Surprise endings
Commentary
Most of us enjoy a surprise ending to a story. There is something pleasurable about the unexpected. In the movie classic, Casablanca, did you expect Rick to get on the plane and fly off to happy bliss? Surprise endings are exciting, fun, and sometimes deeply profound.
The conclusion of the Jesus story is a surprise ending of major proportions. Most of us are so familiar with the story that its ending has lost that surprise. On this Sunday, maybe we can dramatize the surprise of Christ's rising and open new meaning in the old story. A tragic death is not the conclusion, but a surprising resurrection that transforms the whole Jesus story. Our lessons each play on that divine reversal and the surprise inherent in Christ's resurrection.
Acts 10:34-43
The reading is one of the many speeches and sermons in Acts. In it Peter summarizes the meaning of the events that have just transpired in his life. He has just experienced his dream-vision of the unclean food descending in a sheet and the declaration of the heavenly voice, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane" (10:15). As if to confirm his insight that "God shows no partiality" (v. 34), the Holy Spirit is poured out on Gentiles in Cornelius' house. With this series of events, the stage is set for the church to begin its mission beyond Judaism to the Gentiles.
Peter's speech begins with his announcement of the inclusion of the Gentiles. "God shows no partiality" (see also, Romans 2:11 and Galatians 2:6). God is not partial toward the Jews but eager to bring others to faith. The requirements for being acceptable to the Lord are simply respect of and awe before God ("fear"), as well as a moral life ("does what is right"). These are representative of what the Hebrew Scriptures claimed (for example, Psalm 15), and the author has skillfully shown the Gentile Cornelius to be just such a person.
To demonstrate the truth of this claim and the affirmation that God "is Lord of all," Peter sketches the life story of Jesus. He argues that the essence of Jesus' life and preaching was a message of "peace" (v. 36). In this case, the word means a reconciling of the factions of humanity, a wholeness, and an overcoming of the division between Jew and Gentile and all other barriers we humans construct among ourselves. The Jesus story is told with great brevity. The first part (vv. 37-38) summarizes Jesus' ministry with "doing good deeds and healing all." Peter says he should know, because he and others witnessed Jesus' ministry (v. 39).
Peter continues by outlining the passion story: death, resurrection, and appearances. Luke contrasts Jesus' death with his being raised. The reference to the "tree" describes his demeaning and shameful death befitting one who has committed a crime punishable by death (see Deuteronomy 21:22). The author takes no time to suggest who was responsible for Jesus' execution but hurries on to say that "God raised him on the third day" (v. 40). The expressions for Christ's resurrection can be found in both passive and active verbs (that is, "was raised" and "rose" -- see 1 Thessalonians 4:14 for an example of the latter). The passive verb, emphasizing God's act on and for Jesus, is probably the older of the two forms. "The third day" is a troublesome expression. Depending on how one counts, Christ was not actually in the grave three days and three nights. The temporal reference may be explained by calculating the time between his death and Christ's first appearance as risen Lord. Others find the meaning of this phrase in the Old Testament traditions. (See our discussion of 1 Corinthians 15:4 below.)
The appearances of the risen Christ are evidence of Jesus' resurrection. Like his resurrection itself, the risen Christ's appearances are a divine act ("God ... allowed him to appear," v. 40). However, the risen Christ did not go about dazzling people into faith. Only those who had shared the ministry of Jesus ("ate and drank with him") are privileged to have these experiences. A relationship with Christ prior to his passion seems a prerequisite for seeing the risen Lord. Faith alone allows one this kind of vision.
The followers' encounters with the living Christ have a specific purpose. They receive a mission. They are not allowed to bask in this marvelous event; they are to be out and about preaching and witnessing to what God has done in Christ. Peter puts it very succinctly: Christ is the one God has chosen as the "judge of the living and the dead"(v. 42). With that mission in mind, the speech concludes with the claim that the prophets were witnesses to Christ long before this. The whole of the divine act is to offer humans "forgiveness" -- release from the bondage of sin.
Peter makes one thing perfectly clear in this speech: the Jesus story is God's doing for a specific purpose. He begins with words about who God is, stresses that God responds to the injustice done to Jesus, and concludes with God's making Jesus the primary player in this life. God provides the surprise ending to this drama. The one who suffers the most shameful death imaginable is raised from the dead, made to appear to his circle of followers, and is then made the judge of the whole of life. The ending is a surprise, but so too are the results of the story. The most surprising result is that we learn there is but one Lord and that all the differences among us humans dissolve before the risen Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
The second reading includes what may be the oldest existing Christian creed. If scholars are right, Paul inherited this creedal statement from the church before him and passed it on to the Corinthians Christians. Why does Paul turn in chapter 15 to a discussion of the resurrection? He may be trying to counter doubt about the Christians' resurrection stirred up by Paul's antagonists in Corinth. He may have left this issue to the very last because of its importance. Whatever the case, chapter 15 casts the whole of the epistle and its teaching in a different light.
