Matthew 28:1-10
April 20, 2014
One of the gifts of being a pastor to this community, and
not just to this congregation, is that I get to have interesting conversations
with people from all walks of life. I get to interact with people who are
completely unchurched, people who are de-churched, and people who are active in
the church. While I love talking with people from all walks of life, I am the
most intrigued by those who are de-churched. Those who have chosen, for some
reason or another, to quit going to church.
Recently I had a conversation with someone who is de-churched.
He had gone to church with his mother when he was a child, but as soon as his
mother quit insisting that he go, he quit going. I asked him why, and he
answered with startling honesty: the music was dull, the rituals were lifeless,
and there was no room for questions and dialogue. I must admit that I was hurt
– and yet, I heard the truth in his words.
Why is our worship sometimes seen as dull, lifeless, and
rigid? The church is a living, breathing organism made up of people who are
anything but dull and lifeless and rigid. The church is made up of people who are
called to love passionately, live fully, and wrestle deeply with the meaning of
life. The church is full of people who suffer and rejoice, who weep and laugh;
people who ask tough questions. If the church isn’t creating a space to love
and laugh and live fully - if the church isn’t inviting people to wrestle and
wonder about God and faith and reality - then people are going to look elsewhere
to find life. How is it possible that the church is sometimes seen as dull,
lifeless, and rigid when it is made up of human beings like us?
Recently I came across a quote by the philosopher Soren
Kierkegaard that resonated with me. He wrote: “The matter is quite simple. The
Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming
swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well
that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.”
Think about it. We listen to sermons, we read books, we even
discuss scripture in Bible studies. But we keep our distance. We “pretend we
are unable to understand.” Because if we actually admitted that we understood
the scripture and agreed to act accordingly our entire lives would be turned
upside down!
And we aren’t ready for our lives to be turned upside down.
Our lives already feel chaotic enough. We come to church to find comfort and
stability and friendship. We come to church to sing praises to God with
familiar words and favorite tunes. We share Christ’s peace, catching up on the
hugs we’ve been missing all week. And we hear God’s Word read and proclaimed
and gather at Christ’s Table. But we rarely deeply wrestle with what we hear.
We rarely question what we experience. We are rarely challenged.
The truth is, most of us really don’t want to hear and
understand the scriptures. Comfort and stability are much more appealing than
transformation and new life. And
yet, deep down we all know we want more. We want to follow Jesus. We want to be
challenged. We want new life.
Imagine actually loving your neighbor as yourself. Imagine
giving the shirt off your back to a person who sues you for your coat. Imagine
not worrying about your life, but rather trusting that the God who clothes the
lilies of the field will clothe you and feed you. Imagine what our lives would
be like if we actually lived the way scripture calls us to live. Imagine!
Imagine what would happen to homelessness if each one of us
who has a spare bedroom welcomed a homeless person in and shared our lives with
them. Imagine what would happen to hunger if we quit filling our landfills with
uneaten food. I still can barely comprehend how it is possible that 20% of all
of the waste we put in the landfill today is food waste.
Imagine what would happen to our prison populations if we
made sure every child could read by 3rd grade. Did you know that the
third grade reading level is used to determine the future need of prison cells?
What if we each made a commitment to spend an hour a week with a child,
reading? Imagine what would happen to our physical and emotional and spiritual
heath if people were paid a living wage to do meaningful work. Imagine what
would happen if we were invited to use our God-given gifts every single day.
Imagine a world where everyone was treated with dignity and respect.
I love the words from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s acceptance
speech when he received the Nobel Peace prize in 1964: “I have the audacity to
believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies,
education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for
their spirits.” Amen!
On this Easter Sunday as we gaze into the empty tomb in fear
and amazement we hear the angel’s words: “Do not be afraid; I know you are
looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as
he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his
disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of
you to Galilee; there you will see him.’”
Come and see, then Go and tell. There are two important
actions here. Come and see – Christ is risen! Go and tell – He is risen indeed!
Come and see – Christ is risen! The tomb is empty! This Jesus who was dead is
now alive. This is not simply resuscitation. This is resurrection! Jesus was
raised to new life. Jesus was bodily raised from the dead. He could be seen and
touched, he could eat and drink; at the same time this new body could pass
through locked doors and disappear from sight. This is resurrection! This is new
life!
Yet, our enlightened and academic minds fail to fully understand.
Kierkegaard was right. We turn to
theology and scholarship for explanations. Like doubting Thomas we want to see
and hear and touch the truth. But the explanations are never quite convincing.
They are not enough. People keep telling us we just have to believe. And we are
quick to affirm, “I believe in the resurrection of the body!” And yet, belief
doesn’t always translate into action.
Friends, Jesus’ resurrection is not just a promise of
eternal life in the hereafter. We don’t say the words, “on the third day he
rose again from the dead” and hear the promise of heaven. Jesus’ resurrection
is the promise of everlasting life here, now, today. We are the living,
breathing body of Christ in the world today. Through the resurrection of Jesus
from the dead we have been transformed! We have been given new life. God’s
kingdom is breaking in. Instead of spending the rest of our lives trying to
understand this strange new reality, I invite you today to simply live it.
The angel tells us, “Do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid!
Read the gospels, hear the good news, and act on what you hear. Die to your
lives as they are today so that you can be raised to new life in Christ. Be
born again. And again! And again, if need be! Seek God’s kingdom among the poor
and the sick and the blind just as Jesus did. Make friends with strangers. Encounter
Jesus in your neighbor. Love your enemies. Give of yourselves for others. Ask questions.
Confront the darkness. Experience new life.
There is nothing more amazing, more beautiful, more
startling, more exciting, more overwhelming, more joy filled, and more
life-giving than the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
Nothing.
Thanks be to God for this indescribable gift!
