Sermon for Easter Day, April 12, 2009
“ If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above. ”
THE great thing about Jesus Christ is that His Incarnation, His miracles, His words of life, the death He died for the salvation of the world, and His astounding Resurrection includes us, you and me . We are in this story. We are important characters in the drama we call the Gospel. It's more than the Greatest Story Ever Told : it is the story of your life . For without the Son of Man and all He is and all He's done, you aren't even alive . This dying world would have been your tomb, your epitaph, your only moment, and all your fault. No more. Christ is Risen! (He is Risen indeed). And we are risen with Him.
You see a prize teddy bear in the window of a fancy toy store and you wish for it with all your might. Perhaps you say something to your mother, but she's distracted by the crowds, the pressures of Christmas shopping, the other children's needs. You go home and think about that big, friendly beary face, its bright eyes, its furfull smile, the bright ribbon at its neck, and dream. It's all you can do about that bear—he's out of reach. With a child's hope you wish for it, but it's not yours and you realize that not everything you wish for comes true. Then Christmas morning, a rather large package has your name on it, and…
Your life took a turn when you were accepted at college in the major that would lead you to your lifelong dream career. Doctor, architect, aeronautical engineer, astrophysicist—whatever the dream. And then the hard work began. You didn't know you had all that in you. Every day the dream got further away, and you struggled to stay in the highly competitive program—but today, as you sit with your family, the dean reads your name and holds out a little rolled up diploma that says…
He was different. Other boys made fun of you, lived silly lives of pranks and stupid antics, but this young man made your heart jump. His wayward lock of hair, his slight stoop, the little crooked tooth, even these made you pain for him. He wants a good life and to be the hero in your eyes and in his own. You could hope, but such hopes are often dashed, so forget it already, but hoping isn't wrong . And he comes to you one day, looks you full in the face, fearful, serious, full of purpose, and he bends his knee. There is something in his hand…
The romance of it: a wish, a wanted gift, an accomplishment, a chance, a love fulfilled, a bright future—these are only foretastes of our life when we know the hero of this story personally. We know some of the other characters in it, of course: impetuous Peter, faithful John, eternally grateful Mary Magdalene, doubtful Thomas , and the others. It's been told us for so many years it seems a solid account, and yet so long ago and far from northern California, in so different a world from our own—people in robes, dusty tracks, ancient foreign tongues, gloriously rendered epic movies make it seem all the more removed from you and me. But it isn't removed. It happens now. It happens here. It may be expressed in English, or in any language . It's for all mankind, for all time, every race, every land, everyone, everywhere. It's your story.
You hoped for a better life, but you never escaped your world. Because you saw others doing those things, you argued that your misdeeds were of the common sort, excusable, forgivable, and yet you felt the disappointment of heaven and your own shame. Some things you did really convinced you, convicted you with the fact you are not the hero in any tale, but just a bum, just another crumby person doing badly with the life he had. You may drink or drug away the pain of it, but it remains. You compensate by working hard, achieving some status, marry, hope for your children, but something aches and it never really gets touched. Then somebody mentions Jesus, and maybe it's Easter Sunday, and you remember the Easter Sundays of your childhood, your family dressing up, colored eggs, ladies' hats, white frilly lace, and some excitement about Jesus being risen again . Something possesses you to do it all over again. You cajole the wife and admonish the kids, showing how to tie a tie for the first time to your junior namesake. All is set, you park at the little church, join others finding the door, have a seat in the back and let the happy strains of Easter hymns wash over you. His Name is mentioned, and then your sins, the gravity that holds you to this earth stand out in your mind and heart, the sickness we all feel . But the Person of Jesus Christ reaches out to you, and in His Name today, somehow, you find hope again. It's personal . It's an invitation . He wants you back. He hasn't given up on you at all. He is Risen! And so you rise to go up to that wooden rail, kneel down, answer the altar call of Holy Communion and make your peace with Almighty God, once for all. He wants you back. That was all you needed to know.