Verses 1-11 comprise the first stage in Paul's defense of the resurrection. Here he shows that Christ's resurrection is planted solidly at the heart of the Christian faith. He then goes on in the verses that follow the reading to explore what Christ's resurrection means for our destiny. Verses 1-2 introduce the topic of resurrection. Verses 3-7 are probably the ancient creed to which he appeals. That leads him into a discussion of his own experience of the risen Christ and the meaning of his ministry (vv. 8-11).
The introduction is one long complicated sentence. Paul is probably being overly diplomatic by saying, "I would remind you." Does he really mean, "You had better recall"? The Corinthians have embraced the gospel he preached, and he is grateful for that. This gospel is the source of their salvation, but with a condition. It doesn't work if you don't hang on to it, treasure it, and live by it. Good news isn't good if you don't believe it to be true. The last phrase ("unless you have come to believe in vain") returns to the Paul statement that the readers have received and believed the message (v. 1). Now he qualifies all he has said by acknowledging that they might not have really believed it! Paul is not doubting the truth of the gospel but the authenticity of the Corinthians' faith.
Verse 3 introduces the creedal statement. It is part of what Paul had received through the tradition and shared with those in his congregations. The four clauses of the creed are each introduced with the word "that." We are not sure just where the creed ends and Paul's own comments begin. The first clause is simply "that Christ died for our sins." A most condensed version of the belief that his death was on our behalf and somehow opened up the possibility of forgiveness and freedom from sin. Paul repeats the phrase "in accordance with the scriptures" again in verse 4 in connection with the resurrection. We don't know what this phrase means. Efforts to chase down some Old Testament passages that the church had in mind are probably fruitless. More likely is that the phrase affirms the idea that Christ's death and resurrection were continuous with God's saving action rehearsed in the Hebrew Scriptures.
The second clause affirms Jesus' burial. The death was real and complete, not a phoney pretense. The third clause claims that God raised Jesus. (Notice that it was God's doing and not Jesus' own power.) Then we encounter another use of the expression "on the third day." (See our discussion of Acts 10:40 above.) This time it is connected with "in accordance with the Scriptures," and we don't know whether the number "three days," the resurrection itself, or the two together is harmonious with the Scripture. Again, we think the important thing is the unity of the Testaments.
Verses 5-7 deal with appearances of the risen Lord. Paul recites appearances to five different persons and groups. Some of them are represented in the appearance stories in the four Gospels, but others aren't (for example, an appearance to "five hundred brothers and sisters"). Again the point is that the risen Christ appeared to those who already had a relationship with him. For Paul and the early church the experiences of the risen Christ proved the reality of his resurrection.
Finally, Paul says the story has a surprise ending. Christ appeared even to him (probably in his Damascus road experience). He offers several reasons why this is surprising. First of all, he was "untimely (or abnormally) born," although we are not sure what he means by this. Paul may be saying that his own birth was in some way aberrant. The Greek word can also mean "freaky," and some have argued that Paul's Corinthian opponents have called him a freak. Paul is clearly saying he does not feel worthy of being a recipient of a resurrection appearance. He is the "tiniest" of the apostles (in stature or importance?), but his unworthiness is because of his pre-Christian life. He is what he is by God's grace, and that grace has made him try all the harder to be effective. To what degree he himself and to what degree God alone is responsible for the effectiveness of his ministry does not matter. What finally matters is that the gospel has been proclaimed and evoked faith.
Christ's resurrection is a surprise ending but perhaps more surprising is that the risen Christ should appear to one so unworthy as Paul. Of course, that sounds familiar, doesn't it? Which of us would claim to be worthy of such an experience? Moreover, Paul's encounter with the risen Christ was long after the appearances to others. This means that the risen Christ may continue to appear to people. The surprise ending may then be that we might encounter the risen Christ in our own lives today.
John 20:1-18
This is a rich story comprised of two parts: The first is the discovery of the empty tomb by Mary Magdalene (vv. 1-10) and the second the account of Christ's appearance to Mary (vv. 11-18). These two are held together by the character of Mary Magdalene.
The first part of the story stresses several things. Mary apparently comes to the tomb for no other reason than to be near her Lord whom she dearly loves. She does not come to anoint the body, for that has already been done (19:38-42). Finding the tomb fills her with fear that the body had been stolen. Grave robbery was very common in that day and place. Then Peter and the beloved disciple come to the tomb at Mary's bidding, find it empty, and return to their homes. What it means that the beloved disciple "believed" is uncertain. What is certain is that Peter doesn't seem to understand at all, and both of them return to what they were about before Mary's intrusion.
