Reality

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”   Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:19-31, NRSV)

Thomas gets a bad rap for being what most of us truly are, a realist.

I mean earlier in the gospel, Jesus tells the disciples that he is going to prepare a place for them and where he is they will be also, and that they know the way to place he is going. And Thomas said “Lord, we do not know where you are going how can we know the way?” Sounds kind of like a sarcastic response, but really they didn’t know. They didn’t yet get it, and so Thomas wanted to know.

Kind of like here, it is not that he doubts the disciples, it is just that he needs to see it and understand it. He thinks they are playing with him. Because actually his response is the same as what they said they saw. Thomas says, “Yea you saw Jesus, well the only way I’ll believe it that is when I put my finger in the nail holes!”

But when Thomas meets Jesus, does he touch him?

Jesus tells him “Put your finger here, and reach out your hand and put it in my side” but Thomas doesn’t he sees Jesus and falls to his knees and confesses, “My Lord and my God!”

More than doubting Thomas we have confessing Thomas. A man whose reality was too small for a God so big!

I wonder how many of us fall into a too small reality for our God who is much bigger than we can imagine!

endures forever

1 O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
2 O give thanks to the God of gods,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
3 O give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
4 who alone does great wonders,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
5 who by understanding made the heavens,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
6 who spread out the earth on the waters,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
7 who made the great lights,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
8 the sun to rule over the day,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
9 the moon and stars to rule over the night,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
10 who struck Egypt through their firstborn,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
11 and brought Israel out from among them,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
12 with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
13 who divided the Red Sea in two,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
14 and made Israel pass through the midst of it,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
15 but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
16 who led his people through the wilderness,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
17 who struck down great kings,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
18 and killed famous kings,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
19 Sihon, king of the Amorites,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
20 and Og, king of Bashan,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
21 and gave their land as a heritage,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
22 a heritage to his servant Israel,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
23 It is he who remembered us in our low estate,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
24 and rescued us from our foes,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
25 who gives food to all flesh,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
26 O give thanks to the God of heaven,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
(Psalm 136, NRSV)

The prescribed reading for today was Psalm 136:1-9, 23-26. But I started reading the psalm and I really think the psalmist was trying to make a point.

Notice I also did not reformat the text this time for the reading to put it in a nice neat paragraph to fit nicely with the picture. Because the way it is laid out now you can see the point of the psalm.

Every other line, for his steadfast love endures forever!

You see no matter what may come our way. No matter what life will throw at us, his steadfast love endures forever.

We have no reason to fear or worry, because his steadfast love endures forever.

Does it matter?

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:35-49, NRSV)

I hear this question today still.

What will my body look like when I have been resurrected?

Will it be a young body?

Will it be a fit body?

And my answer is, yes. Or more to the point, does this really matter?

We say every week we believe in the resurreciton of the body. Meaning our body, or Jesus’ body, or what?

Again, does this really matter to the pormise that Christ and the Bible make to us? We will live with God forever. We will be in His presence always.

 

resistance is futile…

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:12-22, NRSV)

As I read this text I heard the Borg line, “We are the Borg, resistance if futile.”

Because if Christ did not rise, and there is no resurrection then our faith is futile.

If there is no hope in this life, and what we believe isn’t true, then everything we hold onto, everything we hope in is a lie and there is nothing.

If Christ was not raised we are still living in our sins.

But we know that He was raised, and we know that all the promises are true. Our faith is not futile. Christ was raised, and we are assured that we will have life eternal with God!

Walking dead…

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:1-11, NRSV)

I love this passage, because we say that life changes when Christ comes in. And that is true, 100% true. Jesus loves us to much to leave us where He found us, because He found each and every one of us steeped in sin and filth! And He washed us clean and walks with us as we journey and live life showing forth the love that God has for us.

But we get hung up on sin and how others are doing things we think they shouldn’t. And Paul would agree we should not cause others to stumble, but we can also not force what keeps us from God on others, because they may not sin the way we do. We know Christ died so that we can know what love is. So that we can understand that the greatest form of love is for someone to lay down their life for another, even when they don’t deserve it.

