Old life, new life, different life
Commentary
Easter is a joyous time, a time of new life and new hope, of spring after winter, of the holiday after the school term is over, to use C. S. Lewis' phrase. But on this day when we celebrate life, on this day of days, let's take a chance. Let's begin with something of a downer. Let's talk about death.
It seems like both in biology and in religion the one constant has been ... death. It is the one thing that brings together, paradoxically, all life on the planet. It is something that unites people from Springfield, Illinois, with people from Calcutta, India, and with people from Osaka, Japan -- the fact that we will, all, die. There is the old line about the only two inevitable things in life are death and taxes. But that may not be the case any more, at least with regard to death.
An article from The Washington Post, dated March 8, 1999, titled "The Revolution Within," by David Ignatius, begins with a simple question: "What will people die from 100 years from now?" But it doesn't have a simple answer, because of the revolution that's taking place in biotechnology.
He quotes the CEO of a biotechnology company, who predicts, "Death will come mainly from accidents, murder or war." In the 21st century, the human body should last a very long time, if not forever. Today's leading killers -- heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, and the "aging process" itself -- will become distant memories.
On the question of mortality, scientists were sure, until just recently, that our basic cellular material eventually would wear out. Whatever advances might come in the treatment of cancer or heart disease, it was thought, the cellular lifespan couldn't be stretched much beyond 120 years.
But it may not be so. Sometime between 2050 and 2100, it may be possible that every 10 years or so, people will be able to take a regenerative dose of "stem cells" that can restore the brain or heart or other organs. These stem cells, the basic building blocks of life, will build new heart and lung cells -- in much the same way our bodies routinely make new skin cells to replace what's bruised or worn away.
And if something still goes wrong with one of our organs, 21st-century medicine will replace the damaged organ just as today we implant artificial knees and hips, only then, the organs will be grown from the person's own tissue. It could include such things as artificial veins or eardrums or retinas.
The author ends by quoting scripture, saying: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." And he goes on to say, "That ancient admonition was repeated in churches around the world a few weeks ago, on Ash Wednesday. It is at once exhilarating and horrifying to imagine that science may be altering this most basic condition of human existence. Many technical obstacles still must be crossed on the way to this amazing future, but it may be that 'this is the first time we can conceive human immortality.' "
A powerful and a frightening thought. And for us who identify ourselves with the name of Christ, it raises the question that, if death is no longer a factor in who we are and what we do and the way we live our lives, if death in our world has ceased to exist, if we never die, then would Easter have any meaning at all? Would Easter have any significance in a world in which people don't die?
Acts 10:34-43
From the moment of the resurrection, the first impulse of just about everybody was to tell somebody about it. First the women who came to the tomb, then the disciples, and then later preachers and teachers and evangelists. It's almost as if they can't help it. Peter is no exception, it seems, as he is telling the whole story.
In biblical interpretation, one must always remember, particularly in the New Testament and particularly in the Gospels, that the writers are not simply reporters listing bare and sterile facts about things. They are truly authors and they have a point that they are communicating. And knowing that fact, and knowing the particular message that is being made, helps in the interpretation of the book.
Case in point, the Acts of the Apostles. Written by Luke as part two of his history that began with the Gospel of Luke, the book has a particular point to make which is described in chapter 1, when Jesus gave the disciples their commission, "... you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." That is the message and the plan of the book. Remember too that Luke was a Gentile, and so he had a distinct stake in the whole process of admitting Gentiles into the circle of believers.
This is important here because the Acts passage for this Easter Sunday is Peter's sermon to Cornelius' household. It follows Peter's vision of food from heaven, non-kosher food. When Peter balked at eating what was unclean, God rebuked him, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane." The message was not subtle: Gentiles are not unclean and they are to be admitted into the fellowship. It was all a preparation for Cornelius to be the first Gentile convert.
It is very basic Christian doctrine that Peter is preaching. Nothing unusual or sectarian about it. Very much orthodox stuff. And perhaps the most basic thing of all, and perhaps the thing that stands out most about it, is the fact that in these few verses is the grand sweep of the Gospel, including the Resurrection, but not limited to it. In other words, this shows the whole story, because really, however important this day is, it is simply one part of the broad Gospel of Jesus Christ. Easter is such an up day, such a celebration, that we may focus too much on the Resurrection and neglect the rest of the story. We need to remember that the Resurrection only has meaning in the context of the entire story of Jesus Christ, his birth and his life, his teaching and his death, as well as his resurrection.
And if there is a particular take on it that Luke puts into Peter's mouth, it is shown by "in every nation anyone ..." in verse 34, which is matched at the end by "everyone who believes" in verse 43. They form a bracket to the story of the Gospel that Peter recites, a bracket of universalism. This is a message from a Judean Jew about a Judean Jew who was understood to be the son of the Hebrew God, yet the message was being delivered to a Gentile. In fact, it's not just a message for Jews, nor even for Jews and Gentiles. But for everyone.
