Hope and Resurrection
Rev. Mark Schaefer
Kay Spiritual Life Center
April 4, 2010–Easter Sunday
1 Corinthians 15:19-26; Luke 24:1-12
1 Corinthians 15:19-26 · If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”Luke 24:1-12 · But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 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. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 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.
I. BEGINNING
One of my favorite things about the Bible is the way it’s written. It’s more laconic than Hemingway. It does not provide a lot of detail. There are no physical descriptions of Jesus or the apostles, not a lot of extraneous narrative detail like, “Then running his hands through his hair, he looked down at the ground, breathed in deeply, looked up and said…” No, it always just reads. “And he said…”
And so when the text actually does give a description, we take note.
II. THE TEXT
The text from Luke that we read earlier has three adjectives in it that catch my eye. And all of them are descriptions of how people reacted to the news of Jesus’ resurrection.
First we have the women, who go to the tomb early Sunday morning to prepare the body of Jesus as they were unable to do on Friday. When they get there, they see that the stone has already been rolled away and the tomb is empty. Our first adjective shows up: We are told that they were “perplexed” by this. Then they encounter two men in dazzling white who stand before them. Our second adjective shows up: They were “terrified” and bowed before them. They are told that Jesus has been raised from the dead as he had promised. They run back to tell the disciples. Most of them think they’re just telling stories, but Peter runs to the tomb and looks in. And then heads home, with our third adjective: “amazed” at what had happened.
III. PERPLEXED, TERRIFIED, AND AMAZED
I think it perhaps no accident that Luke should use those three adjectives in his narrative. Because it seems that those are three pretty common ways that people tend to react to the Gospel. These are three very common ways people react to faith.
A. Perplexed
There are many who are perplexed by faith. They don’t understand it. Or they misunderstand it. But the word that is used in the Gospel, doesn’t mean to be perplexed as in not understanding what something is, but being perplexed as in not knowing what to do.
Their encounter with faith has produced something of a paralysis–an inability to move in one direction or the other. Sort of a standing around wondering what to do.
There are many people for whom Christian faith provokes just such a response. There are many people who hear the stories of Jesus, his message, his suffering, death and resurrection, and wonder: now what? What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to do that? Not unlike the women at the tomb, there is a standing still–a wonderment: what next? A sense that something has happened, but not a lot of clarity on how to respond.
B. Terrified
And then there are those who are terrified by their faith. There are unfortunately a great many people who are scared to death by God. Terrified that they will never be good enough. Terrified that they are unworthy. That they are headed for the fires of hell. So terrified, that the only way they can make themselves feel better is to come up with lists of people they’re sure won’t make it into heaven. That way, they can at least rule themselves off those lists.
The ones for whom Christianity is fire insurance, a way of ensuring that when you die you don’t go somewhere awful. These Christians often present a Gospel that doesn’t sound very much like Good News. It usually involves having to do certain things, or believe certain things, or practice certain things. It always seems to involve lists of some kind. They give you the impression that Jesus isn’t someone you’d actually like to meet.
C. Amazed
Compared to terrified, I suppose that amazed isn’t so bad. The Greek word here also means “to wonder” or “to be astonished”. I suppose we can hardly fault Peter for feeling that way. Or for anyone having that particular experience of God.
And there certainly are those Christians who see faith that way: “It’s so amazing! It’s wonderful! God is just so awesome.” Probably the same folks who write a lot of the praise music we use from time to time. The only problem with Amazed Christianity is that it doesn’t seem to do anything. Peter is amazed. But he’s amazed as he is going home .
Perplexed, terrified, and amazed are certainly common ways that people react to faith in the world. But are they the only ways?
IV. LIGHT
In my old apartment I had a walk in closet. It was really more of a walk-through closet as it was the hallway to the bathroom. A lot of efficiency apartments in D.C. have those. One day, I went in to get dressed for work and the light was out in the closet. Undeterred on account of my years of clothes wearing experience, I proceeded to get dressed and then headed out to work. I got about half a block down the street when I noticed that I was wearing a green suit jacket and blue suit pants. In that unlit walk-in, they had looked like the same color.
