Easter, 2011

JOHN 20:1-9
WHEN I WAS IN COLLEGE I WORKED FOR THE UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE ONE SUMMER. I WAS WHAT THEY CALLED A FIRE PREVENTION AIDE. WE LIVED IN THE BARRACKS AT A RANGER STATION WAY OUT IN THE BOONDOCKS. THE LITTLE TOWN WHERE WE WENT TO BUY GROCERIES HAD A GENERAL STORE, A GAS STATION, AND TWO BARS. IT ALSO HAD A NON-DENOMINATIONAL CHURCH WHERE ONE SUNDAY THERE WOULD BE A CATHOLIC MASS AND THE NEXT A PROTESTANT SERVICE. THE NEAREST REAL TOWN WAS FORTY MILES AWAY.
AT THE BEGINNING OF MY SUMMER AS A FIRE PREVENTION AIDE, I HAD TO TAKE AN INTENSIVE WEEK-LONG COURSE TO LEARN HOW TO PUT OUT FOREST FIRES. WE LEARNED HOW TO FIGURE OUT WHERE THE FIRE WAS GOING TO BURN NEXT, WHAT TO AVOID, WHEN TO CALL IN THE SO-CALLED SMOKE-JUMPERS WHO WERE AN ELITE CORPS OF MEN WHO JUMPED FROM AIRPLANES TO PUT OUT FIRES WHICH WERE TOO REMOTE TO GET TO BY CAR. I STILL REMEMBER A LOT OF THINGS ABOUT FOREST FIRES, AND I PUT IN A LOT OF HOURS FIGHTING FIRES THAT SUMMER – MOSTLY SMALL, BUT ONE OR TWO WHICH WERE REAL SCARY.
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT GETTING ALONG WITH FOREST FIRES IS A SIMPLE, SELF-EVIDENT FACT. THE FIRE WILL NOT BURN WHERE IT HAS ALREADY BURNED. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN A FIRE, YOU RUN THROUGH IT TO GET BEHIND IT. IT CAN'T BURN WHERE IT'S BEEN. IF YOU FIGURE OUT WHERE IT IS GOING, YOU CAN ACTUALLY START A FIRE AHEAD OF IT IF THE CONDITIONS ARE RIGHT. THE FIRE CAN'T BURN WHERE FIRE HAS BEEN.
AND BY NOW YOU ARE PROBABLY WONDERING WHAT FOREST FIRES HAVE TO DO WITH THE RESURRECTION. LETS TAKE A LOOK.
FIRST WE HAVE TO GET REAL. IN THE UNITED STATES, IN LONGMEADOW, MASSACHUSETTS, IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, WE DON'T HAVE AN APPRECIATION FOR DEATH – AT LEAST, NOTHING LIKE OUR ANCESTORS HAD. WE ARE A DEATH-DENYING SOCIETY. WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME BEING DISTRACTED SO THAT WE DON'T HAVE TO THINK ABOUT DEATH. EVERY SENSE WE HAVE IS CONSTANTLY BOMBARDED, IF WE LET IT HAPPEN. OUR DAYS ARE SO FULL OF ACTIVITY; AND WHEN WE AREN'T ACTING, WE'RE WATCHING TELEVISION OR WE'RE SURFING THE NET. WE DON'T SPEND MUCH TIME AT ALL THINKING ABOUT ULTIMATE REALITIES. AND EVEN WHEN SOMEONE DOES DIE, IT'S IN A HOSPITAL, OR SOMETIMES IT'S HOME WITH HOSPICE; AND WHEN DEATH TAKES PLACE, THE BODY IS WHISKED OFF TO A FUNERAL HOME AND MADE TO LOOK LIKE THE PERSON IS SLEEPING PEACEFULLY. THERE ARE PEOPLE, NEIGHBORS, FRIENDS, WHO GRIEVE DEEPLY OVER THE LOSS OF A LOVED ONE, BUT IN OUR SOCIETY, IT ISN'T POLITE TO GRIEVE PUBLICLY, EXCEPT AT THE WAKE, MAYBE. WE DENY DEATH AND WE ARE WORSE OFF FOR IT. DEATH IS THE ENEMY, AND WE DON'T KNOW OUR ENEMY.
IN JESUS' TIME AND FOR MOST OF THE HUMAN RACE, DOWN THROUGH TIME AND EVEN NOW, IN MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD, DEATH IS BETTER UNDERSTOOD. IT COMES OUT OF THE BLUE. IT MAY ROB A NEW MOTHER OF LIFE IN THE MIDDLE OF HER GIVING BIRTH. IT MAY TAKE A BELOVED CHILD WHO ONE DAY IS CHARMING HIS PARENTS AND THE NEXT IS COLD AND STILL, A VICTIM OF PNEUMONIA. THE FATHER OF A FAMILY MAY CUT HIMSELF WHILE WORKING, AND A FEW DAYS LATER DIE FROM AN INFECTION. SOMETIMES DEATH SEEMS TO BE WELCOME, BUT MOST OF THE TIME IT IS AN ENEMY, INTRUDING AT THE WRONG TIME, DESTROYING FUTURES, CREATING WIDOWS AND ORPHANS, BREAKING HEARTS. AND MOST PEOPLE DON'T HAVE ALL THE THINGS WE HAVE TO DISTRACT THEM.