Colossians 3:1-4
In the midst of the joyous news of the day, in the midst of the stories from the Gospels about the resurrection of Jesus, in the midst of unbelieving disciples and the women weeping at the empty tomb and all of the other things that surround the story of the Resurrection, it is time to talk theology, the meaning of the Resurrection. Easter is not just a story from history; it has significance for us as followers of Jesus of Nazareth, implications for our lives henceforth. What does the resurrection of Jesus Christ mean, here and now? What is its impact? For that we turn to Paul.
This reading is a fragment from a portion of the book about the Christian life. Following this reading we hear Paul's exhortation in verse 5, "Put to death, therefore, in you whatever is earthly," and he goes on to list some of those earthly things. The point is that being raised will produce, or ought to produce, certain kinds of behavior for us, a new style of living. The operative words, then, are "So if you have been raised with Christ...."
Behind those words lies the uniquely Pauline notion of being "raised with Christ." It is the idea of participation in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. Consider some of the other phrases Paul uses in the New Testament that reflect the same thing: "But if we have died with Christ ..." (Romans 6:8); "I have been crucified with Christ ..." (Galatians 2:19); "... made us alive together with Christ ..." (Ephesians 2:5); "If with Christ you died" (Colossians 2:20). The Christian disciple has a oneness with Christ, an identification with him and with all that he went through. What we are talking about is a mystical union between Christ and human beings. Explain it? Well, no, somehow we can talk about it but not explain it.
To answer the question about what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means for us, Paul would say that through this strange participatory experience, we have the same things that Christ has. When we sign on to Christ, as it were, we become partakers in him and his life and death and resurrection. And that means we ought to live with our eyes raised above the horizon, to the heavenly things, since, with Christ, we are now risen, heavenly beings.
John 20:1-18
There are two strands in this Easter account. The first strand concerns Mary Magdalene. In accordance with the other Gospels, in John, the first to discover the empty tomb is Mary, although the synoptic Gospels have other women present with Mary Magdalene. Unlike the synoptics, in John the angels are not seen immediately. It is only Mary, and then later the disciples she summons.
Inserted into the Mary story is the second strand, about Peter and the "other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved." There has been much discussion about the identity of the disciple whom Jesus loved. But, given the detail about the two disciples running to the tomb, about who got there first, and about the wrappings, it would not be unwarranted to conclude with some commentators that the other disciple was John, who gave his name to the Johannine church, or at the very least someone who was later closely related to the Johannine community. The Johannine community might indeed wish to portray its founder as coming to the tomb first and being the first to believe in the Resurrection. Verse 9, "for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead," is referring to their lack of understanding up to that moment. It is implied here that they would henceforth see the scriptures in a new light. The point being made is that the newfound belief was based only on the empty tomb, not on an encounter with the risen Christ. Is the empty tomb alone enough for belief? In the case of the beloved disciple, apparently so, although confirmation would come later when the disciples saw Jesus.
After the two disciples return home, the narrative returns to the Mary strand. Mary sees the two angels, who simply ask her why she is weeping. Unlike the synoptics, John at no point has anybody actually say that Jesus has been raised from the dead. The unknown man, the gardener, also asks her why she is crying. It is only when he says her name that she recognizes the gardener to be Jesus.
In verse 17 Jesus tells Mary not to hold on to him, not, as might be supposed, because he is in some way incorporeal, without a touchable body. His later meeting with Thomas and his offer to touch his hands and side would establish that he could be touched. No, what he is saying to Mary is a hard word that none of us likes to hear. She can't cling to him as he had been, in the previous existence. What was coming from then on was not a resumption of the old life and the old relationship, not just a continuation of what had been, but a new life and a new relationship, since he would be ascending to God. We all want to return to the old and the familiar, perhaps most of all in the area of Jesus and our faith and our religious practice. But Jesus is always something and someone new, at every instant.
So how do we come to believe? The concern of the Gospel of John is belief, but this account asks, where does belief happen? What's enough to believe? Is it enough to see the stone rolled away from the tomb? How about looking inside and seeing that the tomb is empty? Are the linen cloths lying there on the bench enough? Seeing angels in the vicinity of the tomb? Do you have to see him standing there? Do you need to hear him speak your name? Later, in the Thomas passage, is touching him required to believe?
John's Gospel seems to realize that it takes different things for different people to believe that Jesus is the Christ and that he has risen. Perhaps the best conclusion is found in the Thomas encounter in verses 26-29. The evidence is offered, along with the words, "Do not doubt but believe."
Application
Consider what death means in the way we live our lives. And imagine what it would be like if you simply could go in and get a tune-up for your whole body with an injection of the so-called stem cells, or perhaps get replacement parts that had been grown especially for you -- a new heart grown for you, or a new liver -- just as you might go to the parts department at your local Auto Parts store and get a rebuilt carburetor for your '83 Chevy.
And imagine the idea that you could do that every few years and simply keep going and going and going. Year in and year out. Why go to church on Easter and celebrate the Resurrection? Wouldn't be necessary, would it? You would have eternal life, provided by the miracles of modern medical technology. It has been a dream for humanity.
For much of human history, at least since human beings were able to think, death has been the enemy, the thing to be fought against, the thing to be avoided at all costs, the vast equalizer of all human beings, king or pauper, president or peasant.
