I want to begin this Easter sermon by teasing your mind with a thought which directly impacts us today. Imagine you can go back in history and in a matter of seconds, you can survey the human experience. Three million years ago Homo erectus first walked the earth, a rough prototype of later humans. 700,000 years ago, one of our distant cousins discovered fire. 200,000 years ago, Neanderthals inhabited the earth, and a hundred thousand years later the first Homo sapiens came on the scene. 11,000 years ago, farmers began to cultivate the earth in a primitive fashion—prior to that, all humans were hunters and gatherers. 6000 years ago, small cities began to spring up on various parts of the globe. 1000 years later, kings came into existence and began to oppress peasants and make war. 3000 years ago, empires like those of Egypt and Babylon added their mischief to the human lot. 2000 years ago, at the height of the Roman Empire, a Jew was born named Jeshua bar Joseph (Jesus son of Joseph). 1500 years ago, with the fall of the mighty Roman Empire, Europe entered the Dark Ages. 500 years later, the Middle Ages began. In the 1440s, Johannes Gutenberg developed the printing press allowing knowledge to spread to the common people of Europe. And 550 years ago, Columbus “discovered” America although many other peoples had already been living in North and South America for over 10, 000 years. Columbus’ discovery, motivated by greed and arrogance, resulted in the sad deaths of millions of native people. 450 years ago, Copernicus shocked the world with his discovery that the earth went around the sun and not vice versa. 350 years ago, the Enlightenment began with its emphasis on reason and science. 245 years ago, democracy in a former British colonial power now known as the United States of America became a reality although it would take nearly 200 years for all citizens to be granted the freedoms associated with that democracy. 159 years ago, Communism was born. 107 years ago, the world reeled from the devastation of World War I. Around 85 years ago, a scientist named Hubble with his vast telescopes proved that there were many galaxies in the universe (100s of billions each with 100s of billions of stars). Prior to Hubble educated humans thought the Milky Way Galaxy was the extent of the universe. And then overnight we realized how small a speck the earth is in the overall scheme of reality. 1939 saw the beginning of the horrible destruction of World War II ending with the triple disasters of the Holocaust, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. And then here we are today with our computer age, a grave ecological crisis, ethnic, racial, and religious violence and intolerance, and a world population approaching 8 billion.
Billions of men, women, and children have lived and died through all this. Each person has suffered the same final fate regardless of race, power, wealth, or education. All of us—all of life has or will come to the same end over these 3 million years.
But just suppose that one person—one solitary human being in all of this time came back from the dead in a transformed body (not a resuscitated body but a transformed body). Suppose that one person in all of this conglomeration of history was raised to new life.
This is what those early disciples claimed. They knew as well as we do that people don’t come back from the dead. And yet that was what they witnessed. If that really happened, then do you realize that everything is now different? If that really happened, it has profound implications for this world—for what is possible—for the nature of God—for the destiny of humans and all creation. If that really happened, then this world is far more than any of us can imagine. If that really happened, then there is a mystery, a purpose, a power, a God who trumps every human attempt toward despair and futility. If that really happened, then all of us must be prepared to be surprised by a hope which is mind-boggling and awe inspiring. But that is precisely what those early disciples claimed: with the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, we are now living at the beginning of a new creation—a new world—a new experience!
But let’s get more specific regarding what Jesus’ resurrection means for us today. First of all, Jesus’ resurrection means that he is the Messiah and therefore the world’s true Lord. His resurrection is God’s way of validating all he said and did on earth and God’s way of proclaiming that the way of Jesus Christ is the way of God Almighty. And if Jesus’ way is God’s way, then the way of most of the world must come to an end. Jesus preached compassion to a world which is addicted to greed. Jesus demanded peace in a world which practices war and violence. Jesus required forgiveness and mercy in a world which nurtures retaliation, revenge, and resentment. Jesus modeled sacrificial service in a world which struts in arrogance and self-interest. Jesus incarnated love in a world of apathy and hatred.
