LUKE
24:1-12
IN
A BOOK OF SERMONS BY TOM LONG, THERE IS THIS STORY. “IN A LITTLE
TOWN THE EDITOR OF THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER USED TO PUBLISH SUMMARIES OF
HIS PASTOR'S SERMONS ON THE FOLLOWING DAY. THE PASTOR WAS FREQUENTLY
BOTHERED BECAUSE THE SUMMARIES OFTEN SEEMED TO TOTALLY MISS THE
POINT, BUT THE EDITOR DROPPED A LOT OF MONEY IN THE COLLECTION PLATE
AND WAS OTHERWISE HARMLESS, SO REVEREND TIDWELL DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING.
BUT ONE DAY HE OPENED THE PAPER TO READ THE STATEMENT “PASTOR
TIDWELL CLAIMS THAT JESUS CHRIST ROSE FROM THE DEAD.” HE COULD
FEEL EMBARRASSMENT AND ANGER. SURE, HE'D SAID THAT, BECAUSE THAT'S
WHAT YOU SAY ON EASTER SUNDAY, RIGHT? IT WASN'T LIKE SAYING SOMEONE
YOU BURIED LAST WEEK HAD RISEN FROM THE DEAD. THAT WOULD BE CRAZY!”
POPE
BENEDICT WROTE THAT THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS BELONGS TO AN ENTIRELY
DIFFERENT ORDER OF REALITY THAN ANY OTHER EVENT IN HISTORY. AND I
THINK IT'S WORTH THINKING ABOUT THAT TODAY. AFTER ALL, THE BIBLE
DESCRIBES MANY RESURRECTIONS. JESUS HIMSELF RAISED LAZARUS, THE SON
OF A WIDOW, AND THE DAUGHTER OF A TEMPLE OFFICIAL – AND THOSE ARE
JUST THE ONES THAT MADE IT INTO THE BIBLE. AFTER JESUS ASCENDED INTO
HEAVEN, WE HEAR ABOUT PETER RAISING A WOMAN NAMED DORCAS, AND PAUL A
YOUNG MAN NAMED EUTYCHUS.
NOW
YOU MAY SAY THAT THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT JESUS RAISED HIMSELF, WHICH
IS TRUE. BUT THE DIFFERENCE GOES FAR DEEPER THAN THIS.
FIRST,
YOU KNOW THAT JESUS MADE IT CLEAR THAT WHAT WAS RAISED WAS HIS REAL
BODY. IT HAD THE NAIL HOLES, AND THE SPEAR WOUND. HE WAS ABLE TO
EAT, AND SPEAK, AND TOUCH. BUT AT THE SAME TIME, THE BODY WAS
DIFFERENT. HE COULD APPEAR AND DISAPPEAR, AND WAS NOT LIMITED BY
LOCKED DOORS, OR TIME OR DISTANCE.
BUT
THE THING WE SHOULD REALLY CONCENTRATE ON IS THAT IN THE APPEARANCES
AFTER THE RESURRECTION, JESUS REVEALED HIMSELF. MARY MAGDALENE
THOUGHT HE WAS A GARDENER, UNTIL HE SAID HER NAME; THE APOSTLES
THOUGHT THEY WERE SEEING A GHOST, UNTIL HE SAID, “PEACE BE WITH
YOU.” THE TWO PEOPLE ON THE WAY TO EMMAUS DID NOT KNOW WHO HE WAS
UNTIL HE BROKE THE BREAD. AND THOMAS REFUSED TO BELIEVE UNTIL HE WAS
SHOWN THE WOUNDS OF THE CRUCIFIXION. THE APOSTLE PAUL TELLS US THAT
ABOUT 500 PEOPLE SAW JESUS AFTER HIS RESURRECTION. AND I THINK THE
ODD THING IS NOT THAT JESUS APPEARED TO VARIOUS PEOPLE, BUT THAT HE
APPEARED TO SO FEW. AFTER ALL, BEFORE THE RESURRECTION HE ATTRACTED
A VAST FOLLOWING, SO LARGE THAT IT FRIGHTENED THE LEADERS OF THE JEWS
AND THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT, AND WE HEAR THAT HE FED CROWDS NUMBERING IN
THE THOUSANDS.
AFTER
HIS RESURRECTION, JESUS CONTROLS WHO EXPERIENCES HIS PRESENCE. AND
HE STILL DOES, AND PERHAPS THAT'S THE MESSAGE HERE. AND MAYBE THAT'S
WHY THE STORIES IN THE SCRIPTURES DIFFER A BIT, ONE FROM ANOTHER.
