Resurrection--Hope
Mark l6: 1-14
”When the Sabbath was over Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. “When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it. Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either. Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.”
Mark’s account of the resurrection of Jesus compels us to notice the failure of those closest to Jesus to bear witness to his resurrection and to believe that he was alive. The women said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. When Mary Magdalene finally overcame her fear and gave witness to the disciples, the men did not believe and remained stuck in their mourning and weeping.
Then two of the hopeless men met Jesus themselves and they went to tell the others. Still the remaining nine did not believe and continued in their despair. Finally, Jesus appeared to them all and had to reprimand them for their lack of faith.
These were frightened and stubborn men and women, paralyzed by their lack of hope, unable to bear witness, unable to believe, unable to get on with their lives. Have you ever known people like that?
The people who first read Mark’s Gospel were like that. They also were frightened into silence, by persecution. Would they, the first century Christians, also say nothing to anyone because they were afraid? What about Christians down through the ages? What about Christians today? Will we also bear witness to no one because we are afraid? Will we remain trapped behind the walls of our wounds, unable to believe?
Do we believe in resurrection? This is not only a question of what we think about the audacious claim that Jesus, who died on a Roman Cross on a Friday left a Jewish tomb very much alive on a Sunday. When I ask, “Do you believe in the resurrection?” I am asking for much much more than an intellectual affirmation of an historical event or a theological doctrine. I am also asking if you believe that you too will one day rise from among the dead. I am asking if you will overcome your fear and bear witness to Jesus Christ. I am asking about your hope.
This sermon is the third in a series of messages that take us from Gethsemane, where we surrender to God’s will, to Crucifixion, where we must learn to forgive, to resurrection, where we experience renewed hope. Gethsemane, Crucifixion and Resurrection are unalterably connected. There is no resurrection without crucifixion--no new life without death. Crucifixion remains only death and misery without Gethsemane. If I cannot learn that God authors my life, my entire life; if I refuse to get my will out of God’s way, I will remain bitter and angry when things don’t turn out my way. Holding on to my rage and my judgments I will never learn to forgive. Stuck in the past there will be no new life, no hope, no resurrection. I must believe in resurrection--with all of my body, mind and soul. If I do not and cannot believe in resurrection then I am spiritually and emotionally dying or dead. I have only to wait for body to catch up with my heart and soul in order to exit this vale of tears.
In the plan of God, resurrection follows crucifixion, always. That’s the way God made this world. Resurrection is not just a distant historical event. It is woven into the very fabric of life. It is a fundamental principle of creation. Water flows downhill. The earth revolves around the sun. Like attracts like; thus love attracts love and good repels evil. Fundamental principles of creation—resurrection follows crucifixion. When we learn to say, “Not my will but thy will be done” meaningless death becomes crucifixion leading to resurrection. We learn to forgive and all manner of pent up energy is set free for new life. When crucifixion is followed by resurrection in our lives, what do you think that means? Do you think it means...
...a happily ever after ending?.What has crucifixion followed by resurrection meant for you? Has it meant...
...everything coming up roses?
...no more betrayals?
...no more sins, wounds, brokenness?
Once upon a time you went to Gethsemane. You prayed desperately. In time, much more time than you desired, God rescued you from your fiery anger and your consuming bitterness. Now you were free for resurrection, for new life, for a new beginning. You forgave the adultery of a spouse or the abuse of a parent or even your own failure. You were born again. You knew it and everyone around you knew it. You let out a deep sigh of relief and said, “I’m glad I won’t have to go through that again. I’ve learned my spiritual lesson well. Resurrection is mine.”
What do you think? Does it work that way? Do we go to Gethsemane only once? Do we experience crucifixion only once? Do we need resurrection power only once?
I do not think so.
“But”, you say, “at least it will be easier the next time around.” Maybe, in some ways, but my experience is that as we mature spiritually God’s challenges to our willfulness-- my desire to have it my way-- get more intense and we have to spend even more time in the Garden of Gethsemane. As we mature spiritually, our usefulness to God grows. The closer we are to God the more likely we are to be crucified on God’s behalf. Every time misery and despair enter our lives, we have to remember again, in these new circumstances, that God is the author of our lives and we can trust the entire story that God writes.
