The Easter Hope
Sermon
THE POWER OF DARKNESS
SERMONS FOR LENT AND EASTER (SUNDAYS IN ORDINARY TIME)
One of these days soon I got to face Mr. Death. It's a dreadful thing if you stop to think about it. The most dreadful thing in the world. It's hard to face. It just hovers and we glance at it occasionally.
"... and we glance at it occasionally."1 So Karl Menninger, the founder and developer of the world-famous psychiatric center in Topeka, Kansas accurately describes the modern attitude toward death. We may think about it now and then as the years pile up or when we make the appointment for our physical checkup. But we think about it only "occasionally." Death is not a popular topic of conversation, not even in the church. After all, one is supposed to talk about pleasant things. It's difficult to be positive about death. Many believe that our fear of death is the basis for most of our anxiety. Death is a big, big problem. It's a problem that no one can escape. We don't want to talk about it. We want to put it off. But we also know that it is a problem that not one of us is going to get away from.
Today we are going to look at death. We're going to talk about it. We can do this because of Easter. Easter is the anniversary celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His resurrection means the defeat of death. Jesus did not escape death; he overcame it and became the Lord of death and life.
This good news about death begins with a few friends of Jesus who, on the first day of the week, go to his tomb. No doubt they thought it was all over, these close friends of the crucified one.
Friday's tragedy had shattered their hopes. Shocked and bewildered, they awaited the end of the long Sabbath so they could perform the last sad office for the dead. So, on that Sunday morning in the early dawn, the climax of history - now called Easter - burst upon them.
All the gospels describe this unbelieveable event, which changed the Cross into victory and changed the whole outlook of humanity. Yes, all the evangelists tell the story of the resurrection. But all tell it somewhat differently. John's account seems to be the most unusual of all. Instead of women, we have a woman - Mary Magdalene - making the discovery that the stone had been taken away. She brings this disturbing news to Simon Peter and "the other disciple whom Jesus loved." (v. 2) This information is also somewhat puzzling. Generally this unidentified disciple has been thought to be John, the son of Zebedee, who with James and Peter were a kind of special group that was close to Jesus. But we are not sure about this. It is clear that this "other disciple whom Jesus loved" has the better of it in this story. For, upon hearing Mary Magadelene's discovery, the beloved disciple races with Peter to the tomb and he wins the race. But he is quite polite. He looks into the tomb but does not enter. He waits for Peter. And then we have the strange business about the body wrappings and the napkin that had been on Jesus' head. We remember when Lazarus came out of his tomb he was still wrapped in bandages which had been used in preparing him for burial. Here there is no body, but only the wrappings. Maybe it is to show that the body was not stolen (because, had it been, it surely would have been taken wrappings and all). Or maybe the point of these wrappings in the empty tomb is to point up the difference between the resuscitation of Lazarus and the resurrection of Jesus. Lazarus would die again; Jesus will not. But all of this is speculation. All we really know is that the tomb is empty. Since the body wrappings remain, it would appear that this was not the work of grave robbers. But we have no indication as to how the tomb became empty. In none of the gospel accounts do we have an eye witness to the actual resurrection. And we have no attempts to describe it. This "reserve" on the part of the early witnesses is quite remarkable. One would think they would be under a lot of pressure to fill in the gaps, so to speak - that is, to explain, to really clarify what had happened. But this is not the case. In John's account of the resurrection story he focuses upon the "beloved disciple," and when he went in the tomb after Peter and saw nothing but the body wrappings, John tells us "he saw and believed." (v. 8) The story implies that Peter observed but did not understand. However, the beloved disciple saw and believed. It well could be that John is telling us that this disciple who was closest in love to Jesus, the quicker to look for him, also to believe in him, was able to do these things because of his great love for Jesus.
