"Why Easter Matters"
Matthew 28: 1-10

April 20, 2014

Christ is Risen — He is Risen Indeed!
 
Easter is great day of celebration and affirmation of faith for us who call Jesus Christ Lord.  We join together this morning in joy and gratitude, pausing for one select day in all the year to reflect upon this singular event in the God-human story.  I believe the Resurrection to have had more impact on human history than any other event.  Without the Resurrection there is no living Christ, only a dead corpse.  Without the Resurrection there is no gospel.  Without the Resurrection there is no Christian faith with all that it has accomplished in the world.  Without the Resurrection we are still dead in our sin and separated from God.  At least that is how St. Paul understood the Resurrection.  It is the sine qua non, that without which we cannot do.

Last week we looked at objections to the Resurrection, i.e., reasons why people do not believe.  The question of this morning is really quite simple: what do we believe concerning the Resurrection; and why, therefore, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ — and ultimately our Resurrection — matters.

What does it mean to be resurrected?  The common answer is to say that it is to come back to life after one is dead; but that would be wrong.  Regaining consciousness and living again in this world is not Resurrection, but resuscitation — such as transpired with Lazarus in John chapter 11.  Think about it for a moment.  Why would anyone want to come back into this world and go through this life again?  Most of the people whom I have known who died in their older years have said, in one way or another, I am ready to go...I am tired and worn out...emotionally and physically...it is time for me to go.  After all, when we take an honest look around, do we really want to come back into this world of Facebook and drones, of Google glasses that record every instant of our lives and computers which have become the Master Machines of science fiction?  

Do we really wish to live forever in a world so characterized by tragedy and suffering…where passenger jets disappear into the ocean and ferry boats sink?  Do we really wish to live forever in a world where “House of Cards” is more reality than fantasy or where religious fanatics think that the way they honor God best is to kill another?  No, most people I know who die in old age do not wish to come back to this life.  There is a reason God created our bodies so that they age and that our energy levels would drain as we age.  God does not want us to live by that age old illusion which captivated Ponce de Leon, of searching for the “Fountain of Youth” and subsequent immortality. 
 
Resurrection is not about coming back to life in this world, in this body, in this form of existence.  As Christians the Resurrection for which we hope and to which we aspire is to another existence, to “eternal life,” i.e., to a life so incredibly pure and wonderful that we will never die.  The Resurrection we proclaim is the resurrection into "a new heaven and a new earth," not back to the same old same old.  The promised resurrection is about life in the Kingdom of God, i.e., life as God intended for this existence to be but it became marred by sin and subsequent suffering.  Paul put it well:
Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.  Resurrection is to a new heaven, a new earth, a new body and a new existence, not just this one redux.  

One of the biggest dangers of this belief is that we will become so focused on “the next life” that we will lose the importance of this life.  This life is where we not only come to know God and image Christ in our lives, it is the place where we begin to live out our Resurrection faith and Resurrection values.  It is in this life that we live out the coming Kingdom of God. So, what does the Resurrection mean to us in this life?

Resurrection means that the cross and the tomb is not the end — but they are the way to Resurrection. 
Without a crucifixion and entombment there could have been no Resurrection.  Even the Son of God had to go through the darkness of Gethsemane, the shame of a mock trial, and the horror of Golgotha.  There can be no Resurrection without agony and death.  A great road block or hurdle for many in believing in God is the age-old question, “Why does a good God allow suffering and pain and death?”  The answer is manifold, but on Easter morning the answer is this: “God allows suffering because through that suffering lies the path to Resurrection and life.”  Without the agonies and challenges of life how would we ever come to value Resurrection or eternal life?
 
Resurrection means that each of us is truly and fully loved, all the way down and all the way through, and that nothing that evil can do can ultimately defeat God's love.  Think about what the reality of Resurrection is truly saying:  God loves us and God's desire is to bring us into God's presence (the Kingdom of God) for eternity.  God loves each of us — more fully and completely than we have ever known or could fully comprehend.  Most of our attempts to love and receive love are so futile, too often blocked by the fear lodged deep in our psyche.  To be a human is to fear — that we are not good enough, smart enough, powerful enough or pure enough to be acceptable before anyone, much less by God.  

I don't know about you...but I live with a residual amount of fear every day.  I imagine you do the same.  Fear of paying the bills...fear of being passed by another...fear of being cheated by someone...fear of being hurt...fear of cancer...fear of dying...fear of being ignored.  All of these fears reside deep inside us.  

Let’s face it, this world will eat out our heart if we are not careful.  I look at the political situation in our world and I am disheartened.  I look at the political situation in our country and I am disheartened.  I even look at the political situation in our own city and I am disheartened.  Yet, I know that the key aspect of each and every level is not what we can or cannot do.  No matter what we do to solve problems (and we ought for there is much to do) — there will always be more. Problems are endemic to the human situation.  Illness, poverty, hatred, greed…the list is endless.  What causes one country to invade another?  Fear.  What causes two brothers to leave bags ladened with explosives by the finish line of a major marathon?  Fear.  What causes one to take weapons and start randomly shooting others?  Fear.  What causes people to refuse to listen to others about issues that matter to them?  Fear. There are valid and powerful reasons for our fears…

Yet, there is an answer to fear:  only the realization of God's Resurrection Love which will remove these fears.  How does the 1st epistle of John put it:  "there is no fear in love, for perfect love casts out fear…"  Daily I have to remind myself by repeating a little mantra:  God is love; God loves you; nothing else matters; go live out of that love to others.  There are parts of me that are still trying to hear that gospel.  The gift of the gospel, the gift of resurrection, is the gift of a love so powerful that all fear is vanquished.
 
