Acts ; Psalm 4; 1 John 3.1-7; Luke 24.36b-48. THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT by John Godfrey Saxe

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1 Page 1 of 7 Acts ; Psalm 4; 1 John 3.1-7; Luke 24.36b-48 THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT by John Godfrey Saxe It was six men of Indostan To learning much inclined, Who went to see the Elephant (Though all of them were blind), That each by observation Might satisfy his mind. The First approach d the Elephant And happening to fall Against his broad and sturdy side, At once began to bawl, God bless me! But the Elephant Is very like a wall! The Second feeling of the tusk, Cried, Ho! What have we here So very round and smooth and sharp? To me tis mighty clear This wonder of an Elephant Is very like a spear! The Third approached the animal, And happening to take The squirming trunk within his hands, Thus boldly up and spake: I see, quoth he, the Elephant Is very like a snake! The Fourth reached out his eager hand, And felt about the knee. What most this wondrous beast is like Is mighty plain, quoth he, Tis clear enough the Elephant Is very like a tree!

2 Page 2 of 7 The Fifth who chanced to touch the ear, Said: E en the blindest man Can tell what this resembles most: This marvel of an Elephant Is very like a fan! The Sixth no sooner had begun About the beast to grope, Then, seizing on the swinging tail That fell within his scope, I see, quoth he, the Elephant Is very like a rope! And so these men of Indostan Disputed loud and long, Each in his own opinion Exceeding stiff and strong, Though each was partly in the right, And all were in the wrong! MORAL So oft in theologic wars, The disputants, I think, Rail on in utter ignorance Of what each other mean, And empty talk bout an Elephant Not one of them has seen! 1 This poem reminds us of the many times when, understanding only a tiny portion of reality be it theological or otherwise we extrapolate all manner of dogma and opinion. People see the same thing from a different point of view. We find examples of this in our common life in the ongoing debate about a national energy policy, for example. Reduce dependence on foreign oil. Surely that is

3 Page 3 of 7 the answer. Wait! What about nuclear energy? Wait! It is really wind energy that is the answer. To frack or not to frack. That is the question. Or the current spate of killings of black men by white police officers. Are these incidents justifiable use of force or a case that black lives do not matter? Again, it depends on your perspective. The point of the ancient poem is that the truth is usually greater than any of us can understand. We can also apply the foregoing poem and its moral to our Gospel reading for the day and our understanding, if you will, of the resurrection. After all, in the numerous post-resurrection accounts we have men of Jerusalem (rather than men of Indostan) who variously think of Jesus as a gardener, a ghost, a stranger on the road to Emmaus. The men of Jerusalem do not recognize Jesus for who he is because they have not grasped the whole picture. I think that is why we have two weeks in a row of the disciples not knowing who it is that appears before them. Last week the disciples did not recognize Jesus even when he pronounced the blessing, Peace be with you. It was the same blessing he had pronounced on them earlier in John s gospel. Should it not have sounded just a bit familiar? The fact of the matter is the disciples simply did not get it. And if we are truthful we have to admit that we do not really get it either. There is been fierce debate in religious circles for centuries about the truth of the resurrection. Can we prove that it really happened? Does it matter whether we can prove it?

4 Page 4 of 7 Our inability to fully understand or explain the resurrection comes in part, I think, from the way we view reality. Here is what I mean. How many of us think or know someone who thinks that resurrection means life after death or going to heaven? N.T. Wright, who has written a set of commentaries on the books of the New Testament, explains resurrection this way:... in the Jewish world of the first century [resurrection] meant a new embodied life in God s new world, a life after life after death, if you like. But the new body which will be given at the end is not identical to the previous one. In an act of new creation parallel only to the original creation itself, God will make a new type of material, no longer subject to death, out of the old one. 2 Wright goes on to explain that the new body will belong to both dimensions of God s world heaven and earth. For the time being, our bodies inhabit only the earthly dimension. However, Jesus body is at home both on earth and heaven. 3 Things get even more confusing because of the way many of us typically understand heaven. We have constructed a reality in which heaven is the place we hope we, and those we love, will go when we die. Peter stands guard at the stately and gleaming Pearly Gates, check list in hand. And everybody knows heaven is up there. In reality, heaven is God s dimension of created order. Earth, however, is the realm of space, time and matter that we know. Heaven is normally hidden from our sight, though it is occasionally revealed so that we might see God s intervention in ordinary life.