Even though there is no honest way we can resolve the differences or harmonize all of the gospel accounts of what went on that early Sunday dawn, It is clear that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not an isolated teaching by just a few. The resurrection is important in all the New Testament writings. It's not just the account of an empty tomb, but also a witness to the fact that numerous witnesses also saw the risen Jesus. The earliest testimony we have is that of the apostle Paul who told the Christians in Corinth (who also had a lot of questions about the afterlife):
Christ was buried and was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scripture. And he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve; then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive though some have fallen asleep; then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles; last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. (1 Corinthians 15:4-8)
Not only is this message central to the faith, there is also agreement in the New Testament. Jesus Christ,who died on the cross, did not remain dead. Rather, he is alive and the people who trust in him will likewise live. The risen Christ has become the first fruits of the many who have fallen asleep. This is the meaning of the Easter message and the reason for our Easter hope. For how can there be hope if death is our end? What can we hope for if the cemetery is our final resting place?
However, this hope does not mean we will not have to die. A sign over the graveyard speaks from the dead to the living, "What you are we were but what we are you will be." This is the kind of realism we need to heed. The word of our faith is not that we do not have to die. Neither does Easter mean that we shall avoid the process of growing old and dying. Christ died at the age of thirty-three and we know some die young. And so we must be open to death at any time for we know we will not always be young. And so Easter may not even remove the fear of dying. Dying can still be a painful process which no sensible person would look forward to. And death will still come with some mystery and power. There will still be pain and heartache over the empty place at the dinner table and the one less birthday to celebrate, for no one can take the place of a loved one who has died. Yes, the message of the cemetery remains: "What we are you will be."
But Christ says, "Because I live you will live also." So Easter does not erase death, but it removes the sting of death by conquering it. We can talk about it. We don't have to hide from it or put our hope in heart transplants or a quick freeze. Because of Easter, death becomes the gateway to life. For in the resurrection of Jesus Christ we're not talking about the revival of a corpse or a return to this earthly life only to die again. When we rise with Christ we cross the final frontier of death. Crossing this frontier of death marks the beginning of a new life. It is not like waking in the morning after a long sleep. It is a much more radical transformation than this. We can't even imagine what this new life is going to be like. It defies description pushing our words beyond their limits. The apostle Paul tries to help us understand when he talks about "a spiritual body - a body of glory that is completely different from the perishing body of flesh."
So it's a new life were talking about, a new life with God; life that is complete, not incomplete; life that is not diminished but finished. Hans Kung, a Roman Catholic theologian, tells us this about the new life:
It would not be a wholly different life if we could illustrate it with concepts and ideas from our present life. Neither sight nor imagination can help us here. They can only mislead. The reality of the resurrection therefore is completely intangible and unimagineable.2
There is only one attitude that is appropriate here and that is the attitude of joyful faith. This is the day for joy, this is the day for song.
Christ has risen! Alleleuia!
Risen our victorious head!
Sing his praises! Alleleuia!
Christ has risen from the dead.3
Yes, the discovery of the empty grave announces to us that the greatest enemy of all has at last been conquered. For God did not only roll away the stone from the tomb of Jesus; he also rolls away the stone from the tomb of humankind. Jesus, the Prince of Life, broke the bonds of death. He who died for us now lives forevermore. "Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is thy sting? Where is thy victory, oh death, where is thy sting?" This is Paul's cry of joyful thanksgiving and it should also be ours, for Easter tells us that there is life on the other side of death Easter tells us that the power of death is not beyond or without the control of God. Easter tells us that the God who loves us so much as to die for us is not going to be frustrated by death. This is the Easter message and the Easter hope. It is the hope for every child of God. Whenever and however death may come, there is another morning - eternal and endless in the heavens for us. This is the good news of the Easter hope. History is not a dreary, endless cycle of sin, suffering, and sorrow. Our faith has a forward looking dimension. Our goal is not the grave but our living Lord with whom we will abide forevermore.
In Jesus' familiar parable of the Lost Sheep we recall the unbelievable devotion of the shepherd to the sheep that was lost. And we remember how the story ended - that delightful and touching picture of the lost sheep on the shoulders of the happy shepherd going home. In that beautiful picture we have the simple but powerful story for all those who live in the faith. We are on the shoulders of the shepherd, going home. All praise and thanks to God!
Amen
1. Karl Menninger, "A Declaration of Minimum Needs for the No-longer-independent Elderly," Des Moines Sunday Register, October 5, 1980.
