In the name of the Risen Lord. Amen.
As
it is every Easter, my first word to you this morning is welcome. In the name
of our Crucified and Risen Lord, welcome. As Martin Luther once said, “Our Lord
has written the promise of Resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf
in springtime.” How right he was. It is a blessing to gather on a gorgeous day,
in a beautiful church full of wonderful people in their Easter best to
celebrate the Resurrection.
If you are not a member
of this church, we are so glad that God has brought you here this morning and
pray that you find this community to be a place of grace and welcome. If you
are a regular member here, as always, it is a joy to see you. If you haven’t
been here since Christmas, it’s truly wonderful to see you again. As St. Peter
said in our first reading this morning “I truly understand that God shows no
partiality.” And that’s at the core of this Easter welcome – it is an honor and
privilege to have each and every one of you here this morning, no exceptions.
Easter
is a day for all of us, and I encourage you to believe in as much of the glory
of this morning as you can. Easter is for the open-minded, the narrow-minded,
the literal-minded, the serious-minded, the simple-minded. Wherever you are on
the journey of faith, let this Easter story be planted in your heart and mind
this morning, that the fruits of God’s love might grow in you.
As
wonderful as Easter is, sometimes the significance of this day gets lost in the
baskets, dresses, and brunches. So what is Easter all about? First and
foremost, Easter must be seen as a part of the story of Good Friday. The
Resurrection of Jesus on Easter conveys many things about our faith, but the
most crucial is that the Resurrection is a validation of the Crucifixion. When
God is raised in Jesus, it’s God saying “You remember what happened on Good
Friday? That really was me that you nailed to that Cross. You really did kill
me.”
Too
often, the Cross is seen as a minor setback in the story of Jesus, a mere
“speedbump” on the way to the Resurrection. Notice that when the angel appears
to the two Marys that it says “I know that you are looking for Jesus who was
crucified.” Even in the Resurrection, Jesus does not cease to be our Crucified
Messiah. And as this Easter season progresses, we will hear stories about how
the Resurrected Jesus still bears the wounds of the Cross. The Resurrection is
not an undoing of the Cross, it is not a reversal of the pain and betrayal of
Good Friday. And those of you who have experienced grief and pain know this to
be true. Hope and new life may well come to our places of brokenness, but it
does not erase the experience of pain.
If
we are to fully experience the glory of this Easter morning, we must go all the
way down with Jesus into this death. The Crucifixion really was as bad as we
might think it was. God really did submit to living as a human. And God really
did die on the Cross at our hands. The Resurrection’s claim is that we really
and truly killed God, yet God still love us.
And
this is the glory of the Resurrection: that after we killed God, the most
beautiful, most unimaginable story came to be – new life comes out of us doing
our worst to God. We rejected God, we chose empire over discipleship. And yet, God
hasn’t stopped choosing us and God hasn’t stopped loving us. If our killing of God
leads to the new life of Resurrection, then God can bring new life to all
death.
Know
that whatever mistakes you have made, whatever sins you have committed,
whatever good things you have left undone, whatever bad things you have done,
whatever darkness you have experienced, whatever regrets and disappoints you
have or have caused, know that God still loves you and still welcomes you into
Resurrection life. Know that joy can come out of despair, that healing can come
out of brokenness, that light can come out of darkness, that forgiveness can
come out of sin, that life can come out of death. This is what Easter is all
about – that the Cross was not a minor obstacle, rather in a show of total
depravity we murdered the God who gave us life. But this does not stop God’s
love or hinder God’s setting right what human sin made wrong.
The
way that Matthew tells the story, there is a great earthquake at the tomb that
Easter morning as the stone is rolled away. I’ve pretty much lived my entire
life in Florida and North Carolina, so I don’t have much experience with
earthquakes, perhaps though some of you do. The Easter earthquake is a great
symbol for what happens in the Resurrection – the foundations of our world are
shaken, things are knocked out of balance, our footing is no longer stable.
Earthquakes are fearful events.
Some have suggested that
in addition to the earthquake, that there was also a heavenquake, as the entire
cosmos were changed that Easter morning. What is possible was redefined on
Easter. No longer is death seen as a the last word. No longer is God’s presence
with us in question. As with a quake, while this is Good News, it is also
unsettling news. Benjamin Franklin said “In this world nothing can be said to
be certain, except death and taxes.” You’ll have to ask your financial planner
for the tax implications of the Resurrection, maybe it’s a qualified exemption,
I don’t know.