This past year I ran across a book entitled Proof of Heaven, by Eben Alexander.  Now, to be sure, I do not normally read this type of literature.  Far too often these persons' views of heaven look like a wax museum in the Appalachian mountains where someone could not tell the difference between reality and metaphor in their reading of scripture.  However, this book was different, for it is written by a medical doctor, a neurosurgeon from Charlottesville, Va. who grew up in Winston-Salem and is a graduate of both Duke and UNC.  He's one of us: educated and thoughtful, he considered himself to be at best a nominal Christian.  Oh, to be sure he gave lip service to the idea of God and Christianity, but he never really delved into matters of faith.  He pictured himself to be a thorough going scientist, not a believer in the spiritual dimension of life.  

Then “it” happened — an experience which dramatically altered his life.  Dr. Alexander had what is known as an "NDE," a "Near Death Experience."  He literally died — he was comatose for over a week as his neocortex (the part of the brain that makes us human) was shut down.  By all rights should not have been able to come back and he should not have been able to recall his experiences during this time.  But he did.  His experience of life after death was incredibly powerful and earth-shattering.  All of his preconceived notions about God, life, death and life to come were dramatically and irrevocably altered in this one week. Listen to his own words as he pulls together what he believes to be the seminal truth of this experience:

"My experience showed me that the death of the body and the brain are not the end of consciousness, that human experience continues beyond the grave. More important, it continues under the gaze of a God who loves and cares about each one of us and about where the universe itself and all the beings within it are ultimately going.”
 
This one for whom God and spirituality were just terms without meaning, all of a sudden experiences the love of God so deep and so fully that he has become a spokesperson for the reality of God, of love, and of eternal life.  In this week in “another existence” Dr. Alexander came to see that life and God are about love; that this life is but prelude for that one whose entire substance is one of love.  All of those fears which characterize this life are insignificant in the face of the love of God when seen in Resurrection light.
 
Do you enjoy looking at images of stars and galaxies from space?  Most of us do — and for many different reasons.  Did you know that some of that light is from stars so far away that the light we see on earth has traveled for hundreds and even thousands/millions/billions of years to get here?  When we peer out into the universe we are not merely looking at stars, we are looking back into time and out into a universe that is both very old and expanding!  The best estimates are that it is 13.8 billion years old; further, it seems there are over 100 billion galaxies such as ours.

Why is this information important in a sermon on Resurrection?  If a Creator is able to put such forces into place so as to create and develop this incredible universe, then it impels us to seek out the nature of this Being.  Further, if this Being’s central motivating characteristic is love, then we are awakened to the incredible importance, power and necessity of love for our lives. If the God of this universe is all-encompassing love, then don’t we think that we ought to be living in and out of that love?
  
Resurrection means that Christ is ahead of us, literally and figuratively.  In our text this morning the angel told the women, "He is gone ahead of you into Galilee..."  While initially reading this text this particular phrase literally jumped off the page at me:  “He is gone ahead of you into Galilee,” i.e., God is ahead of me.  So often we think that God is to be found back there, somewhere on the dusty roads or hills of yesteryear. The reality is that God is out there, ahead of us — anticipating and waiting on us.  God is already about resurrection and life eternal; God is not stuck behind us.  God is already about encompassing us with love such as we have never realized and in so doing preparing that world/existence of love for us to inhabit eternally.
What we need is to experience again is the all encompassing love of God as seen in Jesus Christ.  

This, to me, is why the Resurrection mattered and matters.  In Jesus we have a gospel of love that transcends anything and everything other religions have to offer.  If that gospel had died on Golgotha that day, then yes, more that just the music of life would have died.  When, on Easter Sunday Jesus rose from the grave, there arose in him and with him the powerful love of God, never again to be defeated. The Resurrection is God’s statement as to the insurmountable and overwhelming power of His love.  The Resurrection matters because it validates and vindicates the person and the message of Jesus Christ.  The Resurrection matters because in it and through it we see and know the truth about God:  God is love — a statement which at one glance seems so simple and at another is beyond comprehension.

No matter who we are, where we are going or what we are doing — Christ loves us and is ahead of us.  No matter how difficult our life or challenging the road ahead may seem, Christ is ahead of us.  No matter what the obstacles or who placed them there, Christ is compelling us forward.  The great theologian/philosopher Alfred North Whitehead was once asked how he defined God.  His reply, “The tender care that nothing should be lost.”  Lost coins…lost sheep…lost sons (Luke 15)…in Christ all are brought home.

So, I send you off with my favorite statement about the gospel:  "There’s nothing you can do to make God love you more…there is nothing you can do to make God love you less…God loves you…now go, and live out of that love.”