Dead Men Believing
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
March 23, 2008
Easter Day / Cycle A
Dear Fellow Preachers:
Easter is all about life -- the resurrected life of Jesus Christ and the new life we can have as a result. However, just as Christ's resurrected life first required a death -- his death on the cross -- there must also be a death of our old life before we can experience the fullness of the new. Many resist that death, trying to make the most of the life they have outside of Christ. As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, how do we draw others to die with Christ so they, too, can live with him? Carlos Wilton will write the main article, with Scott Suskovic providing the response. Illustrations, liturgical aids, and a children's sermon are also provided.
Happy Easter!
Dead Men Believing
Carlos Wilton
Colossians 3:1-4
THE WORLD
"For you have died," writes the apostle, in Colossians 3:3, "and your life is hidden with Christ in God." That phrase, "For you have died," is nonsensical, on the face of it -- for it presumes there is no living audience to hear it. In the recent film, The Bucket List, billionaire executive Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) and blue-collar mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) are sharing a hospital room on a cancer ward. They decide to stop behaving as though they are already dead, and to live their lives to the fullest in the short time they have left. Living life to the fullest, for them, involves field trips like skydiving, visiting the pyramids, and getting a tattoo -- macho activities that set the ol' adrenaline a-pumping, but that still falls short of the fullness of life in Christ. A great many people go through life not recognizing that they are spiritually dead without Jesus Christ. Our task as preachers, on this day of days, is to make a case for pursuing the new life that is "hidden with Christ."
THE WORD
"For you have died." Our people's first reaction, upon hearing that line, may be to think sarcastically, "Thank you, pastor, for such an uplifting, inspiring message for Easter morning!" Yet, these words are uplifting, because what the apostle says next: our old life has passed away and has already been replaced with a new life in Christ. The full details of that new life may be "hidden with Christ in God" for now, but we can already glimpse its gleaming outlines. It is because of this realization that Paul can write, elsewhere, with such confidence, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55).
The implications of this fundamental change of orientation are wide-ranging. It's more than a mere metaphor. As a result of our new life in Christ, we Christians are meant to live differently in some very practical ways. The practical question had already been raised a few verses earlier: "If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world?" (2:20). Here, in 3:5, the apostle provides the answer. There are some things about our former lives that have to die along with those former lives: "fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry)."
The presence of greed in that list may seem incongruous, alongside more obviously fleshly sins like "fornication" and "evil desire" -- yet its presence there is no accident. Our free-enterprise-loving culture has a way of dismissing greed with a wink and a nod, while coming down hard on those who commit sexual sins. Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's pained face was all over the news broadcasts in recent days, while the CEO of the Wall Street investment bank, Bear Stearns -- whose overreaching greed is being bailed out with millions of taxpayer dollars -- is still an unknown to most Americans. If Colossians 3:5 is any guide, these two men's sins are on a par with each other. To bring the matter closer to home, the same could be said about the reluctance of most of us to "go green," reducing the share of the world's resources we consume, to the detriment of our neighbors in the less-developed world. Indifference to reducing our carbon footprint is a form of greed. (If anyone questions the lumping together of fornication and greed in the same category -- and they may, so accustomed are most American Christians to giving economic sins a free pass -- we can point out that it's right there in the Bible, in black and white.)
William Barclay describes the changes that come about because of new life in Christ in far-reaching terms. In his own words (updated to make them gender-inclusive):
This will obviously give [Christians] a new set of values. Things which the world thought important, [we] will no longer worry about. Ambitions which dominated the world, will be powerless to touch [us]. [We] will go on using the things of the world but [we] will use them in a new way. [We] will, for instance, set giving above getting, serving above ruling, forgiving above avenging. The Christian's standard of values will be God's not [humanity's].
-- Daily Study Bible: The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster, 1975), p. 147
The Greek word used here for "hidden" -- as in "hidden with Christ in God" -- is an interesting one. The word is krypto; it's where our words "cryptic" and "cryptography" come from. Our true lives in Christ are something of a cipher to us. Christ's resurrection hints at this new reality. We await his return in glory to fully break the code.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The plot of The Bucket List is built around two very different characters. On the one hand, there is the hard-charging health-care executive and corporate takeover artist Edward Cole. On the other, there is auto mechanic Carter Chambers, a gentle man who yearned to finish college and become a scholar and teacher, but settled for a life as an auto mechanic in order to provide for his growing family. Bankrolled by Edward's substantial fortune, these two check out of the hospital and take off on a trip around the world by private jet.
Their itinerary for this high-roller junket is their "bucket list." Hastily scrawled on a scrap of paper from a yellow legal pad, it's a list of things they'd like to do before they "kick the bucket." Edward (Nicholson's character), the kid who never grew up, is partial to fast cars and fast women. Carter (Freeman's character) proposes items that are more modest and more values-driven -- "witness something truly majestic," "help a complete stranger" -- although he enthusiastically joins in on the race-car driving and touring the world. (Carter passes on the tattoo idea, citing religious reasons, and convinces his new friend to make their African safari photographic, rather than a hunting trip.)
It's a buddy movie for the cancer set. In any other circumstances, these two men would have been unlikely to become friends, due to differences in background, wealth, temperament, and religious beliefs. Yet, they do become friends. The thing they have in common is cancer, and an awareness that their days are numbered.
The film's plot has been savaged by some critics for being contrived, but the fans evidently loved it. Surely, a large part of its appeal is the chemistry between these two accomplished actors, but its success also has to do with the way the film fearlessly takes on big, philosophical questions like the meaning of life, death, and religious faith. The Bucket List doesn't supply definitive answers to such questions, but it does open them up for viewers to ponder.
Anytime this happens in a major Hollywood movie, it's a good thing. Perhaps the chief enemy of religious faith today is not outright, aggressive unbelief -- as promulgated by atheist detractors like Christopher Hitchings and Richard Dawkins -- but, rather, the many small pleasures and distractions that keep us from engaging the big questions of life. Edward (Nicholson's character) has been preoccupied with sex, money, and the adrenaline rush of corporate takeovers all his adult life, to the detriment of just about everything else. His new friend leads him to consider realities larger than himself.
An over-the-hill hedonist, Edward is a frank and rather prickly agnostic, declaring that the sum total of his belief is "We live, we die, and the wheels on the bus go round and round." Carter (Freeman's character) gently declares his faith in God, although he admits it's not based on empirical evidence. That's what faith is all about, he tells his new friend. To him, faith is clearly not distilled from empirical analysis. It's not something you deduce. It's something you practice.
