Resurrecting the Resurrection

                                      1 Corinthians 15: 12-26

        Of all the religious beliefs held by those of us inhabiting this planet, perhaps the most outlandish is the resurrection of the dead. Only Christians, Jews and Islam believe in such a thing. Not Hindus or Buddhists or any other religion believes in it. Some religions do believe in some form of continued life, such as reincarnation, but not in the bodies we currently occupy being re-tooled for eternity. How crazy is that? To the Christian, it’s not crazy at all.  It’s in our creeds. It’s in our religious DNA. 

          But think about it. Resurrection of the body. It has only happened twice. Lazarus was the first. Jesus’ great personal friend died. Jesus wasn’t but half a day away and knew of his death. But Jesus waited several days to show up. He wanted to make a point. He wanted people to understand that even death cannot defeat the power of God. So Jesus waited until the body of Lazarus had begun to do what dead bodies do. Then, he acted. And a dead man walked out of his tomb, alive again.

          The other time was Jesus himself. He promised he would, and he did. The Scriptures tell us that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day just as he had predicted. Everything in the Scriptures indicates that he had the same body he died with. But after the resurrection, it appeared to be transformed in some way we cannot define. For instance, Jesus told Mary Magdalene not to touch him, as he had not yet ascended.  But later, he let others touch him.  He ate. He drank. He showed off the holes in his wrists.

          The gospel accounts and Acts testify to a number of post-resurrection encounters with Jesus. In today’s passage from 1 Corinthians, Paul begins the chapter by referencing six different appearances of Jesus to others after his resurrection. One of them is to Paul himself about three years after Jesus had ascended to heaven. The others are before the ascension. And Paul’s account doesn’t mention every incident. For instance, he doesn’t speak of Jesus’ appearance to the women at the tomb.

          So there are eyewitnesses. In courts of law then and now, two or more eyewitnesses were considered reliable evidence. Paul recites multiple instances and hundreds of people who saw that indeed, Jesus was resurrected. Paul, is doing nothing more than reciting the facts.

          And yet, people today don’t believe. People then didn’t believe. Why? Why didn’t they believe? There were eyewitnesses. Paul even used himself as a witness. Fully three years after the resurrection, Paul testifies to us that he has a physical encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. He saw the risen Lord. It was life changing.

Why do people not believe? Maybe in part because the whole thing just defies our ability to conceive of it. He rose, not just in spirit, but in body! He was dead. No one really questions the historical account that Jesus lived or that he died and died of crucifixion. Many more, probably including the Corinthians to whom Paul was writing, believed that Jesus rose in Spirit. But not bodily! Come on!

But he did.  Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. He was buried, and was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He made many appearances to people after his resurrection. This is what Paul tells those at the church in Corinth who do not believe in a bodily resurrection.

Much of Greek lore and philosophy had contempt for the body. They longed for the day when their eternal soul could be liberated from the crassness of the flesh. In contrast, Paul pointed out that it wasn’t just Christ’s soul that left the grave, but his body as well!

We live in a world of technology. We are digitalized. We want more pixels and gigabytes. We want everything proved empirically. If Jesus came now, he could  instagram his way into Corinth and Paul could have stayed home. We could all have seen the crucifixion on YouTube as someone’s cell phone coverage went virile. But Jesus chose to come onto our stage in a pre-gadget age. And even without all those technological enhancements, the story of Jesus has pervaded the society of man for two millenniums and still counting.  Jesus died and was buried and was raised. Apparently, the Christians in Corinth were hung up on the concept of bodily resurrection. They may have favored the Greek idea that the body stayed behind; that only the spirit was pure.

Why not?  I mean, a spiritual resurrection gets the job done, doesn’t it? It’s a resurrection of our essence. Isn’t that the point?

No, it isn’t! And the great apostle spends the entire passage hammering home how important it is that Christ rose bodily from the dead! He defeated death! The grave could not hold him. Some of the Corinthian Christians were stuck in their perception of corpses rising from graves like the zombies of our TV programs. They couldn’t see that the body and soul are tied forever to one another and that the essence of who we are, what makes us individuals, what identifies us, is body and soul woven together. Paul is not talking about ghouls and goonies. That’s the stuff of entertainment. He is talking about all that makes up a person, an individual, a creation from God: body, soul and personality, but cast in a resurrected presence. It will be the new, improved model, a model made for eternity, but with personal monogramming.

The resurrection.  It is not an optional belief. It is fundamental to understanding the work of Christ. It is the centerpiece of Christianity. Without the resurrection, nothing else matters. Without the resurrection, Christianity becomes another ethical model of gracious living with no outcome other than a nice life. But the resurrection is not a life model. It is the way to life!

