Resurrection Sunday

This weekend we made an impromptu trip up to visit DH's parents. We had a great time, but came back late last night in order to make it to church this morning.  Having recently made the decision to commit to this church, we wanted to spend Easter morning there.

The church sits on a tract of land adjacent to a lazy, brown river. Every Easter they have an early morning service under the canopy of palm fronds, oak leaves and Spanish moss dripping from the branches overhead, swaying in the breeze off the river.  It was beautiful.

As I sat listening to the pastor reading from John and delivering his Easter message, I pondered all the themes I've been thinking about and which have begun to solidify within me over the last few months. 

I thought of the sermon that I always want to hear preached each Easter, but never seem to get. Some speakers get closer than others, but few have managed to mark Easter as the joyful occasion it should be.

And what is this Missing sermon?

Life.  New Creation. Transformation.  Hope.

These are the legacies of The Resurrection.

Jesus was not only our savior and redeemer, but our life-giver, the new pattern for those who believe.  God was not content to leave the world as it was.  He was not content to let so many perish in their sins.  He was not satisfied to allow all that He had made crumble under the weight of evil that man has wrought upon the earth.

Mankind, as wretched as it can be and often is, was too valuable to Him.

During Jesus' ministry, many of the miracles he performed were directly tied to regeneration and to sustaining life. Blind eyes were made to see.  Deformed limbs were made whole. Leprosy was healed. The dead were raised. God's creative, life-giving power was being poured out through Jesus as a testimony to his authority.  

Ultimately,  The Resurrection is a reminder that all life comes from God.  Not only does all life come from God, but it pleases Him to create and sustain life. 

Death and destruction are the antithesis of God. The consequences of our sin, and the evil we perpetrate upon the world, are actions that lead to death.  Though God's judgment is a very real thing, his love and desire for life has overcome it, for he takes no pleasure in death, and has no satisfaction in condemnation:

As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.  Ezekiel 33:11

His promise is eternal life; life uninterrupted by sin, evil, sickness, and death. He is remaking us.  He is transforming us.  Jesus' death and Resurrection has reoriented us away from death and destruction and toward God making us part of the new creation He is bringing to pass.

One day the seed of our faith will reap the fruit of God's promise. We will "be like him[Jesus]".  

The God of all that is, the only eternal Spirit with no beginning and no end, draws us to Himself.

Just as Jairus' daughter and Lazarus lay "sleeping" in the clasp of death, waiting only for Jesus to reawaken them, so we will one day wait for that voice to call us up out of death and into eternal life. 

That's good news worth sharing.

1 Corinthians 15

¹Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ²By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

 ³For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. ⁶After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

 ⁹For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.¹¹Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

 ¹²But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.¹⁵More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

 ²⁰But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.²¹For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.²²For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. ²⁴Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. ²⁸When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

 ²⁹Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? ³⁰And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? ³¹I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. ³²If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, 

   "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." ³³Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." ³⁴Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

The Resurrection Body

 ³⁵But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?"³⁶How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. ³⁷When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. ³⁸But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. ³⁹All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. ⁴⁰There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. ⁴¹The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

 ⁴²So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; ⁴³it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

      If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. ⁴⁷The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. ⁴⁸As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

 ⁵⁰I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵²in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."  ⁵⁵"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" ⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Easter

Good Friday wasn't so good for me.

I got news I didn't want, and heard words I didn't want to hear. It wasn't a Good Friday.

I felt bad that I was so distracted by everything. I didn't really take any time to pray or meditate on the day and its significance. I shut down and wallowed in my frustration and dashed hopes for good news. Things didn't work out the way I had thought they would...the way I had wanted. The confidence and relief I had felt were scattered in a few moments.

As I lay in the dark tonight, trying to sleep and feeling awful that Easter was upon me and I had completely relegated it to nothing in the midst of my current trials, a gentle nudge from God came to me. I had lived my own Good Friday out this year. There was no need to fast, or attend a service; the meaning was upon me.

It was not Jesus' death I pondered, or even my own exactly. I am in no imminent danger from the cancer that has been removed. Yet, the threat of death hangs over us all. At any moment it can claim us for its own. Occasionally, it makes a cameo appearance in our lives, reminding us that it does, indeed, still exist and will come to visit on a more permanent basis in the future.

The uncertainty before a diagnosis causes the mind to wander to futures that may or may not come to pass. What if I only had 1 year, 5, years, 10 years...maybe 40 more...what then?

