviews, as well as being the author of twenty books. He has published eight volumes of poetry, most recently Ordinary Time: Poems, and The Mystery of It All: The Vocation of Poetry in the Twilight of Modernism. His awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship and several National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships. In 2009, he received the John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Mariani
About Devotion Author:
Dr. Taylor Worley
Visiting Associate Professor of Art History
Wheaton College
Wheaton, Illinois
Taylor Worley is visiting associate professor of art history at Wheaton College and project director for ‘Thinking about Thinking: Conceptual Art and the Contemplative Tradition.’ He completed a Ph.D. in the areas of contemporary art and theological aesthetics in the Institute for Theology, Imagination, and the Arts at the University of St. Andrews and is the author of Memento Mori in Contemporary Art: Theologies of Lament and Hope (Routledge, 2020). Taylor is married to Anna, and they have four children: Elizabeth, Quinn, Graham, and Lillian.