And we in the church have bought into that idea. So often, we treat Easter like the song in the Wizard of Oz, after Dorothy's house falls on the wicked witch of the east. "Ding-dong the witch is dead, which old witch, the wicked witch, ding-dong the wicked witch is dead," except it isn't a wicked witch we're singing about, it's death itself; that's the thing that has died and ended. That's often the feeling at Easter, that we have just made people immortal, and it is often what preachers preach at Easter. Death is over and done with, we say. Hallelujah!
But there is vastly more to Easter than simply vanquishing a foe, more than just emptying the grave, more than just defeating death, more than just extending our lives into eternity, all of which are ways we have spoken of the miracle at Easter.
The fact is that Easter has meaning -- permanent meaning, deep meaning -- regardless of what happens with medical science, and regardless of the advances of medical technology. The promise of Easter is more than just endless life.
In John, Mary Magdalene has come to the tomb in her grief, in her deep longing to have Jesus back again. And yet when she finally sees him in the garden, the risen Christ tells her that she can't, after all, have him back as he was before. He tells her not to hold on to him, since he has to ascend to God. Yes, he was raised from death, that is the promise and that is the hope, for him and for us, but the resurrected life is not the same as the old life.
In Colossians, Paul speaks of being raised with Christ, and as a result of that and a natural outgrowth of that we can seek the things that are above, we can join Jesus Christ, living in a strange, mystical union. It is a new kind of life; dare we call it a "higher" form of life? Why not?
"Raised with Christ" is Paul's way of describing what happens. And the important piece of that phrase is not "raised," but "with Christ." The Resurrection -- his and ours -- is, when it comes right down to it, a promise of presence, his presence with us and our presence with him.
That's where we find the real meaning of Easter. Easter is not about the end of death, it isn't a promise about immortality. It is the promise that, like the disciples, we will be with Jesus. It is the promise of a continued, and deeper, relationship with God through Jesus Christ, even past our earthly life.
As I have talked with people in my ministry, counseling them, listening to their problems and their hurts and their needs, what has emerged relentlessly over the years is that more than anything else, what we human beings crave and yearn for, from the very deepest recesses of our souls, is connection with somebody else, attachment, relationship. That is the explanation for most of what people do. That is why we have girlfriends and boyfriends. That is why we fall in love and marry. That is why we live in families. That is why we gather ourselves together in societies. Believe it or not, that's even the underlying reason for most conflicts between people -- the deep need to be connected and loved. Sometimes we need it so badly that we do all the wrong things to achieve it. We want to be reunited with others.
That's what the Resurrection is really about, I believe. It is about being connected with God, the very root of our being, forever. What Easter brings in isn't a longer life, it is a completely different kind of life. It is a life in the presence of Jesus Christ. And that makes all the difference in the world.
Christ is risen! Thanks be to God.
Alternative Applications
1) Acts: Good News for all People. Against our inclination -- our very human inclination -- to take a piece of good news and hang on to it, keeping it to ourselves, the resurrection of Jesus Christ can only belong to the world, to all of humanity. It is by nature an expanding, and expansive, piece of news. Peter preached about the Resurrection to Cornelius's household, a Jew telling Gentiles about Jesus, carrying what had been to that point Jewish news to others. You can't keep the news to yourself; it must always be told beyond the boundaries of yourself, or your group, or your church. It is always, by its very nature, an inclusive, universal story. Let's make it so.
2) John: Hearing Your Name. You're at a cocktail party, standing there talking with someone about the latest bestseller, only partly paying attention. And then out of the overall, room-wide buzz of conversations, you hear your name spoken softly in another conversation 15 feet away. Instantly, you zero in on the other conversation, to hear what they are saying about you. Psychologists have deemed this selective perception the Cocktail Party Effect. Because much of the world is like the buzz of a cocktail party, nature has given human beings the ability to filter out things that are of limited interest. But we hear always our names. In much the same way, when Jesus spoke Mary's name, she saw him for who he was. We see the risen Christ when he speaks our name. Perhaps we need to set our perceptual filters to hear the risen Christ.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
Acts 10:34-43
"We are all here present in the sight of God, to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord" (v. 33). The Apostle Peter, one of the 12 original disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, is going to address us from our text in the New Testament. Given a strange vision and then summoned by a God-fearing Roman centurion named Cornelius to come to Caesarea, a seaport on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the Apostle Peter has come to talk to a group of Gentiles that Cornelius has gathered together in his house. And in our imagination, you and I, who are all Gentiles and not Jews, are part of Peter's audience. So let us listen to what the apostle has to say to us on this Easter Sunday morning.
Right away, Peter tells us that God shows no partiality, and that's pretty encouraging, isn't it? God doesn't favor one group of people over another. It doesn't matter who we are or what our economic status is, what we are wearing or what color our skin is, what our gender or age is or even how we rank ourselves, God regards us all equally. In fact, says Peter, everyone in every country, including the U.S.A., who stands in awe of God and does what he desires, is acceptable to him. Through Jesus Christ, God who is Lord of all has preached "peace" to all people. God opens his arms to receive us all. God stands ready peaceably to accept every one of us.
