You can hear an audio recording of the second scripture reading and my sermon entitled, " You're Not From Around Here, Are Ya? " being preached, by CLICKING HERE.
Empty Tomb Witnesses, Resurrected Jesus
Seekers, Good News Bearers, Faith-Sharers,
The end of this year’s Easter season is
coinciding with a lot of travel for me.
In April I traveled to Portland, Oregon and Denver, Colorado; and in May,
before we get to Pentecost, I’ll be going to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pentecost—which we celebrate on May 19th,
this year, was a celebration that brought Jews back to Jerusalem from
various parts of the world. For Jesus’
disciples, the stories of Jesus’ resurrection appearances include a journey
from Jerusalem to Emmaus; and at least in John’s gospel, the days following
Jesus’ resurrection finds many of the disciples back in Galilee. …So I guess, Easter-done-right, has believers
on the road?
One of my favorite Easter images is that the
meaning of the resurrection is that Jesus is “loosed in the world.” Though Jesus was crucified and died, God
raised Jesus. He is not held by death,
but is given back to life and Jesus feely appears …well, anywhere! And now, like children at an Easter-egg hunt,
believers are put to looking for Jesus …well, everywhere!
Most of the New Testament contains writing and
stories that come AFTER Jesus was raised.
There are a handful of stories about the few weeks following the
crucifixion and resurrection, but most of the New Testament is in the form of
letters and stories that come YEARS after, and much of it, from believers who
are traveling far and wide from Jerusalem.
Whether it’s Paul, racing to set up “outposts” of faithful believers
first in Asia and then in Europe, or Peter who is visiting other communities of
Jewish believers and opening them to the fellowship with Christians, to the
hints of other nameless witnesses who are the readers of these letters and the gospels
as they get written down and distributed.
In fact, we are representatives who have received these same words and
stories and are still looking for Jesus today—separated not only by geography
but also time. We’re still chasing
Jesus.
The gospels share with us that for several
years, a group of believers followed Jesus, traveling from place to place,
witnessing acts of kindness and miracles.
In Galilee, in Samaria, along the Jordan, around the Sea of Tiberias
(the sea of Galilee), to Tyre and Sydon, Nazareth, Bethlehem—all the places
Jesus’ story visits. And then, Jesus is
resurrected—and he’s freed from the usual “confinements” of human life, he
passes through walls and doors, he’s able to move straight to different places
over distance, and it seems clear that Jesus is out in front of us, and we’re
always trying to catch up …finding the places he’s been already and appeared to
people and done thing …as if there were a Jesus trail of good news and good
works. We’re still chasing Jesus!
Pentecost usually marks the time in our culture
when we take to the open road, traveling to and fro to visit family or to
re-create ourselves by way of rest and relaxation. …Don’t forget to look for Jesus! And whether you’re traveling, or you’re in
the same place for a while …don’t forget to look for Jesus! He’s not stuck only in the things we’ve known
him to be, before—he’s loosed! He’s
slipped the bonds of human limitations and finds ways to enliven and
enlighten. So when you see him, make a
note, share the news, tell others!
“Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look! You will see him! …Go …and tell!”
It is my privilege
to remind you that Jesus loves you. So
do I. God wants the best for us and is
inviting us to fulfill our calling. Jesus
dies; but God raised Jesus in the Resurrection, and that changes
everything! Get ready. The tomb was empty. Christ is risen! And so are we! Find Jesus and tell your stories, of all the
places where you’ve seen and heard him.
So we can be amazed and encouraged and transformed together!
You can hear an audio recording of the second scripture reading and my sermon entitled, " A Good Deed Worth Laying Down Your Life For " being preached, by CLICKING HERE.
You can hear an audio recording of the second scripture reading and my sermon entitled, " The Ghost of Jesus' Presence " being preached, by CLICKING HERE.
You can hear an audio recording of the second scripture reading and my sermon entitled, " Can We Have a Witness " being preached, by CLICKING HERE.
You can hear an audio recording of the second scripture reading and my sermon entitled, " This is YOUR Resurrection, Now! " being preached, by CLICKING HERE.
You can hear an audio recording of the Gospel reading, a meditation, followed by a second reading, the solo, and the closing of worship with a reading of Psalm 88, by CLICKING HERE.
Cross Seekers, Empty Tomb Finders, Good News Bearers,
These days we celebrate Easter like
clockwork. While the date for Easter is
fluid …tied to the moon phases in relationship to when the Passover is—we look forward
to it every year. We count the days of
Lent (forty, plus Sundays); we anticipate Holy Week, lost eggs, marshmallow
peeps, Reese’s eggs, Cadbury eggs, and an empty tomb—as if all these things are
“normal.” We mark Easter, as if it’s
NORMAL!
As I shared with you last month, Biblical
scholar and preaching guru Thomas Long would remind us that Easter changes
everything!
“ …Easter …is instead the end of this word. Easter destroys the perceived world at hand, and before we sing about the joy of Easter’s new reality, it is crucial to feel the shock and to see the destructive power of the Resurrection on the old reality. ”
Everything about resurrection is disorienting—or
should be! From the fact that the dead
are raised, to Jesus’ walking through walls with real wounds from his
crucifixion, to expectations about our own demise and rising. In our world, the dead are supposed to remain
dead—the walking dead, is only a TV show!
But what are we to do when little seems to
really change about our lives? When the
“difference” in resurrection is mostly a story for us about the one who was
raised? When what we hope for, isn’t
what is seen? When Long declares that
the world was CHANGED BY GOD who does resurrection, what are we supposed to
experience? What should we be looking
for?
Death doesn’t win. This year marks 4 years of COVID. So many died.
But death isn’t the last word.
War in Ukraine drags on and on; there’s war in Gaza; there’s violence in
Haiti; drought and starvation and gang violence and broken government hold much
of Africa’s nations hostage it seems; there’s terrorism; violent rhetoric and
dehumanization …yet, death doesn’t win.
Sin, cannot triumph. The
victory—is God’s!
Honestly …I don’t know “how” this works. I must believe God’s promises, and what God
has done. God raises Jesus. God declares, we are raised, too. None …are lost. And yet, so many are lost in this life.
But this allows us to live our life for
others. This allows us to give fully of
ourselves as Jesus does. This allows us love
…with reckless abandon. This allows us to
live freely with the Kingdom of God in our heart, in our minds, in our
hands. So, this is not just Jesus’
resurrection …it’s our resurrection. It’s
our laying down the life of the world and taking up the life of the Kingdom of
God.
For Easter, God says: This world is finished;
our life together isn’t! …Goodbye old
world. Easter’s come and gone. Now it’s time to live like it.
It is my privilege to remind you that Jesus loves you. So do I. God wants the best for us and is inviting us to fulfill our calling. Jesus dies; but God raised Jesus in the Resurrection, and that changes everything! Get ready. The tomb was empty. Christ is risen! And so are we!
You can hear an audio recording of my sermon, entitled, " Power, Made Perfect ...in Weakness " being preached, and the reading of the Passion Narrative on Palm Sunday, by CLICKING HERE.
You can hear an audio recording of the second scripture reading and my sermon entitled, " A Good Day to Die " being preached, by CLICKING HERE.
