On this morning, nearly 2 billion people on this planet are
worshiping the Risen Lord. From comfy
living rooms of house churches to the imposing sanctuaries of Gothic
cathedrals, from Pacific Beach to Jerusalem ,
believers are celebrating and rejoicing in the resurrection of Jesus.
God surprised us at Easter.
Jesus, whom everyone thought was dead, said to the women that morning “Greetings.”
And Jesus the Lord is saying these very
words to us this morning as well.
Easter announces that there is no grave deep enough, no stone heavy
enough, no evil strong enough, to keep Christ in the tomb and to keep us from
the Risen Lord. Can I get an amen!
On Easter God’s power burst forth to reverse the
irreversible, to turn an ending into a beginning, to bring victory out of
defeat, to raise life out of death and hope out of despair. God turned the anguish of the women and the
disciples into alleluias and amens.
Non-believers and religious critics have spoken about Jesus'
resurrection as a paradigm for higher spiritual truths or ultimate ideals
within the reach of the human spirit.
It is really a metaphor for the triumph of the human spirit: overcoming
defeat, courage in the face of death, the resilience of the human spirit,
forgiveness, hope, redeeming a wrong.
Easter is about what is humanely possible.
Christianity says no, not so! Easter is about the resurrection of one
called Jesus of Nazareth. The
resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of the Christian faith. It’s the historical basis and support for the
celebration of Easter. We read in the
letter of I Corinthians: “If Christ has
not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is
futile; you are still in your sins.”
On Easter morning two women went to the tomb to anoint Jesus
body with oil and spices as was the Jewish custom. The women encounter an angel, who tells them
that Jesus is not in the tomb but that he has been raised to life. They are to
go and tell the disciples that Jesus will meet them in Galilee . Filled with fear and yet overjoyed at hearing
this astonishing news, they leave the tomb when suddenly Jesus stands before
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, saying: “Greetings,
do not be afraid.”
Easter announces that the tomb was empty! Why was the tomb empty that Sunday
morning? There are two fundamental
arguments. One is that it was due to
natural causes. Here are some of the
theories critics have promulgated down through the centuries: the stolen body
theory as we read about in our lesson from the Gospel of Matthew; the swoon
theory, that Jesus was unconscious when he was buried, not dead, and awoke and
hid when the tomb was opened; the wrong tomb theory, that the women lost in
grief, went to the wrong tomb that morning which just happened to be empty; the
hallucination theory, that the disciples and many others were hallucinating
when they claimed that Jesus had appeared to them.
The other argument is a supernatural cause. That the tomb was empty because of Jesus'
resurrection, which is of course the basis of the New Testament, the basis of
the birth and growth of the Christian Church, and the basis of countless
numbers of people who have testified about how their lives have changed after
repenting and confessing their faith in Christ as their personal Lord and
Savior.
Listen to the testimony about Easter written a generation later from the
Apostle Paul in I Corinthians: “I would
remind you, brothers and sisters of the good news that I proclaimed to you,
which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are
being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you, unless
you have come to believe in vain. I
handed on to you what I in turn had received, that Christ died for our sins in
accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the
third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas,
then to the twelve, then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and
sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died, then
he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to
me.”
Easter further announces that Christ's resurrection changes
lives and transforms people. It forever
changed the lives of Mary Magdalene and the other Mary on that amazing
morning. New life begins when we
dedicate, when we commit our lives to one greater than ourselves.
I came across this story about a young soldier who lost his
legs in an explosion in Iraq . Something inside died in him the day he
learned he would never walk again. He
refused to talk with anyone who tried to help him. One day another patient in the hospital
strolled in and sat down on a chair near the bed. He drew a harmonica from his pocket and began
to play softly. The young solider looked
at him for a second and then resumed staring at the ceiling. The next day the harmonica player came in
again, and did so day after day for a week, without saying a word. Then one day he asked the soldier, “Does my playing annoy you? The patient said, No, I guess I like it. So they talked a little bit.”
One day the harmonica player played a sprightly tune and
began to do a tap dance. The soldier in
bed looked on but was unimpressed. “Hey, why don't you smile once and let the
world know you're alive,” the dancer said with a friendly smile. The wounded soldier said, “I might as well be dead.” “Okay,
answered his new friend, so you're dead.