The story continues in verses 11-18 with Mary still at the tomb mourning. Her love of Jesus fills her with such sorrow that she cannot think of anything but that someone has made off with body. She says to the two angels (v. 13) and Jesus (v. 15) the same thing she has announced to Peter and the beloved disciple: someone has taken the body away, and she doesn't know where it is. She is not at all moved to marvel and awe by the appearance of the angelic beings. There is but one thing on her mind: to find Jesus' body.
Maybe that is why she does not immediately recognize the risen Christ. Her sorrow, her preoccupation with finding the body, and her unreadiness for an encounter with the risen Christ all combine to cover her eyes. The covering, however, is ripped off by the sound of her name, "Mary." Jesus calls his sheep by name (10:3b). To have Christ call us by our names allows us to see as we had not seen before. Mary responds with an affectionate reference to her master and falls at the feet of her Lord. However, Christ orders her, "Do not hold on to me." Christ is present, but now in a new form. Mary now has a new relationship with Christ different from the one she had known with the earthly Jesus. Yet it is a relationship still filled with love. Mary cannot hold on to the risen Christ but must share the news of her experience with others. Jesus says he is ascending to God, but what that means is unclear. John has no ascension story, and Jesus' ascension seems comprised of his death, resurrection, and appearances taken together.
Mary obediently does has her Lord as asked. She announces to the other disciples very simply, "I have seen the Lord." With her announcement there is a whole new beginning for Jesus' followers. She -- a woman! -- brings the news of the resurrection to her colleagues. As one scholar has said, Mary is the apostle to the apostles. She is the first to announce the resurrection to those who will now announce it to others.
This is a surprise ending, isn't it? Not only that Christ is no longer among the dead. This is surprise enough. However, Mary's surprise ending is that the risen Christ comes to her in her sorrow and confusion and calls her by name. The surprise for some is that a woman should be chosen to be the first to carry the resurrection message. One more surprise ending: the Gospel of John ends without any conclusion to the period of the resurrection appearances (in contrast to Luke). The Gospel story ends with the risen Lord still popping up in unexpected places (see chapter 21). So, our surprise is that the risen Christ may appear to us in the disguise of a gardener, call our names, and send us on a mission.
Mark 16:1-8
This is a very difficult passage to preach on Easter Sunday. Unless you chose one of the other endings to Mark, you are left with no account of an appearance of the risen Christ and no faithful mission completed by the women (contrast John 20:1-18). Yet the shortest ending of the Gospel is the preferred reading, since the other two endings show evidence of being the work of scribes. So, what do we have in this lesson to preach?
First, the surprise ending of the Jesus story in Mark evokes a fear and awe that silences many of us. The fear that hushed the women demonstrates a dimension of the Easter story all too seldom developed today. The evidence of the empty tomb and the announcement of the "young man" filled the women with awe. They knew they stood in the presence of a mystery that could only be explained by God's awesome presence. The divine power had rolled the stone away.
We tend to domesticate the Easter story. We often reduce it to a joyful occasion celebrating what's new. We observe it each year, so that it becomes another of our social "holidays." Candy and eggs, a "Hallmark moment," and an extended weekend away from work. Maybe we need to reclaim the awe of those women. Maybe we need to stress that this surprise ending entails the immediate presence of the Almighty Creator of the universe.
Second, the surprise ending of the Jesus story in Mark entails a promise yet to be fulfilled. Readers are left, as were the women, with only the words of that strange young man: Christ has risen and will meet you in Galilee. No appearance of the risen Lord, just a promise. The young man orders the women to tell the others Jesus is going ahead of them to Galilee. They are to go home! Back to where it all started. There's where the risen Christ will be found.
So, too for us, Easter is a promise yet to be fulfilled. Today the angels tell us, "Go home." The risen Christ is not in the church building, but back home where we live day by day. If we take this promise seriously, we will look for the risen Christ in our everyday lives. We will look carefully at others and listen carefully to what they say to us, because they may be the risen Christ in our midst. The promise of the resurrection promises surprise endings for each of us. Surprise endings to our whole lives. Surprise endings to our fear and timidity, to our guilt and blame, to our broken and strained relationships. Go home and be surprised.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Acts10:34-43
This text from Acts 10 is the same passage that was specified for Easter Day in Cycles C and A, as was also John 20:1-18.
There are many people here this morning who do not normally come to Sunday services. By some deep movement in our souls, we are drawn to the church on Easter Sunday and on Christmas. Consequently, every congregation plans for an overflow crowd on those days. There are also many among our regular members who, though they attend church rather regularly, have never really been caught up in the message of Easter and who therefore regard the whole celebration with a certain amount of indifference, if not skepticism. If you are such a visitor or indifferent member, then perhaps our text from Acts for the morning is intended especially for you.
