SERMON – APRIL 5, 2015 EASTER SUNDAY – YEAR B ISAIAH 25:6-9 / JOHN 20:1-18

sermon – april 5, 2015

easter sunday – year b

isaiah 25:6-9 / JOhn 20:1-18

Let us pray:  May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable to you, O God, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.

Let me begin with a quote I read recently:    “Seeing is not believing.  Our senses can deceive us.”   Although it sounds like something a preacher might say, it is, actually, a quote from an astrophysicist from  an episode of the TV series “Cosmos:  A Spacetime odyssey.”     He goes on: “the cosmos...is stranger than we ever could have imagined.   Light, time, space, gravity conspire to create realities which lie beyond human experience.”  

He then proceeds to reflect on the incredible discoveries of what the night sky has been telling us that until recently we could not hear, let alone comprehend.  ‘mit’ physics Professor Max Tegmark,

not too long ago, wrote a piece in the New York times in which he reported on what he called “the bombshell announcement of the discovery of cosmology’s ‘holy grail’:  the telltale signature of ripples in the very fabric of space from our cosmic origins.     What these discoveries do, he tells us, “is teach us humans that we need to think big because we are the masters of underestimation.”   I like that.  

Our gathering on this Easter day in and of itself is evidence of a ripple in the very fabric of reality.  

The ripple is less about our origins than about our destiny. It all began early on the first day of the week.  Some of Jesus’ disciples discover an empty tomb.    

And soon after is heard the cry “Christ is risen!”   

A man dies a gruesome death, gruesome even by first century standards.   But the fact is, that was a story all too common to become a turning point in the history of western civilization.   It was not enough to reset the calendar of time, even though in that moment, at the time, this one man’s crucifixion surely loomed large.   However, if left to stand on its own, over time this one man’s death would have been stitched into the fabric of human history as one more predictable, tragic end to a noble life in an evil time.     There are too many of those to even count in the last century alone.    Who can blame his closest followers early in the first century for resisting reports that he had risen?   For all kinds of good reasons, such news was beyond their comprehension.  They were still reeling from the horror and terror of crucifixion.   They were rattled, afraid, grief-stricken, demoralized, devastated – undone.

In the months leading up to this day they had refused to accept his talk of crucifixion. 

If they thought he did not know what he was talking about when he talked of dying, they would surely have completely tuned out any talk of resurrection.    He had tried to tell them – but they could not hear it.  

They could not comprehend  it.  It was too big.  It was too good to be true.  

Interesting that we don’t have a saying, “it’s too bad to be true.”  Apparently, we need less convincing when it comes to what is bad.   We seem naturally to underestimate the power of the good.   There is this tension throughout the bible between the everyday realities in peoples’ lives  -- and the future realities that God promises and which, if we have eyes to see, do make incursions into the present in a variety of ways.   

The ripple effect of God’s good intentions and good promises are felt -  yesterday, today, and tomorrow.   This tension between everyday, mundane realities and the realities promised by God is well articulated in Isaiah, chapter 25.   Earlier in the chapter Isaiah speaks of the fear of the strong and ruthless, but refuge for the poor and needy; of the ruined city; yet, of the mountain laden with good things; later in the chapter the judgement of destruction against the people of Moab is juxtaposed with the image of this feast enjoyed by everyone around the world.  

There is this tension between the difficult circumstances people experience in life  -- and the goodness of life to be had in relationship with God and  in holding onto the promise of  God to transform  cursing to blessing;  hunger to feasting;  destroying to rebuilding; death to life.    

In Luke’s gospel we are told that when Jesus’ followers first heard the news, “it seemed to them an idle tale.”  Pick your translation:  empty talk, a silly story,

A foolish yarn, utter nonsense, sheer humbug.   So they ran to see for themselves.  They did find an empty tomb.  And the existence of an empty tomb raises questions -- questions  about where the body is.  

The empty tomb is evidence more of the desecration of the dead than the resurrection of the dead.   An empty tomb does not settle the issue.  An empty tomb raises concerns, but not the dead.    Many of you here know what it’s like to live in the wake of death.  You know it firsthand.  It’s engulfiing.  We feel it in our bones. 

Death ripples through time and rips through our lives – it tears us apart.  We know it well, all too well.   Then, as now, talk of resurrection sounds too good to be true.  Too big.  

This account from John that Keith read for us, like the other gospel accounts, were written at least 40 years after the events described took place.  

common to all these accounts is that no one saw it coming.  They were blindsided by the resurrection.  

You would have thought that 40 years after the events, the leadership of the early church would have ever so slightly shaped the stories to boost their authority and legitimacy – especially if the original accounts were  fabricated in the first  place.    I can imagine  Peter, James and John, for instance, going over the final edits of the accounts and proposing a rewrite like this:  “yes, we were there on the morning of the third day, waiting for the word we were sure was coming, because he told us it would be so.  And sure enough, the glorious news came: ‘he is risen!’  and we, his closest trusted and loyal companions, met  with him in Galilee as planned.  And well, the rest is history!”

But,  no. The story is unambiguous on this point: 

They were all overwhelmed with death – confused, perplexed and deathly afraid.   These accounts ring true, not because of resurrection, but because they reflect what we know beyond a shadow of a doubt to be true about death.   It makes perfect sense that resurrection would be, on the face of it, nonsense – that it would not dawn easily.   It makes sense that it would be remembered as utterly inconceivable, unbelievable.  As too big.  As too good to be true.

The text that was read from first Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul a mere twenty or so years after the time of Jesus.  It is the earliest written record of the resurrection we have in the New Testament. 

By that time, we read, it was regarded as “most important” in relation to the message about Jesus: 

That he died, was buried and was raised on the third day, and that he appeared to Peter, then the twelve apostles and, as well, to five hundred others.   And, Paul says, in his epistle,  that most of these witnesses were still alive.  By that time, resurrection had become the explanation for their whole existence.   By that time,

the resurrection of Jesus had become the foundational truth – central to the Christian faith, a truth that vindicated Christ – affirming his ‘messiahship;  giving legitimacy and authority as one who taught,

 and prophesied, and lived in the name and the way of God; a truth that meant God was with Christ in a unique and special way; a truth that assures us we can follow him as our saviour, as our teacher, as our priest, our king, our lord and any other score of titles that are real for us because of this truth of resurrection.    

By then, a mere twenty years after the events recounted in our gospel story today, the resurrection of Jesus had become a cornerstone of the Christian message – the good news, as they put it.  The good news about Jesus Christ, about God about humanity, about life. 

The fabric of death that enshrouded all of humanity had been ripped open, and there was  light  -- undying light.     It was the sign and seal of God’s  ancient promises;

A glimpse into the realities of a new world in the making where good overcomes evil; joy displaces sorrow;

Hope pushes aside despair; and life, new life takes the place of death. 

By then the early Christians had learned to think big.  

In Jesus, God had conspired to create a reality that until then had been beyond human experience and comprehension.  There was something deeper than death.  There was a love stronger than death.  

the evidence of this ripple in the fabric of time – the evidence of resurrection – lies not so much in these accounts, whether from the gospel writers or from Paul.  The evidence of the ripple of resurrection lies here with us, some two thousand years beyond its origin.  We are gathered to hear again that good news,

To remember and encourage one another to think big – for we are now, as they were then, ‘masters of underestimation.”  

Easter is not so much about believing in God as it is about trusting in God and God’s promises.  And how we look at the future may be very different if we don’t have that trust.  

And how we look at the future has the capacity to  profoundly define our present behaviour.   Does the creator of this ever-expanding universe ultimately care about her creatures?   Is history moving in some inexorable way toward a hopeful future?   Or are we riders upon a doomed planet, moving toward some black hole in meaningless space?  Is the cosmos friendly?  

Is our existence upon this earth an expression of vanity and futile striving after the wind?  Is God reliable in fulfilling his promises?    The bible is, in many ways, a story of that tension between every day experience and the reality pointed to by the resurrection, a story about hope amidst hopeless circumstances which the resurrection we celebrate today underscores.     

And so, the ripple effect of resurrection, impacts our present lives, our daily living.  For there are ‘little resurrections’, wherever the gospel is preached.  persons who have dwelt in darkness who believe in the promise of God’s victory over death will move from despair to hope.   More than that, we are those, like the first followers of Christ, who are called to be active in ‘resurrection ways’, turning the world upside down. 

We are empowered by the resurrection of Christ to touch a broken world with healing hope, transforming love, and abundant life.  Christ was raised from the grave in order to bring power for the living of our days. 

So that we can go forth from the tomb of our resignation and face the future unafraid, for God keeps promise with us.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!   Alleluia.  Amen.  

Major Resources:

“Easter Evidence,” by David J. Wood in http://www.faithandleadership.com/david-j-wood-easter-evidence.

May, 2014.

“Commentary on Isaiah 25:1-9” by James K. Mead in http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=163.

“God, the Promise Keeper,” by George Thompson in Pulpit Digest, March/April 1998, pp. 63-70.

Editor:  David Albert Farmer.  Logos Productions Inc.  Inver Grove Heights MN.