THE KIRK OF KILDAIRE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

CARY, NC

www.kirkofkildaire.org

A sermon preached by Joseph Welker, Jr.

When God Raises You from the Dead

Luke 24:1-12

Easter 2007, April 8

Do you blame them really? Any of them? I'm talking about those women at the beginning of Easter morning not joining us with "Christ is risen, he is risen indeed!" Easter does not begin that way in Luke's story. A risen Christ was the furthest thing from their minds. But do you blame the women? Two days earlier they had been with Joseph, a good man, likely a wealthy and religious man, who offered his own family tomb to bury Jesus. They stood by the grave, saw his body wrapped in a shroud (placed in the casket) and saw them close the tomb. With their own eyes. They were there. - not only when they crucified but were also to see the lifeless corpse of our Lord laid in a tomb. That Friday night, they went home to prepare the spices and ointments they would need to finish laying Jesus to rest. On Saturday, their Sabbath, they would rest. No work, not even burying a dead friend on the Sabbath. Saturday must have been a long day of great grieving and confusion for them… rethinking again and again the events of the past week… What had gone wrong? At the beginning the crowds had shouted Hosanna… blessed is he who comes… Now, he was dead. It must have been a long Saturday for Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Jesus' mother and the other women. So, on Sunday when they come back to the grave to pay their last respects to Jesus before heading home to Galilee…On Sunday I don't blame them if they are not thinking about a resurrection when they find the stone rolled away and an empty tomb. I think Luke has it right… Luke says they were perplexed… didn't know what was going on. Wouldn't you be? An empty tomb does not automatically give birth to a resurrection faith.

God must have seen this coming. In an instant two men appear with words that some say were words of reprimand… but I wonder if they just didn't have a sense of humor. They ask the women a simple question: "Why do you look for the living among the dead, he is not here, he is risen?" As if to say, if you are looking for Jesus, what in the heck are you doing in a cemetery?

But I don't blame them, do you for thinking that the tomb is where they would find Jesus, after what they had seen? "Christ is risen, he is risen indeed." Yeah, right.

And frankly, I don't blame the 11 Apostles, who are in hiding, for their response to the news. The women return, tell their story… and does even one of the Apostles say, "Oh, yes, I remember that's what Jesus said to us… Come on everyone- good news… he's risen!!"?

No, did you hear their response to the women's good news: "But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them." It seemed like nonsense and no one believed.

I do give Peter credit for running to the tomb to check out their story… but did you see his response? "But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen clothes by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened" Don't be misled by that word "amazed" - Another version says it more clearly -"he returned (home), wondering what had happened." . (CEV) The greek word for amazed, is thaumadzo. It's how you react when you don't know how to react. Peter wondered… he was amazed… it does not say he believed.

"Come on Peter--- rock of the church… you who hold on to the keys of the Kingdom. Where is your leadership…where is your "Hallelujah"? Where is your faith man?"

Still, I don't' blame him… or any of them… do you?

Actually, I'm glad for the way Luke remembers the story. His telling of the story has the ring of realism to me. It is my experience and I wonder if it is yours, that Easter faith requires more than empty tombs or shrouds of Turin to find its way into a persons life. I understand why many in the world may hear our stories and think-why, that is just nonsense… nonsense. I understand why Easter faith is hard for some to come by, don't you?

I think the first followers that Easter Sunday, were they to have the chance would say to us, "we don't blame you either… We understand." They had been there too. They might say, "we are not so different, you know". And they weren't.

They lived in the world as we do… where idealism and dreams die almost daily.
"They had seen what this world can do to you. They had watched helplessly as the real power of this world, rational, reasonable power exercised by the state, backed by the military, urged on by religious narrowness and self righteousness, plotted, closed in on, condemned, tortured and killed Jesus. A lot more than Jesus died on that Friday afternoon. Some might say their faith died.Their dream of a new world, a new society based not on force and military might but on love and compassion and forgiveness, died on that cross that afternoon. Their dream of a new kingdom, a new society that included all-saints and sinners, rich and poor… where all were welcome… died on the cross. Their dream that he had so winsomely planted in their hearts, that love is stronger than death, that it is happier to give than to receive, that it is better to forgive than hold grudges, that a full and joyful life is a gift given to those who spend out their lives in love and service to others instead of greedily accumulating and hoarding and conserving, that died too. And their dream that life is more powerful than death, that death is no longer the threat under which all life is lived, that, too, died as life faded and drained out of their friend." (from a John Walton sermon, FPC, NYC)

Yes, they would understand that resurrection faith is hard for us to come by when we see our world spinning out of control.