It’s amazing to think what a difference light makes on our perceptions of the world. At sunrise, the world goes from blackness to varying shades of gray to vivid and wondrous color in the full light of day. And we see the reverse in the evening, as the sun sets, the world slips into grays, making it hard to pick out objects like cars without lights against the background, and then into blackness. Light changes the way we see the world.
V. HOPE AND RESURRECTION
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is that light. The Resurrection helps us to see the world as God intends for us to see it. And that is not in perplexity, terror, or amazement. But in hope.
The world is a very broken place. Has been for a while. But the Resurrection shines a light on it that helps us to see in through the lens of hope.
We are sinful and hurt one another. We break faith with one another, we sin against one another, we hurt one another. But if Christ can take our sins upon himself and die with them and be raised for our reconciliation with God, then can’t we have hope for reconciliation with one another?
The creation is broken. We can become easily disappointed by the material world. Nature can seem cruel and violent, we are often trapped by the desires of our flesh and millions of years of evolutionary programming in our DNA. We feel limited by our physicality. We get sick, our bodies fail us. And yet, Jesus’ resurrection affirms the goodness of our bodies–as he was raised to embodied life, so shall we. It affirms the goodness of the created order. And so, if Christ can be raised to new, embodied life, can’t we have hope for renewal of our physical being and of the entire created order?
There is no justice. There is a lot of suffering of innocents. The oppression of the poor. The disenfranchisement of the marginalized. Hatred turned upon those who are different in some way, LGBT persons, political minorities, religious minorities. So much injustice and systemic violence. And yet, Jesus’ resurrection is not simply the resurrection of the Messiah, but of one who was himself unjustly betrayed, handed over, tried and crucified. If Christ can be raised to glory after enduring the greatest of injustices, can’t we have hope that God’s justice will eventually reign?
Death and decay have the last word. We all die. Benjamin Franklin said the only things we could count on were “death and taxes”. We are all mortal. We all face that end of our existence. We share that death with all living things. And our mortality causes us more anxiety and fear than anything else. And yet, Jesus’ resurrection affirms that death does not have the final say. Brokenness and decay do not get the last word: God does. Life and love do. Jesus did not just die the death of the Messiah, or of the Righteous one, but the death of all living things. If Christ can be raised from the dead, then can’t we have hope that death and decay do not have the final say? As St. Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians:
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ… The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the heart of Christian faith. It is the source of our proclamation. It is the source of our hope.
VI. END
And that hope is a very powerful thing. Hope is a dangerous thing–if you’re one of the people who relies on the status quo. If you are one of the ones who counts on fear to manipulate and control. The Romans counted on that. Crucifixion was a terrible way to die. The body collapsed under its own weight and a person suffocated to death in agony. The Romans used to line the roads with crucified prisoners, as a warning: don’t mess with Rome.
Oh, but what if we know that crucifixion isn’t the final word? What if we know that Christ defeated death and that as a result, we allhave a share in eternal life through our own Resurrection? What could they do to us? How could they frighten us? We would be armed with a weapon that is more powerful than any that all the combined armies of the world could ever hope to muster: hope.
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is what gives us hope. And hope is powerful.
Because when we see the world in the light of Resurrection, we see it as God intends for us to see it: as a world filled with hope. And hope is not wishful thinking: it is a call to action.
Our relationships are broken. Hope compels us to work toward reconciliation, because of the Resurrection of Christ and the hope for reconciliation and forgiveness that it brings.
Our world is broken. Hope compels us to work toward the restoration of the creation. To affirm the goodness of the created order as a gift that God will redeem and that we are called to be stewards of. Hope compels us because of the Resurrection of Christ and the hope for restoration of the entire world that it brings.
Our justice is broken. Hope compels us to work for justice and righteousness, because of the Resurrection of Christ and the hope for God’s justice and peace that it brings.
Our lives are broken. Hope compels us to live and love extravagantly, because of the Resurrection of Christ and the affirmation of God’s abiding love that it represents, and the hope that not even death can separate us from that love.
We are imperfect creatures. We will have encounters with faith and we will often react with perplexity, with fear, or with astonishment. But today is Easter and a light is shining upon our world this day. The light that radiates from that Empty Tomb, casting the whole world in its glow. A glow of life, a glow of love, a glow of hope.
Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
