Easter Day

Acts 10:34-43
Colossians 3:1-4
Luke 24:1-10

+ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

It is marvelous to welcome you here today.  Since Thursday, there’s been tremendous worship and prayer here as we’ve re-presented the story of Jesus’ Last Supper, Cross, and Resurrection.  It’s a tremendous joy and privilege to round it out this morning with all of you – looking sharp, dressed in your Easter finery.  The reason we have a procession on Easter morning is for us to check all of you out..., and for you to check us out.  I’m grateful to the many dear people who have mightily prepared for this morning. 

I was a house guest of a friend who doesn’t make too much room for the Church in his life, but he wanted to take me to his church while I was visiting.  After the service, as we were slipping out to head for a boozy brunch, his pastor caught him at the door and shook hands with us.  When the pastor grabbed my friend’s hand, he pulled him aside and told him, “You need to be more deeply involved in the service of the Lord.”  My friend replied, “I’m already deeply committed to the service of the Lord, Pastor.”  The pastor quizzically questioned him, “Well, how come I usually don’t see you except at Christmas and Easter?”  My friend whispered back, “I’m in the secret service.”

I’m grateful to all of you for being here this morning, and especially those of you who are often undercover.  Jesus rose for all of us, and he wants all of us to celebrate and to share in the joy of the Resurrection.

For many people, of course, the Resurrection is pie in the sky, a crutch for the weak, a fantasy for the gullible.  I understand that point of view, respect it, and take it seriously.  It’s part of my own story.  Yet, I’ve come to see that true faith honors reason and intellect.  Unfortunately, that’s not the way we generally understand faith.

I was walking across town last week, more focused on where I needed to be than anything around me.  At an intersection, I saw the red ‘don’t walk’ signal, the red hand flashing in my face, but it didn’t register.  I was oblivious, and I began to cross the street anyway.  I took half a dozen steps into the street, then realized that I shouldn’t be there, and quickly made my way back to the safety of the curb.  A pleasant woman said to me, “When I saw you walk in front of that truck, I thought you sure had a lot of faith.”  I gave a roar of laughter in appreciation of her good nature and continued on my way. 

Within about ten steps I was slightly irked.  Walking out in front of truck is not an act of faith.  It’s an act of stupidity.  Too often, we confuse faith with simple acceptance, with blindness, with dumb certainty.  I’m a Christian because mature faith embraces doubt and welcomes questions; mature faith observes reality and learns from it; mature faith exists humbly with uncertainty.  Over the years, my faith in the Resurrection has grown and deepened through questioning and observing and wondering.

Bishop Tom Wright points to three things in scripture that “give us confidence that Jesus is risen – the empty tomb, the multiple apparitions, and the seismic change in the followers of Jesus.”1  Today’s gospel tells us that Jesus’ tomb was empty, and many other passages describe apparitions of the risen Jesus.  I believe it.  I’ve staked my life on it. 

But I don’t expect people to believe the Resurrection just because of this testimony.  The Bible’s most convincing testimony to the Resurrection is not these passages.  Rather, it’s the whole story, and in particular the story of how Jesus’ disciples changed, of how they spiritually matured and blossomed, after Easter Sunday. 

When we reflect on the entire story of Jesus’ disciples – from their first being introduced to Jesus at the beginning of his ministry all the way to their post-Easter ministry to spread the gospel, we recognize that the disciples before and after Easter were much different people.  They changed dramatically in four ways. 

First, before the Resurrection the disciples were full of doubt and confusion, but they became full of faith and purpose.  As we read the gospels, again and again Jesus perplexed the disciples.  He challenged their assumptions.  He challenged their sense of the possible.  They didn’t understand him.

S. Peter, for example, had rebuked Jesus when Jesus had predicted his passion, death, and resurrection.  After Jesus was arrested, Peter three times denied that he knew Jesus.  When Peter first saw the empty tomb, he didn’t understand what it meant.  But after he meets the risen Jesus, Peter gets it.  He professes his love for Jesus and promises to feed his sheep.  In this morning’s lesson from Acts, we heard Peter eloquently sum up the message of the gospel.  He could never have done that before the Resurrection.

During Jesus’ earthly ministry, his disciples were bumblers, unreliable, uncertain about the meaning of Jesus and competing with one another for position, but after the Resurrection they become focused, purposeful, competent.  Wouldn’t their experience of the risen Jesus explain what transformed them?

Second, before the Resurrection the disciples were cowards, but they became courageous.  Sure the disciples had talked tough and pledged their loyalty to Jesus.  Yet they abandoned Jesus when he was arrested.  Except for a few women, they were too afraid even to show up for his burial. 

After the Resurrection, they began to walk the talk.  They boldly set out to change the world, and they did so.  The disciples couldn’t be shut up; they couldn’t be intimidated.  They bravely dedicated their lives to proclaiming the good news of a risen Jesus, and their witness cost many of them their lives.  They were willing to lay down their lives for Jesus, for their friends, even for strangers.  Wouldn’t the Resurrection explain this 180 degree change in their behavior? 

Third, before the Resurrection the disciples were self-seeking and not deeply committed to one another, but they became a tightly knit, if a sometimes cantankerous, community, and a community characterized by self-sacrifice and mutual care.  They had followed Jesus, in part, for personal ambition.  They had sought their own honor.  They expected to attain worldly position.  Their dreams came undone on Good Friday, and the disciples ran away and scattered.  Their community collapsed.  Everything seemed lost.

Fear undermines human relationships and society.  Fear can lead people to turn inward and to worry about themselves.  The Crucifixion was a gruesome act of terror designed to stifle Jesus and his followers. Remarkably, soon after the Crucifixion, the disciples came back together, and their relationships grew stronger than ever.  Something gave them a new, exciting, fabulous vision of the future.  Something gave them hope. 

In their renewed community, the disciples shared their possessions with one another according to need; they prayed and worshiped together; they reached out to all people.  Instead of rapidly sliding into oblivion, their community became more vigorous and holy.  Would the Church even exist at all without the Resurrection?

Fourth, before the Resurrection the disciples were dispirited and despondent, but they became known for their joy.  On Good Friday, their world turned upside down.  They thought Jesus had been an utter failure.  They must’ve thought that they’d been duped.  They must’ve thought themselves fools, chumps. 

And yet Luke ends his gospel with the disciples in the Temple continually praising God. They were full of gratitude, and there’s nothing more delightful than a grateful heart.  In Acts, we read that the disciples took their meals together, meals marked by celebration, exuberance, and joy.  It was their joy that attracted people to them and fed the growth of the Church.  What other than the Resurrection could produce such joy?

The most convincing evidence of the Resurrection is the spectacular transformation of the disciples – their hope, their courage, their renewed friendship, their commitment to one another, their self-sacrifice and outward focus, their joy.  We read about it in the Bible, but it’s not only there. 

When we look at individuals in our congregation, when we look at our parish family as a whole, we see the same kind of transformation.  We can see the power of Jesus in one another.  The story of the disciples is our story, and like the disciples, we have confidence in the future, a glorious future because we are already living the Resurrection.  Praise God for it.

Have a happy, happy Easter! God love you. 

+ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.