Texts: Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31
One of the many curious things about television is how we all seem to know instinctively which programmes we must never admit to watching. Have you noticed that? I heard a guy on the radio the other day saying that in the course of his work he came into contact with many, many people, but he had never met anyone who watched the T.V. programmes that have the highest ratings. That struck him as rather odd. On the law of averages, if one in four Kiwis are watching a particular programme regularly, then out of the dozens of people he met each week a few ought to be watching those programmes. But apparently not. At least, they know that they should not admit to doing so.
And when I came to think about it I realised that from the beginning of TV history there have always been programmes like that. In my days in England nobody including myself ever watched Peyton Place, even though it regularly scored highly in the ratings. It was American garbage and we really couldn’t be bothered with it. Of course, sometimes we had to watch it because it happened to be on somewhere, or we couldn’t get the other channel, or whatever; but if we had to admit to watching it then a good excuse had to be attached to our confession.
As in all other things these days fashions among programmes we mustn’t admit to watching change over the years. At one time nobody watched Soaps, for example, or if we did we insisted that our favourite Soap wasn’t a Soap at all. It’s probably still not okay to mention watching Neighbours, but Coronation Street or Shortland Street are okay, depending on your age group. I’m not sure about Eastenders. Game Shows, and especially Dating Game Shows, are out, as are survival shows and most if not all reality T.V. In fact, just about anything that has high ratings should not be talked about outside the privacy of our own homes.
Or, of course, in our churches. It is perfectly acceptable to talk about anything in our churches so long as we do so from the theological point of view. So this morning I want to talk, from a theological point of view, of course, about Extreme Makeovers. I realise that none of you will have seen any of these programmes, but I have – purely for research purposes. They cover a huge multitude of sins, so to speak. The general idea is that something or someone is in a dire state of neglect, and a team of experts is called in and given the task of effecting a complete transformation in a ridiculously short period of time.
It could be a house, a garden, or a person that needs doing over. The latter are the most extraordinary examples. The whole thing involves much pain and humiliation, and yet there never seems to be a shortage of volunteers. They may look years older than they are, or too fierce, or too soppy, or whatever. Whatever the problem, the experts can fix it with a little cosmetic surgery, a little dentistry, a lot of make-up, a new hair-do, a new wardrobe, a new diet and exercise regimen, etc. And, of course, the end result is a New Person, happier, fitter, more attractive, with a real zest for life.
In other words, these Extreme Makeover programmes are TV’s version of the Easter story. Because what Easter is about is Complete Transformation, for individuals and for their social groupings. Easter effected a Complete Makeover of Christ’s disciples, for a start; and ever since it has been doing the same for people who enter into it through baptism. Easter takes the old, tired, broken down parts of ourselves and makes them new, transforms them into something beautiful in the eyes of God. Restores us to our intended glory. Easter is the ultimate Extreme Makeover as our readings show us today.
If we want a before and after shot to illustrate the case, we have only to think of the picture of the disciples we get from Holy Week, and compare it with the pictures we’re given today. And we don’t even have to major on Peter or Judas – the whole bunch were pretty hopeless, really. Remember the argument that broke out over status? John and James were jockeying for position, and when the others found out they were pretty angry with them, not at the whole idea of status and power, but at the very idea that John And James were attempting a pre-emptive strike.
Then there was the fuss over the value of the ointment. What a terrible waste of a valuable resource – think what we could have done with the money instead of wasting it on Jesus. But that was then. Fast forward to the time St Luke is writing about in our first lesson from the Book of Acts, and what has we got? No power plays, and no sense of profit and loss. All are now of one heart and mind, and all are now pooling their resources.
And St Luke is not talking about only the original disciples, the Apostles. They are at the heart of this transformed community, of course, but all the believers gathered with them have been transformed in the same sort of way. What on earth could have produced such a result?
Well, St John has no doubt. He traces it back to Easter Day, and what a picture he gives us. Some of the original Twelve are hiding in a room somewhere, behind locked doors, terrified that those who killed Jesus will now come for them. They emerge from that room transformed. What happened? Well, John says they met the Risen Christ. Christ came back to them in all their guilt, and in all their shame, and in all their embarrassment, and in all their fear, and he offered them not a word of rebuke. He gave them his peace. He showed them his wounds. He gave them the Holy Spirit. And he commissioned them to continue the ministry Jesus had been given by the Father. And he gave them, the guilty, the power to forgive and the power to withhold forgiveness.
The theology comes later – the witness comes first. The experience of meeting the Risen Christ – the experience of receiving the Holy Spirit. Those are the two essential elements in the extreme makeover of these people, of all people, of the whole of creation. Even when John sets himself the task of trying to explain some of this in theological terms – as he does in his Epistle - he starts by emphasising that everything he is going to say starts with his personal experience of Christ. The first three verses repeat this theme three times: That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of Life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.
Only after this does St John turn to the theology – he talks of light and darkness, human sin, and God’s faithfulness to us. He describes Jesus in impeccable churchy language – he is “the Righteous One”, and “the atoning sacrifice” for our sins. But with great respect, he really needn’t have bothered. That’s not what convinces and convicts. It’s the pictures – the before and after pictures. They are what tell us that something truly amazing, truly life-changing has happened.
Whatever else can be said about TV Extreme Makeover programmes, they may at least point to a deep human desire for fundamental change; they may witness to a deep sense of dissatisfaction with the way we are. The challenge for us in the Church is to point to the real remedy for such dissatisfaction.
And when better to do that than in this Easter Season?
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