Does Edward get the message? The film hints that he does, leading him to a sort of personal redemption, through repairing some long-sundered family relationships. (It would not be good to share much more than that in a sermon, so as not to be a "spoiler" for those who haven't seen it.)
I'm a cancer survivor myself. Although I've never been as sick as the two men in the film, the scenes of them learning of their cancer diagnosis did strike a familiar chord. News like that sure does pick you up, turn you around, and put you back down in a different place. No doubt, some of our listeners on Easter morning will have been there, too. For those who haven't, it would be well to offer them a gentle reminder that life is more than an Easter egg hunt for sweet prizes of personal pleasure and professional achievement.
The new life that is "hidden with Christ in God" is not our old life writ large, with every frustrated yearning fulfilled. No, it's something else altogether. It's something even more wonderful, yet: a new life, in every respect.
ANOTHER VIEW
You Wouldn't Believe It!
Scott Suskovic
Once there was a young boy who came home from Sunday school and showed his mother a picture. When she asked, "What is it?" he replied proudly, "It's Easter!" Pleased that her son was learning about the resurrection but having difficulty with the details of the drawing, she asked, "What did your teacher say about it?"
"Well," he slowly began, "after they nailed Jesus to the cross, he was hurt real bad, so when the Special Forces finally rescued him from the cross, they rushed him to the trauma center at St. Luke's. They worked on him for hours in the ER but couldn't get a heartbeat and gave up. They moved Jesus' body to another room, heavily guarded by soldiers with a German accent. Just then, when no one was around, there was a blip on the heart monitor and Jesus woke up. He radioed for help and his buddies came with plastic explosives, wiped out the soldiers, blew open the door, and carried their buddy, Jesus, fireman style, across enemy lines to an awaiting helicopter where they would evac Jesus back to his dad."
The mother put her hands on her hips and said, "Is that what your teacher taught you?" Sheepishly the boy confessed, "Well, no. But if I told you what she said, you'd never believe it."
He has a point, you know. Who would have believed it? The age in which we now live has been called the age of cynicism, but it is naive to think that ours is the only generation filled with skeptics. The first century had its fill of skeptics as well. Even the women and the disciples, people whom Jesus told plainly that he would be arrested, whipped, crucified, and on the third day rise, were skeptical. They needed more proof. So instead of waiting outside the tomb with a large banner, "Welcome back, Jesus!" the disciples were hiding. The women came not to greet the risen Lord but to pay their last respects to the corpse of a friend.
Who would have believed it? It seems far more plausible the way the young lad described Easter than the fact that God simply broke the fetters of death shackling his son and brought him back from beyond the grave.
That's why Easter is above all things a miracle. It comes as a surprise because after the tragedy on Good Friday, no one expected it. On this morning, we do well to follow the lead of the women who stumbled upon Jesus that morning. This did not try to understand. They did not try to change the story to make it sound more plausible. Instead, the believed what they had seen, they shared what they had heard, and they rejoiced in what had happened. Believing, sharing, and rejoicing are the marks of Easter.
Evidently, there were many skeptics living in the first century who thought a man rising from the dead was too unbelievable to be true. So there were stories circulating that the disciples actually stole the body of Jesus and made up the whole story of the resurrection to continue the movement started by their now-dead leader. After all, a stolen body is more believable than a risen one. The rumors spread quickly.
To counter this spread, Matthew describes the scene at the tomb on that first Easter morning. Rome's best-trained soldiers guarded the tomb. This army was widely known for its accuracy and impenetrable defense. A sealed tomb, large stone, Rome's best soldiers on guard. This army, this administration, left little to chance. If the body were going to be stolen, that ragtag little army of frightened disciples and assorted misfits would quickly need to be well trained and heavily armed to overpower these Roman soldiers at the tomb. If they somehow got past the soldiers, there was the problem of a large stone rolled in from of this sealed tomb -- a stone so large that only something like -- well, like an angelic, heavenly being could move it.
To further accent the absurdity of the claim of a stolen body, Matthew points out that it wasn't the men, but the women who braved a confrontation with the soldiers and even dared approach the tomb. Hardly a match against helmets and spears. They came not to anoint the body, but simply see the tomb where they laid him. They weren't spies coming with ulterior motives. They came to mourn. There was something luring, if not mournful, about this grave site that beckoned the women to come and weep.
We do the same today -- return to the place of grief. A cemetery, a childhood home where there was hurt, a church where the echoes of a past funeral still lingers in the air -- even a favorite tree, a memorable song, and a special fragrance. These things mysteriously draw us and we return to them in order to think, or remember, or grieve.
When the women came on that first Easter, it was not with a triumphant hurrah, but with hearts heavy, tears flowing, and hopes shattered. Death, or so it had seemed, had the last and final word. If there is one thing that is believable, it is the finality of death. Then, just as quickly as death snatched their friend away and turned their lives upside down, life is thrown topsy-turvy again before the tomb. An angel descends upon the scene, bursting forth the stone and scaring the soldiers. Living breathing guards fall down like dead men while a man, dead for three days, walks around. How ironic! The grief and sorrow of the women immediately changes to fear and joy. Amazing! Who would have believed it? Who could have believed it?
The women, for one. They believed. I suppose they were the lucky ones. They did not have to be told about Jesus. They didn't have to wrestle with that natural skeptic in all of us. They saw and they believed. Without asking questions, without seeking additional proof, they believed.
But their Easter faith took them a second step. Their belief compelled them to share. The experience compelled them to tell others. More powerful than talking about a great movie or speaking about a fantastic restaurant or retelling a funny joke to others instead of just keeping it to ourselves, these women were compelled to share the good news with others. Some things cannot be held back, but instead they come exploding out from the heart and have to be shared.
They believed, they shared, and then, thirdly, they rejoiced. And from the special music to the lovely flowers to the gift of communion, we still focus on celebrating this day of resurrection.
What makes this day so incredible is not that we now know there is life after death. We've known that. Most ancient cultures believed that. From the Happy Hunting Grounds to King Tut's tomb to the tiny cemetery attached to the small country church, the notion of the afterlife has been embraced for thousands of years. What happened with Easter is that now we have found the path. Now we know how to get there. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. We have been searching for thousands of years for that key to everlasting life, that vehicle that will bring us to the other side safely, that person who has been there and has returned to take us there himself to a place he has prepared for us. Those who believe and are baptized have the blessed assurance that because he lives, we shall live, also. For Easter is not only about the rising of Jesus. It is a glimpse, a promise, a gift of our own rising, our own Easter. Who would have believed it? Who could have believed it?