The verses 10 through 43 from the tenth chapter of Acts are made up of a sermon that the Apostle Peter proclaimed in Caesarea in the first century A.D. But to catch the full meaning of that sermon, we need to examine the context of the sermon that tells us the circumstances under which Peter is preaching.
Peter is a guest in the house of one Cornelius, a Gentile centurion in the Roman military. And actually, by Jewish law, Peter has no business being there. He is a Jew, a member of God's covenant people, set apart for God's purpose, and so as it says earlier in Acts 10, it is unlawful "for a Jew to associate with or to visit any one of another nation" (v. 28). In fact, Peter is roundly criticized later by the Christian Jews in Jerusalem (11:1-2). But Peter has had a vision, a very strange vision, of all kinds of unclean food lowered from heaven on a great sheet, and he has heard the voice of God saying to him, "What God has cleansed, you must not call common" (v. 15). Three times he hears that. At the same time, the Gentile centurion Cornelius, who has been attending the Jewish synagogue, praying, and giving alms to the poor -- a just and pious man -- has been visited by an angel who tells him to summon Peter from Joppa to his house in Caesarea. Cornelius has done that. He has sent his servants to fetch Peter. And when Peter agrees to go with them to the Gentile Cornelius' house, Peter realizes that is what his vision meant -- that God has cleansed and accepted not only the Jews, but also the Gentiles.
So that is the way Peter begins his sermon to those Gentiles gathered together in Cornelius' house. He tells them, "God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him" (v. 35). That's good news for us, isn't it -- for all of us who don't come to church very often or for all of us who are rather indifferent toward Easter. If we nevertheless pray to God and think about him and lead decent, honorable lives, we are acceptable to God, as the Gentile Cornelius and the crowd in his house were acceptable to God. And other folk who see themselves as dedicated Christians have no right to look down on us. God shows no partiality. All of us are valuable in his sight.
That which should give us pause in Peter's sermon, however, is that Cornelius and the other Gentiles in his house are not yet saved (cf. 11:14), and neither are we Gentiles. In fact, all of us, whether we be dedicated Christians or indifferent Easter observers or just common, decent folk who rarely darken the door of the church -- none of us is saved, either by what we do or by what we have left undone. And by that our text means that no one of us is given eternal life. All of us are going to die and disappear into dark and dust, with only an aging stone to mark the memory of us on this earth. All of us are going to die eternally, because we are sinners, unfit to enter the eternal Kingdom of God. All of us are lost, apart from God's work in Jesus Christ.
In his sermon to the Gentiles, therefore, the Apostle Peter must tell the Gentiles and us the story of that man from Nazareth. After the time of John the Baptist, Peter recounts, Jesus of Nazareth was anointed with the Holy Spirit and made the permanent recipient of it. He went about doing good and healing those who were under the power of evil spirits. Because of his words and acts, he was crucified by Jews and Gentiles on a Roman cross. But then -- and this is the important point -- God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. And, proclaims Peter, we are witnesses of that. That was not revealed to every one, but only to those of us who had been his disciples. We ate and drank with the risen Christ. We saw him once again alive. And he commanded us to testify that God made him Lord of all and the Judge of the living and the dead, both in this life and in the final judgment to come.
There is the crux of the matter for us, isn't it? Jesus Christ is now risen Lord, and it is he who will decide whether you and I will enter into the joy of God's eternal life or into the darkness of the grave forever. Our eternal life or death depends on the decision of our Lord Christ about you and me. We well might ask on this Easter Sunday, "Lord, what must we do to be saved?" Certainly no one of us is going to earn our salvation by being decent, or by attending church on Easter or Christmas, or even by being the most dedicated members of this congregation. The grace of God's salvation is given freely. God shows no partiality.
But, the Apostle Peter tells us Gentiles in his sermon there in Caesarea, everyone who believes in Jesus Christ and trusts him alone to save us -- everyone -- all of us -- receive forgiveness of our sins through Christ. Our evil, our wrongdoing, our terribly human weaknesses no longer bar us from God's eternal life. Christ is risen over all evil and sin and risen over the grave, and in him -- by trust in his saving work -- we can inherit his eternal life with the Father. We can be granted repentance and forgiveness unto life, as it is expressed in the next chapter of Acts (11:18).
The Gentiles in Caesarea who heard Peter's sermon and believed its message received the gift of faith from the Holy Spirit. And consequently, they were baptized into the Christian Church and became the people of their Lord, given the joyful certainty of life everlasting with the Father (10:44-48). We Gentiles here this morning, no matter what our past works or piety, can have the same joy and certainty given to that little Gentile group in the first century A.D. God shows no partiality. God's forgiving grace is extended to us all. But Easter is a matter of eternal life or death, and our loving God wants so much for us to choose life.