But you're not as dead as a fellow who was crucified 2,000 years ago,
and He came out all right.” “Oh sure it's easy for you to preach,”
replied the patient, “but if you were in
my fix, you'd sing a different tune.”
With this the dancer stood up and said, “I know a 2,000 year old resurrection is pretty far in the dim
past. Maybe an up to date example will
help you believe it can be done.” With that he pulled up his trouser legs and
the young man in the bed looked and saw two artificial limbs. The harmonica player had also lost his legs
in the war, and after going through the pain of grief and rehab, had
experienced the power of Christ's resurrection.
The young soldier's own resurrection began at that very moment. The
power of the Resurrected Lord who changed the lives of those two women on that
first Easter changes lives today.
Finally, Easter declares that after death there is life. Now of
course many people do not share this belief.
They are represented by the thinking of actor Johnny Depp: He was interviewed and said: “I went around for years thinking, "Well,
what's it all for? All this stuff that I gotta do, interviews and movies and
success or not success or this or that.
But when my daughter was born it was as if a veil was lifted, and things
became clearer, and I went, "Oh, I get it now! That's what life is for …
" I didn't have a real handle on what life is supposed to mean or be or
anything like that. And I still
don't. And I'm not sure life is
supposed to mean anything at all. But as long as you have the opportunity to
breathe, breathe. As long as you have
the opportunity to make your kid smile and laugh move it forward … . I think
we're here and that's kind of it. Then it's dirt and worms.”
But in stark contrast Jesus the Risen Lord says –
Greetings! Easter claims just the
opposite; there is an afterlife, there is a life after death, there is an
eternal life beyond this earthly life.
Eternal life awaits those who believe in him. Jesus will welcome us into heaven. I can imagine Jesus saying “greetings” as one
enters glory. Can you?
The prospect of death, our own death or another's death is frightening. We don't like to talk about or think about
our own mortality. A recent article in
the Wall Street Journal says, "By
all observable metrics, zombies are totally hot right now. Zombies are
everywhere. They have become
outrageously, staggeringly, mindblowingly popular. With nearly 16 million viewers, The Walking
Dead, the hit TV show about a world dominated by flesh-eating zombies, nearly
outperformed the 2014 Winter Olympics. So
what's the big deal with this zombie craze?
Dr. John Ulrich, Professor of English at Mansfield
Easter declares God's victory over death. The resurrection shows that even the
seemingly indomitable power of death is subject to the sovereign power of
God. Death is not the final
verdict. Easter promises eternal life
through faith in Christ. And this news
is indeed something to celebrate. The future
is not closed. Christ's resurrection
inspires hope and says Jesus holds the future open for us.
A movie based on the book, “Heaven is for Real,”
which has sold over 1 million copies since its publication in 2010, is
currently being shown in theaters. It's
about a little four year old boy's astounding story of his trip to heaven and
back.
In the book, his father, pastor Todd Burpo, writes that
during the months after his son's emergency surgery in 2003, little Colton
began describing events and people that seemed impossible for him to have seen
or met. Examples include a little sister
who died in a miscarriage before he was born, whom no one had told him about,
and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born. Colton
also claimed he personally met Jesus riding a rainbow-colored horse and sat in
Jesus' lap, while the angels sang songs over him. Colton
said: “The angels sang to me because I was so scared. They made me feel better.” “When was this,
the father asked? “At the hospital, I
was with Jesus, when you were praying and Mommy was talking on the phone.”
Of course the story is not without its critics. Where would we be without skeptics and
critics? One critic wrote that the
success of the book shows that vast numbers of Americans lack the reasoning
ability of adults.
Jesus rose; so will other human beings. Jesus lives and so will other human
beings. Jesus is the assurance that
people who die in Christ will live again.
Jesus the Lord makes these wonderful resurrection promises: “There
are many rooms in my Father’s house, I am going there to prepare a place for
you, I would not tell you this if it were not so, and I will come back and take
you to myself, so that you will be where I am.” Jesus says: “Because I live, you shall live also.” Jesus says: “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believers in me, even
though they die, shall live.”
I close with this rather unusual obituary in our Union
Tribune: Juanita Davis Notice Change of
Address: I want you to know I have
moved. On February 20, 2014, I received
a call from my God informing me my new home is ready: My new address is: 2014 Jesus Way
No comments:
Post a Comment