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Something Worth Remembering Spencer C. Lawrence, Church of the Cross, Hoffman Estates, IL, April 8, 2007 I have friends who love to play “Trivial Pursuit.” I envy them. I wish I were as good at it and enjoyed it as much as they. You see, I don’t remember details all that well. I make lists of what I am supposed to do in the course of a day, and all too often, end up leaving the list at home. Some days it’s hard to keep track of what I need to accomplish. Living in a age of information overload doesn’t make it any easier. We are flooded with details: through the papers, radio, television and now the Internet. No one can remember everything, and it’s hard to decide what’s important. It’s hard to know what’s merely trivia and what’s worth remembering. Luke tells us that some women – Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and others – came to Jesus’ tomb early on the first day of the week. They came with spices to anoint Jesus’ body and prepare it for a proper burial. To their amazement they discovered that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance to the tomb. So they went in. They did not, however, find Jesus’ body. What they found were two men dressed up in dazzling bright clothes. The women were frightened – who wouldn’t be? – and bowed down to the ground before the them. The men asked them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Luke tells us they did indeed remember that Jesus had said this. They left the tomb, went straight to the eleven and the other disciples and told them what they had seen and heard. These disciples were not so easily impressed. They dismissed the whole thing as an idle tale – too good to be true. Peter did run to the tomb to see for himself. What he saw surprised him. Jesus’ body was not there, but the expensive linen cloths that had been used to cover his body were there. He went home amazed, but not convinced. Luke’s version of the story provides two important pieces of evidence for Jesus rising from the dead: first, the tomb was really empty – both the women and Peter (two witnesses!) agree; second, because the expensive linen cloths were still in the tomb Jesus’ body hadn’t been stolen by grave robbers. Robbers would have taken the cloths, too. Oddly, neither was enough to convince Peter and the others. The women, on the other hand, had an inkling, at least, that Jesus was alive. What made the difference for the women was what the two men said to them: “Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Later, of course, they actually saw the risen Jesus. But it was their remembering Jesus’ words that gave them hope. Remembering helped them begin to grasp the meaning of what they had seen and heard at the tomb. Jesus doesn’t walk among us today. We can’t see him. We can observe his handiwork in people who have come alive spiritually through trusting in Christ. But remembering Jesus’ words is what enables us to begin to experience the power of Jesus’ resurrection for ourselves. This is no trivial pursuit. It is something worth remembering. Let me tell you two stories. They don’t provide more evidence that Jesus actually rose, but they shed light on the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection. The first is a story Jesus told (See Luke 15: 11 – 32). It is about a dad who had two grown sons. One of them was very responsible; the other equally irresponsible. One day the irresponsible one came to his dad and asked if he could have his share of the inheritance right then. Surprisingly, his dad agreed. Upon receiving his share the young man took off for a distant land where he proceeded to blow every cent on wine, women and song. When his money ran out, he lost all his friends and found himself in desperate straits. He actually had to go to work slopping someone else’s hogs. Not a proper job for a Jewish man! His employer paid him so little that he would have gladly eaten what he was feeding the pigs. Finally, he came to his senses and devised a plan to go back to his dad and ask him if he would hire him as a field hand. He didn’t expect to be treated like a son. He knew he didn’t deserve that. If he could work in the fields then he could make enough to live on. So he hurried on home. To his great surprise, his dad had actually been hoping he would come back. When he saw his son he ran out to meet him. The young man confessed that he had sinned by acting the way he did, but before he could get to the part about being a field hand, the father hugged him and kissed him. He told someone to get one of his robes and a pair of his sandals as well as a signet ring to show that his son was part of the family again. Then he ordered his workers to kill the fatted calf and invite all the neighbors over for a party. The son who was dead was alive. The one who had been lost was now found. Jesus told this story to explain why he spent so much time with people who had run away from God. He had come to look for and find the lost. He had come to help the spiritually dead come alive. Jesus’ rising from the dead confirms this. It reminds us that God is in the business of forgiving those who have squandered their lives. God is in the business of giving us new life. When I was a boy – 13 years of age – I attended a youth meeting in our Methodist church in southern Illinois. For some reason or other the pastor wanted two Boy Scouts to present both the Christian and American flags, and he asked another Scout and me to help. If they hadn’t asked me to carry the flag I would have likely stayed home and watched TV. (Yes, we did have TV back then.) You see I wasn’t big on church. I wasn’t hostile to it; I just thought it was boring and not very relevant to my life. But as the preacher droned on and on and on – it was a pretty long sermon, it began to sink in that church did have something to do with my life. I forget what he talked about but I remember feeling that while I couldn’t pinpoint anything I had done that was really bad, I was sure that I had wandered away from God. I wasn’t as close to God as I had been. There was a tugging in my heart and when the preacher asked if anyone wanted to make a commitment to Christ and welcome God’s love into his or her heart, I went forward to pray. It was a powerful emotional experience for me. I felt spiritually clean. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure what had happened to me, and before long I wandered away from God and the church once again, only to come back four years later. By that time I had done some bad things. Since then, of course, I have done other bad things, and had to come back to God for mercy over and over again. Each time, God who is rich in mercy has welcomed me back because of Jesus Christ and helped me get back on the path to life once again. I don’t know “where” you are spiritually. Maybe you’re like I was when I was a kid – sensing that something is wrong, but not knowing what: just that you have moved away from God. Or maybe you’ve been around a little and done things that you aren’t proud of, but no one else much knows about them. Or maybe, you’ve done some bad things that lots of people know about. It doesn’t matter. Remember Jesus’ death and resurrection. Remember the reason he lived and died and rose again – to look for and find the lost: you and me. Friends, this is no trivial pursuit. This is something worth remembering. The second story is not one that Jesus told, but one that was told about him (See Luke 23: 32 – 43). When Jesus was on the cross the Romans crucified two thieves one on either side of him. One of the thieves taunted Jesus. He snarled, “If you really are the Messiah why don’t you save yourself and us, too?” The other thief was more contrite. He said to his companion in crime, “Do you know what you’re saying? We deserve to be here. We’ve broken the law. This man has done nothing wrong.” Then to Jesus he said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” Those who heard Jesus’ promise to this unnamed man – someone had to – would have been mystified by it. What did Jesus mean by promising this criminal a place in paradise with him? Who gave him the authority to do that? And how did Jesus himself know he was headed there? Jesus’ rising from the dead, however, helps make sense out of such a strange comment. You see, in being raised from the dead, Jesus announced that death had finally been overcome. Of course, it doesn’t mean that we won’t have to experience physical death at some point in our lives. It does mean that death can no longer terrorize. Instead of being a dark end, the last stop of the train, the final beat of a heart, death has become a passageway to new life; it’s the door through which we enter God’s presence. The apostle Paul wrote to the church in the Greek city of Corinth of the mystery and the hope of Christ’s rising (1 Corinthians 15: 51 – 57): Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts in imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory” [See Isaiah 25: 6 – 10a]. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We may not know everything – there is plenty of mystery here, but because of Jesus rising from the dead, we can be sure that death has been conquered, swallowed up in victory. My friends, this, too, is no trivial pursuit. It is something worth remembering. And Christians throughout history have remembered. Pastor/theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested and imprisoned by the Nazis for playing a minor role in an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler. He was in prison for quite some time, and his family hoped that once the war was over, he would be set free. The Nazis had other plans. As the war was winding down and it was becoming clear that Germany would, in fact, lose, the authorities decided to execute many of their prisoners – especially those who had tried to kill the Fuhrer. Bonhoeffer was moved from Berlin to another prison. While there he led worship on Easter Sunday in April of 1944. Not long after that he received word that he was to be executed by hanging. Just before they led him away he told his fellow prisoners: “This is the end; for me it is the beginning.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer remembered. The poet Jane Kenyon was born in 1947 and died of leukemia in April of 1995. She died trusting in Jesus Christ. One of her poems “Notes from the Other Side” – my favorite and one I’ve shared with you before – tells of her confidence as she faced death. In it she imagines life in God’s presence: I divested myself of despair and fear when I came here. Now there is no more catching one’s own eye in the mirror, there are no bad books, no plastic, no insurance premiums, and of course no illness. Contrition does not exist, nor gnashing of teeth. No one howls as the first clod of earth hits the casket. The poor we no longer have with us. Our calm hearts strike only the hour, and God, as promised, proves to be mercy clothed in light. All those other things she talks about doing without – bad books, insurance premiums, illness, fear and despair – won’t be missed, will they? And to me the best is the last: God who “as promised, proves to be mercy clothed in light.” What an image! “Mercy” – inviting, forgiving, welcoming us as the father welcomed the prodigal son. “Clothed in light” – dispelling darkness, cheering our days, assuring us that we are safe as Jesus assured the dying thief. Jane Kenyon remembered, too. Much of life is trivia. It’s easy to get so caught up in the insignificant details that we forget what’s essential. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead reminds us of what is – that he died and rose so we can be free from the guilt and shame of sin, that he died and rose that we might live our days with the confidence that death doesn’t have the last word, that he died and rose so we can look forward to enjoying God’s radiant presence along with all those who have gone before us in the faith. This is no trivial pursuit. It’s something worth remembering. It’s also something worth believing, something worth thanking God for, and something worth telling our family and friends about. Dear friends, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! | |||||
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