Well, I personally know at least a couple of people today who do believe it, even some people within this church! Two weeks ago, I received a prayer request written on Sunday morning and placed in the offering plate to be given to the pastors. It was obviously a child's handwriting but well written, pointed, and from the heart as only one so young can compose. It read, "Pray for Dorothy Roth that she is still doing good in heaven." It was a prayer written by one of Dorothy's grandchildren. Pray for Dorothy Roth that she is still doing good in heaven. Dorothy was Sunday school teacher, well-known and well-loved. She died a year-and-a-half ago.
Pray for Dorothy Roth, that she is still doing good in heaven. At first I thought, "How could she do otherwise? I mean, it's heaven, right?" But then I thought, what a strong statement about Easter. How well it follows the lead of the women at the tomb. First, there is the belief that because Jesus lives, so does Dorothy. This belief led this child to share with others, in this case the pastors, his belief in eternal life. Finally, like the women at the tomb, it was a prayer filled not with remorse, but of joy. Without Easter, death gets the final word. With Easter, the final word is life. Believing, Sharing, Rejoicing: the marks of Easter.
Earthquakes rattling the ground. Rugged soldiers fainting. Large stones rolled away. Angels appearing, talking, soothing, and directing. Dead men living? There is a part of me that thinks like that young boy in Sunday school, "If I told you what they told me, you'd never believe it." Who would believe such a thing? Who could believe such a thing? Well, there is at least one grandchild in our midst who does -- and, I'm sure, one day he fully expects to sit on his grandmother's lap again. Not because he has this all figured out, but because Jesus rose from the dead. And that's good enough. And you can bet that on this day his voice is heard even above the songs of the angels and the cheers of all the saints who are still doing good in heaven. For it is a cheer of confidence. A voice of triumph. A cry of victory grounded in the life-giving promise that many of us probably heard for the first time on some grandmother's lips in Sunday school, "He is risen. He is risen, indeed." One day, so shall we.
ILLUSTRATIONS
We're used to using the metaphor of daybreak in Easter preaching. The Elizabethan preacher, John Donne, thinks sunrise isn't good enough. He says we ought to consider Christ as not dawn, but noonday:
He brought light out of darkness, not out of a lesser light, and he can bring thee summer out of winter, though thou hast no spring. Though in the ways of fortune, understanding, or conscience thou hast been benighted till now, wintered and frozen, clouded and eclipsed, damped and benumbed, smothered and stupefied, now God comes to thee, not as the dawning of the day, not as the bud of the spring, but as the sun at noon.
-- From a sermon preached Christmas Day, 1624
* * *
A news story from last December tells of a new, high-tech product being marketed through the funeral industry: the electronic tombstone.
This $2,000 solar-powered "serenity panel," being marketed as the "Vidstone," is meant to be affixed to the front of a gravestone. It "pays tribute to the deceased in color pictures, words, music, and even videos. It's all from a small memory chip inside a device that opens like the front cover of a book."
It's common, today, for funeral homes to display videos of the deceased's life during family visiting hours. This new device extends the concept to the gravestone itself. There are some limits, however, to how much the device can be used: "Four hours of sun provides enough juice to play the video with up to a 10-minute tribute on a 7-inch LCD screen about six times. There are headphone jacks to listen to the audio." The device must also be fully exposed to sunlight. A location under a shade tree would be less than ideal.
While the new product has been slow to catch on -- some question its long-term durability, compared to the granite out of which headstones are typically carved -- there are those who favor it because it provides a way for the deceased to speak from the grave.
"I see no reason," says one funeral director, "why I couldn't stand in front of a video camera and give a message to my grandchildren, such as: Faith in the Lord was important to me."
(This is probably not what the scriptures mean by "new life in Christ.")
-- "Death goes digital: The electronic tombstone," CNN.com, December 20, 2007.
* * *
Soldiers who go to places like Iraq or Afghanistan, and return home seriously wounded, often speak of their "Alive Day." It's not so much the day they were wounded, as the day they looked around and realized they were still alive, and were going to make it after all.
No soldiers celebrate their wounds, but some do celebrate the anniversary of their Alive Day. It was a day when, as perhaps never before in their young lives, did they feel so grateful to be alive.
That's what Easter can be for us. Battered and wounded as we sometimes are by life's struggles, Easter is our Alive Day.
* * *
Martin Luther tells us that our Lord's rising from the dead was for us -- for us! -- calling forth the greatest celebration in us:
Behold Jesus Christ, the King of glory, rising from the dead. Here the heart can find its supreme joy and lasting possessions. Here there is not the slightest trace of evil, for "Christ being risen from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer has dominion over him." Here is that furnace of love and the fire of God in Zion, as Isaiah says, for Christ is not only born to us, but also given to us [Isaiah 9:6]. Therefore, his resurrection and everything that he accomplished through it are mine. In Romans 8:32 the Apostle exults in exuberant joy, "Has he not also given me all things with him?"
Martin Luther, Daily Readings from Luther's Writings, ed. by Barbara Owen (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg, 1993), p. 117
* * *
Jesus' disciples have trouble at first, believing that he really could be raised from the dead. But when he comes and stands among them, they know. Oswald Chambers writes:
When you really see Jesus, I defy you to doubt Him. When he says, "Let not your heart be troubled," if you see Him I defy you to trouble your mind, it is a moral impossibility to doubt when He is there. Every time you get into personal contact with Jesus, His words are real. "My peace I give unto you," it is a peace all over from the crown of the head to the sole of the feet, an irrepressible confidence. "Your life is his with Christ in God," and the imperturbable peace of Jesus Christ is imparted to you.
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Uhrichsville, Ohio: Barbour, 2000), p. 359
* * *
An amazing thing happens that first Easter Day. There's almost unbelievable news, news of great joy. Debbie Blue writes:
God, the creative Lover of the world, is willing to die at the hands of his people and then comes back again, not to make them pay, but to give them more love. It's unstoppable, transformative, scandalous forgiveness.
And this forgiveness is for each of us, for all of us, no matter what we've done, no matter what we are. It's a forgiveness that cuts to the heart, an astonishing freedom to love one another earnestly, without judgment.
Debbie Blue, "Living the Word," The Christian Century (Chicago: The Christian Century, March 25, 2008), p. 21
* * *
It is said that the ancient monks of Ireland often kept a skull on their desks as a grim reminder of the primary fact of our existence... that from the moment of our birth we are dying. Life itself for the ancient Celts was a terminal disease. It made abundant sense then that to be joined with Christ in a death like his, it would follow as day follows the night that so too we are joined in a resurrection like his as well. For these Celts, the cross and the crown, death and resurrection, are just two sides of the very same coin.