If Jesus’ way is the way of the Creator of this universe, then the world is on a collision course with the righteousness and justice of God. The resurrection shouts to the world that Jesus was and is right and that the world was and is wrong.
If Jesus’ way is the way of the Creator of this universe, then the world is on a collision course with the righteousness and justice of God. The resurrection shouts to the world that Jesus was and is right and that the world was and is wrong. And just as importantly, with Jesus’ resurrection this new way of God’s new creation has already begun. That is what Paul is saying in this great chapter of I Corinthians. His joy over this new creation is overflowing. The resurrection of Jesus doesn’t mean that when we die, we will go to heaven. It means that the new creation has already started, right now and right here in history. And we as his followers have a job to do. We must do all we can right now to build for God’s Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. We cannot build the Kingdom—only God can ultimately do that—but we can build for and prepare for the Kingdom by the way we live, the justice we seek, the peace we make, the care we take of each other and the earth, the forgiveness we offer, the reconciliation we help facilitate, and in so many other ways.
We are now the Body of Christ doing Christ’s work in this world through the power of the same Holy Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead and which brings this new creation into being. You see, if you believe in Jesus’ resurrection, then you believe this life, this body, and this earth are all important. Why? Because it is this life, this body, and this earth which will be raised by God and transformed into a new creation.
And that brings us to the second great meaning of the resurrection of Jesus for the 21st century. What God did for Jesus in his resurrection, God will do for us and all creation. Paul says that Jesus’ resurrection is the first fruits: in other words, the first of the harvest with the rest to come. We are a part of the rest along with everyone and everything else. When God first created this universe, God created it out of nothing. The new creation will be created out of the old heaven and the old earth. Now what that will look like is beyond our wildest imaginations (consider the analogy of a baby in a womb with no idea about the world into which she will be born or the analogy of explaining sight, color, and physical beauty of a blind person). What I always try to remember is how splendid this first creation is and then to imagine how much greater the new creation will be. It’s beyond the human capacity to put into words, but with Jesus’ resurrection we have a glimpse and more importantly a promise from God that we can trust our Creator to do this great work.
So where do we fit in? What we are and what we do right now will be the raw materials God can use in forming the new creation. That means that no act of love, kindness, compassion, or justice—no sacrifice and no suffering for what is right and just—nothing we do for the sake of God’s Kingdom will be in vain. It will be gathered up into God and used on that “final day” when God transforms this world into a new creation. If this is our faith, then there is no place for ultimate despair, pessimism, or hopelessness. Even if we can’t see the value of what we do for God’s Kingdom, we can trust that God will use it for healing and redeeming (liberating) purposes—if not on this earth, then in the new heaven and new earth. Nothing good will ever be wasted.
Now this requires trust on our part—not a shallow, easy, smug assumption which makes no commitment and takes no risk. The kind of trust I’m talking about requires a leap of faith trusting the promise of God that love shall be the final word and in the end all will be well. Or as Rob Bell puts it, “Love Wins!”
But what we need to realize—and this is what I think we do not understand about Easter–is this: Resurrection faith is dangerous—dangerous to the powers to be (because the ultimate threat they use is death and with resurrection that threat is shown to be ultimately empty and impotent). And resurrection is also dangerous to those who embrace that faith because we don’t know where the Risen Christ might lead us as we follow him into this new creation.
I have come to believe that the whole Christian faith depends on the resurrection of Jesus. Without that resurrection, as Paul says, we are the most pitiful people on the face of the earth. Now, can we prove Jesus was raised from the dead? No. In some of the studies we have had, I think some of you may believe that’s what I’ve been trying to do. I know we can’t prove his resurrection. But I do believe that we can make his resurrection credible. Beginning in 1969, I have spent countless hours studying the resurrection of Jesus. I’ve read many books written by the best biblical scholars and theologians and have spent a lot of time contemplating his resurrection over the years. My conclusion is this: unless you start with the presupposition that the resurrection of Jesus could not have happened, the only reasonable answer you can give in light of the considerable evidence we find in Scripture and history regarding the question of his resurrection is this: he was indeed raised from the dead and given a transformed body by God befitting the new creation.