Verses 12-18 are a litany of counter facts. If this, then that.

*If Christ is proclaimed raised from the dead, how can you say there is no resurrection?

 

*If there is no resurrection, then not even Christ has been raised.

 

*If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

 

*If the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

 

*If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

 

*If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

 

          What a chilling conclusion. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But it is not for this life only. Paul says forget the counter facts, because they are not true. What is true is this: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep…in Christ shall all be made alive…Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ.”

           A seed is planted in the ground by a caring farmer. The seed is planted in good soil and is cared for and watered. The heat of the sun nourishes it. The seed dies. It is a necessary act that must precede the life that is to come. The death of the seed allows the plant to germinate. The result is a plant, transformed by the sacrifice of the seed into something alive and vital and beautiful. From the death of one comes the life of so many in new and splendid bodies. What a metaphor for Easter! So it is with our Savior. His obedience to the Father even unto death germinated not only his life eternal in a resurrected body, but also the lives of all who would follow him.

          Is the resurrection incredible? Of course it is! Only God could do it. But it is just as real as it is incredible. So today, this Easter Sunday, say with me the incredible truth. He is risen! Not he was, not he will be. He is! It is the great truth of the gospel and the great truth of all history that we believe not only that he lived, but that he lives. He has overcome sin, and he has overcome death, and if we believe, we have his promise that we can do the same.

So let us resurrect the resurrection. Let’s talk about it. Let’s celebrate it. It is the most liberating truth of all time. The natural conclusion to human life is not death, but rather life and life abundant. This is the message of the resurrection. We are all invited to the table.

The Lord Has Need of It  

 Luke 19: 28-40

         The nineteenth chapter of Luke’s gospel tells us that Jesus was coming up from Jericho to Jerusalem, about a seventeen mile journey. On the way, he tells the parable of the ten minas, a story about the importance and duties of stewardship. He apparently stops over to spend the weekend before Passover in Bethany with his friend Lazarus. Then he continues on Sunday from Bethany, about two miles out of town, into Jerusalem.

          When Jesus reaches Mt. Olivet, he sends two disciples ahead to a village, perhaps Bethpage. He tells them to look for a colt tied up and to bring it back to him. He says if anyone asks why you are doing this, just say “The Lord has need of it.” Luke says they were sent away and that they found the colt just as Jesus had told them.

          Now, what have we encountered here? Has Jesus been doing some advance planning? Are he and his disciples so well known and respected that on facial recognition alone, some owner will trust them with his animal? Is this the fulfillment of some Scripture? Yes, yes and Yes. Yes, Jesus, or one of his crew, may well have lined up the use of an animal ahead of time. That would not have been terribly unusual. Yes, Bethpage, or any other village close to Bethany, was small and the news of the healing of Lazarus would have made Jesus, and perhaps his disciples as well, famous to the area. And yes, in the book of Zechariah, the prophet rallies the people of God to persevere. The exile is over, but the temple is far from being rebuilt and there are obstacles at every turn. In the ninth chapter, Zechariah prophesies of the coming King of Zion, saying,

Behold, your king is coming to you;

righteous and having salvation is he,

humble and mounted on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.         Zech 9:9

 

The word colt was used to denote not only the foals of horses, but also of donkeys. In the context of this passage, which is all about the entry of a king of some sort, it is more likely that the colt to which Jesus refers is that of a donkey. In the culture of the time, kings rode horses into battle, but rode donkeys into town to denote the peace they had secured. So in this case, the entry of a king would not be on a horse.

So Jesus the outlaw,  Jesus the man who has people looking to execute him, rides into town in the most public of ways to a cheering crowd of followers. Luke says the whole multitude of his disciples were there, implying that it wasn’t the crowd or the curiosity seekers, but rather all of his many disciples who were present. They praised his name. They applauded his mighty works. They were ready to crown him King.

           There were Pharisees in this crowd. Some said to Jesus to rebuke his disciples, to silence their cheering. They may well have been sympathetic to Jesus. Perhaps they were just trying to persuade him to stay low-key. Reading the story, one can’t be sure of their persuasion. Jesus responds. He uses words about stones crying out, but his message to the Pharisees is not intended to be veiled. He is saying that the witness to this story cannot be silenced, cannot remain untold.

          There is much here to mine as always. But when I read this passage, three things keep commanding my attention.

All three have to do directly or indirectly with what Jesus said in this passage.  The first is those words of Jesus: “The Lord has need of it.”  The second is more about the revelation of Jesus’ words: they “found it just as he had told them.” The third comes from Jesus at the end of the passage: “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” In a way, they are all you need to know about our Savior.

