Easter Christiains in a Good Friday World
The first Easter was a great surprise. The women did not go to the tomb to experience the resurrection. They went to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body. When they arrived at the tomb, they found the stone rolled away and the body gone.
The NIV translation of Luke says that they “wondered” about this; other translations more accurately express the mood of the Greek by saying that they were "perplexed". They did not know what to think. They had come expecting to find one thing only to find the opposite. When they found the body missing, they did not assume resurrection. They did not leap to the conclusion that Jesus was alive. They were not overjoyed. They were perplexed!
Then "two men in dazzling clothes – cloths that gleamed like lightning – stood beside them." Here again, the women were confused. Luke says that they were terrified! They were not ready for Easter. They were still Good Friday Christians, prepared to embalm the body but not to celebrate the resurrection.
But the men in dazzling clothes said,
Why do you look for the living among the dead?
He is not here, but has risen.
Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,
that the Son of man must be handed over to sinners,
and be crucified,
and on the third day rise again.
Finally the women’s perplexity turned to surprise and excitement and joy, and they went back to tell the other disciples. But the others did not believe them. The women's words "seemed to them like nonsense – an idle tale." But one disciple, Peter, got caught up in their excitement and ran to see for himself. He saw the empty tomb with his own eyes, and went home amazed at these strange events.
Don't you wish that you could be surprised this Easter! Wouldn't it be wonderful to be amazed again!
Easter doesn't surprise us any more, and that's too bad! We know that Easter is coming. We see it approaching on our calendars; we plan for it. It does not surprise us. Not only do we know it is coming, we know what it means and we know what to expect. We know the songs that we will sing and the sermon that we will hear. Last Easter blends in with the Easter before and the one before that and on and on... Easter has lost its surprise!
Perhaps that is why we hide Easter eggs! We want to surprise our children at Easter! We want them to experience the joy of discovery of Easter! We want them to have fun and to celebrate! Their joy and surprise helps us to be joyful and surprised once again.
The egg, of course, is a symbol of the resurrection. An egg is like a little tomb, isn't it!
Not all eggs hold life inside them, but some do. When an egg holds life inside, it packages a miracle. The chick is trapped inside, just as Jesus' was trapped inside the tomb. But then, at the right time, the chick emerges from the egg, full of life and promise -- just as Jesus, at the right time, emerged from the tomb, full of life and promise. And so Christians have celebrated Easter with decorated eggs for centuries.
I am glad that we hide eggs for our children.
I am glad that they can rediscover the joy and surprise of Easter.
But perhaps we also can recover the surprise of Easter. We live in a world that calls us to believe in self and science. We must swim against the stream to believe in God and faith. We find it particularly difficult to believe in resurrection. Resurrection seems such a peculiar idea. As I was preparing this sermon, I came across a sermon title that caught my attention. The title was "What If You Don't Believe in the Resurrection?"
Now and then you see an article in a magazine about scholars who are debunking Jesus -- or debunking the resurrection – articles about things such as the Jesus Seminar. When I see those things, I think, "One of these days, Jesus will debunk the scholars."
Some time ago, I clipped an article from Newsweek magazine (April 8, 1996) that quoted a professor at Vanderbilt Divinity School who said that the resurrection is "an empty formula". It told of a "Biblical scholar" at DePaul University who claimed that Jesus' body was eaten by dogs.
And just a few weeks ago, the Discovery Channel aired a documentary on the tomb of Jesus. The tomb reportedly contained the bodily remains of Jesus, but also contained the remains of Joseph, Mary, 2 of Jesus’ brothers and Mary Magdalene; among others. Statistically, according to this program, the odds were 600 to 1 that this was the family of the Jesus of the New Testament. For some, I’m sure that this program was quite convincing – it might even have shaken their faith; but I found their conclusions and speculations to be based on misquotes of scripture and very imaginative conjecture with little or no basis in historical fact.
But what I found most disturbing was a panel discussion following the program where some of the professors of religion and church leaders present stated that, for them, the resurrection of Christ was not a big issue – to them it didn’t matter either way. They simply saw Jesus’ resurrection as a story – a fable of the faith…
I can’t begin to understand that kind of attitude in someone who professes to be Christian…
Especially when the very foundation of our faith rests in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We profess our belief in the bodily resurrection of Christ every time we recite our creeds…
When we profess to believe in the resurrection of the Body…
The Apostle Paul was very clear about the importance of the resurrection when he said, “if Christ is not raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is in vain”. Moreover “if Christ is not raised, your faith is worthless and you are still in your sins”. (1 Corth 15:14, 17) In other words if Christ wasn’t raised from the dead, we are wasting our time here.
But the truth is that there was no body in the tomb… Not because it was eaten by dogs or hidden by Jesus’ followers… it’s because the resurrection is fact; not fiction. He Is Risen!!...