"Now," says Peter, "you all have heard stories about Jesus of Nazareth. Otherwise you probably wouldn't be in this church this morning. You all know something about that central figure in the Christian faith. But let me repeat some of that for you. Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist, and when Jesus came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended from God upon him like a dove and gave him great power (cf. Luke 3:21-22). That was the beginning of Jesus' ministry, and so in the power of God, he went about doing good to all of the hurting people whom he met -- blind and lame, deaf and dumb, good and evil, poor and rich alike. Some suffering souls were literally possessed by evil, and Jesus cleansed them of the corruption that so ate at their souls. I and the other 11 disciples traveled with Jesus around Galilee and Judea in Palestine, and we saw everything that he did, so we recounted all the stories about him, and we remembered them and passed them on to everyone we met. And undoubtedly many of you here have read or at least heard snatches of those stories.
"Everything came to a climax, however, when Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. He knew good and well what awaited him there, and yet he went, teaching all along the way in parables, some of which you have heard, like The Good Samaritan. But sure enough, when he got to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the scribes plotted against him, and some of the Romans accused him of subverting Roman rule. So they hung him on a tree, that is, they crucified him on a Roman cross -- Rome did that with a lot of those that it called criminals. There were even two thieves crucified right along with Jesus, one on each side of him.
"The best news, however, the Good News, is that God raised Jesus from the dead after three days, and we know that for sure, because I saw him with my own eyes, and two of our followers met him on the road to Emmaus and ate and drank with him in their own house. Then when 11 of us, who were with Jesus from the first, were gathered together in one room in Jerusalem, suddenly Jesus was there in our midst. He asked for a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it. Moreover, he commanded us at that time to preach to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, but to remain in that city until he sent his Holy Spirit to be with us. But since the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was given to us, we disciples have been going everywhere, telling everyone that Jesus Christ is the Lord, the final judge of the living and of the dead. And everyone who believes in him and what he has done receives the forgiveness of all the sins they ever committed. And that means, you see, that you too can be considered righteous in the eyes of God and know the resurrection from your grave to eternal life with the Father."
Thus does the Apostle Peter preach to us Gentiles here, just as he preached to that little group gathered together in Caesarea in the first century A.D. The message doesn't change, dear friends, because it tells what actually happened, as reported by apostolic eyewitnesses to the events. And Easter doesn't change, because its Good News is the same for every generation through all the years of history.
After he was crucified by the fear, the envy, the pride, the evil so characteristic of us human beings, God raised his Son Jesus Christ from the dead on the third day at dawn. Human sin and wrong could not defeat the love of God, and they will never do so. God wants us all to be rid of the guilt that we carry around inside of us. God wants us all to be forgiven and made new persons, good and justified, righteous and whole in his sight. And above all, God does not want any single one of us to die eternally. He wants us to live, in his good kingdom of love and joy and peace. He wants us to have life in the companionship of his love. He wants our company with him. You are precious in the sight of your God, and he does not want to give you up to the powers of death and evil. And so he has defeated those powers in the resurrection of his Son. Will you accept that? Will you trust that joyful message from Jesus Christ and never let him go? Then have a Happy Easter!
PREACHING THE PSALM
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
With these same verses from Psalm 118 designated for Easter in all three cycles of the Revised Common Lectionary, it is clear that the lectionary committee consider this the preeminent resurrection psalm. Indeed, with the repeated quoting of verse 22 (the rejected stone becoming the chief cornerstone) by New Testament writers (Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:4, 7) and allusions to it (Ephesians 2:20), it's obvious that the first-century church also saw in it a reference to the resurrection of Christ.
Preaching possibilities:
1) In Jewish liturgical tradition, Psalms 113-118 are called "the Egyptian Hallel," meaning that they were intended for use during Passover, the festival that celebrated the liberation of Israel from Egyptian captivity. Thus, it's certainly possible, if not likely, that Jesus himself used this psalm in his own observance of Passover during his final week, perhaps even at the Last Supper. Did he see in it a promise of his resurrection? Here's the basis for a sermon on the promises that arm us as we face the dark valleys of life. How does that make us different from those who have no hope?
2) The fact that New Testament writers so often quoted this psalm reminds us of how the first-century Jews used their scriptures to interpret their present day. You could talk about why the Old Testament is not merely "pre-Christian" literature, but part and parcel of the scriptural foundation of the Christian life.
3) Verses 1 and 2 use the refrain, "His steadfast love endures forever!" "Steadfast love" is a translation of a Hebrew word made popular by the prophets of the eighth century and means the love of God that first comes to us, to be reflected by us into the world. Easter is powerful testimony to the steadfastness of God.
4) Verse 13, "I was pushed hard, so that I was falling," will resonate with many people today, pushed by their schedules, job demands, family responsibilities, spousal expectations, unfulfilled dreams, etc. What would resurrection look like for them?
