Easter 2012

JOHN 20:1-9

HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE. EASTER IS THE GREATEST CELEBRATION FOR CHRISTIANS.

I THINK IF YOU GREW UP IN THIS COUNTRY, AS I DID, YOU WENT THROUGH A TIME WHEN YOU BELIEVED CHRISTMAS WAS THE GREATEST CELEBRATION. IN MY FAMILY BACK IN MONTANA, EASTER ALWAYS SEEMED A PALE IMITATION OF CHRISTMAS. THERE WERE THE PURPLE AND WHITE COLORS; THERE WERE THE FLOWERS; THERE WAS THE EASTER SUPPER WITH FAMILY GATHERED AROUND; BUT THERE WEREN'T MANY PRESENTS, AND THEY TENDED TO BE NEW CLOTHES, EGGS, AND CANDY. THE EASTER BUNNY COULDN'T HOLD A CANDLE TO SANTA CLAUS.

BUT AS WE GET OLDER, ESPECIALLY WHEN WE GET REALLY OLD, LIKE ME, EASTER BEGINS TO SHOW IT'S TRUE COLORS. IT IS, AFTER ALL, THE REASON CHRISTMAS MEANS ANYTHING; IT IS, AFTER ALL, WHY PENTECOST IS CELEBRATED. WITHOUT EASTER, NONE OF THE OTHER FEASTS WE CELEBRATE AS CHRISTIANS, NOT EVEN OUR SUNDAY SERVICES, WOULD MEAN A THING.

AND EVERY EASTER WE REMEMBER SOMETHING WE CAN HARDLY BELIEVE, THAT SOMEONE WHO WAS DEAD, REALLY DEAD, ROSE FROM THE DEAD.

WE HAVE A HARD TIME GETTING OUR MINDS AROUND THIS. MANY CHRISTIANS SIMPLY DENY A PHYSICAL RESURRECTION. THEY SAY THINGS LIKE “THE APOSTLES BECAME AWARE OF HIS PRESENCE AND IT CHANGED THEM.” OTHER CHRISTIANS SAY THAT JESUS RETURNED IN A GHOSTLY FORM. HE COULD WALK THROUGH WALLS, AND APPEAR AND DISAPPEAR, AND CERTAINLY THOSE CAN'T BE DONE BY A REGULAR BODY, RIGHT? BUT I THINK THAT MOST CHRISTIANS WOULD ADMIT TO BELIEF IN A REAL RESURRECTION. BUT I THINK IT IS MUCH HARDER TO BELIEVE IN A REAL DEATH. AFTER ALL, JESUS IS GOD; CAN GOD DIE? WHEN THE BODY OF JESUS BREATHED IT'S LAST, DIDN'T THE SOUL OF JESUS, THE DIVINE PART, PROCEED TO THE AFTERLIFE, WHERE THE SOULS OF THE JUST WERE, SO THAT HE COULD SET THEM FREE? AFTER ALL, THAT'S WHAT WE SAY IN THE APOSTLE'S CREED. IT'S AS THOUGH FOR JESUS DYING ON THE CROSS, HORRIBLE AS IT WAS, WAS JUST AN INCONVENIENCE.

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS DIDN'T THINK LIKE WE DO, IN TERMS OF BODIES AND SOULS. THERE WAS A LOT OF SPECULATION AMONG THE PEOPLE OF THAT TIME ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU DIED. EVEN IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, IT ISN'T CLEAR. THE PATRIARCHS BELIEVED THAT WHEN YOU WERE DEAD, YOU WERE DEAD, AND YOU LIVED ON IN YOUR CHILDREN. AT THE TIME OF KING SAUL, THERE WAS BELIEF THAT SOME PART OF YOU LIVED ON; AFTER ALL, SAUL SUMMONED THE SPIRIT OF SAMUEL TO TELL HIS FUTURE. LATER ON THE PROPHETS, ESPECIALLY PEOPLE LIKE EZECHIEL AND DANIEL, BEGAN TO TALK ABOUT RESURRECTION; PEOPLE BEING BROUGHT BACK FROM THE DEAD TO A BODILY EXISTENCE. JESUS HIMSELF DOESN'T MAKE THINGS CLEAR; HE DOES ALLUDE TO PARADISE WHEN HE TELLS THE THIEF ON THE CROSS “TODAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE”. HE REFERS TO GOING AWAY TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR HIS FOLLOWERS. HE TALKS ABOUT HIS SECOND COMING, COMING FROM HEAVEN WITH ANGELS AND TRUMPET BLASTS; AND HE IMPLIES THAT HE BELIEVES IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD WHEN HE SPEAKS WITH MARTHA ABOUT THE DEATH OF LAZARUS.