I think of Jesus who knew exactly how many years he had, how many moments to impress upon his followers the urgency of his message, how many meals he would eat with them, and which one would be his last. That's living; living in the face of death while it bides its time tick-tocking its way to us.

Jesus' disciples were disappointed on Friday and Saturday. Their faith was crumbling under the weight of the forward movement of time. Sunset...sunrise...sunset, and still Jesus lays in the tomb--motionless, stiff, and decaying.

Sunrise is coming again. Let it not catch me unaware. Let me rise up to greet it and the one who has overcome death's stalking pace.

Easter

* a belated Easter post. *

The murky, grey tendrils of first light slowly pried their way through the cracks of the rough, wooden door.

Morning was here.

She slowly opened her eyes and stared toward the ceiling. Swollen eyes and a dull headache were the only assurances that she was awake and alive. She had chased sleep fruitlessly all night. Waking dreams and fitful periods of dozing had dominated her rest just as the night before. Fatigue had worn her down.

She pulled herself from despair and began to dress herself and prepare for the day, moving more quickly as her body fully wakened. Finally ready, she gatherd the jars and wrappings she would need and headed out.

As she made her way to the garden, unbidden images full of blood and viciousness assaulted her. She hated this world. It never changed. Just as before, her life had been ripped apart, betrayed by the lusts of men. Whether it was sex or power didn't matter, the result was the same.

Lost in her thoughts and swirling emotions, she stumbled forward in a haphazard way, sometimes stopping and holding her head in grief as a silent sob squeezed her insides. How could this be? How could this happen? He was the only one. The only one who ever cared for her. The only one who did not look upon her with disgust and hatred. And he was gone. And..oh God...the blood they ripped out of him. They....they beat and murdered him. Pinned him to a piece of wood, just like cruel children stripping the parts off a helpless fly.

She took a deep breath, steadied herself and entered the garden.

In the dim light, the view of the tomb filled her with dread. The stone had been pushed back, leaving a gaping hole of darkness leading into the tomb. Someone had desecrated the grave. Oh no. No, no, no, no! They took him! It wasn't enough for them to crush him in life, they humiliated him even in death. She ran to the tomb, stopping short of entering, too weak to look at the vast emptiness.

Weak with shock and weeping bitterly, she threw her things down and ran. She ran away from the pain, from the raw memory of Friday, from her own dashed hopes. She ran to the only people she could.

As the world raced by her in frantic lurches, she saw Peter and John coming down the path. She threw herself before them. "They took him!. He's gone! I...I...I don't know where he is," she spoke in short, painful breaths.

They looked at her wordlessly, realization creeping into their eyes. Without speaking they left her, running to the garden as she lay on the ground in a broken heap.

After the clutches of sorrow slowly loosened their grip, Mary pulled herself up and went after Peter. She saw Peter and John exiting the tomb as she arrived, no doubt on their way to report the news to everyone else. She walked to the entrance of the tomb and leaned against the stone, the cold, rough edges chilling her. Filled with resignation, she finally peered in.

She blinked for a moment as she saw two men, dressed in white, sitting where Jesus' body had lain. She didn't recognize them, but there were many followers she had never met before. They must be here to mourn him.

"Woman.....why are you crying?" they asked.

"They took him," she whispered hoarsely, "and I don't know what they've done with him."

Exhausted, she turned and decided to go home. She could do nothing more today. Wiping her eyes, she left the tomb, nearly running into another man; probably another follower, or maybe even the gardener.

"Woman," he said, "why are you crying?"

He probably knew where they had put him. Maybe he would pity her and help.

"Please...please if you have moved him, tell me. Tell me where he is. I'll bring him back myself. Please, just tell me where he is!!" she sobbed.

"Mary," he said.

How did he know her? She paused and looked up at him.

It couldn't be, could it? No. She was just delirious. She saw him lowered from the cross, lifeless and limp. She saw him wrapped in linens, and placed in the tomb. She heard him cry out with his last breath. It just couldn't be.

But, as those painful memories played and replayed within her mind, they began to be pushed out by other memories. Blind men seeing...lame men walking...and Lazarus....oh yes...Lazarus....how could she have forgotten!?

"Rabboni!" she screamed in delight. She wept again, but this time in joy and relief. He's alive! HE's ALIVE!! They couldn't take him! They didn't win!

Waves of elation poured over her as all the pain of the last few days melted in the warmth of her savior's voice. She knew that He would never again be lifeless and cold. He had defeated the evil that had been intended for him. She wrapped him in a tight embrace, filled with the bliss of hope fulfilled.

John 11:25

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.