5) Verse 17, "I shall not die, but I shall live," while it can be expounded in terms of resurrection, could also be the testimony of a despairing person tempted to seek the dark peace of suicide, but who refuses to go there by sheer grit or conviction. What are the resources of faith that could support such a struggler?
It seems like both in biology and in religion the one constant has been ... death. It is the one thing that brings together, paradoxically, all life on the planet. It is something that unites people from Springfield, Illinois, with people from Calcutta, India, and with people from Osaka, Japan -- the fact that we will, all, die. There is the old line about the only two inevitable things in life are death and taxes. But that may not be the case any more, at least with regard to death.
An article from The Washington Post, dated March 8, 1999, titled "The Revolution Within," by David Ignatius, begins with a simple question: "What will people die from 100 years from now?" But it doesn't have a simple answer, because of the revolution that's taking place in biotechnology.
He quotes the CEO of a biotechnology company, who predicts, "Death will come mainly from accidents, murder or war." In the 21st century, the human body should last a very long time, if not forever. Today's leading killers -- heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, and the "aging process" itself -- will become distant memories.
On the question of mortality, scientists were sure, until just recently, that our basic cellular material eventually would wear out. Whatever advances might come in the treatment of cancer or heart disease, it was thought, the cellular lifespan couldn't be stretched much beyond 120 years.
But it may not be so. Sometime between 2050 and 2100, it may be possible that every 10 years or so, people will be able to take a regenerative dose of "stem cells" that can restore the brain or heart or other organs. These stem cells, the basic building blocks of life, will build new heart and lung cells -- in much the same way our bodies routinely make new skin cells to replace what's bruised or worn away.
And if something still goes wrong with one of our organs, 21st-century medicine will replace the damaged organ just as today we implant artificial knees and hips, only then, the organs will be grown from the person's own tissue. It could include such things as artificial veins or eardrums or retinas.
The author ends by quoting scripture, saying: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." And he goes on to say, "That ancient admonition was repeated in churches around the world a few weeks ago, on Ash Wednesday. It is at once exhilarating and horrifying to imagine that science may be altering this most basic condition of human existence. Many technical obstacles still must be crossed on the way to this amazing future, but it may be that 'this is the first time we can conceive human immortality.' "
A powerful and a frightening thought. And for us who identify ourselves with the name of Christ, it raises the question that, if death is no longer a factor in who we are and what we do and the way we live our lives, if death in our world has ceased to exist, if we never die, then would Easter have any meaning at all? Would Easter have any significance in a world in which people don't die?
Acts 10:34-43
From the moment of the resurrection, the first impulse of just about everybody was to tell somebody about it. First the women who came to the tomb, then the disciples, and then later preachers and teachers and evangelists. It's almost as if they can't help it. Peter is no exception, it seems, as he is telling the whole story.
In biblical interpretation, one must always remember, particularly in the New Testament and particularly in the Gospels, that the writers are not simply reporters listing bare and sterile facts about things. They are truly authors and they have a point that they are communicating. And knowing that fact, and knowing the particular message that is being made, helps in the interpretation of the book.
Case in point, the Acts of the Apostles. Written by Luke as part two of his history that began with the Gospel of Luke, the book has a particular point to make which is described in chapter 1, when Jesus gave the disciples their commission, "... you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." That is the message and the plan of the book. Remember too that Luke was a Gentile, and so he had a distinct stake in the whole process of admitting Gentiles into the circle of believers.
This is important here because the Acts passage for this Easter Sunday is Peter's sermon to Cornelius' household. It follows Peter's vision of food from heaven, non-kosher food. When Peter balked at eating what was unclean, God rebuked him, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane." The message was not subtle: Gentiles are not unclean and they are to be admitted into the fellowship. It was all a preparation for Cornelius to be the first Gentile convert.
It is very basic Christian doctrine that Peter is preaching. Nothing unusual or sectarian about it. Very much orthodox stuff. And perhaps the most basic thing of all, and perhaps the thing that stands out most about it, is the fact that in these few verses is the grand sweep of the Gospel, including the Resurrection, but not limited to it. In other words, this shows the whole story, because really, however important this day is, it is simply one part of the broad Gospel of Jesus Christ. Easter is such an up day, such a celebration, that we may focus too much on the Resurrection and neglect the rest of the story. We need to remember that the Resurrection only has meaning in the context of the entire story of Jesus Christ, his birth and his life, his teaching and his death, as well as his resurrection.
And if there is a particular take on it that Luke puts into Peter's mouth, it is shown by "in every nation anyone ..." in verse 34, which is matched at the end by "everyone who believes" in verse 43. They form a bracket to the story of the Gospel that Peter recites, a bracket of universalism. This is a message from a Judean Jew about a Judean Jew who was understood to be the son of the Hebrew God, yet the message was being delivered to a Gentile. In fact, it's not just a message for Jews, nor even for Jews and Gentiles. But for everyone.
Colossians 3:1-4
In the midst of the joyous news of the day, in the midst of the stories from the Gospels about the resurrection of Jesus, in the midst of unbelieving disciples and the women weeping at the empty tomb and all of the other things that surround the story of the Resurrection, it is time to talk theology, the meaning of the Resurrection. Easter is not just a story from history; it has significance for us as followers of Jesus of Nazareth, implications for our lives henceforth. What does the resurrection of Jesus Christ mean, here and now? What is its impact? For that we turn to Paul.