* * *
We live lives that are between life and death. Sometimes without purpose, our lives take on a "lifeless" state. In fact we are invited with the turn of phrase, "Sleepers awake!" An interesting story of the Buddha illustrates the point. It is said that soon after his enlightenment, the Buddha passed a man on the road who was struck by the Buddha's extraordinary radiance and peaceful presence. The man stopped and asked, "My friend, what are you? Are you a celestial being or a god?"
"No," said the Buddha.
"Well, then, are you some kind of magician or wizard?"
Again, the Buddha answered, "No."
"Are you a man?"
"No."
"Well, my friend, then what are you?"
The Buddha replied, "I am awake."
* * *
As we consider the mystery of Good Friday and Easter and the power of the resurrection, we are also reminded of the mystery of God itself. An anonymous old saying puts it well: "God pours life into death and death into life without a drop being spilled."
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Responsive Call to Worship
Leader: Christ is risen!
People: He is risen indeed!
Leader: The power of death that once held our lives in bondage and
fear has now been broken, for Christ is risen.
People: Now we can see that death does not have the last word
over our lives, for Christ is risen.
Leader: Christ is risen!
People: He is risen indeed!
Leader: And so we gather to worship the risen Lord of history, God
the Son who loved us and died for us: He is risen!
People: We come to give ourselves in joyful love to the Savior who
died to make our lives new: He is risen!
Leader: Christ is risen!
People: He is risen indeed!
(written by Jay Ayers)
Prayer of the Day
God of new life, the women came to the tomb on the first day of the week, hands laden with spices of sadness. So we come this morning, hearts broken by the sin of the world. We confess that we have joined the world in surrendering to the powers of death. We have hurt others by what we have said and done and thought, and we have not lived up to the high calling of discipleship. As you met those faithful women in resurrection power, and sent them racing to tell others the good news, so meet us this morning in song, scripture and story. Reveal to us the risen Christ, so we too may tell the good news that life is stronger than death! Amen.
Unison Prayer of Confession
God of mercy,
you charge us to look for Jesus not among the dead, but among the living --
but we confess that we continue to peer into the tomb.
We are hesitant to trust the good news of resurrection,
to believe that your power can make a difference in our world.
We have shrunk away from opportunities to serve,
and have hurt others through word and deed.
We have injured your good earth through careless consumption.
Forgive us all our sin, we pray,
and illumine our lives with resurrection light;
in Jesus' name. Amen.
Responsive Prayer
Leader: They ran with their good news:
People: "He is risen!" they cried,
Leader: "The tomb is empty!"
People: The angels said, "He is risen,"
Leader: but these words seemed to them an idle tale,
People: nothing more than wishful thinking.
Leader: And they did not believe.
People: O God who raises men and women from the dead,
Leader: give us the eyes of faith:
People: that we may not only hear their words
Leader: but believe the truth:
People: that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead,
Leader: and, by the Spirit's power,
People: God has conquered death forever!
Leader: Lord, may we believe:
People: help our unbelief. Amen.
Prayer of Intercession
O God, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, we pray:
For those whose crucifixions continue with no Easter in sight --
Tortured prisoners, Abused children, Battered women,
Stricken families of the disappeared,
Homeless poor, Imperiled refugees,
Victims of discrimination and oppression,
Victims of war.
Take your Easter people to the world's crosses to take people down.
We pray for those who continue the crucifixions with no Easter in sight --
Because they think people deserve what they dish out,
Because they are just obeying orders,
Because they are just doing their jobs,
Because they are getting rid of troublemakers,
Because they are defending national security,
Because they are protecting sacred values as they define them.
Take your Easter people to the world's hurters to free them from their own bondage.
We pray for those who languish in tombs with no Easter in sight --
Tombs of their own depression and despair,
Tombs of their own ignorance and misconception,
Tombs of their own narrowness and provincialism,
Tombs of their own isolation and accommodation,
Tombs of their own prejudice and bitterness.
Take your Easter people to all the tombs of human deadness to roll the stones away.
For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory. Amen.
-- C. Eric Mount Jr., in Martha S. Gillies, ed., Let Us Pray: Reformed Prayers for Christian Worship (Geneva Press, 2002), pp. 41-42
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Hallelujah!
Object: a neatly folded linen cloth, large enough to cover the entire head of Jesus
John 20:1-18
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. (vv. 6-7)
Good morning, boys and girls. After Jesus died on the cross, two men moved him to another place. Both men were secret followers of Jesus because they belonged to the group that wanted Jesus killed. The first man was Joseph of Arimathea. He went to Pilate, the governor, and asked if he could take the body of Jesus and bury him. The second man was Nicodemus. Nicodemus brought a bunch of myrrh and aloe. The Bible says it weighed almost 100 pounds. The myrrh and aloe were meant to make the dead body smell more pleasant. Do you know where they took the body of Jesus to bury him? (let them answer) That's right, they took him to a tomb, but do you know to whom the tomb belonged? (let them answer) The answer is that it was Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. It was brand new and was carved out of rock. This was a very big rock carved out by special tools. Inside the rock was a place that looked like a room. There were several very flat spaces with a part of the rock on one end that looked like a pillow. They wrapped the body of Jesus in fine linen cloths. Everything but the head was covered with these linen wrappings. Jesus was taken into the tomb and laid on the flat stone with his head on the rock pillow. The final thing that was done was to put another piece of linen around the head of Jesus so that his face and head were completely covered. When Joseph and Nicodemus left the tomb, they rolled a huge stone in front of the tomb so that no one could get into the tomb. There were soldiers standing at attention around the tomb to make sure that no one tried to get in. That was on Friday night.
Very early on Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene, a friend and follower of Jesus, came to the tomb because she did not know that Joseph and Nicodemus had done such a good job with the myrrh and aloe. But when she got there she found the stone had been moved and the tomb was empty. She ran back to the disciples and wakened them. Peter and John raced to the tomb. John, who was younger, was much faster and arrived first. He just peeked inside but did not go in the tomb. Peter arrived and went right in the tomb. Peter was amazed. Not only was the body of Jesus gone but he also found the clothes that Jesus had been wrapped in by Joseph and Nicodemus. At the other end was a piece of linen like this, very neatly folded and laying on the flat stone. Some people said the body had been stolen but everyone else knew that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead and was then and is now alive. Christ is risen! Hallelujah! Christ is risen indeed! Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 23, 2008, issue.