The conclusion of the Jesus story is a surprise ending of major proportions. Most of us are so familiar with the story that its ending has lost that surprise. On this Sunday, maybe we can dramatize the surprise of Christ's rising and open new meaning in the old story. A tragic death is not the conclusion, but a surprising resurrection that transforms the whole Jesus story. Our lessons each play on that divine reversal and the surprise inherent in Christ's resurrection.
Acts 10:34-43
The reading is one of the many speeches and sermons in Acts. In it Peter summarizes the meaning of the events that have just transpired in his life. He has just experienced his dream-vision of the unclean food descending in a sheet and the declaration of the heavenly voice, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane" (10:15). As if to confirm his insight that "God shows no partiality" (v. 34), the Holy Spirit is poured out on Gentiles in Cornelius' house. With this series of events, the stage is set for the church to begin its mission beyond Judaism to the Gentiles.
Peter's speech begins with his announcement of the inclusion of the Gentiles. "God shows no partiality" (see also, Romans 2:11 and Galatians 2:6). God is not partial toward the Jews but eager to bring others to faith. The requirements for being acceptable to the Lord are simply respect of and awe before God ("fear"), as well as a moral life ("does what is right"). These are representative of what the Hebrew Scriptures claimed (for example, Psalm 15), and the author has skillfully shown the Gentile Cornelius to be just such a person.
To demonstrate the truth of this claim and the affirmation that God "is Lord of all," Peter sketches the life story of Jesus. He argues that the essence of Jesus' life and preaching was a message of "peace" (v. 36). In this case, the word means a reconciling of the factions of humanity, a wholeness, and an overcoming of the division between Jew and Gentile and all other barriers we humans construct among ourselves. The Jesus story is told with great brevity. The first part (vv. 37-38) summarizes Jesus' ministry with "doing good deeds and healing all." Peter says he should know, because he and others witnessed Jesus' ministry (v. 39).
Peter continues by outlining the passion story: death, resurrection, and appearances. Luke contrasts Jesus' death with his being raised. The reference to the "tree" describes his demeaning and shameful death befitting one who has committed a crime punishable by death (see Deuteronomy 21:22). The author takes no time to suggest who was responsible for Jesus' execution but hurries on to say that "God raised him on the third day" (v. 40). The expressions for Christ's resurrection can be found in both passive and active verbs (that is, "was raised" and "rose" -- see 1 Thessalonians 4:14 for an example of the latter). The passive verb, emphasizing God's act on and for Jesus, is probably the older of the two forms. "The third day" is a troublesome expression. Depending on how one counts, Christ was not actually in the grave three days and three nights. The temporal reference may be explained by calculating the time between his death and Christ's first appearance as risen Lord. Others find the meaning of this phrase in the Old Testament traditions. (See our discussion of 1 Corinthians 15:4 below.)
The appearances of the risen Christ are evidence of Jesus' resurrection. Like his resurrection itself, the risen Christ's appearances are a divine act ("God ... allowed him to appear," v. 40). However, the risen Christ did not go about dazzling people into faith. Only those who had shared the ministry of Jesus ("ate and drank with him") are privileged to have these experiences. A relationship with Christ prior to his passion seems a prerequisite for seeing the risen Lord. Faith alone allows one this kind of vision.
The followers' encounters with the living Christ have a specific purpose. They receive a mission. They are not allowed to bask in this marvelous event; they are to be out and about preaching and witnessing to what God has done in Christ. Peter puts it very succinctly: Christ is the one God has chosen as the "judge of the living and the dead"(v. 42). With that mission in mind, the speech concludes with the claim that the prophets were witnesses to Christ long before this. The whole of the divine act is to offer humans "forgiveness" -- release from the bondage of sin.
Peter makes one thing perfectly clear in this speech: the Jesus story is God's doing for a specific purpose. He begins with words about who God is, stresses that God responds to the injustice done to Jesus, and concludes with God's making Jesus the primary player in this life. God provides the surprise ending to this drama. The one who suffers the most shameful death imaginable is raised from the dead, made to appear to his circle of followers, and is then made the judge of the whole of life. The ending is a surprise, but so too are the results of the story. The most surprising result is that we learn there is but one Lord and that all the differences among us humans dissolve before the risen Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
The second reading includes what may be the oldest existing Christian creed. If scholars are right, Paul inherited this creedal statement from the church before him and passed it on to the Corinthians Christians. Why does Paul turn in chapter 15 to a discussion of the resurrection? He may be trying to counter doubt about the Christians' resurrection stirred up by Paul's antagonists in Corinth. He may have left this issue to the very last because of its importance. Whatever the case, chapter 15 casts the whole of the epistle and its teaching in a different light.