WE CHRISTIANS AND EVEN THOSE WHO AREN'T CHRISTIAN IN OUR SOCIETY TO SOME EXTENT BELIEVE THAT WE WILL LIVE ON AFTER DEATH. THERE AREN'T VERY MANY PEOPLE WHO REALLY BELIEVE THIS LIFE IS ALL THERE IS. IN JESUS' TIME, EVEN AMONG RELIGIOUS JEWS, THERE WAS NO CERTAINTY; AND IN FACT IF YOU READ THE OLD TESTAMENT, THERE IS NO ONE OPINION ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS AFTER DEATH; IN FACT IT ISN'T UNTIL YOU GET TO THE PROPHETS THAT AN EXPLICIT BELIEF IN THE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE AFTER DEATH EVEN SHOWS UP. AND EVEN THERE, THOSE JEWS WHO BELIEVED IN LIFE AFTER DEATH SAW IT EITHER AS GOD RAISING HIS FAITHFUL TO LIFE TO LIVE ON THE EARTH AGAIN; OR LIVING ON AS A SORT OF GHOST IN SHEOL, A STATE OF BEING WHERE THERE WASN'T MUCH GOING ON, WHERE YOU WERE LITERALLY A PALE SHADOW OF YOUR FORMER SELF.
BUT WHAT WE CELEBRATE TODAY IS A MOMENT IN TIME, A REAL MOMENT, WHEN A MAN DIED A CRUEL DEATH NAILED TO A CROSS. HIS DEATH WAS A HUMAN DEATH, JUST LIKE YOU AND I AND EVERY HUMAN BEING WILL SOONER OR LATER UNDERGO. BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS MAN. HE WAS COMPLETELY HUMAN, BUT HE WAS ALSO GOD HIMSELF. AND THE MAN DIED LIKE EVERY MAN, BUT BECAUSE HE WAS GOD, HE COULD NOT DIE, AND THAT IS A GREAT MYSTERY, BUT THAT IS OUR FAITH. THE MAN DIED, REALLY. THE GOD COULD NOT BE KILLED, COULD NOT BE SNUFFED OUT; AND THIS JESUS, FULLY MAN AND FULLY GOD, APPEARED TO MANY PEOPLE AFTER HE HAD BEEN CRUCIFIED AND BURIED; SAINT PAUL TELLS US THAT ABOUT 500 PEOPLE HAD WITNESSED THAT HE WAS ALIVE EVEN THOUGH HE HAD BEEN KILLED.
THOSE WHO WITNESSED THIS WERE COMPLETELY CHANGED. THEY COULDN'T WAIT TO TELL THEIR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HUMAN NATURE IN THIS MAN WHO WAS GOD. MANY WENT TO THEIR DEATHS AT THE HANDS OF THE ROMAN AUTHORITIES, AND WENT GLADLY, BECAUSE THEY WERE SO FIRMLY CONVINCED THAT NOT ONLY WAS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH, BUT IT WAS LIFE WITH GOD HIMSELF, BECAUSE GOD AND MAN COULD NEVER BE SEPARATED IN THIS PERSON JESUS.
A FIRE CAN'T BURN WHERE IT'S BEEN. AND DEATH CAN'T GO WHERE IT'S ALREADY DONE IT'S WORST. AND IF YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER WITH GOD HIMSELF, YOU HAVE THAT RIGHT, THAT REAL POSSIBILITY. YOU NEED TO GO WHERE DEATH HAS BEEN, AND BEEN CONQUERED. YOU NEED TO GO TO THE CROSS. BECAUSE DEATH HAS LOST EVERYTHING TO THAT CROSS. THERE IS NO LONGER A BLEEDING, UNCONSCIOUS BODY HANGING THERE, MOMENTS FROM DEATH. THE CROSS IS AS EMPTY AS DEATH IS EMPTY. AND YOU NEED TO GO TO THE TOMB. IF YOU ROLL BACK THE STONE TO FIND DEATH, YOU WILL FIND NOTHING, BECAUSE DEATH HAS BEEN CONQUERED. A FIRE CAN'T GO WHERE IT HAS ALREADY BURNED.
SO DON'T FORGET THAT DEATH CAN NO LONGER BE VICTORIOUS OVER THOSE WHO CLING TO THE CROSS, THOSE WHO HAVE PEERED INTO THE TOMB, THOSE WHO ARE YOU AND I. A FIRE CAN'T BURN WHERE IT'S BEEN; AND DEATH CANNOT WIN WHERE IT HAS LOST.