          The Lord has need of it. Change the pronoun. The Lord has need of him. The Lord has need of her. The Lord has need of you. The Lord has need of me. If anyone asks you why you are visiting the sick, your answer might be: the Lord has need of me. If anyone asks you why you tithe your hard earned money, you might answer: the Lord has need of it. If anyone asks you why you get up earlier on Sunday and take time dressing your children in their Sunday best and rushing out the door when instead, you could have enjoyed a cup of coffee on your day off, your answer might be: the Lord has need of them…and me!  What Jesus was instructing his disciples that Sunday long ago was that he had a plan.  In his wisdom and his grace, he involved two disciples, two followers, to make that plan come to pass. He didn’t need them…he chose them. He still does that today. He doesn’t need us; he chooses in his grace and love toward us to involve us, to enlist us, to create a need for us. The Lord has need of you and me and us.

          Secondly, when we respond to Jesus, when we go out and do what he calls us to do, we will find things to be just as Jesus has promised us.  In this passage, Jesus predicted the outcome of the disciples’ encounter in the village. They found things just as he had told them. Jesus called upon them to do a small chore, but gave them nothing with which to present themselves other than a sentence identifying him as the sponsor. They had no need for more. They only had to obey his bidding and things turned out just as he had said. Has this happened to you? It certainly has if you have acted at the direction of God. Have you stopped to pray with a friend in the grocery store? Have you felt the guiding of the Holy Spirit to do something out of the ordinary for you? To say something not in your comfort zone? When we obey our Lord, things turn out just as he tells us they will. We have only to act.

          So first, the Lord, in his grace and love, has included us. The Lord has chosen to have need of us. Second, when we let the Lord include us, when we answer his call, things will turn out just the way the Lord has told us. Third, don’t even think about trying to silence the witness of something as powerful as the good news of Jesus Christ. It can’t be done. Jesus answers the Pharisees in words that can be found in Habakkuk: “For the stones will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond.”  [2: 11]. There, the prophet speaks to plunder and ill-gotten gains and warns that houses and structures built with such will find the very building materials crying out for justice. In this passage, Jesus looks at the Pharisees as he might look at religious skeptics of our day. His answer to them is not unlike Habakkuk. Don’t try to silence the message that cannot be silenced. To silence the tongues of the human witnesses is to invoke those of nature itself. The gospel cannot be silenced. The story must be told.

          The question for us on this Palm Sunday is not whether the story is true or whether it bears being told. Those answers are already in. The question for us is whether we will listen and what we will do with the information. Will we answer the call to be needed by our Lord? Will he have need of you? Will we go where he calls, do what he asks? Will you witness to that which you believe? Let the stones stay silent, though they and all creation await our commitment to be relieved of their groaning. If we do, if you do, as did those two unnamed disciples, that we will find it just as he has told us.     

             Tweening             John 12: 1-8

       Some names go together. In folk music, it’s Peter, Paul and Mary. In pop culture, it’s Abraham, Martin and John.  In the Old Testament, it’s David and Jonathan. In the Gospels, it’s Peter, James and John, or Mary, Martha, Lazarus and Judas. Wait a minute. Play that last one back again. Mary, Martha, Lazarus and Judas? It just doesn’t fit, does it? Judas doesn’t fit in such a group. His is a one way, one dimensional history. Judas is the betrayer. Yet there he is in Bethany at the home of Lazarus. In a strange way, he does fits, for here, in this scene, there is the presence of death, so much so that is it sometimes referred to as the death passage.

          The story of the anointing of Jesus appears in all four Gospels. There are quite a few variations. In two gospels, it takes place at the home of Simon the leper. In another, Luke, it happens at the home of a Pharisee. The timing is different in Mark, occurring after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, whereas the others place it on the weekend before the Passover and before Jesus comes to town. In two gospels, it is the head of Jesus which is anointed, but in the other two, it is his feet.  The story in Luke seems to have so many variances that some think it may be a different story altogether. While some facts vary from gospel to gospel, what is clear is that a woman, probably Mary the sister of Lazarus, anointed Jesus with an oil that was worth a year’s pay for a common laborer.

          As I was preparing this message, my wife called me to check in. How are you? How’s it going? Are you writing? The usual small talk and questions, probing me to make sure how I am, whether I’m ok. Then an observation. She had come from teaching a class. A friend of some years was there. She had been absent for some time, undergoing chemotherapy. The regimen has reached its end. Her body can no longer tolerate the treatments. Now the disease will have full access to her. Her time with us is now measured by weeks and months rather than years. The presence of death is very real for my wife’s friend and for all those who care for her.

