I remember very clearly the first day of a sociology class I took in college.  I was seated near a couple of friends.  I noticed that the man sitting directly behind me did not look familiar and un-like the rest of the class he looked like he was in his mid 30s or early 40s.  I didn’t think much of it since Muskingum had a fare share of non-traditional students many of whom were commuters so you didn’t see them often.  The professor, new, a complete unknown, made her entrance and began with the usual establishing the roll, handing out the syllabus, and outlining course objectives and procedures.  My friends and I were seated well out of ear shot of the professor and began to size her up.  She wasn’t a very large woman but she came across as tough, with a no fooling attitude.  We made comments about her long pony tail and the rest of her attire, which we speculated displayed more than a hint of hippy.  It went on like this for a while and I remember at times hearing the man behind me quietly chuckle and a couple of times I turned around and caught him smiling obviously bemused by our conversation.   Class ended and we made our way out to the quad continuing to speculate about what we were in for that semester when we looked up to see the professor exiting the building hand in hand with the man who had been seated behind me, her husband as it would turn out.  Embarrassed; a quick mental scan of everything I had said revealed nothing too bad but I couldn’t help wondering would we be treated different for the information her spy reported.

            I was embarrassed and slightly worried about the repercussions of what I had said that day in class.  It is not hard to believe those who were there listening to Peter speak to the crowd in Jerusalem felt worse, much, much worse.  “Let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”  This is pretty tough stuff.  This is a major oops on the part of people to whom Peter is speaking.  This isn’t long at all, just a few weeks after Jesus had been crucified, raised from the dead and ascended into heaven, and now Peter is proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Messiah to a group of people who killed Jesus.  We have of course grown accustomed to hearing Christ died for our sins; it was for us that Jesus had to die.  We sometimes, like especially during Holy week say things like we were among those who yelled crucify.  We don’t mean this literally of course, it is symbolic of our involvement in Christ’s death, not literally but figuratively.  Peter however is addressing a group of people several weeks after Jesus was killed, in the city in which Jesus was put to death.  So when Peter says “This Jesus whom you crucified” he is addressing an audience some of whom were likely physically present when Jesus was crucified; may have even been among the number who shouted crucify.  Apparently the rest of the people Peter was addressing were guilty by association. 

            It is not because I don’t have one that I didn’t share a story at the beginning of the sermon where I had been more offensive to the person whose help or approval I needed; it is because when I was trying to think of an example none would come to mind.  I know they exist but apparently I have blocked them out of my mind due to the feelings of guilt or embarrassment associated with those moments.  How must the people Peter was addressing have felt?  Again Peter wasn’t really speaking metaphorically, and these people had not only offended Jesus, they were a party to killing him.  Now they find out that he is the one who is the Lord and the Messiah.  It is this one who will be the judge of the living and the dead.  The passage tells us how these people felt.  They were “cut to the heart.”  The word translated cut literally means stabbed.  The people were devastated, they were crushed, gut punched, as if stabbed in the heart because Peter’s message not only presented a fresh understanding of Scripture, but squarely convicts them of their part figurative of literal in killing Jesus a few weeks before.  It is no wonder the people felt as if they had been stabbed because they have to be thinking their chances of getting into heaven aren’t looking very good right now. 

            The people looked at Peter and said “Oh brother… what should we do now?”  Peter said “Repent and be baptized in the name of Christ so that your sins might be forgiven, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  I imagine some of the folks gathered couldn’t believe their ears at first.  I imagine they said things like “Really after all we have done this Jesus whom we killed is willing to forgive us and all we have to do is turn our lives around and get washed up.  Yes this promise, God’s forgiveness is for everyone no matter how near to God, no matter how far away from God you may be.  This forgiveness even extends to those who killed Jesus literally and figuratively.   About three thousand people were baptized that day.  What a profound experience that must have been for some of those three thousand, those who played a more literal role in Jesus death, knowing that it was by the same one’s resurrection that they would be saved.  They would worship as Lord and Savior the very one they killed. 

            Apparently while preaching one day John Wesley was alarmed to discover several members of his congregation had fallen asleep.  Fire! Fire! Wesley suddenly cried whereupon the guilty parishioners jumped with alarm.  Where?  They demanded glancing around “In Hell” Wesley replied, “For those who sleep under the preaching of God’s Word.”  While it is not my desire to make anyone feel easier about sleeping through the sermon this morning I do not believe what Wesley said is true of God either.  I am sure that if God can forgive those who killed Jesus that those who fall asleep in worship may be spared Hell.  The important thing is when we fall short of God’s expectation and desire for us, no matter how far we fall, is that we turn around, ask God’s forgiveness, and if we have not already, be baptized. 

            I think the question for us today is how cut to the heart are we by this message of Peter?  Are we moved in some profound way by the forgiveness we have received through Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, our Lord?  We may not have literally been a party to Jesus death on the cross but do we continue to live as though he does not exist or as if his life death and resurrection has not made a difference?  Do we stumble through life in search of earthly pleasures and possessions as if the most important thing is to die with the most toys?  Do we try to shoulder the burden of responsibilities of life as if there were no divine presence to help us with those burdens?  Do we feel and live as though we were alone in the universe, as if our actions do not matter, as if we have no responsibility for how we treat the world around us so that future generations may have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink?  If you have answered yes to any of these questions or to a much longer list of questions than we have time for  this morning then it was for you, because of you Christ had to die, so that you might be redeemed, and brought into a right relationship with God.  Don’t worry you didn’t take his life, he gave it.  If that doesn’t stir your heart I don’t know what will. 

            You likely have heard this message before.  It may have even cut you to the heart the first, second, third time you heard it.  Now the 10^th the 50^th the 100^th, the 1000^th time you heard it no longer cuts you, at least not as deep.  If that is the case then I would invite you to consider the following story.  A pastor arrived at his first call out of Seminary and in the first week two members died.  The next week two more members died.  In his first month the new pastor presided at eight funerals.  Consequently this took its toll on sermon preparation for Sunday worship so the pastor decided to preach that first Sunday’s sermon over and over each Sunday for a total of four Sundays in a row before the congregation became very upset.  We’ll make it a Presbyterian congregation so certain members complained to the General Presbyter.  “What should we do our new pastor has used the same sermon four Sundays in a row!”  The General Presbyter was not impressed by what the new pastor had done but after thinking a moment asked what the sermon was about.  They tried to piece it together but none who had gathered to complain could remember.  The General Presbyter shrugged and suggested “perhaps you should let the pastor preach it at least one more time.”

            Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again, and it is for us, it is because of us that this has happened.  We may not have literally shouted with the crowds crucify, we may not have literally pierced his hands, his feet, his side, but it is for us that Christ died.  Friends this is the essence of our faith these are words we have likely heard many, many times and if they no longer cut us to the heart then perhaps we need to hear them at least one more time so that we may be stirred once again…stirred to repent and be baptized, stirred to live in appreciation of and thanksgiving for God’s redeeming love made known in the cross and the empty tomb.  May we be stirred anew to live as though the grace we have received through Christ were truly amazing.  Amen.