Copyright 2008 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
Easter Day / Cycle A
Dear Fellow Preachers:
Easter is all about life -- the resurrected life of Jesus Christ and the new life we can have as a result. However, just as Christ's resurrected life first required a death -- his death on the cross -- there must also be a death of our old life before we can experience the fullness of the new. Many resist that death, trying to make the most of the life they have outside of Christ. As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, how do we draw others to die with Christ so they, too, can live with him? Carlos Wilton will write the main article, with Scott Suskovic providing the response. Illustrations, liturgical aids, and a children's sermon are also provided.
Happy Easter!
Dead Men Believing
Carlos Wilton
Colossians 3:1-4
THE WORLD
"For you have died," writes the apostle, in Colossians 3:3, "and your life is hidden with Christ in God." That phrase, "For you have died," is nonsensical, on the face of it -- for it presumes there is no living audience to hear it. In the recent film, The Bucket List, billionaire executive Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) and blue-collar mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) are sharing a hospital room on a cancer ward. They decide to stop behaving as though they are already dead, and to live their lives to the fullest in the short time they have left. Living life to the fullest, for them, involves field trips like skydiving, visiting the pyramids, and getting a tattoo -- macho activities that set the ol' adrenaline a-pumping, but that still falls short of the fullness of life in Christ. A great many people go through life not recognizing that they are spiritually dead without Jesus Christ. Our task as preachers, on this day of days, is to make a case for pursuing the new life that is "hidden with Christ."
THE WORD
"For you have died." Our people's first reaction, upon hearing that line, may be to think sarcastically, "Thank you, pastor, for such an uplifting, inspiring message for Easter morning!" Yet, these words are uplifting, because what the apostle says next: our old life has passed away and has already been replaced with a new life in Christ. The full details of that new life may be "hidden with Christ in God" for now, but we can already glimpse its gleaming outlines. It is because of this realization that Paul can write, elsewhere, with such confidence, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55).
The implications of this fundamental change of orientation are wide-ranging. It's more than a mere metaphor. As a result of our new life in Christ, we Christians are meant to live differently in some very practical ways. The practical question had already been raised a few verses earlier: "If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world?" (2:20). Here, in 3:5, the apostle provides the answer. There are some things about our former lives that have to die along with those former lives: "fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry)."
The presence of greed in that list may seem incongruous, alongside more obviously fleshly sins like "fornication" and "evil desire" -- yet its presence there is no accident. Our free-enterprise-loving culture has a way of dismissing greed with a wink and a nod, while coming down hard on those who commit sexual sins. Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's pained face was all over the news broadcasts in recent days, while the CEO of the Wall Street investment bank, Bear Stearns -- whose overreaching greed is being bailed out with millions of taxpayer dollars -- is still an unknown to most Americans. If Colossians 3:5 is any guide, these two men's sins are on a par with each other. To bring the matter closer to home, the same could be said about the reluctance of most of us to "go green," reducing the share of the world's resources we consume, to the detriment of our neighbors in the less-developed world. Indifference to reducing our carbon footprint is a form of greed. (If anyone questions the lumping together of fornication and greed in the same category -- and they may, so accustomed are most American Christians to giving economic sins a free pass -- we can point out that it's right there in the Bible, in black and white.)
William Barclay describes the changes that come about because of new life in Christ in far-reaching terms. In his own words (updated to make them gender-inclusive):
This will obviously give [Christians] a new set of values. Things which the world thought important, [we] will no longer worry about. Ambitions which dominated the world, will be powerless to touch [us]. [We] will go on using the things of the world but [we] will use them in a new way. [We] will, for instance, set giving above getting, serving above ruling, forgiving above avenging. The Christian's standard of values will be God's not [humanity's].
-- Daily Study Bible: The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster, 1975), p. 147
The Greek word used here for "hidden" -- as in "hidden with Christ in God" -- is an interesting one. The word is krypto; it's where our words "cryptic" and "cryptography" come from. Our true lives in Christ are something of a cipher to us. Christ's resurrection hints at this new reality. We await his return in glory to fully break the code.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The plot of The Bucket List is built around two very different characters. On the one hand, there is the hard-charging health-care executive and corporate takeover artist Edward Cole. On the other, there is auto mechanic Carter Chambers, a gentle man who yearned to finish college and become a scholar and teacher, but settled for a life as an auto mechanic in order to provide for his growing family. Bankrolled by Edward's substantial fortune, these two check out of the hospital and take off on a trip around the world by private jet.
Their itinerary for this high-roller junket is their "bucket list." Hastily scrawled on a scrap of paper from a yellow legal pad, it's a list of things they'd like to do before they "kick the bucket." Edward (Nicholson's character), the kid who never grew up, is partial to fast cars and fast women. Carter (Freeman's character) proposes items that are more modest and more values-driven -- "witness something truly majestic," "help a complete stranger" -- although he enthusiastically joins in on the race-car driving and touring the world. (Carter passes on the tattoo idea, citing religious reasons, and convinces his new friend to make their African safari photographic, rather than a hunting trip.)
It's a buddy movie for the cancer set. In any other circumstances, these two men would have been unlikely to become friends, due to differences in background, wealth, temperament, and religious beliefs. Yet, they do become friends. The thing they have in common is cancer, and an awareness that their days are numbered.
The film's plot has been savaged by some critics for being contrived, but the fans evidently loved it. Surely, a large part of its appeal is the chemistry between these two accomplished actors, but its success also has to do with the way the film fearlessly takes on big, philosophical questions like the meaning of life, death, and religious faith. The Bucket List doesn't supply definitive answers to such questions, but it does open them up for viewers to ponder.
Anytime this happens in a major Hollywood movie, it's a good thing. Perhaps the chief enemy of religious faith today is not outright, aggressive unbelief -- as promulgated by atheist detractors like Christopher Hitchings and Richard Dawkins -- but, rather, the many small pleasures and distractions that keep us from engaging the big questions of life. Edward (Nicholson's character) has been preoccupied with sex, money, and the adrenaline rush of corporate takeovers all his adult life, to the detriment of just about everything else. His new friend leads him to consider realities larger than himself.
An over-the-hill hedonist, Edward is a frank and rather prickly agnostic, declaring that the sum total of his belief is "We live, we die, and the wheels on the bus go round and round." Carter (Freeman's character) gently declares his faith in God, although he admits it's not based on empirical evidence. That's what faith is all about, he tells his new friend. To him, faith is clearly not distilled from empirical analysis. It's not something you deduce. It's something you practice.
