| John 20:1-18 "Resurrecting the Holy" |
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| Written by Rev. Don Lee | |
| Saturday, 07 April 2007 | |
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The movie Blood Diamond is a fictionalized account of the real life drama of diamond smuggling that has prolonged brutal wars in Africa, while feeding the West’s appetite for cheap diamonds. The film’s documented atrocities made it difficult to watch, and as the story unfolded a horrible thought came to me. What if the diamond wedding ring you and I got such a good deal on…was tainted with blood? To add injury to insult, what if we didn’t care? The inhumanity of humanity. How oxymoronic! Some claim the violence of our world argues against the existence of God. I would argue our inhumanity toward one another does nothing of the sort! It’s not God doing these things to us. It’s very clear who the offenders are. On the contrary, I believe our inhumanity toward one another argues, if not for the existence of God, at least the need for God. -Genocide in the Sudan, -Global terrorism increasing, -Poverty, AIDS and malaria ending the lives of hundreds of thousands in Africa, -Iran and North Korea expressing nuclear ambitions. -China accusing the US of human rights violations, of all things, -the drug trade flourishing in Mexico, Latin America, and the US. Just say ‘cheese!’ Left to our own devices it appears we will divide, conquer, and destroy ourselves; Darwin’s survival of the fittest taken to its logical conclusion. The truth is, we want to believe in a happy ending for us, our children, our nation, our world. But it seems we are incapable of saving ourselves. And that brings us to our scripture reading. What possible significance could a backwater preacher killed 2000 years ago, have for any of us 21st century moderns?! Easter is God’s audacious claim that there is something more, something better ahead; that human suffering and death will not have the last say! Something much more glorious is in-store for God’s creation if only will we will take God seriously, if only we will believe. Our reading comes from the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 1-18. As you are able, please stand for the reading of the Gospel. Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to their homes. 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ 14When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ 16Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her. Prayer: Oh Holy one who breathes life and light and love into the creation; we invoke your presence and seek your face. Come and live in us. Amen. There’s construction on Rosemead. The other day workers had diverted both directions of traffic onto the westbound side; red traffic cones separating oncoming traffic. As I drove east on the westbound lane, I crossed the intersection at Cemetery Hill. There was a break at the intersection, which I assumed allowed northbound traffic to merge. What I didn’t pick up was that this was also where the road crew had intended eastbound traffic to cross back over to the eastbound lane. As I continued to drive east in the westbound lane, the lane started to narrow, until finally there was no place to go. By the way I wasn’t the only driver to do this. Several of us had to back up to the intersection at Cemetery Hill to get around the island that separated west and east bound traffic. Later that day I noticed the road crew placed a line of cones to keep drivers from making the same mistake. That’s a pretty good analogy for us as we’ve pursued a scientifically rational approach to Christian faith. The inability to logically reason such things as miracles, prayer, and resurrection has led us down a road that has so narrowed it leaves us with little to believe in. Resurrection is the proverbial “elephant-in-the-room” and she doesn’t fit very well in many of our worldviews! And if this is you, you’re in good company. Verse 8, “The disciples….saw and believed.” Believed that Jesus had risen? Not according toVerse 9. What they believe is Mary’s disturbing claim in verse 2. "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." When faced with the empty tomb the disciples’ response was, “There’s a perfectly logical explanation for this!” In fact, its not until the disciples actually hear, see, and touch “Jesus” that they believe. In the biblical witness, belief and experience go hand in hand. Whether it’s wrestling with angels or a still small voice or a vision on the road to Damascus, until we are able to grasp something, if not by sight or touch then at least with the heart, it doesn’t become real to us! We need to “experience” Jesus to believe he lives. 1) Resurrection begins with Death. Recently a member of one of my previous churches died suddenly. Out of respect for both pastor and church I don’t go back to former charges to officiate funerals. But in this case I made an exception. “Nana,” was my daughter’s caregiver early in life and so I agreed to assist but in a minor role. I was asked to read from John’s gospel, chapter 11:25-26: I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. My scientifically enlightened, 21st century post-modernist mind tells me, “This is all there is…” If true, Nana is nothing more then assorted memories. My heart tells me otherwise. Death as the end of our existence is based on the assumption that the only things that are real, are measurable: in beakers; controlled environments. What’s “real” obeys certain laws. It is logic based. Of course that assumes everything behaves logically. And anyone who’s ever parented