But the Resurrection does
undo the final certainty of death. The Resurrection means that there is a power
loose in this world to overturn our most basic understandings of life. Jesus’
life and death are full of these disruptions. Jesus says “blessed are the
meek,” he tells us to turn the other cheek when slapped, he tells us that how
we treat the poor is how we treat God, he tells us that simple bread and wine
can become vehicles for God’s presence, and he shows us that God’s death leads
to not the collapse of Creation, but rather its redemption. The Resurrection is
the validation of this alternative way of being in this world. But this is
unsettling, as it undermines the typical ways that the world works.
It’s no surprise that the
angel who greets the women first says “Do not be afraid.” The Resurrection
really should frighten us, as it shakes the foundations and assumptions of
life. And this is our task this Easter
morning: to be not afraid. The angels tells the women to be not afraid, and
then the Risen Jesus tells them to tell the disciples the same message – “Do
not be afraid.” It’s a rather odd vocation for our Lord to give us, but there
it is. So often when we think about what it means to be a Christian, we think
about things like going to church, or helping those in need, or being a nice person.
And those are good things. But first and foremost, when someone learns that you
are a follower of the Crucified and Risen Lord, they should know “He’s not
afraid” or “She isn’t going to get scared off.”
The aftershocks of the
Resurrection are felt today as much as they were on that Easter morning. The
Resurrection really is something to be experienced in this life. Certainly, it
has implications for what happens after we die, but the Resurrection is equally
operative during our lives. As St. Paul wrote in this morning’s reading from
Colossians “If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above.”
The way that the
Resurrection is to transform your life is by enabling us to not be afraid.
People who are frightened never transform this world, they never find true joy,
they never experience the fullness of love. Because when you are afraid, you
hold back, you worry too much about security and how others will judge you.
Fear is debilitating and prevents the Resurrection from having full effect in
our lives.
Later
in Acts, one of the accusations against the disciples is “These people have
been turning the world upside down… They are all acting contrary to the decrees
of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.” That is exactly
what the Resurrection ought to lead to – turning things upside down, which is
really right side up. The followers of Jesus were unafraid of the emperor, or
imprisonment, or condemnation because they knew the power of the Resurrection
was on the loose in this world. They knew that there was another narrative
other than fear, scarcity, and death by which to live their lives.
Not
being afraid means being able to live differently. Not being afraid means
giving up anxiety and our desire for control, for dominance, for getting our
way, for accumulating money and things. Jesus says that he came that we might
have life, and have it abundantly, but if we hold back in fear, we will never
experience the fullness of grace and love that God intends for each of us.
So
be unafraid. Be open to your neighbor, not worried about defending yourself
from them just because they are different. Be generous, not preoccupied with having
enough. Be compassionate, not turning a blind eye to those in need. Be
prayerful, not unaware of and unresponsive to God’s presence with you each day.
Take the risk of loving
deeply. Take the risk of being bold enough to let God’s story of love and
redemption motivate your life. Tell people about this saving power of Jesus in
your life; don’t be afraid of what they might think of you. Tell them how you
aren’t afraid to love, to be vulnerable, to live differently. Be unafraid of
your past mistakes, for God is not going to abandon you. Do not be afraid when
you see evil or death, for they do not have the last word. Do not be afraid of
the ways of the world, for as Jesus says “Take courage; I have conquered the
world!” Do not be afraid.
All of us are believe in
the concept of Creation, even though none of us were there to observe the
Creation of the world. Yet, if we look around us, we see obvious signs of the
fact that there is a Creation. The same is true for the Resurrection.
Resurrection is just as real as Creation, if we can just have the eyes and the
lack of fear to see it. CS Lewis once remarked that he believes in Christianity
in the way that he believes in the sunrise, not because he saw that event, but
because by it he is able to see everything else. Through the Cross and Resurrection
of Jesus, there is a new reality that is open to us today. It is one of
abundant life, of a peace that passes understanding, of mercy beyond our
ability to fathom, of a love that isn’t stopped by death.
I wonder how this Easter
story will change your life. What grace of God will you see in your life? How
will you experience the unwavering and saving love of God? What fears will you
leave behind today? This week, ask God to fill you with the love and power of Jesus’
Resurrection. The Crucified Christ is Risen: Alleluia and thanks be to God.