Still… it can be difficult to believe in the resurrection in an age of unbelief? Belief isn’t always easy! Perhaps that difficulty can help prepare us to recover the surprise of Easter. Perhaps we can break through the routine of Easter and rediscover what the women felt when they found the empty tomb.
While preparing this sermon, I also came across something that I found very provocative. A woman whose name is Laura said:
Let us live as Easter Christians
in a Good Friday world!
Isn't that good! To really appreciate Laura's remark, you need to know that she battles serious illness every day. She doesn't have an easy life. She clearly lives in a Good Friday world, but she is an Easter Christian whose Easter faith helps her to transcend the difficulties of her Good Friday life.
We spend much of our lives in a Good Friday world, don't we! Good Friday was a day of death -- of dashed hopes -- of crushed beliefs and deep heart wrenching grief. Good Friday was a day when everything went wrong. On Good Friday, nobody said, "Thank God it's Friday." On Good Friday, nobody gave thanks for anything.
Haven't you had days like that?
Haven't you had days when you felt overwhelmed?
Haven't you had days when you felt as if you had been hit once too often -- that you were hanging on the ropes?
Haven't you had days when you were ready to give up?
Those are Good Friday days! But Laura says:
Let us live as Easter Christians
in a Good Friday world!
What does that mean?
It means that we can live as hopeful Christians in a hopeless world!
Just read your newspaper. How much good news do you see? News stories focus on wars and rumors of wars -- on government gone amuck -- on racial conflict -- on drugs and violence. One look at your newspaper will convince you that we live in a Good Friday world.
But Easter is God's promise that he is always with us, ready to roll back the stone from the door of the tomb, so that we can live hopefully in a hopeless world. As Laura says:
Let us live as Easter Christians
in a Good Friday world!
That means that we need not fear for God is near. At the end of his life, Moses spoke to his people. They had experienced much trouble, and their enemies loomed large on the horizon. But Moses said to them:
Be strong and bold; have no fear.,
because it is the LORD your God who goes with you;
he will not fail you or forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:6)
When Laura says,
Let us live as Easter Christians
in a Good Friday world!
she is telling us that we have no need to fear, even in the midst of our worst Good Fridays -- because it is our Lord who is with us -- and he will neither fail us nor forsake us.
Let us live as Easter Christians
in a Good Friday world!
Pastor Richard Donovan wrote about a friend of his by the name of Roy. Roy lives in a Good Friday world
Here’s what he said:
Roy is a minister -- one of the finest and gentlest men that I know. Several years ago, I was stunned to hear that Roy's son had been killed. I called Roy and grieved with him. I was further stunned when he told me that his son had committed suicide. Nobody had seen any signs of depression. There had been no warning, but now the son was dead by his own hand. I cannot imagine anything more terrible. I can assure you that Roy would have died a thousand times to save his son, but he never had the chance.
Sometime later, Roy told this story as a part of a memorial service that he was conducting.
While visiting their son's grave, Roy and his wife, Nancy, had seen a woman kneeling before two gravestones. She prayed aloud -- almost like a conversation. Every time they visited the cemetery, this same woman was there -- praying aloud.
One day Roy approached her. He introduced his wife and himself and said, "I don't want to intrude, but I have noticed that you have been here every time we have visited." She said:
Oh, I know who you are.
I read about your son in the newspaper.
I come here all the time.
You see, my husband and son are buried here.
I spend time with the Lord,
and, in a sense, with them, too.
I don't want to ever forget them or them to forget me.
I know they are with the Lord.
I read there in the Bible, in First Corinthians,
that "as in Adam all die,
so in Christ all will be made alive."
Doesn't it say that?
And I believe that to be true.
When I see them,
my Lord, my husband, and my son,
we sure won't be strangers.
As they walked away, Nancy said to her preacher-husband, "I'm sorry, honey, but that's the best sermon I have ever heard."
You see, that woman lived in a Good Friday world. Any woman who goes to the cemetery to visit her child lives in a Good Friday world. For her, every day is Good Friday, and she can never say, "Thank God it's Friday!"
But she allowed God to break through her grief, and he comforted her with his Holy Spirit. And so she was living as an Easter Christian in her Good Friday world.
Because she had invited God into her Good Friday world, she had been able to give an Easter word to Roy and Nancy, who were also struggling to live as Easter Christians in a Good Friday world. She was able to live as an Easter Christian, because she believed that death is not the end. She looked forward to the day when she would again share the love of her husband and son. She looked forward to the stone being rolled away one more time.
This Easter, I hope that you are not living in a Good Friday world. I hope that your world is an Easter world -- full of joy. But life is not always like that. My prayer for you this Easter is that, whether your circumstances be good or ill, God will plant in your heart the memory of the open tomb and the hope of the open tomb -- and that he will help you to live as an Easter Christian -- full of hope -- full of promise -- and full of joy.