5 Page 5 of 7 In the New Testament heaven is not ordinarily viewed as the place where God s people go after death. Scripture tells us that at the end the New Jerusalem will descend from heaven to earth, thus the two dimensions will merge forever. Entering the kingdom of heaven, citing Wright again, does not mean going to heaven after death, but belonging in the here and now to the people who steer their earthly course by the standards and purposes of heaven... 4 The disciples could not explain the resurrection. They could only try to describe their experience of it. So it is with us. What words does Luke use to describe the disciples experience of the resurrection? Startled. Terrified. Joy. Disbelieving. Wondering. So far, the disciple s have been left paralyzed by the resurrection. They are flummoxed. They are fearful because Jesus is dead and his body is missing. They do not believe what they have been told by the women about the resurrection of Jesus. They are clueless about what to do next. But we know the rest of the story and we know it does not end in that upper room. The resurrection is, after all, just the beginning of the rest of their lives. Jesus, after convincing the disciples that he is not a ghost and then eating a piece of broiled fish, reminds them of all he had taught them while he was still with them. His entire life, his death and his resurrection were about what God was doing in the world. Everything that had been written from the law of Moses to the prophets to the Psalms

6 Page 6 of 7 had always been about God and the fulfillment of God s purposes for creation. That purpose, Jesus tells all who will hear, is that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. Thus, the Twenty-fourth Chapter of Luke ends with Jesus telling the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they have been clothed with power from on high. Then, Luke concludes, Jesus leads the disciples out to Bethany where he blesses them and while doing so is taken to heaven. After witnessing this, the disciples return to Jerusalem where they spend all of their time in the temple blessing God. Luke wants his hearers and that includes us to be reminded of the constant faithfulness of God. All that happened in the birth, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus has been God s plan all along. God and Jesus are in an ongoing partnership against the powers and principalities of the world. In the resurrection of Jesus the men of Jerusalem are transformed from disciples to apostles. God, in the newly embodied form of Christ, breaks into their world and transforms their reality. He transforms them, too. My friends, we can no more explain the resurrection than could the disciples. Any attempt to do so would turn us into the Blind Men of Indostan. But, like the disciples, we can experience the resurrection. We can allow it to envelop us and transform us.

7 Page 7 of 7 Perhaps as with the disciples transformation occurs when we are the most doubtful and fearful. Maybe it occurs when we are most critical of others or ourselves. When we are at our most judgmental. When our hearts and minds are locked for fear of we-are-not-sure-what. We can be sure, however, that such transformation does happen when we love and serve others as Christ loved and served others. In the food pantry, or the community meal. Visiting a shut-in. Acting as a sponsor to a fellow-recovering addict. In acts of love and kindness, both large and small. We are called to nothing less. Our present reality is but a miniscule piece of the magnificent reality of God. But if we let that present reality become the place where transformation takes place then we will surely encounter moments of holy presence and powerful faith. A foretaste of heaven on earth. No longer are we like the Blind Men of Indostan. The elephant actually is an elephant. No longer are we like the disciples. The risen Lord is actually the risen Lord. This makes us people of hope. This puts gladness in our hearts. This opens the eyes of our faith. For that there is only one response. Thanks be to God! 1 The Blind Men and the Elephant, by John Godfrey Saxe. Found at 2 Tom Wright. Luke for Everyone (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), p Ibid. 4 Ibid, p Trinity Episcopal Church Bay City, MI Sunday, April 19, 2015 Easter 3B