Hope is not the same thing as “happily ever after.” Hope is different than things turning out exactly as I planned them. Hope is knowing that God is with me and that God has a plan. Listen to the prophet Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 29:11—“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
This is the promise of God in the scriptures and it is the promise of God that has been fulfilled in my life many times in the past. Thus I can know today that God has a plan. The difficulties are that:
It is not my plan.
It does not emerge in my time.
And my personal well being is not the only thing God is concerned about.
God is also concerned about preparing me for the next twenty years of my ministry.
God is concerned about the well being of my children.
God is concerned about everyone I serve.
God is even concerned about the salvation of those I have experienced as enemies.
Everything is not going your way either and everything is not going to go your way. But if you are going God’s way it doesn’t matter. Because God will be with you.
I trust that you understand how difficult all of this is. Hope is birthed in the Garden of Gethsemane, in the midst of the blood, sweat and tears of surrender. The future is born on the day when we let go of the pain of the past and believe, really believe, that God has authored our lives, and that God can work for good even in this crucifixion experience. Resurrection hope matures in the midst of crucifixion when we look our persecutors in the eyes and say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
What does resurrection hope, born in Gethsemane and matured in crucifixion, actually look like?
Resurrection hope looks like frightened women walking to the tomb on Easter morning because they had to do what they had to do. They felt no hope but they acted with faith and love. Sometimes resurrection hope means just taking the next step forward.
Resurrection hope looks like the decision of a widow not to die after her husband of 45 years dies of cancer. She wants to die. She can’t imagine how she will live through the pain. But she doesn’t give in to death. She holds on to a promise she cannot see.
Resurrection hope must cover each and every situation of despair, darkness, crisis, disappointment, catastrophe, death, desperation, disaster, calamity; every situation or it is not resurrection hope. Resurrection hope easily covers those minor losses when any optimistic person can see the way through the grief but also must cover those profound losses and catastrophes when even a giant of faith would be crushed. Resurrection hope covers those experiences of death where we learn that new life is possible on this earth and resurrection hope covers those experiences of death when faith can look only to eternity. Resurrection hope is not an elixir that makes all things fine. It is a promise that God is mine.
There have been times in world history when circumstances were so bad and darkness was so absolute and suffering was so overwhelming that Christians have only been able to hold on to Resurrection hope by placing the locus of all hope in heaven. The black slaves had little hope of liberation in this wand, so they turned towards heaven. Many of the most popular hymns of the church reach out for this same hope.
“When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more, and the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair; when the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore, and the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.”
But there have been times when history has turned so ugly and the suffering of the righteous has been so terrible--for example, Christians were being fed to the lions or burned at the stake--that even a vision of heaven was not enough for the people of God. In such times another vision was given to a prophet of God, like John on the isle of Patmos, a vision of a coming battle in which the forces of light ultimately would win the victory over the forces of darkness. God’s people, finally, would share in the victory and God’s enemies, finally, would be destroyed.
Resurrection hope has taken many forms because it covers every situation that has happened and can happen in our lives.
The death of divorce, covered.We arrive at a moment in time, having traveled the painful road to Gethsemane and the treacherous road of crucifixion and the astonishing road of resurrection. We stop and are amazed, even stunned, at how far we have come. Even now it seems like an impossible journey--this journey of surrender, forgiveness and hope. But we know exactly how we made it. God. Emmanuel. God with us. And the tears come. We give thanks. For resurrection. For hope. For new life. For new beginnings.
The death of a child, covered, though not easily.
The death of a spouse, covered.
The devestation of war, covered.
Aids, cancer, bubonic plague, leprosy, covered.
Poverty, hunger, covered, though sometimes I do not see how.
The holocaust in Nazi Germany, though beyond any human reason, covered.
Unemployment, covered.
Loneliness, covered.
Alcoholism, covered by resurrection hope.
So be it. Amen.