a teenager knows this is not true! Amen?! A great many things exist outside of what is scientifically measurable; values, meanings, final causes, invisibles, qualities, and of course, “our superiors.” After all, if there are things greater then us, (it is said) it is they who dance circles around us, and not we them. So despite the logic that this is all there is because it is all I can see…my heart, my emotions, my values, my beliefs, my hope tells me “Nana lives in more then my memory.” “Nothing in life is certain except death and taxes,” said Ben Franklin. Resurrection doesn’t challenge this. It challenges the finality of death: “Nothing, not even death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom. 8:38-39. That Jesus died and rose again is the hope that we Christians hang our hats on. God’s Holy Covenant with us is that death does not have the final say. Resurrection begins with Death. 2) 2ndly, Resurrection ends with Life! “You must be reborn,” Jesus tells a befuddled Nicodemus. “How can one reenter the womb?” the Pharisee replies (John 3:4). Ian Suttie, a Scottish psychologist from the 30’s authored the book “The Origins of Love and Hate.” Like Freud, Suttie believed that people deal with anxiety by shoving worrisome thoughts and feelings into the unconscious. But through his research he became convinced that our major repression is of affection and openness, which add up to a collective taboo against tenderness in our culture. Infants are born, claims Suttie, with the primary desire for the social give and take and response relationship we call love. Suttie describes the earliest state (even before an infant distinguishes self from others) as a state of symbiotic communion. “Suttie was impressed by the early overtures that a baby makes to evoke a response from its mother. It fixes its gaze raptly on her face while nursing, and this often gets a loving gaze in return. Soon the baby starts smiling with delight, discontinues nursing and begins to gurgle with delight when it gets a response. It is a mode of flirtation. In the harmonious interchange between mother and child, the baby gives the only thing it can give, its love and its body as the first shared plaything.” “A critical period comes, says Suttie when the infant is able to differentiate itself from its mother, and its mother from others. It is only then that the baby can know separation as the major source of human anxiety-a fear of abandonment. At about the same time acceptance is no longer unconditional. Some of the baby’s bodily functions and activities may not be welcomed or approved.” “As the saying goes, hell hath no fury like rejected love. Here we have Suttie’s understanding of the origin of anger, which he saw as a baby’s desperate effort to reclaim a lost harmony. Depending on the degree of pain and hopelessness the small child goes through, intimacy may be renounced, and a quest for self-sufficiency (or power) may take its place. Repressed tenderness leads to all sorts of problems, for (as the saying goes) you cannot get enough of what you do not really need. What is ultimately needed and wanted but our culture so often denies, is emotional closeness, not such surrogates as sexual intimacy, food, or power.” Symbiotic communion. Scripture tells us we are made for intimacy with God. Spirituality, then is the soul crying out for God, just as a child wakes in the night and cries out for its mother. I believe God has hardwired into our being the need for the deepest sort of communion; a return to intimacy and fellowship with our creator. “You must be reborn.” This is the Good News of the Easter message! God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. God restores us into holy communion with God, and makes it possible for us to have restored relationships with one another. If you weren’t here on Palm Sunday, you missed a glimpse of resurrection! Rev. Owen Ross pastor of Christ’s Foundry, a UM Hispanic church in Dallas joined us for worship. He brought members of his church with him. We had scheduled for his children’s choir to come and sing with ours. Owen warned me it could be feast or famine. But they came, and in droves. Though our 2 children’s choirs were from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and languages; together they shared their love with us and praised God with one voice! I looked at the congregation and you were grinning and singing and love was just oozing out all over the place! I wanted to get up and start dancing but I’m a lousy dancer and I didn’t want to ruin the moment, so I stayed in my seat. This is not just the world where Jesus died, it is the world where Jesus lives. Christ is in us for each other as we gather to worship, to break bread, baptize and challenge one another to love, justice and peace, as we live out of God’s love in Christ. You and I are fellow travelers on this journey called life. When we find ourselves lost, whether by distraction, confusion, or rebellion, Easter is God’s subversive invitation to stop and ask directions. And when we do, the words of the Prodigal’s parent come alive for us: “Quickly, bring my child the best robe, a ring and sandals. Prepare the fatted calf and let us eat and make merry, for this child of mine…was death and is alive again, was lost and now is found. Resurrection is God’s promised, “And they lived happily ever after.” And let all of God’s people say, “Amen.” *This sermon borrowed generously from Huston Smith’s book “Why Religion Matters,” in its treatment of logic verses faith and its summation of Ian Suttie’s work. |
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