Experiencing Easter
Easter Text: I Corinthians 15:3-8, 12-13, 17-20 Resurrection can seem unreal, or at least not as real to us as crucifixion. All of us are aware crucifixion is not merely something that happened a long time ago. Crucifixion is also a contemporary reality. Events in the news this week confirm the truth of all this. The cruel chaos created by sin and evil is all too visible in stories of child abuse, parking lot murder, white collar crime, the ravages of all sorts of addictions, to say nothing of the increased violence in Iraq, and the continuing blood shed in the unceasing cycles of revenge between Israelis and Palestinians. And just as the world fails to be what God intended it to be, all too often we fail to be the persons God intends us to be. All too often we live out the drama of Holy Week. Sometimes we are Judas betraying what is good and true. Sometimes we are the Zealots, losing our decency and integrity as we try to destroy what we hate. Sometimes we are the religious leaders, so sure we know what God wants, we are insensitive to the activity of God in our midst, and so blind to the way God's grace is at work among us, we resist and resent what God is doing. Sometimes we are Pilate, and in practical expediency we crucify what is good trying to avoid conflict and problems. Sometimes we are the Roman soldiers, blindly doing what others tell us for the sake of our jobs, and in the process torturing truth and goodness to death. Sometimes we are Peter denying Christ by abandoning what is good because we are afraid, or we are like those disciples, so scared of the cost of discipleship we run and hide -- but not behind locked doors as often as behind all kinds of busy-ness. The tragedies of Holy Week and Good Friday are not isolated to some safely distant once upon a time story. The reality of pain set loose by sin and evil is all too contemporary. So what about Easter? Can Easter be as real to us as the truth of Holy Week? Can the reality of proclaimed in the resurrection be as real to us as our awareness of crucifixions? God knows we need Easter. We need the hope the resurrection proclaims. The Easter we need is more than an anniversary of a super miracle that happened a long time ago. We need the reality of Easter. We need the truth in Easter to invade our hearts so that in the face of all that is wrong in the world and all that is wrong with us we can live in hope. In the biblical stories of Easter and the scriptural comments about Easter, we can discern the significance of the resurrection. The resurrection is the declaration, the confirmation that while sin and evil are still at war with us the truth is they are defeated and death has been overcome. There is hope for this life and hope for life to come. Death no longer reigns. Sin and evil will not finally win. This is the significance of the resurrection. This is the Easter we need as we face the reality of death -- both the death of those we love and our own inevitable death. This is the Easter we need as we struggle with the all too present evidence of sin and evil causing pain and chaos in the world. When we look into the Easter stories part of what we discover is what can be seen in today's passage. Easter is a personal experience. In the biblical accounts, no one was convinced by logic that Easter happened. No one was argued into believing God had raised Christ from the dead. It took more than eloquence of speech to convince the followers of Jesus not only that he was raised from the dead, but that his resurrection was the sign that God wins, that death does not have the last word, that sin and evil will not be triumphant. The people in the Bible who came to believe, did so because they personally experienced the presence of the risen Christ. And all the experiences were surprises; that is to say, none of them were predicted by the people involved. This matches my experience and the experience of others I know. The experience of Easter does not come at the end of any one set of exercises. Easter happens in its own way; it is a surprise; and it is recognized only by faith. And there is no one way we experience it. The way I have experienced the risen Christ is not the one and only way Easter is to be experienced. This not to say my experience is unique, but it is to admit my experience is not universal either. Easter most often happens to me after some sort of Good Friday experience. After some sort of crucifixion, defeat or death has left me lost and low, God's grace surprises me, giving me hope -- hope, not my old dreams and wishes but hope, new hope For example, the ongoing and increasing bloodshed in Iraq has not only been discouraging news about Iraq, but also discouraging news about the human condition. Is there no hope for us humans on this planet? Is there no hope for the mess we are in -- not just in Iraq but in all of life? Quite by accident, while clicking through TV channels I happened upon some reporters on C-Span. They were talking about the unreported stories from Iraq. One of the stories really caught my attention. It went something like this. All media had reported the death of some soldiers, but none of the media reported the soldiers were killed trying to rescue a child who had been wounded by a terrorist's bomb. The child was rescued, rushed to a hospital, a military one I think, and the life of the child was saved, but at the cost of some soldiers' lives. As I listened, I heard more than a good human interest story about some brave and gallant American soldiers in Iraq. I heard more than implied criticism of news media. I heard a story about one of the ways God's costly grace expresses itself even in the midst of the horrors of war. And in this, I was faced with the truth the resurrection proclaims. Sin and evil exact a terrible toll. Crucifixion is real. But God will finally win. The power of God's grace revealed in Christ and in the resurrection of Christ will not stay dead and buried. It keeps being raised from the dead, again and again to reach out in compassion. I remember another time I was more than discouraged because of some strife within our annual conference. Joe Quillian, then dean of the seminary at SMU came up to me as I leaned against a wall, and in tones more like those of drill sergeant than a gentle pastor, he told me to get my head up and trust God. "It's time for you to practice the faith you preach." Like the travelers on the road to Emmaus, it was not until later that I realized I had been confronted by the risen Christ who had also upbraided the disciples for their lack of faith. A father I know was going through the terrible ordeal of having to deal with his almost grown son who was addicted to drugs. In the midst of his grief and fear and feelings of failure, a young woman told a story about her husband -- of who he had been while a addict and of who he was now, person well into recovery. In her story about her husband, Easter happened for that father; he knew, new life was his and also a real possibility for his son. There was hope, the hope proclaimed in resurrection from the dead. . Of course, there will be those who will tell me I am confusing wishes and dreams, human kindness and idealism with the risen Christ. Easter has always been easy to doubt and often hard to believe. Belief in the Easter proclamation does not come because of lecture or debate. It happens because we personally experience the reality of Easter, the presence of the risen Christ. But it is only by faith, the risen Christ is seen, discerned, perceived. And the faith to discern Easter is more of a gift than an achievement. More often than not, Easter and the faith to perceive it come as some sort of surprise. This is the way it was in the Easter stories we read in the New Testament, and this is the way it is today. We need hope because of the mess the world is in and the mess our lives are in. Easter, the resurrection of the crucified Christ, is the once and for all declaration that there is hope. Sin, evil and death do not have the last word. God finally wins. And when by the grace of God, we are given the amazing gift of faith so that we are able not only to discern the truth of Easter but to embrace it -- then, regardless of what we are facing, we discover our living being transformed hope, the hope proclaimed in Easter. Let us pray. May the risen Christ come into our lives bringing us hope in the face of all that is wrong in the world and with us. Amen. Pastoral prayer: God, forgive us when in our celebration of Easter we trivialize the awesome significance of what this day means. Forgive us when we are so focused on the Easter activities of our family and church that we lose our focus on why this day is so special. Give us the faith to see more in Easter than the celebration of a super miracle that happened once upon a time. Help us be aware of the ongoing meaning and significance of the resurrection of Jesus, Your triumph over evil, and Your victory for all time over sin and death. May the wonderful and awesome implications of Your mighty act in Jesus Christ direct our living and fill our lives with hope. In profound gratitude we pray the prayer Jesus taught us: "Our Father …" Pastoral
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