“SUDDENLY
JESUS MET THEM”
Rev. James
Clubine
Easter
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Acts 10:34-43
Colossians 3:1-4
Matthew 28:1-10
Text: Matthew 28:9 Suddenly Jesus met them and
said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped
him.
Introduction
By the way, chocolate is a health food. Researchers
at the University of California reviewed a number of recent studies on chocolate, finding
that the main flavonoids found in cocoa are associated with a decreased risk of
cardiovascular disease. Further, sugar is derived either from sugar beets or cane, both
vegetables. And, of course, the milk/cream is dairy. Happy Easter! (And if you are asleep
before the end of the sermon, I will understand. It is simply the crash following the
sugar high of this morning’s intake)
A. W. