“The Resurrection: Christ Alive In Our Midst”

April 22, 2012

Luke 24: 36-48

Let’s begin with some trivia, the category being ‘Art and Culture.’ What 19th century French stockbroker turned Post-Expressionist painter, painted “The Yellow Christ,” was a roommate of Vincent Van Gogh, and said this: “I shut my eyes in order to see.” [Paul Gauguin] As in art, sometimes in things spiritual it may be necessary to close our eyes to the world and distractions around us so we might be open to God’s presence, the risen Christ in our midst. So, close your eyes and consider this: in your living this past week, where or when did you experience the risen Christ? What helped make Christ ‘real’ to you?

I can imagine the resurrection story from Luke today could be read or heard over and over again every year two weeks after Easter – and still not mean anything to someone or affect their lives in any real, significant way. It would be just a story from a long time ago. If that were the case for us, when it came to affecting our lives, nothing would ever really change. Perhaps that is because in our hearing, we remain only observers and never actually see ourselves in the story as the disciples.

Luke says the disciples were frightened, confused and full of questions. We are told that when they saw Jesus, they were bewildered or dumbfounded. They didn’t know what to think. I don’t know about you, but that could be me some days; I could easily be one of the disciples in that room, hiding behind locked doors. Because when it comes to God, sometimes I don’t understand, sometimes I have my doubts – even disbelief at times. In that room, the disciples’ minds and hearts needed help. Today, in this time and place, ours may as well.

How do we explain the resurrection? When going beyond a Bible dictionary or ‘cookie cutter’ definition, we may actually struggle with expressing our understanding in words. That is especially true if our understanding lacks clarity or contains contradictions still unresolved. But, all that is good, and even helpful. Parker Palmer, author, educator, and activist, who focuses on issues in spirituality and social action, among other things, points out that: “The moments when we meet and reckon with contradictions are turning points where we either enter or evade the mystery of God.”

Maybe like the disciples in the story, we still question and wonder what exactly happened. Suddenly, Jesus was right there, standing in front of them, offering them peace. He asks for food. He blesses them. And he commissions them to action. The disciples’ experience of his presence was, as Charles Cousar writes, "mysterious but real.” It wasn’t something they could have made up – he was there. He was really there with them. They just couldn’t explain how he got there.

Jesus was alive, yet to the disciples he is somehow different. He is not the same, not quite like he was before the crucifixion. He is not a ghost, an apparition, or a spirit. He can still eat solid food like them, but now his body can go through walls and locked doors. He is the same, yet not the same. In the face of this new reality, the disciples will be prepared for a new mission not just to the people of Israel but, to the entire world. They are not quite ready yet. They is something else they need, something more. They are in need of dramatic transformation. Their eyes need to be opened, as well as their hearts.

The combination of seeing Jesus, of being with him, and the sharing of the Word together, opened the disciples' hearts and minds. Whenever we shine the light of the gospel on our lives, perhaps our hearts and minds are similarly opened. And we, too, become people of hope. The resurrection is God's affirmation that we matter. God did and is doing something new in the resurrection of Jesus, and in a sense, God is doing something new each time we experience the risen Jesus. So, what then does all this mean to us? Will we be changed?

The resurrection story is a retelling of the disciples’ experience of the risen Jesus – something that still happens today, in many different ways. Some say that trying to make sense of it all can be easier in a community that shares our experience, our questions, and our call. The experience of the early disciples who touched Jesus, put their hands in his wounds and heard his voice, fed his hunger and received his blessing, is the same experience of Christians today who feed the hungry, break bread together, hunger for God's blessing, and respond to the call to turn their lives toward God once again.

Now, because of the resurrection, things can be different. And that is the good news! There can be new life. All the sorrow and shock that immobilizes and confuses us, as well as the disciples, disappears and sets us on a new path. Isn't that what repentance is? Isn't that what transformation feels like? Nothing ever is quite the same, including us. Oh, this change doesn’t happen completely and all at once. Instead, Cynthia Lindner writes, “it happens "by fits and starts, in hours of doubt and moments of exhilaration, with days of numbness and mourning punctuated by brief moments of holy presence and powerful certainty… (or at those times) resurrection may seem most unexpected.”

Barbara Brown Taylor's description of the embodied experience of Jesus was proof, she says, to the disciples that "he had gone through the danger and not around it." So much of our time and energy can be spent finding a way around things, rather than living through them. We don't want to experience pain, or even to come face to face with the suffering of other people. After all, what can we do? And yet, Taylor says, we bear hope for the world because of the commission Jesus gave the disciples and the whole church long ago, that we be the Body, and the Image, of the Risen Christ in the world today.

The resurrection story is about Jesus overcoming death, but it is also about the transformation of Jesus’ disciples, and a changing of their hearts and minds. The risen Christ entered their lives where they were at – jaded, critical, judgmental, and closed-off in heart and mind – and turned them around. Suddenly, for them, everything was different. The risen Christ can also enter our lives and turn them around, especially when we have become tired and weary and judgmental and closed-off in heart and mind. For us, everything can quickly change. The power of the resurrection, an experiencing of the risen Jesus, allows all of us to step out in faith whenever there is an opportunity to respond to a God who continues to save, send, and bless us today. May Jesus be real for us and may Christ be alive in our midst today and every day. 

"The World Won't Be Lonely Now"

April 15, 2012

John 20:19-31

[words in italics are from song written by Bob Schadle, Van Horne, Iowa]

The disciples felt overwhelmed. When confronted with something larger than us, we can feel that way, can’t we? When a problem can’t be figured out, when what’s happened doesn’t make any sense, or when we can’t quite get our mind around something – we become stressed, and feel pressured or small.

Overwhelmed and alone is how the disciples felt after Jesus died. Fearful and confused, Jesus’ followers were now huddled together in a small room behind locked doors. They had no idea where to turn or what to do next. Their teacher, who had held them together for so long was dead. 

He had been executed like a common criminal and buried in a tomb. It wasn’t supposed to end like that! With Jesus buried in that tomb, their hope, their vision, their direction in life was gone. Jesus’ disciples were now left only with an overwhelming sense of failure, loss, and shame.

Jesus did so much for everyone

When he walked this earth,

So many, many years ago

When on high his Father called him,

To be there, by His side,

And all the world seems lonely now.

They remembered their journey together with Jesus, his teaching as they slowly walked from town to town. The words he spoke were huge, hard to understand at times – especially when he talked about the kingdom and everyone’s part in it. His miracles even suggested he was the son of God.  

Jesus’ followers were disappointed with themselves – maybe even a little upset with Jesus. They felt miserable, depressed and letdown. He had raised their hopes so high – and now those hopes and dreams were crushed. Imagine how hopeless they must have felt and how upset and frustrated they must have been.

And then Mary Magdalene started talking nonsense: she said she’d seen Jesus and had talked with him; he was alive, and had risen from the dead just as he’d promised. They didn't believe her, but still thought - wouldn’t it be great if it were! If only it were true.

If only he were here now,

How different our life could be,

He could change the way things are today,

We would all be so happy so that every head would bow,

But all the world seems lonely now.

In his gospel, the apostle John writes, “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’”

Suddenly, quietly, amazingly there he was, right there in their midst, right before their very eyes. Jesus was alive! And, once again, he was with them. He showed them his hands and his side and they rejoiced. It was him! They saw the Lord. They were certain. He was alive!

They had felt abandoned, alone, as if a rug had been pulled out from under them. Their hope had been crushed. They were confused and upset, their energy sapped, their spirits listless and adrift. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.” His words and presence settled their souls.

They say you can’t miss something,

Something you never had,

But I don’t believe that to be true.

We’ve always had his love for us

and his forgiveness, too,

And that’s not really something new.

At first, when Jesus appeared to them, the disciples might have been a little afraid that this wasn’t all good news. He might understandably be angry with their abandoning him, and yet there was no anger, or criticism, or judgment. But, instead, Jesus’ first words were: "Peace be with you."

Jesus knew their fear and embarrassment, he knew how upset they were, and he assured them once again of his forgiveness and love for them. Regardless of what they had done or not done, he forgave them; he loved them. As at creation, he breathed into them his Holy Spirit.

Once again Jesus’ disciples could believe; once again they had hope. No longer did they feel overwhelmed. The doors could be unlocked; and they could now go outside. Now, their faith strengthened, they could be his disciples and take the gospel message to the ends of the earth.

If he walked in your door today,

Would you believe that to be true

Then turned around and left then,

What would you really do?

Would you run after him and tell him please do stay,

Or would you just stand there, I hope not this I pray.

Christ enters our place of refuge to assure us of his love and forgiveness. He comes in the midst of what overwhelms us to say, "Peace be with you." Whatever our doubts or troubles, whatever walls we’ve put up or doors we’ve locked, he comes to say, "Peace be with you."