Does Edward get the message? The film hints that he does, leading him to a sort of personal redemption, through repairing some long-sundered family relationships. (It would not be good to share much more than that in a sermon, so as not to be a "spoiler" for those who haven't seen it.)
I'm a cancer survivor myself. Although I've never been as sick as the two men in the film, the scenes of them learning of their cancer diagnosis did strike a familiar chord. News like that sure does pick you up, turn you around, and put you back down in a different place. No doubt, some of our listeners on Easter morning will have been there, too. For those who haven't, it would be well to offer them a gentle reminder that life is more than an Easter egg hunt for sweet prizes of personal pleasure and professional achievement.
The new life that is "hidden with Christ in God" is not our old life writ large, with every frustrated yearning fulfilled. No, it's something else altogether. It's something even more wonderful, yet: a new life, in every respect.
ANOTHER VIEW
You Wouldn't Believe It!
Scott Suskovic
Once there was a young boy who came home from Sunday school and showed his mother a picture. When she asked, "What is it?" he replied proudly, "It's Easter!" Pleased that her son was learning about the resurrection but having difficulty with the details of the drawing, she asked, "What did your teacher say about it?"
"Well," he slowly began, "after they nailed Jesus to the cross, he was hurt real bad, so when the Special Forces finally rescued him from the cross, they rushed him to the trauma center at St. Luke's. They worked on him for hours in the ER but couldn't get a heartbeat and gave up. They moved Jesus' body to another room, heavily guarded by soldiers with a German accent. Just then, when no one was around, there was a blip on the heart monitor and Jesus woke up. He radioed for help and his buddies came with plastic explosives, wiped out the soldiers, blew open the door, and carried their buddy, Jesus, fireman style, across enemy lines to an awaiting helicopter where they would evac Jesus back to his dad."
The mother put her hands on her hips and said, "Is that what your teacher taught you?" Sheepishly the boy confessed, "Well, no. But if I told you what she said, you'd never believe it."
He has a point, you know. Who would have believed it? The age in which we now live has been called the age of cynicism, but it is naive to think that ours is the only generation filled with skeptics. The first century had its fill of skeptics as well. Even the women and the disciples, people whom Jesus told plainly that he would be arrested, whipped, crucified, and on the third day rise, were skeptical. They needed more proof. So instead of waiting outside the tomb with a large banner, "Welcome back, Jesus!" the disciples were hiding. The women came not to greet the risen Lord but to pay their last respects to the corpse of a friend.
Who would have believed it? It seems far more plausible the way the young lad described Easter than the fact that God simply broke the fetters of death shackling his son and brought him back from beyond the grave.
That's why Easter is above all things a miracle. It comes as a surprise because after the tragedy on Good Friday, no one expected it. On this morning, we do well to follow the lead of the women who stumbled upon Jesus that morning. This did not try to understand. They did not try to change the story to make it sound more plausible. Instead, the believed what they had seen, they shared what they had heard, and they rejoiced in what had happened. Believing, sharing, and rejoicing are the marks of Easter.
Evidently, there were many skeptics living in the first century who thought a man rising from the dead was too unbelievable to be true. So there were stories circulating that the disciples actually stole the body of Jesus and made up the whole story of the resurrection to continue the movement started by their now-dead leader. After all, a stolen body is more believable than a risen one. The rumors spread quickly.
To counter this spread, Matthew describes the scene at the tomb on that first Easter morning. Rome's best-trained soldiers guarded the tomb. This army was widely known for its accuracy and impenetrable defense. A sealed tomb, large stone, Rome's best soldiers on guard. This army, this administration, left little to chance. If the body were going to be stolen, that ragtag little army of frightened disciples and assorted misfits would quickly need to be well trained and heavily armed to overpower these Roman soldiers at the tomb. If they somehow got past the soldiers, there was the problem of a large stone rolled in from of this sealed tomb -- a stone so large that only something like -- well, like an angelic, heavenly being could move it.
To further accent the absurdity of the claim of a stolen body, Matthew points out that it wasn't the men, but the women who braved a confrontation with the soldiers and even dared approach the tomb. Hardly a match against helmets and spears. They came not to anoint the body, but simply see the tomb where they laid him. They weren't spies coming with ulterior motives. They came to mourn. There was something luring, if not mournful, about this grave site that beckoned the women to come and weep.
We do the same today -- return to the place of grief. A cemetery, a childhood home where there was hurt, a church where the echoes of a past funeral still lingers in the air -- even a favorite tree, a memorable song, and a special fragrance. These things mysteriously draw us and we return to them in order to think, or remember, or grieve.
When the women came on that first Easter, it was not with a triumphant hurrah, but with hearts heavy, tears flowing, and hopes shattered. Death, or so it had seemed, had the last and final word. If there is one thing that is believable, it is the finality of death. Then, just as quickly as death snatched their friend away and turned their lives upside down, life is thrown topsy-turvy again before the tomb. An angel descends upon the scene, bursting forth the stone and scaring the soldiers. Living breathing guards fall down like dead men while a man, dead for three days, walks around. How ironic! The grief and sorrow of the women immediately changes to fear and joy. Amazing! Who would have believed it? Who could have believed it?
The women, for one. They believed. I suppose they were the lucky ones. They did not have to be told about Jesus. They didn't have to wrestle with that natural skeptic in all of us. They saw and they believed. Without asking questions, without seeking additional proof, they believed.
But their Easter faith took them a second step. Their belief compelled them to share. The experience compelled them to tell others. More powerful than talking about a great movie or speaking about a fantastic restaurant or retelling a funny joke to others instead of just keeping it to ourselves, these women were compelled to share the good news with others. Some things cannot be held back, but instead they come exploding out from the heart and have to be shared.
They believed, they shared, and then, thirdly, they rejoiced. And from the special music to the lovely flowers to the gift of communion, we still focus on celebrating this day of resurrection.
What makes this day so incredible is not that we now know there is life after death. We've known that. Most ancient cultures believed that. From the Happy Hunting Grounds to King Tut's tomb to the tiny cemetery attached to the small country church, the notion of the afterlife has been embraced for thousands of years. What happened with Easter is that now we have found the path. Now we know how to get there. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. We have been searching for thousands of years for that key to everlasting life, that vehicle that will bring us to the other side safely, that person who has been there and has returned to take us there himself to a place he has prepared for us. Those who believe and are baptized have the blessed assurance that because he lives, we shall live, also. For Easter is not only about the rising of Jesus. It is a glimpse, a promise, a gift of our own rising, our own Easter. Who would have believed it? Who could have believed it?