This reading is a fragment from a portion of the book about the Christian life. Following this reading we hear Paul's exhortation in verse 5, "Put to death, therefore, in you whatever is earthly," and he goes on to list some of those earthly things. The point is that being raised will produce, or ought to produce, certain kinds of behavior for us, a new style of living. The operative words, then, are "So if you have been raised with Christ...."
Behind those words lies the uniquely Pauline notion of being "raised with Christ." It is the idea of participation in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. Consider some of the other phrases Paul uses in the New Testament that reflect the same thing: "But if we have died with Christ ..." (Romans 6:8); "I have been crucified with Christ ..." (Galatians 2:19); "... made us alive together with Christ ..." (Ephesians 2:5); "If with Christ you died" (Colossians 2:20). The Christian disciple has a oneness with Christ, an identification with him and with all that he went through. What we are talking about is a mystical union between Christ and human beings. Explain it? Well, no, somehow we can talk about it but not explain it.
To answer the question about what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means for us, Paul would say that through this strange participatory experience, we have the same things that Christ has. When we sign on to Christ, as it were, we become partakers in him and his life and death and resurrection. And that means we ought to live with our eyes raised above the horizon, to the heavenly things, since, with Christ, we are now risen, heavenly beings.
John 20:1-18
There are two strands in this Easter account. The first strand concerns Mary Magdalene. In accordance with the other Gospels, in John, the first to discover the empty tomb is Mary, although the synoptic Gospels have other women present with Mary Magdalene. Unlike the synoptics, in John the angels are not seen immediately. It is only Mary, and then later the disciples she summons.
Inserted into the Mary story is the second strand, about Peter and the "other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved." There has been much discussion about the identity of the disciple whom Jesus loved. But, given the detail about the two disciples running to the tomb, about who got there first, and about the wrappings, it would not be unwarranted to conclude with some commentators that the other disciple was John, who gave his name to the Johannine church, or at the very least someone who was later closely related to the Johannine community. The Johannine community might indeed wish to portray its founder as coming to the tomb first and being the first to believe in the Resurrection. Verse 9, "for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead," is referring to their lack of understanding up to that moment. It is implied here that they would henceforth see the scriptures in a new light. The point being made is that the newfound belief was based only on the empty tomb, not on an encounter with the risen Christ. Is the empty tomb alone enough for belief? In the case of the beloved disciple, apparently so, although confirmation would come later when the disciples saw Jesus.
After the two disciples return home, the narrative returns to the Mary strand. Mary sees the two angels, who simply ask her why she is weeping. Unlike the synoptics, John at no point has anybody actually say that Jesus has been raised from the dead. The unknown man, the gardener, also asks her why she is crying. It is only when he says her name that she recognizes the gardener to be Jesus.
In verse 17 Jesus tells Mary not to hold on to him, not, as might be supposed, because he is in some way incorporeal, without a touchable body. His later meeting with Thomas and his offer to touch his hands and side would establish that he could be touched. No, what he is saying to Mary is a hard word that none of us likes to hear. She can't cling to him as he had been, in the previous existence. What was coming from then on was not a resumption of the old life and the old relationship, not just a continuation of what had been, but a new life and a new relationship, since he would be ascending to God. We all want to return to the old and the familiar, perhaps most of all in the area of Jesus and our faith and our religious practice. But Jesus is always something and someone new, at every instant.
So how do we come to believe? The concern of the Gospel of John is belief, but this account asks, where does belief happen? What's enough to believe? Is it enough to see the stone rolled away from the tomb? How about looking inside and seeing that the tomb is empty? Are the linen cloths lying there on the bench enough? Seeing angels in the vicinity of the tomb? Do you have to see him standing there? Do you need to hear him speak your name? Later, in the Thomas passage, is touching him required to believe?
John's Gospel seems to realize that it takes different things for different people to believe that Jesus is the Christ and that he has risen. Perhaps the best conclusion is found in the Thomas encounter in verses 26-29. The evidence is offered, along with the words, "Do not doubt but believe."
Application
Consider what death means in the way we live our lives. And imagine what it would be like if you simply could go in and get a tune-up for your whole body with an injection of the so-called stem cells, or perhaps get replacement parts that had been grown especially for you -- a new heart grown for you, or a new liver -- just as you might go to the parts department at your local Auto Parts store and get a rebuilt carburetor for your '83 Chevy.
And imagine the idea that you could do that every few years and simply keep going and going and going. Year in and year out. Why go to church on Easter and celebrate the Resurrection? Wouldn't be necessary, would it? You would have eternal life, provided by the miracles of modern medical technology. It has been a dream for humanity.
For much of human history, at least since human beings were able to think, death has been the enemy, the thing to be fought against, the thing to be avoided at all costs, the vast equalizer of all human beings, king or pauper, president or peasant.
