The Grand Intersection of Easter
Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009 - Brad Bailey
Last week… we looked at the Cross as the remarkable intersection… between the holiness and love of God… between justice and mercy… > Easter is the celebration of an intersection as well… and intersection of two realms… heaven… and earth. Easter is the celebration of an event… the resurrection of Christ… and all that it speaks of God’s plan for creation… for us. It’s an intersecting by which the eternal realm of God settles it’s claim upon the created realm. This morning I want to help us capture the true hope that has come in this cosmic intersecting. I want to help us shift from the cultural ideas of Easter to the grand and cosmic scale of what Easter brings. Of course as one hears the accounts… as we heard portions at the start of our gathering… they begin with anything but hope… in fact they are filled with confusion. They are the accounts of the clueless. They really couldn’t grasp anything because it just didn’t fit their expectations… their ideas of what God was going to do… especially their expectations of a Messiah. Jesus was proving to have even greater power and authority than expected… but what they were waiting for was the promised Messiah to restore the earthly kingdom of Israel. Their story was one of being called to a better land… a promised land… and now in part by their own disobedience… they were in exile or enslaved… waiting for God to restore their national kingdom. They never understood what Jesus said he must do… in dying… let alone rising. They didn’t even like such ideas… more importantly … they didn’t even understand them. To see Christ enter Jerusalem and suddenly become captive by the Romans…. was utterly devastating. To watch the Romans beat him… and then the people mock him.. was beyond confusing… it was disorienting. And to see this all lead to crucifixion… was the most disorienting turn of events imaginable. In the power of Roman control, crucifixion was the ultimate way of declaring that “the Romans run this place” … and the most degrading and humiliating spectacle imaginable. The cross meant one thing… that despite how much they loved him… despite that he may have been their master and Lord who taught them so much… he simply was not God’s final servant. And as for resurrection… it was only thought by some to reflect something God may do in a far distant future. Any study of what Jewish thought was towards any idea of a future resurrection make it quite clear that no one believed in a resurrection that followed after death. The only idea of a resurrection was about something God may do in a far distant future. And so the accounts are filled with lives that feel lost… left with nothing but hope stripped and left in futility. Now something happened on that third day… and whatever happened changed all of those involved… and spread out into the world ... and wherever it has gone it has brought change… a connection to the living and loving God … and His purposes and plans. In recent years… some have tried to suggest that these followers merely came to develop a story that fulfilled their expectations. Perhaps they wanted something to be true so bad that it sort of formed within and around them.
Well, this idea becomes rather difficult for a number of reasons…
• Whatever happened birthed immediately into a movement… historically noted even before these written accounts existed. While the written records may have developed over time….whatever happened changed things quickly..
• Whatever happened so threatened the ruling powers that to proclaim it would lead to a horrible fate. Those who proclaimed it would face execution in the worst way… and they did…. It was an ongoing trail of suffering and death…all because something had happened.
• Whatever happened could easily have been dismissed unless consistent with a wider witness of lives. Even an empty tomb by itself could have meant something else happened… the body had been stolen or the gardener took him… just as Mary first thought…but grave clothes left behind…and then his coming to them in a newly formed body…. that meant something happened that NOBODY expected.
• Whatever happened was clearly not expected by anybody. Resurrection wasn’t even in the mind of the disciples nor did any Jews even believe in immediate resurrection.
In fact one of the most notable aspects we hear… is that Jesus had to explain that they as Jews had missed what the Scriptures and prophets had been seeing. LUKE 24:43-49 (NLT) Then he said, "When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me by Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must all come true." Then he opened their minds to understand these many Scriptures. And he said, "Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again from the dead on the third day.” > What happened on that third day after being crucified… was beyond anything that they had understood or expected. The resurrection was and is an expansive moment… that involves the defining intersection between heaven and earth. They were focused on merely having their Jewish nation restored…”Let us be free from being enslaved… oppressed.” > When life is hard… it’s natural to just want God to fix what is in front of you. But what was at hand was something so much bigger. God was not going to simply restore Israel… he was going to fulfill what Israel was called to be… the bringing of God to restore all humanity. They were a people in exile.. waiting for God to give them another chance… to have a glorious nation once again. But God was establishing something so much bigger. Just as Jesus had transformed the Passover meal three days earlier… when he took the elements that reminded them of God passing over them in judgment… and stating this would now be fulfilled in his body and blood… he was now fulfilling the greater restoration from enslavement and exile… that ALL who live in this created order share. What happened on that third day was confusing because they didn’t see the bigger picture… they hadn’t understood that this was not simply about restoring a nation… it was about restoring God’s eternal purposes and plan.