Verses 1-11 comprise the first stage in Paul's defense of the resurrection. Here he shows that Christ's resurrection is planted solidly at the heart of the Christian faith. He then goes on in the verses that follow the reading to explore what Christ's resurrection means for our destiny. Verses 1-2 introduce the topic of resurrection. Verses 3-7 are probably the ancient creed to which he appeals. That leads him into a discussion of his own experience of the risen Christ and the meaning of his ministry (vv. 8-11).
The introduction is one long complicated sentence. Paul is probably being overly diplomatic by saying, "I would remind you." Does he really mean, "You had better recall"? The Corinthians have embraced the gospel he preached, and he is grateful for that. This gospel is the source of their salvation, but with a condition. It doesn't work if you don't hang on to it, treasure it, and live by it. Good news isn't good if you don't believe it to be true. The last phrase ("unless you have come to believe in vain") returns to the Paul statement that the readers have received and believed the message (v. 1). Now he qualifies all he has said by acknowledging that they might not have really believed it! Paul is not doubting the truth of the gospel but the authenticity of the Corinthians' faith.
Verse 3 introduces the creedal statement. It is part of what Paul had received through the tradition and shared with those in his congregations. The four clauses of the creed are each introduced with the word "that." We are not sure just where the creed ends and Paul's own comments begin. The first clause is simply "that Christ died for our sins." A most condensed version of the belief that his death was on our behalf and somehow opened up the possibility of forgiveness and freedom from sin. Paul repeats the phrase "in accordance with the scriptures" again in verse 4 in connection with the resurrection. We don't know what this phrase means. Efforts to chase down some Old Testament passages that the church had in mind are probably fruitless. More likely is that the phrase affirms the idea that Christ's death and resurrection were continuous with God's saving action rehearsed in the Hebrew Scriptures.
The second clause affirms Jesus' burial. The death was real and complete, not a phoney pretense. The third clause claims that God raised Jesus. (Notice that it was God's doing and not Jesus' own power.) Then we encounter another use of the expression "on the third day." (See our discussion of Acts 10:40 above.) This time it is connected with "in accordance with the Scriptures," and we don't know whether the number "three days," the resurrection itself, or the two together is harmonious with the Scripture. Again, we think the important thing is the unity of the Testaments.
Verses 5-7 deal with appearances of the risen Lord. Paul recites appearances to five different persons and groups. Some of them are represented in the appearance stories in the four Gospels, but others aren't (for example, an appearance to "five hundred brothers and sisters"). Again the point is that the risen Christ appeared to those who already had a relationship with him. For Paul and the early church the experiences of the risen Christ proved the reality of his resurrection.
Finally, Paul says the story has a surprise ending. Christ appeared even to him (probably in his Damascus road experience). He offers several reasons why this is surprising. First of all, he was "untimely (or abnormally) born," although we are not sure what he means by this. Paul may be saying that his own birth was in some way aberrant. The Greek word can also mean "freaky," and some have argued that Paul's Corinthian opponents have called him a freak. Paul is clearly saying he does not feel worthy of being a recipient of a resurrection appearance. He is the "tiniest" of the apostles (in stature or importance?), but his unworthiness is because of his pre-Christian life. He is what he is by God's grace, and that grace has made him try all the harder to be effective. To what degree he himself and to what degree God alone is responsible for the effectiveness of his ministry does not matter. What finally matters is that the gospel has been proclaimed and evoked faith.
Christ's resurrection is a surprise ending but perhaps more surprising is that the risen Christ should appear to one so unworthy as Paul. Of course, that sounds familiar, doesn't it? Which of us would claim to be worthy of such an experience? Moreover, Paul's encounter with the risen Christ was long after the appearances to others. This means that the risen Christ may continue to appear to people. The surprise ending may then be that we might encounter the risen Christ in our own lives today.
John 20:1-18
This is a rich story comprised of two parts: The first is the discovery of the empty tomb by Mary Magdalene (vv. 1-10) and the second the account of Christ's appearance to Mary (vv. 11-18). These two are held together by the character of Mary Magdalene.
The first part of the story stresses several things. Mary apparently comes to the tomb for no other reason than to be near her Lord whom she dearly loves. She does not come to anoint the body, for that has already been done (19:38-42). Finding the tomb fills her with fear that the body had been stolen. Grave robbery was very common in that day and place. Then Peter and the beloved disciple come to the tomb at Mary's bidding, find it empty, and return to their homes. What it means that the beloved disciple "believed" is uncertain. What is certain is that Peter doesn't seem to understand at all, and both of them return to what they were about before Mary's intrusion.
