04/26/2009 – The Reality of Resurrection
One day a teacher was asking the kids in her fourth grade class to name the person whom they considered the greatest human being alive in the world today.
A little boy spoke up and said, "I think it's Tiger Woods. He’s the greatest golfer in the world, ever"
A little girl said, "I think it's the Pope because he cares for people and doesn't get paid for it at all."
Another little girl said, "I think its President Obama because he's the President of the United States and the United States is the greatest country in the world."
And yet another little boy said, "I think it's my mom because she takes care of me and my brother."
Over and over again, kids cited one celebrity after another and another. But then it was little Donnie's turn.
And without even hesitating, when the teacher asked him the question, he replied, "Well I think it’s Jesus Christ because he loves everybody and is always ready to help them."
Mrs. Thompson smiled and said, "Well I certainly like your answer Donnie, because I'm a Christian too and I also admire Jesus. But there's one slight thing that's wrong. I said the greatest living person, and of course Jesus lived and died almost two thousand years ago. Do you have another name in mind?"
And I love the simple, innocent, wide-eyed response of little Donnie. He said, "Oh no, Mrs. Thompson, that's not right at all. Jesus Christ is alive! He lives in me right now!"
The greatest affirmation of the Church, in my opinion, is not the affirmation that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. It's not that he performed incredible miracles or that he was a profound teacher or that he embodied the very presence of God.
No, instead it's the affirmation that Jesus Christ is alive and that he actually lives inside the hearts and souls of each and every one of us here!"
That's the message of Easter. ………………………. YET ………………
How can we make that message live vibrantly this morning?
That's the task of preaching, isn’t it?
What might I say? What do you need to hear in order that the Easter message might transform you into an Easter person?
Most of us know the story. It was Easter evening. It had been a big day. Mary Magdalene and several other women had gone to the tomb to anoint Jesus, but found the tomb empty accept for two angels. And the angles asked that question we know so well. They asked:
Why do you look for the living among the dead?
He is not here, but has risen" (Luke 24:5).
These women reported to the apostles what they had seen, but the apostles wrote off their testimony as "an idle tale" (24:11) –– wishful thinking –– women's imaginations working overtime.
Then Jesus appeared to two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus. They walked and they talked and then they broke bread together. And Luke says:
"Then their eyes were opened,
and they recognized him;
and he vanished from their sight" (24:31).
It was nearly evening and a two-hour walk to Jerusalem –– but these two disciples started out. It was probably dark when they reached Jerusalem. I can imagine them feeling their way through the darkness –– looking for the apostles. It must have been difficult –– but they did it. They found the apostles, and reported what they had seen. This time the apostles listened, because Peter had also reported seeing Jesus (24:34).
Then, suddenly, Jesus was in the room with them. Luke doesn't tell us how he got there. The Gospel of John says that the door was locked (John 20:19).
This story gives us some insights into what it means to be resurrected from the dead. It tells us that Jesus had a body –– much like the body that he had before he died. The disciples recognized him. Jesus invited them to touch his hands and feet –– to inspect the nail prints –– to prove that he was the same Jesus who had died on Friday. The disciples could touch him. Jesus could eat.
But there was also something mysterious about Jesus' resurrected body. Did Jesus come through the locked door? Did he just materialize? We don't know. These resurrection stories tell us a great deal, but leave the rest to our imagination.
Yet who cares if Jesus had a physical body after his resurrection?
What difference does it make?
That was then. This is now.
Why should we care?
How does it affect us?
It affects us in this way. What happened to Jesus is going to happen to us. If we believe what we proclaim, we, too, will experience resurrection after death. We, too, will live again –– will live again with a physical body –– a recognizable physical body.
The Apostle Paul spoke of the resurrected Christ as "the first fruits of those who have died" (1 Corinthians 15:20). Listen to that one more time. The resurrected Christ is "the first fruits of those who have died."
Let’s talk for just a moment about that phrase, "first fruits." We sometimes hear this phrase in a stewardship sermon as the pastor or stewardship chair remind us that God calls us to give to His church from our first fruits, not 10% of what is left over after we have paid the bills and bought a new suit of clothes. But I want to take a deeper look into this idea of “first fruits.”
