Is It True?
Stories
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit
Series VI, Cycle C
Object:
The Joyful Noiseletter, that wonderfully hilarious monthly look at all things church-y, some time back noted a pastor who approached an older gentleman in his congregation and addressed him with the traditional Easter greeting, "Christ is risen!" But instead of giving the pastor the traditional response, "He is risen indeed," the man replied, "Yupper-dee-doodle!"
Good for him. This is a yupper-dee-doodle day. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
A story has been roaming around about a little boy who was not exactly happy about going to church on Easter Sunday morning. His new shoes were too tight, his tie pinched his neck, and the weather was just too beautiful to be cooped up inside. As he sulked in the backseat, his parents heard him mutter, "I don't know why we have to go to church on Easter, anyway; they keep telling the same old story and it always comes out the same in the end." How true, how true!
We know it well. The arrest and trial of Jesus in the high priest's kangaroo court. The visit with Pilate, the taunting and torture, finally the murder on Calvary. A few of Jesus' faithful friends had wanted to give him a proper burial, but they had not been able to complete the process before the sabbath arrived. Now, in the early morning hours, the grim task would resume. Each of the gospels has different details but they all agree that the women who arrived first at the tomb were startled to find it empty and heard, "He is risen." They dashed back to tell the disciples. Peter and John come back to the garden in response and find that the women's report was accurate. No one is quite sure what to make of all this at the moment, but we know the rest. Yupper-dee-doodle!
Of course, there have been times when church folks have questioned the story; found it difficult to believe. In fact, within just a few years of Christ's death and resurrection, some in the church at Corinth expressed doubts about it, which prompted the apostle Paul to issue the stirring defense that includes our text. For Paul, this is serious stuff. It is the heart and soul of the Christian faith. Paul will brook no compromise on this issue. In fact, he goes on to insist, "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" (1 Corinthians 15:14). But he will not let it end there; he writes, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." The resurrection of Christ is a yupper-dee-doodle fact, and you can take that to the bank.
Do you believe it? Most folks reading this would happily say yes. But there are probably also some who are not quite sure. After all, we know a whole lot more about crucifixion in this world than we do about resurrection, especially in a post-9/11 world. And there are the day-to-day tragedies that never make the news. Yes, we know the horrors of life -- crucifixion, but resurrection is unfamiliar territory. To wonder is perfectly normal.
Karl Barth was one of the very best theologians of the twentieth century -- he was a deep thinker, but eminently down-to-earth. Barth once wrote that people come to church on Sunday with only one question in their minds: Is it true? The providence of God, the saving power of Jesus Christ, the comforting presence of the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection -- is it true? Perhaps that is your question today. "I want to believe, but is it true?"
"I passed on to you as of first importance" writes Paul, "that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3). First importance indeed; right from the beginning, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was regarded as the most central belief of the Christian church. Christians deliberately chose to worship on Sunday rather than Saturday as a reminder that every Sunday is a mini-Easter, a celebration of Christ's resurrection.
Anyone who thinks that the world's great religions are somehow alike and merely different paths to the same destination need only compare the deaths of their leaders. Moses, Buddha, Confucius, and Muhammad all died at a ripe, old age, successful despite many disappointments, in the midst of their disciples and supporters, their span of life completed. Moses died in sight of the promised land, 120 years old. Buddha died at the age of eighty, peacefully, his disciples around him, after he had collected during his itinerant preaching a great community of monks, nuns, and lay supporters. Confucius returned in old age to Lu after he had spent his last years in training a group of mainly noble disciples, to preserve and continue his work. Muhammad, after he had thoroughly enjoyed the last years of his life as the political ruler of Arabia, died in the midst of his harem in the arms of his favorite wife.
Then we encounter Jesus. Only a bit over thirty years of age, expelled from society, betrayed, mocked and taunted, tortured, and finally killed by the most atrocious method ever designed by humankind's ingenious cruelty. He was buried in a rock-hewn tomb that was sealed by a huge boulder and guarded by Roman legionnaires. But some 36 hours later, people started seeing Jesus alive again. Whoa!
Do you see how radically different is the life and death of Jesus? Do you understand the impact of his resurrection? It is the resurrection that transformed the disciples from cowering in the upper room to publicly proclaiming Christ crucified and risen. It is the resurrection that empowered Christians to spread the news beyond Palestine. It is the resurrection that provided the power for a fragile church to move out and change the world. It is the resurrection that sustains the church today.
In Eugene O'Neill's play Lazarus Laughed1 we find not only the biblical story of Jesus' restoring his friend to life after four days in the tomb but the playwright's creative imagining of his subsequent years. O'Neill has Lazarus coming out of his grave laughing -- not a scornful, bitter kind of laughter, but a soft, tender, all-embracing sort of sound that seems to well up from a deep, deep joy. There is a radiance about him that makes him look younger than when he died. He has a peace and serenity about him that is palpable. As soon as Lazarus gets home and emotions have calmed down a bit, his sisters, Mary and Martha, ask him the inevitable question: "What is it like beyond the grave? Tell us. What sort of existence lies beyond our physical dying?"
Once again Lazarus begins to laugh. He responds, "There is only life. There is only laughter, the laughter of God soaring into the heights and the depths. There is no death really. Death is not the end, it's not an abyss or the entrance into nothingness or chaos or punishment. Death is a portal, a passageway into deeper and brighter life. Eternal change, everlasting growth, that is what lies ahead. There is only life, sisters, nothing but life. The grave is not what you think it is. It is literally empty, a doorway, not destruction."
All these questions have the same answer:
* What is it that gives a widow courage as she stands beside a fresh grave?
* When a family receives the tragic news that a little daughter was found dead or their dad was killed in a plane crash or a son overdosed on drugs, what single truth becomes their whole focus?
* How can we see past the martyrdom of hundreds of police officers and firefighters at the World Trade Center or the thousands of other innocent victims of terrorists in the world?
* What is the final answer to pain, mourning, senility, insanity, terminal disease, and sudden disaster?
Resurrection. Yupper-dee-doodle!
Karl Barth's question comes again. Is it true? Is it true? The church insists absolutely!
____________
1. Eugene O'Neill's play, Lazarus Laughed, written in 1928, appeared in Nine Plays, 1993 Random House Modern Library Edition.
Good for him. This is a yupper-dee-doodle day. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
A story has been roaming around about a little boy who was not exactly happy about going to church on Easter Sunday morning. His new shoes were too tight, his tie pinched his neck, and the weather was just too beautiful to be cooped up inside. As he sulked in the backseat, his parents heard him mutter, "I don't know why we have to go to church on Easter, anyway; they keep telling the same old story and it always comes out the same in the end." How true, how true!
We know it well. The arrest and trial of Jesus in the high priest's kangaroo court. The visit with Pilate, the taunting and torture, finally the murder on Calvary. A few of Jesus' faithful friends had wanted to give him a proper burial, but they had not been able to complete the process before the sabbath arrived. Now, in the early morning hours, the grim task would resume. Each of the gospels has different details but they all agree that the women who arrived first at the tomb were startled to find it empty and heard, "He is risen." They dashed back to tell the disciples. Peter and John come back to the garden in response and find that the women's report was accurate. No one is quite sure what to make of all this at the moment, but we know the rest. Yupper-dee-doodle!
Of course, there have been times when church folks have questioned the story; found it difficult to believe. In fact, within just a few years of Christ's death and resurrection, some in the church at Corinth expressed doubts about it, which prompted the apostle Paul to issue the stirring defense that includes our text. For Paul, this is serious stuff. It is the heart and soul of the Christian faith. Paul will brook no compromise on this issue. In fact, he goes on to insist, "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" (1 Corinthians 15:14). But he will not let it end there; he writes, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." The resurrection of Christ is a yupper-dee-doodle fact, and you can take that to the bank.
Do you believe it? Most folks reading this would happily say yes. But there are probably also some who are not quite sure. After all, we know a whole lot more about crucifixion in this world than we do about resurrection, especially in a post-9/11 world. And there are the day-to-day tragedies that never make the news. Yes, we know the horrors of life -- crucifixion, but resurrection is unfamiliar territory. To wonder is perfectly normal.