The story continues in verses 11-18 with Mary still at the tomb mourning. Her love of Jesus fills her with such sorrow that she cannot think of anything but that someone has made off with body. She says to the two angels (v. 13) and Jesus (v. 15) the same thing she has announced to Peter and the beloved disciple: someone has taken the body away, and she doesn't know where it is. She is not at all moved to marvel and awe by the appearance of the angelic beings. There is but one thing on her mind: to find Jesus' body.
Maybe that is why she does not immediately recognize the risen Christ. Her sorrow, her preoccupation with finding the body, and her unreadiness for an encounter with the risen Christ all combine to cover her eyes. The covering, however, is ripped off by the sound of her name, "Mary." Jesus calls his sheep by name (10:3b). To have Christ call us by our names allows us to see as we had not seen before. Mary responds with an affectionate reference to her master and falls at the feet of her Lord. However, Christ orders her, "Do not hold on to me." Christ is present, but now in a new form. Mary now has a new relationship with Christ different from the one she had known with the earthly Jesus. Yet it is a relationship still filled with love. Mary cannot hold on to the risen Christ but must share the news of her experience with others. Jesus says he is ascending to God, but what that means is unclear. John has no ascension story, and Jesus' ascension seems comprised of his death, resurrection, and appearances taken together.
Mary obediently does has her Lord as asked. She announces to the other disciples very simply, "I have seen the Lord." With her announcement there is a whole new beginning for Jesus' followers. She -- a woman! -- brings the news of the resurrection to her colleagues. As one scholar has said, Mary is the apostle to the apostles. She is the first to announce the resurrection to those who will now announce it to others.
This is a surprise ending, isn't it? Not only that Christ is no longer among the dead. This is surprise enough. However, Mary's surprise ending is that the risen Christ comes to her in her sorrow and confusion and calls her by name. The surprise for some is that a woman should be chosen to be the first to carry the resurrection message. One more surprise ending: the Gospel of John ends without any conclusion to the period of the resurrection appearances (in contrast to Luke). The Gospel story ends with the risen Lord still popping up in unexpected places (see chapter 21). So, our surprise is that the risen Christ may appear to us in the disguise of a gardener, call our names, and send us on a mission.
Mark 16:1-8
This is a very difficult passage to preach on Easter Sunday. Unless you chose one of the other endings to Mark, you are left with no account of an appearance of the risen Christ and no faithful mission completed by the women (contrast John 20:1-18). Yet the shortest ending of the Gospel is the preferred reading, since the other two endings show evidence of being the work of scribes. So, what do we have in this lesson to preach?
First, the surprise ending of the Jesus story in Mark evokes a fear and awe that silences many of us. The fear that hushed the women demonstrates a dimension of the Easter story all too seldom developed today. The evidence of the empty tomb and the announcement of the "young man" filled the women with awe. They knew they stood in the presence of a mystery that could only be explained by God's awesome presence. The divine power had rolled the stone away.
We tend to domesticate the Easter story. We often reduce it to a joyful occasion celebrating what's new. We observe it each year, so that it becomes another of our social "holidays." Candy and eggs, a "Hallmark moment," and an extended weekend away from work. Maybe we need to reclaim the awe of those women. Maybe we need to stress that this surprise ending entails the immediate presence of the Almighty Creator of the universe.
Second, the surprise ending of the Jesus story in Mark entails a promise yet to be fulfilled. Readers are left, as were the women, with only the words of that strange young man: Christ has risen and will meet you in Galilee. No appearance of the risen Lord, just a promise. The young man orders the women to tell the others Jesus is going ahead of them to Galilee. They are to go home! Back to where it all started. There's where the risen Christ will be found.
So, too for us, Easter is a promise yet to be fulfilled. Today the angels tell us, "Go home." The risen Christ is not in the church building, but back home where we live day by day. If we take this promise seriously, we will look for the risen Christ in our everyday lives. We will look carefully at others and listen carefully to what they say to us, because they may be the risen Christ in our midst. The promise of the resurrection promises surprise endings for each of us. Surprise endings to our whole lives. Surprise endings to our fear and timidity, to our guilt and blame, to our broken and strained relationships. Go home and be surprised.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Acts10:34-43
This text from Acts 10 is the same passage that was specified for Easter Day in Cycles C and A, as was also John 20:1-18.
There are many people here this morning who do not normally come to Sunday services. By some deep movement in our souls, we are drawn to the church on Easter Sunday and on Christmas. Consequently, every congregation plans for an overflow crowd on those days. There are also many among our regular members who, though they attend church rather regularly, have never really been caught up in the message of Easter and who therefore regard the whole celebration with a certain amount of indifference, if not skepticism. If you are such a visitor or indifferent member, then perhaps our text from Acts for the morning is intended especially for you.
