B Cycle – 3^rd Sunday of Easter 14

Lk. 24:35-48

The 1967 movie Camelot was a heartbreaking tale showing how easy it is for evil to destroy what God desires us to experience. King Arthur built a society where all prospered, peace reigned, and even mother nature seemed to comply with the ideal nation because there was not a more congenial spot than Camelot.  Rain could not fall after sundown; temperatures could not be too hot July and August; snow was limited, and winter was forbidden before December and could not linger beyond March 2^nd. 

                                                                                                                                 The people of Camelot were joyful, peaceful and they enjoyed unity of mind and purpose.  It is also a story of how easy it is for man’s self-serving desires can cause disruption in the minds and hearts of us humans.

It was sin that caused the collapse of Camelot.  Movie watchers could feel the sadness of Arthur when Camelot collapsed.  Yet even when the ideals of Camelot were destroyed, Arthur never lost his deep love for Guinevere or Lancelot.

In the final climatic scene Arthur is preparing to bring his forces into battle against those of Lancelot.  The evil Mordred engineered this battle by hardening the heart of Lancelot.  At dawn on the day of the battle, as Arthur prepares for battle, he hears a sound coming from the bushes. Investigating that sound, Arthur discovers a small boy of about 12 years old who wants to join the battle.  Arthur is intrigued by this boy whose name was Tom.  He reveals to Arthur he came all the way from Warwick to fight for the Round Table and to become a knight.

The king, who has seen his dream for the round table shattered, wants to know what this youth knows about the ideals of the round table.  He asks Tom, “Was your father a knight?  “Was your mother once saved by a knight?  “Was your village protected by knights?”  Tom’s answer was simple, yet it was very profound, he said “Oh no my Lord – I only know of them from the stories people tell.”

This gives the king pause for a moment as he considers what he had just heard.  And then he says to Tom “From the stories people tell you want to become a knight, tell me what you think you know about being a knight.  Tom replies with great excitement, I know everything my Lord, Might for Right, Right for Right, Justice for all; a round table where all knights would sit in unity – everything.

King Arthur, who has seen his vision for his kingdom destroyed, realizes the dream is still possible.  Instantly Arthur knows what to do.  He forbids Tom to fight in the battle; he knights him Sir Tom of Warwick and instructs him to hide behind the lines. He tells Tom when the battle is over return to his home to grow up and grow old and to remember the story of Camelot.  He tells Tom to ask every person he encounters if they have heard the story of Camelot and if they have not then he must tell them the story. 

As Tom is leaving the battle is beginning and Arthur shouts out “I have won my battle, this boy is my victory.  Arthur knows the ideals of Camelot will live on and will be desired.  That is the story of Camelot.

                                                                                                                                 That story is also our story. At creation, Camelot is where God desired us to live in addition to experiencing His love and protection.  We have not lost what God desires to give us because of the sin of Adam and Eve.  Paradise is still ours because God does not abandon us, even when we sin.  God’s plan for our restoration involved Jesus dying for our sins and the outpouring of the Spirit transforming us and equipping us for holiness.  Jesus is revealing that to us today as He speaks to us in the scriptures.  Our sin causes us to step back from God because we have failed to live up to a standard.  God desires us to see He has not turned away from us. It is us who turn away from God and create that barrier.

                                                                                                                                               Jesus freed us our sins because He took upon Himself the penalty for our sin.   We feel we deserve condemnation but instead Jesus tells us “I do not condemn you” (Jn.8:11).  Instead, God welcomes us and desires to embrace us, just as the Father welcomed the prodigal son and restored him.  God’s grace has freed us from “the law of sin and death and brought us under the law of the Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2). 

                                                                                                                                       God desires us to experience His kingdom on earth, God’s Camelot.  It is by experiencing God’s love and Jesus’ sacrifice we can tell our experience to others.  Like Tom we are the heralds of not just what was, but we are the heralds of awaits us who desire to experience Camelot in our lives. But it is also a story where the evil Mordred seeks to deceive us and confuse us about our unworthiness to receive God’s mercy. 

We fail to understand how forgiveness of sin works without a penalty.  We will never understand that, but we can experience the embrace of God.  All we need for that to happen is to show up as Tom of Warwick showed up.  Allow God to knight us, change us from sinners into sons and daughters.  We can overcome our unfaithfulness.   It will never be by our efforts, but it is by yielding to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.   

                                                                                                                                            The night before He died, Jesus said He would send us the Spirit.  Jesus said, The Spirit would “teach us the truth about sin” (we all sin), “condemnation” (there is no condemnation in Christ (Rom.8:1) “and justice” (the price of our sins died for us).  It Spirit which will do exactly what Jesus does for the disciples in this gospel.  He “opens the scriptures for us to understand how one can die for the sins of us all.”  That is step one, but we need to take the next step and allow that Spirit to move us to tell the story and help others have their minds opened by the Spirit.