          The scene at Bethany is somewhat surreal. Lazarus has been miraculously raised from the dead by Jesus. Jesus is now an outlaw and yet he is voluntarily looking into the jaws of the lion as he prepares to enter Jerusalem for the Passover. A meal has been prepared, perhaps even a banquet. This may be the first appearance for Lazarus after his resurrection. He too is a marked man by the Sadducees, who run the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jews. They do not believe in the resurrection of the body and Lazarus is living proof that it can happen.  Here he is, reclining at table with Jesus the outlaw. It is as if the backdrop of death is breaking bread with the foreshadowing of death. Lazarus, the newly undead, sitting with Jesus, the about-to-be dead. No wonder it has been called the death passage. Like my wife’s friend and her circumstances, the presence of death is very real here, too.

          To this atmosphere are added Mary, Martha, Judas and probably the other disciples, though their presence is only implied. Martha is serving. That’s what Martha does. Mary is loving. Where Jesus is concerned, that’s what Mary does. Judas is griping. That’s what Judas does. Well, he also steals. The passage calls him a thief.

          Mary, ever the loving servant, breaks out a pound of very expensive perfume. It is used, among other things, to adorn the body of the dead. John tells us that not only does she bathe the feet of Jesus in this oil, but that she also cleans up the excess with her hair. Both are acts of extreme humility and devotion. Judas is irritated and says as much. Why would you lavish all this expense to wash his feet when water would do? This money could go a long way to feed the poor. John lets us know what Judas really wants. He wants access to all that money. Jesus tells Judas to leave Mary alone. He alludes to his impending date with the cross when he says that Mary may elect to save it for his burial. Then, he tells those gathered that the poor will always be there, but not so for him. He is again alluding to his death, although there is no way that those listening can catch his meaning.

          Mary’s deeds are such a witness. She holds Jesus in such high esteem that rather than anoint his head, a sign of honor,   she anoints his feet to show her complete humility. Mary even throws convention to the wind and lets down her hair to wipe away the excess. Such a display was unheard of in polite company. Indeed it was the sign of an immoral woman to be seen with her hair down in public. But Mary thought nothing of what others would say. She was totally devoted to Jesus.

          There is a lot going on here. Lazarus is up and about. The great friend of Jesus whose death caused our Savior to weep is now socializing. His testimony of resurrection is so powerful that the religious leaders will plot to have him executed. Martha is serving, a role to which she is accustomed. This is how she testifies. She says little, but is always near, working in the background. There is Judas, described here as disciple, betrayer and thief. His concern is with money and its pursuit. He can lay no claim to higher ground. There is Mary, the sister of the man returned from the dead. Surely Jesus is nothing less than God to her. He saved her brother. For Mary, the banquet is a woefully inadequate thank you. She takes her most treasured possession and bathes Jesus in it. Nothing is enough to reward him for what he has done and who he is.

          And then, there is Jesus. Like that backdrop of death that  Lazarus cannot help but bring to the table, Jesus shows us the ominous foreshadowing of his own death, now less than a week away. No matter that his hosts and followers do not know, for he does. This is what he has come to do and it looms large in his thoughts.

          Yet there is more to this story than the former and future deaths these men will undergo. There is much more. As surely as Lazarus reminds us that he died, his very presence screams to us that he lives! He is resurrected from days in the grave, nights without breath or life. One cannot help but wonder if the strong aroma of the perfume does not also help to hide the pervasive smell of death that may still follow Lazarus. And Jesus. Jesus looks clearly toward a killing cross, knowing and even predicting that as surely as he will allow the earthly temple of his body to be destroyed, it too will rise in those predicted three days, resurrected from death…and offering mankind the same future if it, we… will but ask and believe.

          A supper. A banquet.  A testimony not just of death but of resurrection. It is like the testimony with which Jesus left us. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. It is here, incomplete and messy, but here. The Spirit comes to us and we feel…we know…that he is here, that he is in us, part of us. And yet, he has not yet come. It is not yet the end of the age. We live in the middle of the already but not yet. We are tweeners, hurting from the sin that remains within us and healing from the spirit that washes over us.

Can we live with both these existences? Can we both live in the valley of the shadow and bask in the light of the Son? That is often what is required of us in this life. And so the answer must be yes. Yes, we can walk in that valley. We can walk in as many valleys as come to us. Judas captured the treasury and bankrupted himself. Mary gave the bank away and found the riches of the love of God. We can do the same as Mary did if we believe. We can do so because death holds no power over the Christian.  We can do so… because of the resurrection. He lives!