Resurrection: Door to Life

Jesus died the most ignominious death available in A.D. 33—crucifixion. Ordinarily crucified men were tossed in the garbage dump. Burial was not permitted. However, Jesus had friends—rich friends, powerful friends. So he was buried in a new tomb, a cave carved from the limestone just outside Jerusalem, closed with a massive rolling stone, the perfect setup for Sunday morning.

Saturday was filled with miserable emotion. Then came Sunday morning.

According to John’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene was first at the tomb. (John implies other women were with her, but he names only the Magdalene.) She saw the stone rolled back, the grave empty and raced off to find Peter and John. They in turn raced back to the tomb. Empty. Just like Mary said.

John immediately got it. Christ is risen. Risen indeed!

Peter and John left. Mary stayed. Weeping. She looked again into the tomb. Two angels were sitting where Jesus’ body had been.

“Woman, why are you crying?” they asked.

“They have taken my Lord away and I don’t know where.”

Turning away, she becomes aware of a man standing behind her. He echoes the angels. “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”

Thinking it’s the gardener, she answers, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you’ve put him, and I will get him.”

The gardener answers with one word, “Mary.”

She turns and throws herself at his feet. “Teacher!”

“Don’t hold me.” Jesus said. “ I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary ran off to the disciples with the news.

Late that evening Jesus appeared to the ten disciples. (Thomas was not there.)

“Peace.” Jesus greeted them. “Here, look at my hands and my side. Peace. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

So What? (The most important question in theology.)

The meaning of a story is always more than what can be said in a sermon or commentary. Still it’s valuable to say out loud what this story says to us today. Here. Now.

First. GO!

When Mary realized it was Jesus, she grabbed his feet and hung for dear life. Her Jesus was alive. She wanted to never again let him out of her sight.

What does Jesus do? He sends her on a mission. Go, he tells her. Go tell my brothers I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.

Go.

This message shows up in every gospel. Jesus is risen. So GO!

What does it mean to live in the light of Resurrection Morning? Go. Participate in the mission of Jesus.

Go next door and give your neighbor a hand. Go to Africa and help orphans whose parents have died from AIDS. Go to the nursing home on the first Sabbath of the month with Gregg, Jay and Tracy. Go to the Edgewood Food Bank and help serve hungry people who have lost their jobs. Go pick up the hitchhiker who has been passed by hundreds of cars.

The first meaning of Resurrection day is Go.

Second. Jesus keeps you company. When you go, Jesus goes!

In Matthew 28:20 Jesus declares, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

In John 20:17, Jesus tells Mary and through her the disciples, “I am going to my Father and your Father.” Then when he meets with the disciples late that evening, he tells them, “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”

The point of Resurrection is the forward movement of life. The point of Jesus’ resurrection is the forward movement of his mission—establishing the kingdom of heaven. He does this by living in and through his disciples—you and me.

The Story of the Resurrection is not primarily about something that happened 2000 years ago. Any devil can easily believe that. The resurrection is about the mission of Jesus moving forward today. In you and me.

Teachers, when you bring numbers to life or music or history or language or science, Jesus is alive in your classroom. When you show respect and compassion for your students, when you provide discipline and structure, Jesus is living in you, he is extending the Kingdom of Heaven in your classroom, lab or studio.
Mechanics, when you heal engines, Jesus is working in your hands.

Doctors, nurses, lab techs, CNAs, unit secretaries—when you orchestrate service to patients you are orchestrating the work of God, you are “channeling” the mission of Jesus.

Mothers, when you mother, when you kiss, nurse, sing to, diaper, caress your child or another’s child, Jesus is in you. Jesus is loving through you.

This is the fundamental meaning of Resurrection. Jesus is risen, risen indeed. He rose 2000 years ago. He is alive in his body, the church.

Jesus commands:
“Go. I am with you.”
“Go, I am in you.”
“The works that I have been doing you will do.”

Jesus pushes this further than any of us would, even saying, “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” I don’t know how interpret this statement literally. I do know it indicates a power and responsibility in ministry that is parallel to the ministry of Jesus.

Jesus rose. Jesus is risen in the lives and ministry of his people.

Third. Resurrection is the door into the future God has for us.

There is a long, unfortunate tradition in Christian theology of imagining the body as an impediment to the very best of spiritual life. When a person dies, he or she is finally liberated from the constraints and interference of the body. Then the person can really live. This is erroneous and unhelpful.

Resurrection says something quite different. The body is, in fact, precisely the instrument of spiritual life. There is no spiritual life apart from the body. Not this side of death or the other side. Death is an interruption of life, not the doorway to a new life. The Bible describes death as a sleep. Resurrection is morning, the renewal of life. Resurrection gives birth to a new perfect body in which we will further cultivate spiritual life--that is relationship with God.

Resurrection is the key to the future life God has in mind for us.



Fourth. Resurrection means death is not the last word.

When our hearts protest against the interruption of death, they are echoing the mind of God. This life is too short. Certainly, given the realities of this world, there comes a time to rest, to let go.

My mother died a couple of weeks ago. It was time. She had lived long and well. The last year and a half were increasingly uncomfortable. Her mind, formerly formidable, lost its edge, then even more. Her entire body was ravaged by age. There was no cure. It was time to let go.

But there was more music to make. More conversations to pursue. More affection to share. Life was too short. And the message of resurrection promises time for all of that and more. Death is not the last word.

Just as Jesus rose from the dead 2000 years ago, so we look forward to resurrection at the last day when “the dead in Christ shall rise and we shall all be caught up together to meet him in the clouds. And so shall we be with him forever.”

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.