The preacher who comes this
morning to join you in celebrating the Resurrection is a jumble of
contradictions. I am fortunate you all have come to listen to such a man.
Sometimes I am not sure myself just who I am. I didn’t attend a church from the
time I was 14 years old until I was a 33-year-old parent who thought I should
return to church because my children needed it. Years later, I accidentally
stumbled into a Methodist seminary, where I spent three years figuring out what
I believed and why. Probably needed thirty years.
Then I was ordained in the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Now I preach from a Presbyterian
pulpit. But I could be a Unitarian Universalist and if I think about it too
much, and it’s a good thing my brother by a different mother, Mohammed Salih
doesn’t believe in evangelizing because he could persuade me to become a
Muslim…but I also think Buddhism could save the world from much of its turmoil,
the Wiccan worship of creation gives hope, and that the Hindus are probably
closer than all of us to figuring out what really happens after we die.
So, you’d be excused if you
were to ask what meaning could the cross could possibly have to such a person? Let
me tell you. At the center of everything I believe about the Divine is a prophet…one
who is revered among Muslims, who was a Jewish rabbi, the same Jewish rabbi we Christians
know as Jesus of Nazareth, and my focus on Christ persuades me that the cross is
not an exclusively Christian symbol…it is a symbol of God’s hope for the world,
you know the world that God so loved that he sent Jesus.
He is the one through whom God
believed God’s kingdom could be ushered into all the earth if we believed in
the hope and love and compassion he proclaimed and in him we could be saved
from the spirit-killing forces of oppression and injustice.
The Spirit of the LORD was upon this man
and he was anointed to proclaim the good news to the poor, sent to announce
freedom for the prisoners and healing for all, to set the oppressed free, and
to proclaim a time of the LORD's favor. He blessed the meek and those who
grieve and the peacemakers. He taught that we should turn the other cheek, pray
for our enemies, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves. And he did those
things and for it, was summarily executed.
What those who killed Jesus didn’t
understand is God’s commitment to a world where the poor receive the good news
and the prisoners are set free, the sick are healed, the meek are strong,
cheeks are turned, enemies prayed for, peacemakers blessed, and all of our
neighbors feel loved. God was unwilling to let the hope die.
Christian values are human values. Human
values universal values and are not exclusive to Christians. Let me tell you a story. It is from the Gospel of Luke and
these are the words of the Jesus whose resurrection we celebrate this morning.
“There was a rich man
who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously
every day. At his gate was laid a poor man named
Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed
with whatever fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and
licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried
by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died
and was buried, and in Hades, being in
torment, lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at
his side.
He called
out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, send Lazarus to dip the end of his
finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this
flame.’ Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you
in your lifetime you received your good things. Lazarus in like manner bad
things; but now he is comforted and you are in anguish. Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those
who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there
to us.’
The rich man said,
‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house, for I have five
brothers, he could warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But
Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’
He said,
‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will
repent.’ Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not
hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone
should rise from the dead.’
So, there you have it. The words of Jesus. ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will
they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ So, said the man
whose rise from the dead we have come to celebrate.
People throughout Christendom are this morning shouting, “He is
risen, hallelujah,” and being told this resurrection thing means we Christians
got it right, we are on the way to heaven, see the rest of you later.”
Now, I’m not saying churches can be slower than others to get the
point but it was 1991 before the church agreed that Galileo had it right when he
was condemned in 1615 for daring to say the earth revolved around the sun. They
thought the sun revolved around the earth, in much the same way a lot of folks
believe that God revolves around them, that there is only one path to God and
it comes through the gate they keep.
And Jesus is saying, “Whoa. Not so fast. You missed the whole
point. It’s not about religious beliefs that anyone came back from the dead;
it’s about bringing new life to what you’ve been called to do, wherever you
are, whoever you are. The stuffed shirts sitting around thinking they’ve
figured God out and have it right and everyone else is wrong, well…how about you
start by loving God and loving your neighbors…then we’ll turn some of that
water into wine and throw a party…and everyone will be welcome.
Like the women who showed up at the tomb this morning expecting a
wake thinking they knew where Jesus was…well, Jesus left that tomb and hit the
door a running…heard to say, “it’s a little stuffy in here …instead of a
funeral, we are going to have ourselves a revolution. Anyone got a match?”
And now, just as we were getting comfortable that he was somewhere
else, seated at the right hand of God, just when we thought we had him where we
wanted him, where we could understand him and define him, and knew he was ours
alone…he is on the loose, crying out to no one in particular, “Hey you all, I’m
the way, the truth, and the life. Anyone, and I do mean anyone…anyone want to
follow? You don’t have to memorize bible verses, you don’t have to cross your
fingers while you repeat a creed…you don’t have to join a church just a
movement.
“You can be a boomer, a millennial, black, white, brown, a Muslim,
a Jew, an agnostic, even an atheist, divorced three times or married once, straight
or not, tall, short, skinny or not, rich, poor, you can be a butcher, a baker
or a candlestick maker, it just doesn’t matter who you are; Jesus is looking
for people who have more questions than answers, more commitment than comfort.”
And
remember, it was the risen Christ who said no one will be convinced of anything
just because someone rose from the dead. But, if they see you following the
words of the prophets, we’ll get something going.
Isaiah said it, ‘The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall
rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly and
rejoice with joy and singing. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Then
the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf
unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the
speechless sing for joy.”
Jesus has left the grave with a shout loud enough to wake the dead
among the living. Everyone with ears to hear…heard him giggle as he
fidgeted with his sandals and adjusted his robe, stood up, and walked away from
the tomb saying, “I need some air! I am out of here. Ya’all will know where to
find me when you’re ready to do this thing.”
That, my dear friends is
the resurrection we came to celebrate. AMEN
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