Easter Sunday - April 15, 2001
"Christ Is Risen!"
SERMON TEXT
(Luke 24 NRSV) But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. {2} They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, {3} but when they went in, they did not find the body. {4} While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. {5} The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. {6} Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, {7} that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." {8} Then they remembered his words, {9} and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. {10} Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. {11} But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. {12} But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
SERMON
CHRIST IS RISEN! [HE IS RISEN INDEED]
- Oh my, that was not a real Easter response. I want to hear a true Easter response - this is the greatest event of all time. This is the moment that defines human history and set us free to be the people of hope and forgiveness that we must be as the people of God. The great mystery of faith is once again proclaimed to all the world - that all the world might listen and know the truth that
Christ has died. Christ is Risen. Christ will come again
Let’s begin again as if our entire lives depended upon the answer - for indeed they do
CHRIST IS RISEN! [HE IS RISEN INDEED]
In this service, we use two of the most ancient of Christian proclamations. This proclamation about the Risen Christ and the ancient mystery of faith -
Christ has died. Christ is Risen. Christ will come again.
- that is the center and the heart of our faith. The absolute fact - the knowledge - not in our heads or in some book but deep down core knowledge about ourselves and our lives and the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. That we look around us at the difficulties of life and see only one answer - not family or work or government or schools or money - but the resurrection of Jesus and the Empty Tomb. We must remember that the resurrection was not something that the disciples and the women were counting on. For them, it was over - the men were hiding, lest they be executed by Pilate also and the women were carrying out their last act of friendship and devotion by anointing Jesus’ body in death. If they had been expecting the resurrection, they wouldn’t have been hiding but waiting by the door to the tomb for the resurrection miracle. That is why none of the Gospels records the how and the when of the resurrection - we assume it was around daybreak on Sunday morning and huge amounts of light are always coming out of the tomb in pictures - but we don’t know when or how - we only know who.. And the who is Jesus - resurrected from the dead into a new and eternal body. This is not a resuscitated body like someone whose heart stops during a heart attack and is revived with the shocking paddles. Jesus does not have his old body re-vitalized like a Frankenstein monster but this is a new eternal body - a physical body that eats and drinks but one not confined by locked doors, a body that can move from place to place instantly. But still a body that bears the scars of his death and all of his personality and life - for in the Gospel of Matthew Mary recognizes Jesus and so do the other Apostles in the Gospel of John.
In Jesus Resurrection, God is doing something new. In Jesus’ resurrection we have the answer to unlock all of the human problems - problems of abuse, violence, anger, work, money - you name it - they can all be answered in the resurrection of Jesus and the new life he offers us.
Living in the resurrection, suddenly family can be transformed. Where there was once anger and hatred, the Love of God and forgiveness can be the guiding principles. Entire families can see the working of Jesus in their life and suddenly the drudgery of family can become a resurrection joy.
Work can go from being a drudgery to a vocation, to a way of helping other people and serving those around us just as Jesus told the disciples that he was their servant on the night he was betrayed. Looking at work in light of the resurrection, co-workers are not a pain in the neck but fellow workers in the kingdom and human beings with similar needs and desires.
When the empty tomb and the Love of God is our guiding principle, somehow money stretches further as we spend it on things we need instead of toys and trinkets. All that "stuff" we buy to try and fill the God-shaped hole in our heart is no longer necessary. We become reasonable with our expenses and trust that God will provide us with all of our needs.
Our schools are only as good as the teachers and the student within them - more young Christian people need to see teaching in a public school as a vocation and calling - a place where they can help young lives be formed in a moral and upright fashion. And while a teacher cannot teach the bible in class, I recall that short but true saying , "Be mindful of how your words and actions, You might be the only bible that someone every gets to read." This last month should not be warning sign to teachers to look for new work but a call for Christians to see teaching as a public service to the future of America.
And our schools can only be as good as the students who are there to learn - the only hope of our world is that parents live up to the responsibilities and promises made during Baptism - to instruct their child in the bible, to teach them the 10 Commandments, the Creed and to bring them to the House of the Lord for worship. That students would find in their lives some reason to trust the Church and our message about the Risen Christ. What would have happen our schools were filled with young men and women who are members of a good strong Christian family and go to a Church where they have a youth group to talk to about their frustrations.
What if the students looked to one another as children of God instead of pawns in a power struggle that won’t last 10 minutes after graduation from High School? What if our youth took to heart the idea that in Christ there is no East or West, no Greek or Jew, no male nor female, no black or white, no Latino or Asian, no mighty jock or skinny kid, no academic or outcast stoner but that in Christ all are loved and lovable. What if they had heard the Parable of the Good Samaritan or knew that Jesus reached out to the outcast Samaritan Woman? How would our world change? What if those who torment other students stopped the harassment and instead began reaching out with the love and forgiveness and acceptance of Jesus?