The verses 10 through 43 from the tenth chapter of Acts are made up of a sermon that the Apostle Peter proclaimed in Caesarea in the first century A.D. But to catch the full meaning of that sermon, we need to examine the context of the sermon that tells us the circumstances under which Peter is preaching.
Peter is a guest in the house of one Cornelius, a Gentile centurion in the Roman military. And actually, by Jewish law, Peter has no business being there. He is a Jew, a member of God's covenant people, set apart for God's purpose, and so as it says earlier in Acts 10, it is unlawful "for a Jew to associate with or to visit any one of another nation" (v. 28). In fact, Peter is roundly criticized later by the Christian Jews in Jerusalem (11:1-2). But Peter has had a vision, a very strange vision, of all kinds of unclean food lowered from heaven on a great sheet, and he has heard the voice of God saying to him, "What God has cleansed, you must not call common" (v. 15). Three times he hears that. At the same time, the Gentile centurion Cornelius, who has been attending the Jewish synagogue, praying, and giving alms to the poor -- a just and pious man -- has been visited by an angel who tells him to summon Peter from Joppa to his house in Caesarea. Cornelius has done that. He has sent his servants to fetch Peter. And when Peter agrees to go with them to the Gentile Cornelius' house, Peter realizes that is what his vision meant -- that God has cleansed and accepted not only the Jews, but also the Gentiles.
So that is the way Peter begins his sermon to those Gentiles gathered together in Cornelius' house. He tells them, "God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him" (v. 35). That's good news for us, isn't it -- for all of us who don't come to church very often or for all of us who are rather indifferent toward Easter. If we nevertheless pray to God and think about him and lead decent, honorable lives, we are acceptable to God, as the Gentile Cornelius and the crowd in his house were acceptable to God. And other folk who see themselves as dedicated Christians have no right to look down on us. God shows no partiality. All of us are valuable in his sight.
That which should give us pause in Peter's sermon, however, is that Cornelius and the other Gentiles in his house are not yet saved (cf. 11:14), and neither are we Gentiles. In fact, all of us, whether we be dedicated Christians or indifferent Easter observers or just common, decent folk who rarely darken the door of the church -- none of us is saved, either by what we do or by what we have left undone. And by that our text means that no one of us is given eternal life. All of us are going to die and disappear into dark and dust, with only an aging stone to mark the memory of us on this earth. All of us are going to die eternally, because we are sinners, unfit to enter the eternal Kingdom of God. All of us are lost, apart from God's work in Jesus Christ.
In his sermon to the Gentiles, therefore, the Apostle Peter must tell the Gentiles and us the story of that man from Nazareth. After the time of John the Baptist, Peter recounts, Jesus of Nazareth was anointed with the Holy Spirit and made the permanent recipient of it. He went about doing good and healing those who were under the power of evil spirits. Because of his words and acts, he was crucified by Jews and Gentiles on a Roman cross. But then -- and this is the important point -- God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. And, proclaims Peter, we are witnesses of that. That was not revealed to every one, but only to those of us who had been his disciples. We ate and drank with the risen Christ. We saw him once again alive. And he commanded us to testify that God made him Lord of all and the Judge of the living and the dead, both in this life and in the final judgment to come.
There is the crux of the matter for us, isn't it? Jesus Christ is now risen Lord, and it is he who will decide whether you and I will enter into the joy of God's eternal life or into the darkness of the grave forever. Our eternal life or death depends on the decision of our Lord Christ about you and me. We well might ask on this Easter Sunday, "Lord, what must we do to be saved?" Certainly no one of us is going to earn our salvation by being decent, or by attending church on Easter or Christmas, or even by being the most dedicated members of this congregation. The grace of God's salvation is given freely. God shows no partiality.
But, the Apostle Peter tells us Gentiles in his sermon there in Caesarea, everyone who believes in Jesus Christ and trusts him alone to save us -- everyone -- all of us -- receive forgiveness of our sins through Christ. Our evil, our wrongdoing, our terribly human weaknesses no longer bar us from God's eternal life. Christ is risen over all evil and sin and risen over the grave, and in him -- by trust in his saving work -- we can inherit his eternal life with the Father. We can be granted repentance and forgiveness unto life, as it is expressed in the next chapter of Acts (11:18).
The Gentiles in Caesarea who heard Peter's sermon and believed its message received the gift of faith from the Holy Spirit. And consequently, they were baptized into the Christian Church and became the people of their Lord, given the joyful certainty of life everlasting with the Father (10:44-48). We Gentiles here this morning, no matter what our past works or piety, can have the same joy and certainty given to that little Gentile group in the first century A.D. God shows no partiality. God's forgiving grace is extended to us all. But Easter is a matter of eternal life or death, and our loving God wants so much for us to choose life.