• It was a kingdom moment… the intersecting of two kingdoms
As Jesus proclaimed.. he came to announce and embody that the kingdom of God was now breaking in… and ultimately taking over. It is the language that the ancient world understood so well… one king coming and claiming the territory of another… and now the rightful king returning to reclaim what is his. It’s was on a level far more cosmic than that of the kingdom of Israel. As a result it was hard for them to grasp. We all can get pretty focused on defining God’s involvement with how it serves our particular kingdoms. We each have a kingdom… don’t we. There is ‘Brad’s kingdom’… the sphere I perceive that I would like to rule over… and you have yours. Like the Israelites, we tend to see God’s involvement in life in relationship to our kingdoms. But Easter is about a much bigger dynamic. It’s a cosmic invasion… and as such.. it’s a process that transcends our sense of time.
• It was a ‘kairos’ moment…the intersecting of two dimensions of time
As the Sunday even Alter community has begun looking at… there are two dimensions to time in the Greek language which reflect God at work… and even what Easter really bears for us. The primary word in Greek used for time is ‘chronos’ from which we get the word ‘chronology’… the basic passing of time. But the death and resurrection of Jesus reflects another word and it’s meaning… ‘kairos.’ dimension ‘Kairos’ and the kairos dimension of time refers to ‘the appointed or proper time, season, age. It means the critical period; the strategic or special period of time. The opportunity. Time viewed as an occasion rather than an extent.” This is precisely how Jesus understood what was unfolding through him. He said… "The time (kairos) has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near.” - Mark 1:15 Kairos speaks of the kingdom of God… breaking in… it’s the intersection… the overlap. > You live in the intersection of heaven and earth… two realms dynamically engaged. Easter is the Divine ‘kairos’ dynamically intersecting the present chronos… God’s timeless purposes and plans breaking into our chronological experience. Easter is the infinite being re-inaugurated over the finite. On Easter heaven settled it’s claim upon earth. So we naturally face all the longings of the finite…. and Jesus knew that such must be pierced by the infinite… he becomes the intersection. Like those who first discovered Christ arisen…. It may not fit our limited expectations. We too want to just see our personal plights fixed… and we tend to want the world to be better in ways that are faster and simpler than may be at hand. This is what Peter addresses when he writes… 2 Peter 3:8-9 (NIV) “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient (long-suffering) with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” When we naturally become frustrated that God isn’t fixing everything… the reality is that he is suffering more than any… for the sake of a greater purpose.. > Every dawn is a statement that God is choosing to work Our chronos / chronological life will face troubles… and God knows this far more than any finite creature… and he suffers more than any… but it is love that suffers for a greater good than we can fathom.