SOMETIMES I ENVY THE PEOPLE THAT HEARD JESUS PREACH OR WITNESSED HIS
MIRACLES. BUT WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE RESURRECTION? WHERE WERE
THESE CROWDS, WHEN THE NEW CHURCH CONSISTED OF ABOUT 120 INDIVIDUALS?
PEOPLE WERE NO DIFFERENT THEN THAN THEY ARE NOW. SOMEONE COMES
ALONG AND ATTRACTS HUGE CROWDS, AND THE MOVEMENT DIES OUT WHEN THE
PERSON DIES. WHERE IS THE MOVEMENT STARTED BY LENIN AND STALIN?
BACK THIRTY YEARS AGO A MAN NAMED ORAL ROBERTS HAD A NATIONAL
TELEVISION PROGRAM AND RAKED IN HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY FROM HIS
FOLLOWERS, ENOUGH TO BUILD A UNIVERSITY FROM SCRATCH. WHERE IS THAT
MOVEMENT? AND IF CHRISTIANITY DEPENDED ON THE PEOPLE JESUS REACHED
BEFORE HE DIED, I THINK THAT MOVEMENT WOULD HAVE DIED OUT AS WELL.
AFTER
THE RESURRECTION, THEN AS NOW, JESUS REVEALS HIMSELF TO THE ONES HE
CHOOSES, AND WHEN HE DOES SO, THEY BECOME SO CHANGED BY THE CERTAIN
KNOWLEDGE THAT HE IS ALIVE, HE IS RISEN, THAT THEY HAVE TO BRING THE
GOOD NEWS TO THEIR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. HE REVEALED HIMSELF TO THE
APOSTLES, BUT LONG AFTERWARD, TO SAINT PAUL. HE REVEALED HIMSELF TO
MARY MAGDALENE, BUT ALSO TO THERESA OF AVILA, FRANCIS, AND COUNTLESS
OTHER SAINTS.
EVERY
YEAR WE CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. WE CELEBRATE
IT AS AN HISTORIC EVENT, SOMETHING THAT TOOK PLACE A LONG TIME AGO.
BUT AS POPE BENEDICT SAID, THE RESURRECTION BELONGS TO A WHOLE
DIFFERENT ORDER OF REALITY – IT IS ONGOING, IT IS OUTSIDE TIME AND
SPACE, IT IS AN ETERNAL EVENT; BECAUSE JESUS DIED, BUT CHRIST AROSE.
AND CHRIST GOES ABOUT HIS ETERNAL MISSION, BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS,
BARRIERS BETWEEN GOD AND MAN, BARRIERS BETWEEN DEATH AND LIFE, HEAVEN
AND EARTH; BARRIERS BETWEEN OUR HEARTS AND HIS HEART. AND CHRISTIANS
EVERYWHERE CELEBRATE THIS WHEN THEY CELEBRATE HOLY COMMUNION, WHICH
SPEAKS ABOUT YOU AND I BECOMING ONE WITH CHRIST. AS SAINT PAUL
SAID, “I LIVE, NOT I, BUT CHRIST IN ME”.
THE
RESURRECTION INDEED CHANGED EVERYTHING, BUT IT CONTINUES TO DO SO.
AND IT IS NEVER ENOUGH TO MERELY BELIEVE THAT JESUS ROSE FROM THE
DEAD. IF THE RESURRECTION IS TO MEAN ANYTHING, WE HAVE TO PRACTICE
THE RESURRECTION. WE AFFIRM THE RESURRECTION WHEN WE GIVE A HELPING
HAND TO SOMEONE WHO IS IN TROUBLE. WE PRACTICE THE RESURRECTION WHEN
WE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO IS SLEEPING UNDER A BRIDGE IN
THE COLD WINTER. WE PRACTICE RESURRECTION WHEN WE REACH OUT IN LOVE
TO A LONELY PERSON. IN SHORT, WE PRACTICE RESURRECTION WHEN WE DO
WHAT JESUS DID, BECAUSE CHRIST HAS REVEALED HIMSELF TO US, BECAUSE
CHRIST LIVES ON IN US. LET US PRAY FOR THE FAITH TO RECOGNIZE HIS
LIVING, RISEN PRESENCE AMONG US, IN OUR HEARTS, AND IN EACH OTHER.