BUT WHATEVER WE WANT TO THINK ABOUT THE AFTERLIFE, THERE ARE TWO THINGS WE DO BELIEVE. JESUS REALLY DIED, AND HE REALLY ROSE FROM THE DEAD. HIS DEATH HAD TO BE LIKE OUR OWN; NOT A SMOOTH TRANSITION TO A GLORIOUS AFTERLIFE, BUT THE LITERAL LOSS OF SELF THAT WE ALL WILL EXPERIENCE WHEN WE DIE. AND OF COURSE THERE IS NO WAY YOU AND I CAN UNDERSTAND HOW GOD CAN DIE, BUT IF HE DIDN'T DIE LIKE WE DIE, THEN HE WASN'T LIKE US IN ALL THINGS BUT SIN. AND THAT IS WHY HE CRIED OUT ON THE CROSS, “MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” THOSE OF US WHO ARE BELIEVERS CAN RELATE TO THAT. NO MATTER WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT DEATH AND THE LIFE TO COME, WE WILL FEEL GOD'S SEEMING ABANDONMENT WHEN WE LOSE OUR VERY SELVES, WHEN DEATH COMES.

BUT JESUS ROSE AGAIN. AND THEOLOGIANS HAVE SPECULATED AS TO WHETHER HE ROSE UNDER HIS OWN POWER OR WAS “RAISED UP” BY THE FATHER, BUT THIS DOESN'T MATTER MUCH. THE REAL POINT IS THAT YOU CANNOT READ THE NEW TESTAMENT WITHOUT SEEING WHAT A STRIKING, EARTH-SHAKING, STUPENDOUS EVENT THIS WAS TO THE PEOPLE WHO WITNESSED IT. IT WAS NO MORE EASY TO BELIEVE THEN THAN IT IS NOW. MARY MAGDALINE, WHO KNEW HIM VERY WELL, COULD NOT RECOGNIZE HIM UNTIL HE CALLED HER NAME. THOMAS REFUSED TO BELIEVE UNTIL JESUS HELD OUT HIS HANDS AND ASKED HIM TO PROBE THE NAIL HOLES. THE APOSTLES IN THE UPPER ROOM WERE NEARLY FRIGHTENED OUT OF THEIR MINDS WHEN HE APPEARED AMONG THEM. THE DISCIPLES ON THE WAY TO EMMAEUS THOUGHT HE WAS JUST ANOTHER TRAVELER UNTIL HE BROKE THE BREAD – BECAUSE YOUR MIND WILL DENY THE EVIDENCE OF YOUR SENSES IF THE EVIDENCE MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL. ALL THESE APPEARANCES OF JESUS HAVE IN COMMON THAT HE WAS A SURPRISE, HE WAS UNEXPECTED, HE WAS MIND-BOGGLING, EVEN THOUGH HE HAD PREDICTED THAT HE WOULD RISE FROM THE DEAD.

SO WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH US, ANYWAY? FIRST, IT PROVES THAT WHAT JESUS SAID BEFORE HE DIED WAS TRUE. HE REALLY CAN GO AND PREPARE A PLACE FOR HIS FOLLOWERS; HE REALLY WON'T LEAVE US ORPHANS; HE REALLY WILL CALL US FORTH, LIKE HE DID LAZARUS.

SECOND, HE OVERCAME DEATH BECAUSE OF LOVE. SCRIPTURE TELLS US THAT LOVE IS STRONGER THAN DEATH, AND JESUS TALKED ABOUT THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL, THE LOVE IN WHICH ONE LAYS DOWN ONE'S LIFE FOR A FRIEND. AND SAINT PAUL OBSERVES “VERY RARELY WILL ANYONE DIE FOR A RIGHTEOUS MAN, THOUGH FOR A GOOD MAN SOMEONE MIGHT POSSIBLY DARE TO DIE.” AND HE GOES ON TO MARVEL THAT JESUS DIED FOR US WHEN WE WERE NOT AT ALL GOOD, WHEN WE WERE STILL IN SIN.

JESUS LOVES US WITH A LOVE STRONG ENOUGH TO OVERCOME OUR DEATH. HE TOLD HIS FOLLOWERS THAT HE WOULD BE IN THEM, AND THEY WOULD BE IN HIM. AND HE TOLD THEM THAT IF THEY OBEYED HIS COMMANDMENTS, THEY WOULD LIVE IN HIS LOVE, JUST AS HE LIVED IN HIS FATHER'S LOVE. JESUS' LOVE IS SO STRONG IT CAN GIVE US LIFE.

SO EASTER IS THE CELEBRATION OF NOT ONLY THE FACT THAT JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD, BUT THAT YOU AND I WILL AS WELL. BECAUSE LOVE IS STRONGER THAN DEATH, AND JESUS LOVES YOU AND I SO MUCH THAT HE WAS WILLING TO LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR US. AND THAT IS THE REASON WE CAN SAY TO EACH OTHER “HAPPY EASTER!”