And we in the church have bought into that idea. So often, we treat Easter like the song in the Wizard of Oz, after Dorothy's house falls on the wicked witch of the east. "Ding-dong the witch is dead, which old witch, the wicked witch, ding-dong the wicked witch is dead," except it isn't a wicked witch we're singing about, it's death itself; that's the thing that has died and ended. That's often the feeling at Easter, that we have just made people immortal, and it is often what preachers preach at Easter. Death is over and done with, we say. Hallelujah!
But there is vastly more to Easter than simply vanquishing a foe, more than just emptying the grave, more than just defeating death, more than just extending our lives into eternity, all of which are ways we have spoken of the miracle at Easter.
The fact is that Easter has meaning -- permanent meaning, deep meaning -- regardless of what happens with medical science, and regardless of the advances of medical technology. The promise of Easter is more than just endless life.
In John, Mary Magdalene has come to the tomb in her grief, in her deep longing to have Jesus back again. And yet when she finally sees him in the garden, the risen Christ tells her that she can't, after all, have him back as he was before. He tells her not to hold on to him, since he has to ascend to God. Yes, he was raised from death, that is the promise and that is the hope, for him and for us, but the resurrected life is not the same as the old life.
In Colossians, Paul speaks of being raised with Christ, and as a result of that and a natural outgrowth of that we can seek the things that are above, we can join Jesus Christ, living in a strange, mystical union. It is a new kind of life; dare we call it a "higher" form of life? Why not?
"Raised with Christ" is Paul's way of describing what happens. And the important piece of that phrase is not "raised," but "with Christ." The Resurrection -- his and ours -- is, when it comes right down to it, a promise of presence, his presence with us and our presence with him.
That's where we find the real meaning of Easter. Easter is not about the end of death, it isn't a promise about immortality. It is the promise that, like the disciples, we will be with Jesus. It is the promise of a continued, and deeper, relationship with God through Jesus Christ, even past our earthly life.
As I have talked with people in my ministry, counseling them, listening to their problems and their hurts and their needs, what has emerged relentlessly over the years is that more than anything else, what we human beings crave and yearn for, from the very deepest recesses of our souls, is connection with somebody else, attachment, relationship. That is the explanation for most of what people do. That is why we have girlfriends and boyfriends. That is why we fall in love and marry. That is why we live in families. That is why we gather ourselves together in societies. Believe it or not, that's even the underlying reason for most conflicts between people -- the deep need to be connected and loved. Sometimes we need it so badly that we do all the wrong things to achieve it. We want to be reunited with others.
That's what the Resurrection is really about, I believe. It is about being connected with God, the very root of our being, forever. What Easter brings in isn't a longer life, it is a completely different kind of life. It is a life in the presence of Jesus Christ. And that makes all the difference in the world.
Christ is risen! Thanks be to God.
Alternative Applications
1) Acts: Good News for all People. Against our inclination -- our very human inclination -- to take a piece of good news and hang on to it, keeping it to ourselves, the resurrection of Jesus Christ can only belong to the world, to all of humanity. It is by nature an expanding, and expansive, piece of news. Peter preached about the Resurrection to Cornelius's household, a Jew telling Gentiles about Jesus, carrying what had been to that point Jewish news to others. You can't keep the news to yourself; it must always be told beyond the boundaries of yourself, or your group, or your church. It is always, by its very nature, an inclusive, universal story. Let's make it so.
2) John: Hearing Your Name. You're at a cocktail party, standing there talking with someone about the latest bestseller, only partly paying attention. And then out of the overall, room-wide buzz of conversations, you hear your name spoken softly in another conversation 15 feet away. Instantly, you zero in on the other conversation, to hear what they are saying about you. Psychologists have deemed this selective perception the Cocktail Party Effect. Because much of the world is like the buzz of a cocktail party, nature has given human beings the ability to filter out things that are of limited interest. But we hear always our names. In much the same way, when Jesus spoke Mary's name, she saw him for who he was. We see the risen Christ when he speaks our name. Perhaps we need to set our perceptual filters to hear the risen Christ.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
Acts 10:34-43
"We are all here present in the sight of God, to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord" (v. 33). The Apostle Peter, one of the 12 original disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, is going to address us from our text in the New Testament. Given a strange vision and then summoned by a God-fearing Roman centurion named Cornelius to come to Caesarea, a seaport on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the Apostle Peter has come to talk to a group of Gentiles that Cornelius has gathered together in his house. And in our imagination, you and I, who are all Gentiles and not Jews, are part of Peter's audience. So let us listen to what the apostle has to say to us on this Easter Sunday morning.
Right away, Peter tells us that God shows no partiality, and that's pretty encouraging, isn't it? God doesn't favor one group of people over another. It doesn't matter who we are or what our economic status is, what we are wearing or what color our skin is, what our gender or age is or even how we rank ourselves, God regards us all equally. In fact, says Peter, everyone in every country, including the U.S.A., who stands in awe of God and does what he desires, is acceptable to him. Through Jesus Christ, God who is Lord of all has preached "peace" to all people. God opens his arms to receive us all. God stands ready peaceably to accept every one of us.