2. Hans Kung, On Being Christian, (New York, Doubleday & Company, 1984), p. 350.
3. "Christ Is Risen! Alleluia," Lutheran Book of Worship, (Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1978), Number 131. Reprinted by permission.
"... and we glance at it occasionally."1 So Karl Menninger, the founder and developer of the world-famous psychiatric center in Topeka, Kansas accurately describes the modern attitude toward death. We may think about it now and then as the years pile up or when we make the appointment for our physical checkup. But we think about it only "occasionally." Death is not a popular topic of conversation, not even in the church. After all, one is supposed to talk about pleasant things. It's difficult to be positive about death. Many believe that our fear of death is the basis for most of our anxiety. Death is a big, big problem. It's a problem that no one can escape. We don't want to talk about it. We want to put it off. But we also know that it is a problem that not one of us is going to get away from.
Today we are going to look at death. We're going to talk about it. We can do this because of Easter. Easter is the anniversary celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His resurrection means the defeat of death. Jesus did not escape death; he overcame it and became the Lord of death and life.
This good news about death begins with a few friends of Jesus who, on the first day of the week, go to his tomb. No doubt they thought it was all over, these close friends of the crucified one.
Friday's tragedy had shattered their hopes. Shocked and bewildered, they awaited the end of the long Sabbath so they could perform the last sad office for the dead. So, on that Sunday morning in the early dawn, the climax of history - now called Easter - burst upon them.
All the gospels describe this unbelieveable event, which changed the Cross into victory and changed the whole outlook of humanity. Yes, all the evangelists tell the story of the resurrection. But all tell it somewhat differently. John's account seems to be the most unusual of all. Instead of women, we have a woman - Mary Magdalene - making the discovery that the stone had been taken away. She brings this disturbing news to Simon Peter and "the other disciple whom Jesus loved." (v. 2) This information is also somewhat puzzling. Generally this unidentified disciple has been thought to be John, the son of Zebedee, who with James and Peter were a kind of special group that was close to Jesus. But we are not sure about this. It is clear that this "other disciple whom Jesus loved" has the better of it in this story. For, upon hearing Mary Magadelene's discovery, the beloved disciple races with Peter to the tomb and he wins the race. But he is quite polite. He looks into the tomb but does not enter. He waits for Peter. And then we have the strange business about the body wrappings and the napkin that had been on Jesus' head. We remember when Lazarus came out of his tomb he was still wrapped in bandages which had been used in preparing him for burial. Here there is no body, but only the wrappings. Maybe it is to show that the body was not stolen (because, had it been, it surely would have been taken wrappings and all). Or maybe the point of these wrappings in the empty tomb is to point up the difference between the resuscitation of Lazarus and the resurrection of Jesus. Lazarus would die again; Jesus will not. But all of this is speculation. All we really know is that the tomb is empty. Since the body wrappings remain, it would appear that this was not the work of grave robbers. But we have no indication as to how the tomb became empty. In none of the gospel accounts do we have an eye witness to the actual resurrection. And we have no attempts to describe it. This "reserve" on the part of the early witnesses is quite remarkable. One would think they would be under a lot of pressure to fill in the gaps, so to speak - that is, to explain, to really clarify what had happened. But this is not the case. In John's account of the resurrection story he focuses upon the "beloved disciple," and when he went in the tomb after Peter and saw nothing but the body wrappings, John tells us "he saw and believed." (v. 8) The story implies that Peter observed but did not understand. However, the beloved disciple saw and believed. It well could be that John is telling us that this disciple who was closest in love to Jesus, the quicker to look for him, also to believe in him, was able to do these things because of his great love for Jesus.
Even though there is no honest way we can resolve the differences or harmonize all of the gospel accounts of what went on that early Sunday dawn, It is clear that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not an isolated teaching by just a few. The resurrection is important in all the New Testament writings. It's not just the account of an empty tomb, but also a witness to the fact that numerous witnesses also saw the risen Jesus. The earliest testimony we have is that of the apostle Paul who told the Christians in Corinth (who also had a lot of questions about the afterlife):
Christ was buried and was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scripture. And he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve; then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive though some have fallen asleep; then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles; last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. (1 Corinthians 15:4-8)
Not only is this message central to the faith, there is also agreement in the New Testament. Jesus Christ,who died on the cross, did not remain dead. Rather, he is alive and the people who trust in him will likewise live. The risen Christ has become the first fruits of the many who have fallen asleep. This is the meaning of the Easter message and the reason for our Easter hope. For how can there be hope if death is our end? What can we hope for if the cemetery is our final resting place?
