Resurrection Sunday Message

I had the joy and honor of preaching the Resurrection Sunday sermon at Plainwell Presbyterian Church; here is my message, somewhat abbreviated, and written after delivery from an outline, but very much as I spoke it.

     In the grand scheme of All, how big do you think the issue of Easter is? (pause)  It's huge, isn't it! The importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ probably cannot be overstated; it's cardinal; it's right there beside the incarnation in terms of its importance and relevance. Narrowing our thinking down a little, what would you say the message of Easter is? What is the proclamation of the resurrection?

     For many years in my Christian experience I would have answered that question something like this: “The importance of Jesus’ dying, and rising from the dead is that it guarantees that I can do the same.” And, so can anyone who puts his or her faith in Jesus Christ. A few years ago I came to believe while that is true, the resurrection is much broader. If I view the resurrection  as meaning only that I will go to heaven when I die, it makes me the center of the everything, but it's bigger than that. Now, it is not just a matter of what I believe; it is an issue of what Holy Writ, the Bible, God's Word  proclaims. 

     For today's message we will only make passing mention of the broader meaning of the resurrection, but it is important to begin there and then narrow down, like a huge funnel, to you and to me. In First Corinthians, chapter 15, the “Great Resurrection” chapter, the Scripture we read from a little while ago, there are references to  different kinds of bodies as well as to the planets.  In the book of Romans chapter 8, verses 21-25, there is clear reference to  the renewal of all creation. Much of the Book of Revelation is also about this, as well as several other Bible references. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the beginning of this renewal. Tom Wright refers to this as” putting the world to rights” in his book, Surprised by Hope.  The resurrection of Jesus is not just a metaphor for that, it is (was) the beginning of it. I can recommend some good reading to you if you would like to pursue that further.

      The resurrection is already at work. If you have ever broken a bone, you know its healing has made it stronger than it was--you have experienced something of resurrection.You have an insert in your bulletin today with a poem by E.E.Cumings entitled, “I thank you God.” I believe this strange little poem  grasps some appreciation and understanding of resurrection in a non-theological way. 

                                    I thank You God

                   I thank You God for most this amazing

                   day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

                   and a blue true dream of sky: and for everything

                   which is natural which is infinite which is yes

                   

                    (i who have died and am alive again today

                    and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth

                    day of life and love and wings; and of the gay

                    great happening of illimitably earth 

     

                    how should any tasting touching hearing seeing

                    breathing any--lifted from the no

                    of all nothing--human merely being

                    doubt unimaginable You 

                    (now the ears of my ears are awake and

                     Now the eyes of my eyes are opened)       

Yes, certainly, you have to read the poem a couple of times, maybe more, but it's a fun poem and as I said, it captures something of the greater dynamic of the resurrection in a non-theological way.

     Go back with me to the Matthew 28 passage that we read a little while ago. In the pre-dawn light, the two Marys approached the tomb; the shadows are diminishing and then an earthquake! The ground rumbles! “Don’t be afraid.” An angel? Yes! (Could that command be part of the resurrection proclamation?) “You’re looking for a corpse, you won’t find it here.” “Jesus’ corpse hasn’t been moved, it has been transformed.” “You will find Jesus in Galilee, but you won’t find a corpse!” All this the angel declares.

     A few weeks ago I heard a TV preacher say that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us, you and me, today. I had known that truth, but it struck me in an unusual way--it is a profound truth that has life changing potential.  Of course,  that power is the power of the spirit of God. And here, we have a major proclamation of the resurrection, the Easter message: “God transforms the life we are  actually living living here and now.”

     Would you turn in your Bibles to the Book of Romans and find a verse in chapter 5 with me; that is on page 155 in the pew Bibles. Romans 5:10. This little verse seems almost buried among the great truths of this book and chapter.  I will read just that one verse, there is, of course, so much here. “ For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more surely having been reconciled, we will be saved by his life.” That little verse proclaims a truth  that we find many other places in Scripture, but it is so specific here: Christ's death saves us for eternity; his life saves us for time--the here and now. There are two key words in this verse, reconcile, which means to reconnect, re-established, or bring back together.The other key word is life, which comes from the Greek sozo.  It means delivered, protected preserved and so on. The grand truth here is that the crucifixion saves one for eternity and the resurrection preserves/ empowers the Christian for life.

     The Easter event, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is not just an historical event of two thousand years ago. In a book entitled The Resurrection Shaped Life, that's where I got my sermon title for today, author Jake Owensby says “the Christian Life follows a pattern a resurrection; dying and rising.”  A contemporary Christian song has a line “The old has gone, and the new has; we are reconciled by love.” A resurrection shaped life is life that has died to the old and risen to the new through the power of the spirit of God. The Bible has many ways of articulating this; I have quoted  2nd Corinthians 5:17 a number of times to you: “ If anyone is / for all who are in Christ, there is new creation; the old has passed away and the new has come.” (Loosely quoted.)

The other Scripture on your bulletin insert, Galatians 2:19-20 is also a great explanation of the resurrection shaped life. We need to revisit that Scripture.

      My question to you today is, “Are you living this resurrection shaped life: a life that has died to old and risen to the new through the power of the Spirit of God?” Do you remember that when Jesus began proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom, as Mark and the other Gospel writers record, Jesus prefaced the announcement with the admonition repent ? We often think of repentance as sorrow for a sinful thought or something contrary to the Ten Commandments, and that is true, but repentance is much bigger, more encompassing. It means literally to turn around, go the other way, and keep on going. Repentance puts a person in the right direction for the resurrection shaped life. We all are born to and in need of that. St. Paul said that we have all sinned--Romans 3;23. John Calvin called it “total depravity.” How many of you remember the Calvin T-U-L-I-P ? Ah, Good!

     Once again, are you living a resurrection shaped life? If you are, good; grow in it! If you are not, wouldn’t you like to? It’s the best life there is and it promises the very best future. Even more importantly though, it’s the life that God wants for you. If you would like to talk with me further regarding this, I would love to do that--I am available.

     Remember these three quotes; go over them again and again. “The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you and me, here and now.” Christ’s death on the cross saves one for eternity; his resurrected life saves and empowers a person for living here 

and now.

     Amen.