"Now," says Peter, "you all have heard stories about Jesus of Nazareth. Otherwise you probably wouldn't be in this church this morning. You all know something about that central figure in the Christian faith. But let me repeat some of that for you. Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist, and when Jesus came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended from God upon him like a dove and gave him great power (cf. Luke 3:21-22). That was the beginning of Jesus' ministry, and so in the power of God, he went about doing good to all of the hurting people whom he met -- blind and lame, deaf and dumb, good and evil, poor and rich alike. Some suffering souls were literally possessed by evil, and Jesus cleansed them of the corruption that so ate at their souls. I and the other 11 disciples traveled with Jesus around Galilee and Judea in Palestine, and we saw everything that he did, so we recounted all the stories about him, and we remembered them and passed them on to everyone we met. And undoubtedly many of you here have read or at least heard snatches of those stories.
"Everything came to a climax, however, when Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. He knew good and well what awaited him there, and yet he went, teaching all along the way in parables, some of which you have heard, like The Good Samaritan. But sure enough, when he got to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the scribes plotted against him, and some of the Romans accused him of subverting Roman rule. So they hung him on a tree, that is, they crucified him on a Roman cross -- Rome did that with a lot of those that it called criminals. There were even two thieves crucified right along with Jesus, one on each side of him.
"The best news, however, the Good News, is that God raised Jesus from the dead after three days, and we know that for sure, because I saw him with my own eyes, and two of our followers met him on the road to Emmaus and ate and drank with him in their own house. Then when 11 of us, who were with Jesus from the first, were gathered together in one room in Jerusalem, suddenly Jesus was there in our midst. He asked for a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it. Moreover, he commanded us at that time to preach to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, but to remain in that city until he sent his Holy Spirit to be with us. But since the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was given to us, we disciples have been going everywhere, telling everyone that Jesus Christ is the Lord, the final judge of the living and of the dead. And everyone who believes in him and what he has done receives the forgiveness of all the sins they ever committed. And that means, you see, that you too can be considered righteous in the eyes of God and know the resurrection from your grave to eternal life with the Father."
Thus does the Apostle Peter preach to us Gentiles here, just as he preached to that little group gathered together in Caesarea in the first century A.D. The message doesn't change, dear friends, because it tells what actually happened, as reported by apostolic eyewitnesses to the events. And Easter doesn't change, because its Good News is the same for every generation through all the years of history.
After he was crucified by the fear, the envy, the pride, the evil so characteristic of us human beings, God raised his Son Jesus Christ from the dead on the third day at dawn. Human sin and wrong could not defeat the love of God, and they will never do so. God wants us all to be rid of the guilt that we carry around inside of us. God wants us all to be forgiven and made new persons, good and justified, righteous and whole in his sight. And above all, God does not want any single one of us to die eternally. He wants us to live, in his good kingdom of love and joy and peace. He wants us to have life in the companionship of his love. He wants our company with him. You are precious in the sight of your God, and he does not want to give you up to the powers of death and evil. And so he has defeated those powers in the resurrection of his Son. Will you accept that? Will you trust that joyful message from Jesus Christ and never let him go? Then have a Happy Easter!
PREACHING THE PSALM
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
With these same verses from Psalm 118 designated for Easter in all three cycles of the Revised Common Lectionary, it is clear that the lectionary committee consider this the preeminent resurrection psalm. Indeed, with the repeated quoting of verse 22 (the rejected stone becoming the chief cornerstone) by New Testament writers (Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:4, 7) and allusions to it (Ephesians 2:20), it's obvious that the first-century church also saw in it a reference to the resurrection of Christ.
Preaching possibilities:
1) In Jewish liturgical tradition, Psalms 113-118 are called "the Egyptian Hallel," meaning that they were intended for use during Passover, the festival that celebrated the liberation of Israel from Egyptian captivity. Thus, it's certainly possible, if not likely, that Jesus himself used this psalm in his own observance of Passover during his final week, perhaps even at the Last Supper. Did he see in it a promise of his resurrection? Here's the basis for a sermon on the promises that arm us as we face the dark valleys of life. How does that make us different from those who have no hope?
2) The fact that New Testament writers so often quoted this psalm reminds us of how the first-century Jews used their scriptures to interpret their present day. You could talk about why the Old Testament is not merely "pre-Christian" literature, but part and parcel of the scriptural foundation of the Christian life.
3) Verses 1 and 2 use the refrain, "His steadfast love endures forever!" "Steadfast love" is a translation of a Hebrew word made popular by the prophets of the eighth century and means the love of God that first comes to us, to be reflected by us into the world. Easter is powerful testimony to the steadfastness of God.
4) Verse 13, "I was pushed hard, so that I was falling," will resonate with many people today, pushed by their schedules, job demands, family responsibilities, spousal expectations, unfulfilled dreams, etc. What would resurrection look like for them?
5) Verse 17, "I shall not die, but I shall live," while it can be expounded in terms of resurrection, could also be the testimony of a despairing person tempted to seek the dark peace of suicide, but who refuses to go there by sheer grit or conviction. What are the resources of faith that could support such a struggler?