However, this hope does not mean we will not have to die. A sign over the graveyard speaks from the dead to the living, "What you are we were but what we are you will be." This is the kind of realism we need to heed. The word of our faith is not that we do not have to die. Neither does Easter mean that we shall avoid the process of growing old and dying. Christ died at the age of thirty-three and we know some die young. And so we must be open to death at any time for we know we will not always be young. And so Easter may not even remove the fear of dying. Dying can still be a painful process which no sensible person would look forward to. And death will still come with some mystery and power. There will still be pain and heartache over the empty place at the dinner table and the one less birthday to celebrate, for no one can take the place of a loved one who has died. Yes, the message of the cemetery remains: "What we are you will be."
But Christ says, "Because I live you will live also." So Easter does not erase death, but it removes the sting of death by conquering it. We can talk about it. We don't have to hide from it or put our hope in heart transplants or a quick freeze. Because of Easter, death becomes the gateway to life. For in the resurrection of Jesus Christ we're not talking about the revival of a corpse or a return to this earthly life only to die again. When we rise with Christ we cross the final frontier of death. Crossing this frontier of death marks the beginning of a new life. It is not like waking in the morning after a long sleep. It is a much more radical transformation than this. We can't even imagine what this new life is going to be like. It defies description pushing our words beyond their limits. The apostle Paul tries to help us understand when he talks about "a spiritual body - a body of glory that is completely different from the perishing body of flesh."
So it's a new life were talking about, a new life with God; life that is complete, not incomplete; life that is not diminished but finished. Hans Kung, a Roman Catholic theologian, tells us this about the new life:
It would not be a wholly different life if we could illustrate it with concepts and ideas from our present life. Neither sight nor imagination can help us here. They can only mislead. The reality of the resurrection therefore is completely intangible and unimagineable.2
There is only one attitude that is appropriate here and that is the attitude of joyful faith. This is the day for joy, this is the day for song.
Christ has risen! Alleleuia!
Risen our victorious head!
Sing his praises! Alleleuia!
Christ has risen from the dead.3
Yes, the discovery of the empty grave announces to us that the greatest enemy of all has at last been conquered. For God did not only roll away the stone from the tomb of Jesus; he also rolls away the stone from the tomb of humankind. Jesus, the Prince of Life, broke the bonds of death. He who died for us now lives forevermore. "Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is thy sting? Where is thy victory, oh death, where is thy sting?" This is Paul's cry of joyful thanksgiving and it should also be ours, for Easter tells us that there is life on the other side of death Easter tells us that the power of death is not beyond or without the control of God. Easter tells us that the God who loves us so much as to die for us is not going to be frustrated by death. This is the Easter message and the Easter hope. It is the hope for every child of God. Whenever and however death may come, there is another morning - eternal and endless in the heavens for us. This is the good news of the Easter hope. History is not a dreary, endless cycle of sin, suffering, and sorrow. Our faith has a forward looking dimension. Our goal is not the grave but our living Lord with whom we will abide forevermore.
In Jesus' familiar parable of the Lost Sheep we recall the unbelievable devotion of the shepherd to the sheep that was lost. And we remember how the story ended - that delightful and touching picture of the lost sheep on the shoulders of the happy shepherd going home. In that beautiful picture we have the simple but powerful story for all those who live in the faith. We are on the shoulders of the shepherd, going home. All praise and thanks to God!
Amen
1. Karl Menninger, "A Declaration of Minimum Needs for the No-longer-independent Elderly," Des Moines Sunday Register, October 5, 1980.
2. Hans Kung, On Being Christian, (New York, Doubleday & Company, 1984), p. 350.
3. "Christ Is Risen! Alleluia," Lutheran Book of Worship, (Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1978), Number 131. Reprinted by permission.