When I heard the news of cancer returning to Tony Snow and Elizabeth Edwards my mind went back to my mother dying of cancer…and the many friends and church members I have known over the years and know now who are fighting that hard battle. When I listen to news of the war in Iraq, the mess in the Middle east getting worse with every day, I begin to wonder, don't you? Some days death has us in it's spell. It has us mesmerized. Spreading seeds of doubt. And death wants it that way… Death wants us to think about him every day… so that none of us is able to think about life any more or hope in anything.

But Easter reminds us that God has something else in mind for us… for out of death, God wishes to give us renewed life and faith and hope.And just as God raised Jesus from the dead, so God would raise us from death or our fear of death.
On that Easter day, though Easter faith seemed slow in coming, God was hard at work trying to resurrect those women and those apostles. You see it wasn't Jesus who needed Easter… it was the followers of Jesus… the friends of Jesus who needed to be raised.

God begins working on them by sending the two men to speak to the women. And I find it interesting to hear what they have to say:
"Why do you look for the living among the dead. He is not here, he is risen.Remember"?...."

Remember… (a strong word in Luke's gospel)… Remember how he told you about this way back when when you were in Galilee… how he would suffer, die and be raised? And the text says, "Then they remembered." (and you sense something is about to be resurrected in them).

In the next story Luke tells about those disciples walking in despair on the road to Emmaus, once again memory-memory of the scripture… memory of meals they had shared with him… will open their lives to Easter faith.

It's as if Luke is trying to tell us, if you are looking for Easter faith, don't look for evidence in the empty tomb… look no further then your memories. Memories of Jesus and his life and death and resurrection.Memories passed on to us through scripture. If you have no other reason for reading the scripture, know one very important reasons-in those scriptures are lodged the memories of God's people that lead them to faith and hope.
Today, our memory is spotlighted on Easter as we retell that story that gave birth to and sustained the faith of the church for 2000 years. It's an important memory. It's the memory that keeps us going. For it is God's gift to us as God wants to evoke memories that will raise us from hopelessness, death and despair … working hard to give us a resurrected faith and hope and new life especially in those moments when death seems so real.

I remember of a story told by my friend Lewis Galloway who is the pastor of the 2nd Presbyterian church in Indianapolis. He said, "When I was a student at Union Seminary, a young man I had known in college and in seminary developed brain cancer. His illness forced him to drop out of school for a year as he went through treatments and surgery. The tumor was removed and he began to heal. He was able to return to school, finish his degree, and accept a call to a church near Richmond. He was married and had a son. Then the cancer returned. It seemed so unfair. In spite of all the prayers and the skill of many physicians, the cancer spread and the suffering increased. He died in the spring, just before Easter. I served as a pallbearer at his funeral. As we sang, "I will cling to the old rugged cross," I thought to myself, what good have all our prayers and efforts done if his life ends like this.
A week later, it was hard to go to worship on Easter morning. I went to Second Presbyterian Church in Richmond and heard the pastor, Dr. Albert Winn preach the Easter sermon. I cannot remember everything he said, but I remember this:
He said that the resurrection of Jesus means that you doubt everything you once believed to be true and you believe to be true everything you once doubted. At that moment, all my assumptions about life and death were challenged. I began to question my feeling that death was the end of life and everything good. I began to question my despair and hopelessness. I began to believe that my friends' life had meaning and beauty because it was so much like the life of Jesus who lived his life for others. He was not gone. He was present with us in the life of the church and in the communion of saints. His life inspired others to faith, courage and goodness." [1]

On Easter, God raised my friends' faith. So today, let us give thanks to God…thanks for the memories of Jesus… especially of his death and resurrection. For in his resurrection, we may discover our own. Amen.

ampolo, "Let me

[1] Sermon March 27, 2005