God changed you, so don’t go back to being what you were. And live in a way that shows forth the love that God has for all of us. Be a part of Christ’s walking dead, those who are walking wet, dead to sin and alive in God!

 

Do you?

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”  When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:1-26, NRSV)

Do you believe this?

Do you believe Jesus is the resurrection and the life?

Do you believe in His example of Love on the cross?

Do you?

You see Lazarus was dead for 4 days. And that was beyond what could be expected for him to rise again. But Jesus said that life eternal begins with life in Him, which means that even death has no hold on us. That our physical death is not an end, but a door to the next part of the everlasting journey.

Do you really understand that eternal life is not something we are waiting on to come to us after death, but is the life we are living now in Jesus!

Do you believe this?

And if you said yes, how is your life showing this?

Resurrection

While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand. The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:1-12, NRSV)

Peter and John were arrested for teaching the people that Jesus is the resurrection  of the dead.

They were saying that Jesus was the messiah and proclaiming the coming ruler that was proclaimed had come and were going to cause a revolution in Roman society.

But we don’t get the implications like the Sadducees did, and they didn’t even believe in the resurrection!

You see it is not a future thing. The resurrection spoken if here in Acts is not something that will happen, even though that is how we hear it and read it. This resurrection here has happened because Jesus is the messiah! Peter and John were saying the resurrection of the dead has come through Jesus. There is no death since Jesus has come.

Do we believe that? Even though we physically die there is no death, for life eternal has come and we are living it in Jesus.

The beginning…

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (Mark 16:1-8, NRSV)

This is the end to the gospel of Mark. Now if you look in your Bible you will see more to verse 8 that is in [ ] and verses 9 – 20 of chapter 16. Most scholars believe the bracketed text and everything after was added later.

And the reason someone added it is because the women would not run away from the tomb in fear! Jesus was alive, someone had to tell the good news even if it was women!

We can’t take that as the ending of the gospel. Jesus rising is too good of news to leave no one knowing.

But see here is the kicker, even verse 20 is not the end of the Gospel of Mark!

Mark begins: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God…” and the women leaving the tomb wordless, is not the end, but a step.

You see you are continuing the gospel of Mark! We are still sharing the story.

Alleluia Christ is Risen! That is the best news any of us can share and as we share it the gospel continues!

So go and shout it from the mountain tops that Jesus is alive.

Alleluia Christ is Risen!

Pastor David L. Hansen: The Paschal Homily

The Paschal Homily

What follows is the Easter sermon of John Chrysostom. It has been called the best sermon ever preached by Christianity’s greatest preacher (ca. 400 ad).  For centuries it has been read as the the meditation for the Easter vigil, and indeed it continues to be preached in many Orthodox churches to this day.

Are there any who are devout lovers of God?
Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!
Are there any who are grateful servants?
Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!
Are there any weary with fasting?
Let them now receive their wages!

If any have toiled from the first hour, let them receive their due reward;
If any have come after the third hour, let him with gratitude join in the Feast!
And he that arrived after the sixth hour, let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss.
And if any delayed until the ninth hour, let him not hesitate; but let him come too.
And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour, let him not be afraid by reason of his delay.
For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, as well as to him that toiled from the first.

To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows.
He accepts the works as He greets the endeavor.
The deed He honors and the intention He commends.

Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord!
First and last alike receive your reward; rich and poor, rejoice together!
Sober and slothful, celebrate the day!
You that have kept the fast, and you that have not,
rejoice today for the Table is richly laden!
Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one.
Let no one go away hungry.
Partake, all, of the cup of faith.  Enjoy all the riches of His goodness!

Let no one grieve at his poverty,
for the universal kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again;
for forgiveness has risen from the grave.
Let no one fear death,
for the Death of our Savior has set us free.
He has destroyed it by enduring it.
He destroyed Hell when He descended into it.
He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.
Isaiah foretold this when he said,”You, O Hell, have been troubled by encountering Him below.”

Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with.
It was in an uproar because it is mocked.
It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed.
It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated.
It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.
Hell took a body, and discovered God.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.

O death, where is thy sting? O Hell, where is thy victory?
Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!
Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;
for Christ having risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!

 

Pastor David L. Hansen: The Paschal Homily.