Last month’s violence might never have happened, just like so many drug overdoses, pregnancies, suicides and run away that do not happen because a Church was involved in a young person’s life. Because that young person had not only a friend in Jesus but a reason to live and to love and to serve others in life.
The question that the young men ask the women on that dawn so long ago still rings in our ears "Why do you look for the living among the dead ? He is not here but he has gone ahead of you." And see he does go ahead of us.
So much could be said of us in the same way - where do you look for the living God?
Where can you see the living God? Where can you see the hope and new life that the women testified to on that day that they saw the tomb was empty and that Jesus was alive? Where can you see that hope in a world that seems to be covered in the shadow of evil and hatred and revenge?
Where can we look for hope - the absolute assurance that God is with us and fills the heart with gifts of love and grace? Where can we look - we can look here - in this very room - in this very place for stories of new life and re-birth - of God’s hope and God’s grace. And then we can begin to tell one another those stories to help us through this life and to encourage us to do more for one another and for God.
There are examples all around us - of the people who come to help with Bible Study, to the ladies who came in to help the staff collate and fold this worship service, to Roland who was here fixing things for the school and Church all day long until his wife called and told him to come home and shower so they could return, to those who helped decorate the Church grounds or are helping with the breakfast, to the youth group who gave out packets to the homeless and now continue to go down to help feed them and share some of God’s love, to the people whose faithful attendance at worship creates this community of faith - we could go through all of those examples of faith. And if I missed you and your service, please note that I am not trying to make a complete list for today - we need to tell all those stories in the days, weeks, and years ahead.
But the ones from Good Friday night stick out the most - for often I wonder if the next generation will get the faith that we share - if this message about Jesus is really sinking in, take look a this drawing the Michael made while listening to the Passion of Jesus from Luke - here in this place we have transmitted the faith - for without prompting, he drew this picture of the central point of our faith - three crosses and an empty tomb. We, as his spiritual parents should be proud, that we have started to convey the faith. Another whole group of non-suicide, non-overdoses, and non-pregnancies has begun when we see this kind of faith being transmitted to our children. I know that every parent could bring me 20 examples of how their child or grandchild has done the same or better - and that is the danger of an example - just know that I used this one because it was the most recent. We must tell of the other to one another and begin to post these example of faith in our hearts and on our walls.
On the way out on Good Friday a mother and 5 kids were looking to find a shelter or at least wash up before going back to the park for the night to sleep. But it was cold and the kids were hungry. So De & Mary & I set about helping this family - De got a room and some groceries, Mary made dinner for the kids with things she found in the kitchen, I found the phone numbers of places they could stay and programs to help get them on their feet. Then we drove them over to the hotel and get them settled in for the night. 5 kids and a mom stranded on the street, lost and forgotten by the world around us, helped, fed and given a few simple groceries to be helped along their way. I don’t say that to brag or to make you think better of us - for I know that any one of you would have done the same thing.
There is hope in the world - there is faith in the world - but you must look for it and see the resurrection of Jesus in a new light - in the light of our own lives and the choices that we make.
The amazing choice is not the choices that we make but the one that God makes for us - Gods chose us to be his ambassadors of love and grace and service. God could have chosen anyone but God chose us - to be God’s people in the this place , in this time and for the people who come our direction in need of help and comfort, in need of hearing a word of grace and goodness. God chose us to be the ones who instruct the young and show them that life has meaning - a meaning that is seen after we look into the tomb and realize that Jesus is alive.
And because Jesus is alive - then we are alive also - alive to love and praise - alive to be servants of God - alive to be the ones who help change and shift the world away from the destruction and violence that seems to appear on our TV screens as news every night. God has chosen us to be the ones who see the empty tomb and then go from here to do something about it - the ones who move forward with grace and truth to help those in need and be the sign of resurrection to the world around us.
The reality of God’s grace is here - present among us - present in those who live the message of the empty tomb and know in the hearts and in their lives and in their actions that Christ has died that Christ has Risen and that Christ will come again.
The message of the Empty tomb is still proclaimed - as we all run to the tomb and look in - the empty tomb is still empty and the message of God’s love is still here among us. If that message of love and forgiveness does not burn within your heart, hear again the testimony of the women who went slowly and bitterly weeping to the grave expecting to find a dead body of their friend - Jesus is alive - His word is true and His identity as the one and only begotten son of God is true and known to all - the tomb is empty - and God’s love triumphs over human selfishness and hatred, God’s care for all people is true and that God’s love is stronger that the human heart’s desire to destroy and kill. That God’s love as shown in Jesus is still stronger than the forces of evil all around us. The world is filled with hope and there is a place where we can find hope as we wander through life - it is the empty tomb and the great proclamation of faith that Christ is Risen. Alleluia! He is Risen Indeed.