God calls us, feeds us, and sends us out into the world to be justice and peace, salt and light, hope for the world. As God sent Jesus, God sends us into the world God loves. Our mission is to love the world in every possible way. The time is now.

So everyone is asking,

What shall we do and how?

I really don’t know the answer,

But I do know the time is now.

Then maybe the world

Won’t be lonely now.

“Christ Is Risen”

April 8, 2012

Psalm 118: 14-24; Mark 16:1-8

Easter is the high point of the Christian year. Its simple message is that there is One, our Lord Jesus the Christ, who has overcome the world… who has overcome death.

Biblical scholar and writer Douglas Hare reminds us that, “This is a story about God, a God who is powerful enough to raise Jesus up, and in that way, to have something more to say about his death after all that has happened.”

The psalmist writer in Psalm 118 informs us about this being a day in which “our prayers are answered, “the stone… rejected, has become the cornerstone.” This (day) is the Lord’s doing… a day that the Lord has made… a day to rejoice and be glad.”

Jesus says, “I have overcome the world...” This world we live in, this world so full of hope, so full of joy, decked out in spring flowers – and this world of darkness, of sorrow, wickedness and death. Jesus says, I have overcome the world - not some day--the word from the cross speaks “it is finished” done--note the fact, build on it adjust to it--our world has been overcome by the Power of God.  

Christ has risen. Christ overcomes the realities of this world. Christ overcomes death. Christ wins! That is the message of Easter, today – and each and every day. God’s final word is not death and despair but resurrection and new life.

And yet, sometimes it just doesn’t feel like we’ve been ‘released’ or freed from the darkness that can overwhelm. Our world is not overcome. Our troubles and misfortunes are, in fact, alive and well. Our fears are real. We are torn between fearing death, and life as well. It’s then we must remember Easter’s message – God’s great love and power at work for us.

The apostle Paul said, “we are hard pressed on every side but not crushed, we are perplexed but not driven to despair, we are persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed.” He then went on to say, “we are always carrying in our bodies the dying of Jesus that the life of Jesus might be made manifest--something of a candle that never expires--in this world tribulation yes--be of good cheer because One has overcome. Christ is risen indeed!”

Fred Craddock suggests that "For Mark, the resurrection served the cross; Easter did not eradicate but vindicated Good Friday." In all of our Easter celebration and our Alleluias, in our flowers and white cloths, we are never to forget Good Friday, and an "executed God." “The heart of the Gospel of Mark,” Craddock says, “is the way of the cross.”

The good news for us is that Easter comes to overcome the world where we are warped by our fears. Unexpectedly we hear the words “be of good cheer, I have overcome” and we somehow know. And for us, this Easter faith allows a new conversation.

One bright morning some women learned in a flash of light that they could live in a terrible world as hopeful joyful people. Despite the cruelty of that world they could live with peace, joy and hope. On Friday, they had just witnessed brutality that was unusual even in an evil and cruel empire. Their hearts were broken, their minds confused, their lives suddenly without the direction. And yet they sensed Jesus with them.

To them, the fact simply was that Christ is risen! 

Yet, the empty tomb presented the women with "the challenge still before them"! If the dream is in fact not dead, if the reign of God is at hand, then there is work to be done and risks to be taken, dangers to be faced. No wonder they ran! Perhaps we would have as well.

For the women, the disciples, Mark's community, and for us today, the call is to Galilee and a new beginning, setting out on the way again, following Jesus faithfully, aware of his resurrection yet mindful of his suffering and death. It’s a story we must finish for ourselves, by setting out on the way of discipleship, to follow Jesus, and to trust God.

Bill Cotton has shared a couple thoughts about the significance of Easter that would help us all. He says: 1) Life after birth and before death is equally as important as life after death. 2) Do not doubt the power of resurrection faith. Do not give up on anyone. Don’t say the world is so messed up that it can’t get better. Don’t ever say you can’t change because that is a lie.

We are to live the kingdom life. 19^th century American poet Emily Dickinson wrote: “To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.” Concerning living life to the fullest, English novelist and contemporary, George Eliot wrote, “There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them.” Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Easter calls us to such a life.

Easter announces Christ has overcome the world, both yours and mine. And the power of regeneration and revival is alive among us. In the resurrection, Christ has overcome the fears that keep people apart from one another, and from God. The resurrection is real; as is the power to overcome and our ability to make a difference.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!