Karl Barth was one of the very best theologians of the twentieth century -- he was a deep thinker, but eminently down-to-earth. Barth once wrote that people come to church on Sunday with only one question in their minds: Is it true? The providence of God, the saving power of Jesus Christ, the comforting presence of the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection -- is it true? Perhaps that is your question today. "I want to believe, but is it true?"
"I passed on to you as of first importance" writes Paul, "that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3). First importance indeed; right from the beginning, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was regarded as the most central belief of the Christian church. Christians deliberately chose to worship on Sunday rather than Saturday as a reminder that every Sunday is a mini-Easter, a celebration of Christ's resurrection.
Anyone who thinks that the world's great religions are somehow alike and merely different paths to the same destination need only compare the deaths of their leaders. Moses, Buddha, Confucius, and Muhammad all died at a ripe, old age, successful despite many disappointments, in the midst of their disciples and supporters, their span of life completed. Moses died in sight of the promised land, 120 years old. Buddha died at the age of eighty, peacefully, his disciples around him, after he had collected during his itinerant preaching a great community of monks, nuns, and lay supporters. Confucius returned in old age to Lu after he had spent his last years in training a group of mainly noble disciples, to preserve and continue his work. Muhammad, after he had thoroughly enjoyed the last years of his life as the political ruler of Arabia, died in the midst of his harem in the arms of his favorite wife.
Then we encounter Jesus. Only a bit over thirty years of age, expelled from society, betrayed, mocked and taunted, tortured, and finally killed by the most atrocious method ever designed by humankind's ingenious cruelty. He was buried in a rock-hewn tomb that was sealed by a huge boulder and guarded by Roman legionnaires. But some 36 hours later, people started seeing Jesus alive again. Whoa!
Do you see how radically different is the life and death of Jesus? Do you understand the impact of his resurrection? It is the resurrection that transformed the disciples from cowering in the upper room to publicly proclaiming Christ crucified and risen. It is the resurrection that empowered Christians to spread the news beyond Palestine. It is the resurrection that provided the power for a fragile church to move out and change the world. It is the resurrection that sustains the church today.
In Eugene O'Neill's play Lazarus Laughed1 we find not only the biblical story of Jesus' restoring his friend to life after four days in the tomb but the playwright's creative imagining of his subsequent years. O'Neill has Lazarus coming out of his grave laughing -- not a scornful, bitter kind of laughter, but a soft, tender, all-embracing sort of sound that seems to well up from a deep, deep joy. There is a radiance about him that makes him look younger than when he died. He has a peace and serenity about him that is palpable. As soon as Lazarus gets home and emotions have calmed down a bit, his sisters, Mary and Martha, ask him the inevitable question: "What is it like beyond the grave? Tell us. What sort of existence lies beyond our physical dying?"
Once again Lazarus begins to laugh. He responds, "There is only life. There is only laughter, the laughter of God soaring into the heights and the depths. There is no death really. Death is not the end, it's not an abyss or the entrance into nothingness or chaos or punishment. Death is a portal, a passageway into deeper and brighter life. Eternal change, everlasting growth, that is what lies ahead. There is only life, sisters, nothing but life. The grave is not what you think it is. It is literally empty, a doorway, not destruction."
All these questions have the same answer:
* What is it that gives a widow courage as she stands beside a fresh grave?
* When a family receives the tragic news that a little daughter was found dead or their dad was killed in a plane crash or a son overdosed on drugs, what single truth becomes their whole focus?
* How can we see past the martyrdom of hundreds of police officers and firefighters at the World Trade Center or the thousands of other innocent victims of terrorists in the world?
* What is the final answer to pain, mourning, senility, insanity, terminal disease, and sudden disaster?
Resurrection. Yupper-dee-doodle!
Karl Barth's question comes again. Is it true? Is it true? The church insists absolutely!
____________
1. Eugene O'Neill's play, Lazarus Laughed, written in 1928, appeared in Nine Plays, 1993 Random House Modern Library Edition.