Easter is not about escapism… simply giving up on this world while we wait for heaven. Easter is a call to become fully awakened and aware that this life is still filled with God’s purpose and plan... including a climatic restoring by which all will be brought under and be filled with His goodness. Easter changes everything…because the end is now established. Many great leaders like Steven Covey have said that the most important principle in life is to “Begin with the ends in mind”… that is to say… rather than just going at life and work and hoping it leads to something… we should grasp what the great outcome is… and then apply ourselves to that end. > That is precisely what Christ came to do. He came proclaiming a new way of life… the start of new life… real life. When he rose from the dead… he defeated all that his life had… and became the sign of a new order that would eventually come forth. As the resurrected savior… he is declaring the end… the goal… and defines eternal life. What is revealed about the resurrected life that we can now inherit? 1. The resurrected life is one of unrestricted BODIES! Romans 8:22-23 “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits f the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Anybody groaning?…I may still have a lot of years on earth…but every year…I find myself more ready for a trade in. Paul says every groan is a reminder we are not home. 1 Cor. 15:42-44 (NIV) So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Like Christ…. Our bodies will be unrestricted…but not unrelated to bodies as we now perceive them. They will be the completion of all we were meant to be. Our bodies will be free from all that is fallen…fragile…and frustrating! 2. The resurrected life is one of unlimited COMMUNITY. Fellowship marked by…UNITY ACROSS SPACE AND TIME Matthew 8:11 (cf. Rev. 7:9-10) - Jesus said “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” Do you realize who you’ll be dining with? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…all who have turned their lives towards God through out the ages…but also from every corner.
Rev. 7:9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. 3. The resurrected life is one of an unending JOY of being secure and satisfied. The first word of Christ after the Resurrection is to his friend Mary in a garden. .. “Women… why do you crying?” (John 20:15) Mary is weeping. She is lost in the pain of losing one who had loved her… the pain of such separation… in such pain… she doesn’t even recognize him. She really wasn’t looking for him… and his appearance is notably different… but part of what is hard in seeing clearly is her tears… her pain. Pain can be that way. When we feel lost… it’s hard to see clearly… even the presence of God… and of love. He did not take away the tears but he was there as an answer to her tears. He will not take away your tears yet but he brings the presence of eternal reality. Revelation 21:4 (NIV) “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." The resurrected life is one of unending joy of being secure and satisfied 4. The resurrected life is one of unquestionable SIGNIFICANCE. Now when we think of an eternity with God… we may get get a sense of anything fun or exciting. The Old Testament saints in particular are spoken of as RESTING in the presence of God. That may sound good…but if you are an activist the idea of being idle forever may sound boring…Rest assured, that’s not the type of rest being referred to. Israelites were a nomadic people. “Hebrew” alludes to their wandering without home. That’s the kind of rest lies in the resurrected life. We will finally feel we are at home. Our eternal future indeed will be one of rest…rest from our restless wanderings…but it’s also a moment when our ultimate significance and purpose will be set free. . Here’s an amazing truth about what eternal life involves… Revelation 22: 5 decalres that we “will reign forever and ever.” Not simply rest forever, but reign forever. Living in the light of God…as described, we will both serve his glory and share in it as we share in reigning over all that is newly created. How do we embrace this ultimate destiny in our current lives?
1 Peter 1:3-6, 13 (NIV)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. …13Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. There is no sense that we should expect to fully experience heaven now… that by claiming something we can make it happen… nor is there any sense of escapism...whereby we just waste this life away waiting until we go to heaven. No Paul is describing how the future can fill our lives now …we now have a ‘living hope’ … it’s alive in us… effecting us… as we ‘set your hope’… and ‘prepare for action.’ Similarly he writes… Col. 3:1-4 (NLT) Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. Again we are told to that we should ‘set our sight on the realities of heaven.” They are real NOW. When does heaven begin? It has always existed. Heaven is a parallel realm… that exists NOW… Eternity is a realm parallel to our temporal realm of creation. Eternity is parallel to our time, not simply after it. The eternal heavenly realm of God has reclaimed the created world we live in and will one day fully restore and reign. Christ resurrected is the first of such a resurrected created life… now in the eternal heavenly realm… and as such our future resurrected life is ‘hidden in him.’ Since we who live in the finiteness of chronos time… will think in terms of heaven as a future state.. that one day we will go to heaven… but it not merely one thing after the other…. but one already existing reclaiming the other. The Matrix The film tries to depict a grand deception to hide the true reality in order to control human lives… the work of evil is to confine human life into a false reality… and the savior is the one who has the power to defy it… to break through the computer generated Matrix… and operate out of the true freedom that lies beyond. Another realm… another dimension of reality… an ultimate destiny… that is what Jesus came to reclaim human life to know and to enter. The key was that they never considered this to be home. C. S. Lewis – “ If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.” When does such a new eternal life begin” How do we take our part in all this?