And every time I think about the reality of his resurrection—that it really happened—in our time and space, I am awestruck, overwhelmed, and overcome with a profound sense of wonder, joy, and surprise. Why? Because if Jesus’ resurrection really happened, then as we have said earlier, everything has changed. If his resurrection is true and is the first fruits of a resurrection of the entire creation, then what we see in this world is only part of the picture. All the sin, suffering, injustice, tragedy, disease, and despair endured in this world is not the final word for anyone.
My belief is this: this creation came about from God to allow us the time and space to become creatures who can freely love, choose, create, and enjoy. The new creation is the next stage where and when we are in fellowship with God and each other without sin and mortality—where there is no evil or suffering or death. (Some of us or perhaps all of us might need some remedial work before we are ready for such deep love and exquisite joy, but God is eternally patient. We shall be loved into our healing.) So, whatever happens in this present creation is not the last word. Where we want to put a solemn and despondent period or “the end,” God puts a comma or a “stay tuned/to be continued” with God’s love, compassion, and justice having the last word. That’s why there is no place for ultimate and paralyzing despair for Christians. With Jesus’ resurrection, we know something the world does not know—that we and the world rest finally in the hands and heart of God, and the God who raised Jesus from the dead can be trusted.
In 1969 when I was a college student, there was a psychology professor who taught at the university I attended. He was a brilliant man and much loved professor. Every afternoon he could be found in the indoor pool at the university with his son. His son loved being in the water, and the professor held his son with careful and tender love. You see, his son who was in his late teens was severely mentally and physically challenged. He was not expected to live into adulthood. One day my roommate who was a psych major was swimming in the pool and stopped to converse with his professor. He expressed his admiration for all the care and love this father gave to his son. And the professor said something like this: “Right now that is all I can do for him. But one day his Heavenly Father will do what I cannot do. Until that day I want to do all I can so my son will recognize that love and realize that even on this earth he was not forsaken, forgotten, or neglected.” That father believed in the resurrection! And the impact of Easter was already shaping his life in the here and now through the ways he cared for his son. His son was just one of many billions of people who have lived lives of desperation and suffering. If his fate has no more hope than can be offered in this life, then the church’s assertion that God is love is a cruel and shallow farce. We must not confuse “pie in the sky” heresy with the justice, compassion, and love of a God who can be trusted to bring healing, wholeness, and liberation to Her creation.
Wouldn’t be wonderful if we really believed in the resurrection of Jesus?
Wouldn’t be wonderful if we really believed in the resurrection of Jesus? Really trusted with our very being the truth of Easter? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the new creation could start right now with us through how we live, how we love, and how we spread joy and hope in this world? It can—it really can because the same Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead is in our midst; the same God is in our world; and the Risen Christ beckons each of us to follow him into the new creation—not just at the end of time or after death, but right here and right now.
Sometimes when I think about the full significance of Easter, I tremble in awe, wonder, joy, and indescribable hope. What I can’t figure out is why the impact of Easter doesn’t shape my life every minute of every day. Perhaps my prayer today should be this: “Loving God, may this Easter serve as a catalyst for my daily living so that I can live and bask in the sunrise of your new creation.” In your own way will you join me in that prayer? I think we and the world might be surprised by the difference. What do you think?
I Corinthians 15:1-28 (NRSV)
Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters,[a] of the good news[b] that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2 through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.
3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters[c] at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.[d] 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. 15 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. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 17 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have died[e] in Christ have perished. 19 If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.[f] 21 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; 22 for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end,[g] when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God[h] has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is plain that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.