Jesus had told them over and over, and they never got what He was driving at, they never wanted to understand it, because He was telling them He had to die, and not just die but be hunted down, accused falsely, tortured and executed on a Roman cross. The thing He said after, that on the Third Day He would rise again, didn't fit in and they couldn't credit any of it. They couldn't hear it. So, after being hunted down, falsely tried, scourged and beaten and spitted on, he was nailed to that cross and died in agony. Some secret disciples buried Him and the women thought a better burial preparation might be done this morning, now the Sabbath is over. But what's the use? What will anything matter? Their lives were wasted. Would it matter if they died at the hands of their own countrymen, or the Romans, or live out their lives in sorrow and lost hope to die old and disappointed? A furious knocking at the door roused them from their sulking, and they fearfully checked who it was. “The Magdalene woman. Oh, all right, let her in.” She was beside herself—something had happened, something she saw out there. “I've seen Him! He's alive! He is risen, just as He said! Go to the tomb! Peter, John, you must believe me. He's alive! I touched Him. I talked with Him. Yes, I know what I'm saying. Don't you believe me? Go see for yourself.” They went for themselves and stumbled back, astonished, unable to put together what it meant.
He would tell them what it meant. He would equip them for the next stage of their lives. Then He departed in body, but left His Spirit with them, and made them His hands and His mouth, His priests and apostles, to tell this wonder to all the world. Christ is Risen! And what is more, you are risen too, my friend. This is your story, your life.
Jesus had chastised her for being too much about chores and business, while the most wonderful things were being shared. But this day, He gave Martha a wonderful revelation about Himself. She believed in the Resurrection, that one day all men shall rise from their graves and be judged according to their works. Her brother would live again. But Jesus told her: “ I am the resurrection and the life . He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” John 11:25-26 Later He told His apostles, “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.” John 14:19 He holds out the hope to us, in the form of a small, ritual meal of bread and wine, telling us: “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day… He who eats this bread will live forever.” John 6:53-58
He gives us His Holy Spirit to live in us, to inspire us, to bring our own dead spirits back to life, to purify us from inside, and to empower our prayers. This isn't only about getting ready for heaven. We aren't ready for life on earth without the One who made this earth. “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11 St. Paul also wrote, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Phil 3:9-11
If you are risen with Christ, it's about this life as much as the next. It has to be about this life, because you aren't going to see heaven without bringing some of heaven down here first. That's a tall order, and one that has frustrated and daunted many people who were better than we are. But the secret is an open one: Jesus made all of this rather simple for us, knowing our simplicity. You give your life to Him, He gives His life to you . And because He already died, you needn't die—not die in some permanent or horrible sense , that is. These bodies must wear out, they bore sins and shame and aren't worthy for eternal bliss. But give Him yourself, and then all He is and all He has is yours. He already did the suffering that brings forgiveness—I don't care what you've done before today: that's over and done. You've been called by name, He wants you back. He already lay in a tomb, dead as can be, so you won't need to lay cold and lifeless, your soul wandering the land of the dead. What He promises you is what He promised the hopeful thief crucified at His side: “Today you shall be with me in Paradise.”
But we have to live it . We've become amphibians, in a way. We are born in this country, but citizens of another better land. We are earthmen, but heaven's children. We are fallen humans, but forgiven and given new lives. We might emulate the former lifestyles, try to keep blending in with the old crowd, but how sad is that? Deny this wondrous new life when it's all we could ever want? Fear their envy? Why not share your Christ? He loves them more than you do. “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light… Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” Eph 5:8, 14
Christ is Risen! He is Risen! “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above... Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth… When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Col 3:1 Glory! This is your dream come true. This is what you hoped and wished for. This is your life, given to you new again to live out and rejoice that He finds pleasure in you. If you are Risen with Christ, rejoice this day, on this His and your Resurrection Day.
PFH+