Eternal life begins when we die to our selves and choose to live through and for him. How do we overcome death? Not by optimism… preserving these bodies…. Not by dismissing bodily life either. We overcome death by dying to this life of death… separated from Him… and receive His life as we invite him into our hearts. We receive this by receiving the One who has gone before us… his death and resurrection…. That is what some lives are proclaiming today as they get baptized. The risen Jesus simply asks this question: Are we living to die or dying to live ?? Mark 8:34-36 “…He said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” If we want to follow Jesus into life with God… he invites us to come enter his death. I don’t know if you’ve checked recently, but the mortality rate in America is 100%. The story of the Titanic… which many know from the movie … revealed the vast difference in life between those who are on first class deck and those who are down in steerage. It highlights the differences between the famous and the not so famous, the young and the old, the educated and the non-educated. On the Titanic there were a number of different distinctions. There were immigrants and there were non-immigrants. There were rich and there were poor. But when the Titanic did sink, in newspapers all around the world, they printed two columns side by side and those were the only distinctions that mattered. It said, “Those known to be saved” and “Those known to be lost.” Those are the eternal categories. Saved and lost. James Cameron says, “The Titanic is a metaphor of the inevitability of death. We’re all on the Titanic.” Are we living to die or dying to live ?? The resurrected Jesus doesn’t simply provide a way to live… but a life infused with his resurrected reality… and his presence. Closing story (YOUNG MAN PLAYS BIG IN FIRST FOOTBALL GAME AFTER BLIND FATHER DIES) Some years ago Columbia University had a great football coach by the name of Lou Little. One day Lou had a boy try out for the varsity team who wasn’t really very good. But Lou noticed that there was something unique about him -- while he wasn’t nearly good enough to make the team he had such irrepresible spirit and contagious enthusiasm that Lou thought, "This boy would be a great inspiration on the bench. He’ll never be able to play, but I’ll leave him on the team to encourage the others." As the season went on Lou began to develop a tremendous admiration and love for this boy. One of the things that especially impressed him was the manner with which the boy obviously cared for his father. Whenever the father would come for a visit to the campus the boy and his father would always be seen walking together, arm in arm, an obvious indication of an exceptional bond of love between them. They could always be seen on Sunday going to and from the university chapel. It was obvious that theirs was a deep and mutually shared Christian faith. Then, one day, a telephone call came to Coach Little. He was informed that the boy’s father had just died -- would he be the one to tell the boy? With a heavy heart Lou informed the boy of his father’s death, and he immediately left to go home for the funeral. A few days later the boy returned to the campus, only two days before the biggest game of the season. Lou went to him and said, "Is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all?" And to the coach’s astonishment the boy said, "Let me start the game on Saturday!" Lou was taken aback. He thought, "I can’t let him start -- he’s not good enough." But he remembered his promise to help and said, "All right -- you can start the game," and he thought to himself, "I’ll leave him in for a few plays and then take him out." The day of the big game arrived. To everyone’s surprise the coach started this boy who had never palyed in a game all season. But imagine even the coach’s surprise when, on the very first play from scrimmage, that boy was the one who single-handedly made a tackle that threw the opposing team for a loss. The boy went on to play inspired football play after play. In fact, he played so exceptionally that Lou left him in for the entire game; the boy led his team to victory and he was voted the outstanding player of the game. When the game was finally over Lou approached the boy and said, "Son, what got into you today?" And the boy replied, "You remember when my father would visit me here at school and we would spend a lot of time together walking arm in arm around the campus? My father and I shared a secret that nobody around here knew anything about. You see, my father was blind -- and today was the first time he ever saw me play!" And so it is, that as we realize that Jesus is now forever with us… that we can play the game of life even more fully. It is because of resurrection vision that we are able to "play above our heads" in the game of life and "see" the purposes and power and love of God.