Well, I personally know at least a couple of people today who do believe it, even some people within this church! Two weeks ago, I received a prayer request written on Sunday morning and placed in the offering plate to be given to the pastors. It was obviously a child's handwriting but well written, pointed, and from the heart as only one so young can compose. It read, "Pray for Dorothy Roth that she is still doing good in heaven." It was a prayer written by one of Dorothy's grandchildren. Pray for Dorothy Roth that she is still doing good in heaven. Dorothy was Sunday school teacher, well-known and well-loved. She died a year-and-a-half ago.
Pray for Dorothy Roth, that she is still doing good in heaven. At first I thought, "How could she do otherwise? I mean, it's heaven, right?" But then I thought, what a strong statement about Easter. How well it follows the lead of the women at the tomb. First, there is the belief that because Jesus lives, so does Dorothy. This belief led this child to share with others, in this case the pastors, his belief in eternal life. Finally, like the women at the tomb, it was a prayer filled not with remorse, but of joy. Without Easter, death gets the final word. With Easter, the final word is life. Believing, Sharing, Rejoicing: the marks of Easter.
Earthquakes rattling the ground. Rugged soldiers fainting. Large stones rolled away. Angels appearing, talking, soothing, and directing. Dead men living? There is a part of me that thinks like that young boy in Sunday school, "If I told you what they told me, you'd never believe it." Who would believe such a thing? Who could believe such a thing? Well, there is at least one grandchild in our midst who does -- and, I'm sure, one day he fully expects to sit on his grandmother's lap again. Not because he has this all figured out, but because Jesus rose from the dead. And that's good enough. And you can bet that on this day his voice is heard even above the songs of the angels and the cheers of all the saints who are still doing good in heaven. For it is a cheer of confidence. A voice of triumph. A cry of victory grounded in the life-giving promise that many of us probably heard for the first time on some grandmother's lips in Sunday school, "He is risen. He is risen, indeed." One day, so shall we.
ILLUSTRATIONS
We're used to using the metaphor of daybreak in Easter preaching. The Elizabethan preacher, John Donne, thinks sunrise isn't good enough. He says we ought to consider Christ as not dawn, but noonday:
He brought light out of darkness, not out of a lesser light, and he can bring thee summer out of winter, though thou hast no spring. Though in the ways of fortune, understanding, or conscience thou hast been benighted till now, wintered and frozen, clouded and eclipsed, damped and benumbed, smothered and stupefied, now God comes to thee, not as the dawning of the day, not as the bud of the spring, but as the sun at noon.
-- From a sermon preached Christmas Day, 1624
* * *
A news story from last December tells of a new, high-tech product being marketed through the funeral industry: the electronic tombstone.
This $2,000 solar-powered "serenity panel," being marketed as the "Vidstone," is meant to be affixed to the front of a gravestone. It "pays tribute to the deceased in color pictures, words, music, and even videos. It's all from a small memory chip inside a device that opens like the front cover of a book."
It's common, today, for funeral homes to display videos of the deceased's life during family visiting hours. This new device extends the concept to the gravestone itself. There are some limits, however, to how much the device can be used: "Four hours of sun provides enough juice to play the video with up to a 10-minute tribute on a 7-inch LCD screen about six times. There are headphone jacks to listen to the audio." The device must also be fully exposed to sunlight. A location under a shade tree would be less than ideal.
While the new product has been slow to catch on -- some question its long-term durability, compared to the granite out of which headstones are typically carved -- there are those who favor it because it provides a way for the deceased to speak from the grave.
"I see no reason," says one funeral director, "why I couldn't stand in front of a video camera and give a message to my grandchildren, such as: Faith in the Lord was important to me."
(This is probably not what the scriptures mean by "new life in Christ.")
-- "Death goes digital: The electronic tombstone," CNN.com, December 20, 2007.
* * *
Soldiers who go to places like Iraq or Afghanistan, and return home seriously wounded, often speak of their "Alive Day." It's not so much the day they were wounded, as the day they looked around and realized they were still alive, and were going to make it after all.
No soldiers celebrate their wounds, but some do celebrate the anniversary of their Alive Day. It was a day when, as perhaps never before in their young lives, did they feel so grateful to be alive.
That's what Easter can be for us. Battered and wounded as we sometimes are by life's struggles, Easter is our Alive Day.
* * *
Martin Luther tells us that our Lord's rising from the dead was for us -- for us! -- calling forth the greatest celebration in us:
Behold Jesus Christ, the King of glory, rising from the dead. Here the heart can find its supreme joy and lasting possessions. Here there is not the slightest trace of evil, for "Christ being risen from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer has dominion over him." Here is that furnace of love and the fire of God in Zion, as Isaiah says, for Christ is not only born to us, but also given to us [Isaiah 9:6]. Therefore, his resurrection and everything that he accomplished through it are mine. In Romans 8:32 the Apostle exults in exuberant joy, "Has he not also given me all things with him?"
Martin Luther, Daily Readings from Luther's Writings, ed. by Barbara Owen (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg, 1993), p. 117
* * *
Jesus' disciples have trouble at first, believing that he really could be raised from the dead. But when he comes and stands among them, they know. Oswald Chambers writes:
When you really see Jesus, I defy you to doubt Him. When he says, "Let not your heart be troubled," if you see Him I defy you to trouble your mind, it is a moral impossibility to doubt when He is there. Every time you get into personal contact with Jesus, His words are real. "My peace I give unto you," it is a peace all over from the crown of the head to the sole of the feet, an irrepressible confidence. "Your life is his with Christ in God," and the imperturbable peace of Jesus Christ is imparted to you.
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Uhrichsville, Ohio: Barbour, 2000), p. 359
* * *
An amazing thing happens that first Easter Day. There's almost unbelievable news, news of great joy. Debbie Blue writes:
God, the creative Lover of the world, is willing to die at the hands of his people and then comes back again, not to make them pay, but to give them more love. It's unstoppable, transformative, scandalous forgiveness.
And this forgiveness is for each of us, for all of us, no matter what we've done, no matter what we are. It's a forgiveness that cuts to the heart, an astonishing freedom to love one another earnestly, without judgment.
Debbie Blue, "Living the Word," The Christian Century (Chicago: The Christian Century, March 25, 2008), p. 21
* * *
It is said that the ancient monks of Ireland often kept a skull on their desks as a grim reminder of the primary fact of our existence... that from the moment of our birth we are dying. Life itself for the ancient Celts was a terminal disease. It made abundant sense then that to be joined with Christ in a death like his, it would follow as day follows the night that so too we are joined in a resurrection like his as well. For these Celts, the cross and the crown, death and resurrection, are just two sides of the very same coin.