In the late spring or early summer, those of us who plant tomatoes in our gardens get to experience a special treat. We get to go to our garden and pick a fresh, vine-ripened, homegrown tomato. We not only get to pick it –– we also get to eat it. We might put it in a salad –– or make a “mater” sandwich on white bread with mayo –– or we might just eat it like an apple.
But however we do it, that tomato will taste better than any tomato that we have eaten in the past year. It will certainly taste better than the winter tomatoes that we bought at BiLo or Food Lion. But it will also taste better than the tomato from our garden that we ate last August. By August we had grown accustomed to fresh tomatoes. They didn't seem as special as the first tomato of the season.
What's the difference?
The difference is that, in the early summer, we have been waiting all winter for a good fresh “mater.” When we finally get a fresh, vine-ripened, homegrown tomato –– the first one from the garden –– it tastes better than any tomato since the first tomato of the previous year.
That first tomato is what they called "first fruits" in the Bible. It is special. It is special because it tastes good, but it is also special because it holds the promise of more tomatoes through the summer. It isn't the "last fruit" or the "only fruit" but the "first fruits."
It holds the promise of baskets full of wonderful tomatoes.
It holds the promise of a wonderful summer.
Paul says that Jesus is "the first fruits of those who have died." Jesus' resurrection was not the "last fruit" or the "only fruit." It is the "first fruits" –– and it holds the promise of many resurrections to come –– the resurrections of our loved ones –– the promise of our own resurrection. Just as Jesus was resurrected with the physical body, so also we will be resurrected with a physical body.
Yet this raises all kinds of questions:
• What about someone whose body was ravaged by disease?
• What about someone whose body was torn apart by an explosion?
• What about someone who donated organs to help other people?
• What about the person whose body long ago turned to dust?
• What about the person who was cremated?
Let me ask you this question. Don't you think that the God who "formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" can figure it out? Don't you think that the God who created us can put us back together again?
I am confident that God can do that –– and will do that.
Yet, what about those of us who would rather have a different body –– a slender body –– a beautiful body? I believe that, in the resurrection, we will all see each other as beautiful. There won't be any "Oh, I'm fat!" or "Oh, I'm ugly!" “Oh, I’m gray” or “Oh, I’m soooo old!” There will be only "Oh, I'm happy!"
So resurrection is great! Resurrection is wonderful! But that is something that we, as Christians look forward to with great joy and anticipation. But what about today? What does this morning’s resurrection story say to those of us here in Eastover / Lower Richland on this 3rd Sunday in Easter?
Let me tell you the story of Luigi Tarisio who, some years ago was found dead one morning with hardly any creature comforts in his home: except the presence of 246 exquisite violins.
He had been collecting them all his life. They were all stored in the attic. The best violins were found in the bottom drawer of an old rickety bureau. The greatest of his collection, a Stradivarius, when it was finally played, had endured 147 voiceless years. In his very devotion to the violin, he had robbed the world of all that exquisite music.
How many of Christ's people are like old Tarisio? In our very love of the church we fail to share the glad tidings to the world; in our zeal to protect the truth we forget to proclaim the story of selfless love, sacrifice and resurrection accept within the walls of this church.
It’s amazing isn’t it that the story of the resurrection is now in your hands.
It’s yours to use,
to reach out with,
to pass on to your children and your neighbors.
Don’t keep it. Don’t confine it to the walls of McLeod / Mill Creek UMC. The resurrection of Jesus is a message to the nations, an amazing, joyful, impossible story that positively happened.
Don’t you sometimes feels like those disciples, before being blessed by the presence of the Holy Spirit – don’t we sometimes hide behind the fencerow that divides your yard from that of your neighbor. Don’t you sometimes feel the fear of the disciples, sitting on the other side of a cubicle, or a worktable, or even a dinning room table. Don’t we sometimes sit there not even for sure really positive that our coworker, or neighbor, or cousin or aunt or maybe even our parent – Don’t we sometimes sit there afraid, hiding
those closest to us have a real, relationship with out Lord? Will we every see them again.
The resurrection is a simple story. And what makes it so real is the undeniable change that came about in the life of Jesus’ disciples once they had witnessed His resurrection and encountered the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
It’s a simple story; that’s what makes it so real. It is a story of power; that’s why we need to talk about it. It is a story for all nations; that’s how far we are to take it. Amen.