* * *
We live lives that are between life and death. Sometimes without purpose, our lives take on a "lifeless" state. In fact we are invited with the turn of phrase, "Sleepers awake!" An interesting story of the Buddha illustrates the point. It is said that soon after his enlightenment, the Buddha passed a man on the road who was struck by the Buddha's extraordinary radiance and peaceful presence. The man stopped and asked, "My friend, what are you? Are you a celestial being or a god?"
"No," said the Buddha.
"Well, then, are you some kind of magician or wizard?"
Again, the Buddha answered, "No."
"Are you a man?"
"No."
"Well, my friend, then what are you?"
The Buddha replied, "I am awake."
* * *
As we consider the mystery of Good Friday and Easter and the power of the resurrection, we are also reminded of the mystery of God itself. An anonymous old saying puts it well: "God pours life into death and death into life without a drop being spilled."
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Responsive Call to Worship
Leader: Christ is risen!
People: He is risen indeed!
Leader: The power of death that once held our lives in bondage and
fear has now been broken, for Christ is risen.
People: Now we can see that death does not have the last word
over our lives, for Christ is risen.
Leader: Christ is risen!
People: He is risen indeed!
Leader: And so we gather to worship the risen Lord of history, God
the Son who loved us and died for us: He is risen!
People: We come to give ourselves in joyful love to the Savior who
died to make our lives new: He is risen!
Leader: Christ is risen!
People: He is risen indeed!
(written by Jay Ayers)
Prayer of the Day
God of new life, the women came to the tomb on the first day of the week, hands laden with spices of sadness. So we come this morning, hearts broken by the sin of the world. We confess that we have joined the world in surrendering to the powers of death. We have hurt others by what we have said and done and thought, and we have not lived up to the high calling of discipleship. As you met those faithful women in resurrection power, and sent them racing to tell others the good news, so meet us this morning in song, scripture and story. Reveal to us the risen Christ, so we too may tell the good news that life is stronger than death! Amen.
Unison Prayer of Confession
God of mercy,
you charge us to look for Jesus not among the dead, but among the living --
but we confess that we continue to peer into the tomb.
We are hesitant to trust the good news of resurrection,
to believe that your power can make a difference in our world.
We have shrunk away from opportunities to serve,
and have hurt others through word and deed.
We have injured your good earth through careless consumption.
Forgive us all our sin, we pray,
and illumine our lives with resurrection light;
in Jesus' name. Amen.
Responsive Prayer
Leader: They ran with their good news:
People: "He is risen!" they cried,
Leader: "The tomb is empty!"
People: The angels said, "He is risen,"
Leader: but these words seemed to them an idle tale,
People: nothing more than wishful thinking.
Leader: And they did not believe.
People: O God who raises men and women from the dead,
Leader: give us the eyes of faith:
People: that we may not only hear their words
Leader: but believe the truth:
People: that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead,
Leader: and, by the Spirit's power,
People: God has conquered death forever!
Leader: Lord, may we believe:
People: help our unbelief. Amen.
Prayer of Intercession
O God, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, we pray:
For those whose crucifixions continue with no Easter in sight --
Tortured prisoners, Abused children, Battered women,
Stricken families of the disappeared,
Homeless poor, Imperiled refugees,
Victims of discrimination and oppression,
Victims of war.
Take your Easter people to the world's crosses to take people down.
We pray for those who continue the crucifixions with no Easter in sight --
Because they think people deserve what they dish out,
Because they are just obeying orders,
Because they are just doing their jobs,
Because they are getting rid of troublemakers,
Because they are defending national security,
Because they are protecting sacred values as they define them.
Take your Easter people to the world's hurters to free them from their own bondage.
We pray for those who languish in tombs with no Easter in sight --
Tombs of their own depression and despair,
Tombs of their own ignorance and misconception,
Tombs of their own narrowness and provincialism,
Tombs of their own isolation and accommodation,
Tombs of their own prejudice and bitterness.
Take your Easter people to all the tombs of human deadness to roll the stones away.
For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory. Amen.
-- C. Eric Mount Jr., in Martha S. Gillies, ed., Let Us Pray: Reformed Prayers for Christian Worship (Geneva Press, 2002), pp. 41-42
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Hallelujah!
Object: a neatly folded linen cloth, large enough to cover the entire head of Jesus
John 20:1-18
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. (vv. 6-7)
Good morning, boys and girls. After Jesus died on the cross, two men moved him to another place. Both men were secret followers of Jesus because they belonged to the group that wanted Jesus killed. The first man was Joseph of Arimathea. He went to Pilate, the governor, and asked if he could take the body of Jesus and bury him. The second man was Nicodemus. Nicodemus brought a bunch of myrrh and aloe. The Bible says it weighed almost 100 pounds. The myrrh and aloe were meant to make the dead body smell more pleasant. Do you know where they took the body of Jesus to bury him? (let them answer) That's right, they took him to a tomb, but do you know to whom the tomb belonged? (let them answer) The answer is that it was Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. It was brand new and was carved out of rock. This was a very big rock carved out by special tools. Inside the rock was a place that looked like a room. There were several very flat spaces with a part of the rock on one end that looked like a pillow. They wrapped the body of Jesus in fine linen cloths. Everything but the head was covered with these linen wrappings. Jesus was taken into the tomb and laid on the flat stone with his head on the rock pillow. The final thing that was done was to put another piece of linen around the head of Jesus so that his face and head were completely covered. When Joseph and Nicodemus left the tomb, they rolled a huge stone in front of the tomb so that no one could get into the tomb. There were soldiers standing at attention around the tomb to make sure that no one tried to get in. That was on Friday night.
Very early on Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene, a friend and follower of Jesus, came to the tomb because she did not know that Joseph and Nicodemus had done such a good job with the myrrh and aloe. But when she got there she found the stone had been moved and the tomb was empty. She ran back to the disciples and wakened them. Peter and John raced to the tomb. John, who was younger, was much faster and arrived first. He just peeked inside but did not go in the tomb. Peter arrived and went right in the tomb. Peter was amazed. Not only was the body of Jesus gone but he also found the clothes that Jesus had been wrapped in by Joseph and Nicodemus. At the other end was a piece of linen like this, very neatly folded and laying on the flat stone. Some people said the body had been stolen but everyone else knew that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead and was then and is now alive. Christ is risen! Hallelujah! Christ is risen indeed! Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 23, 2008, issue.
Copyright 2008 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
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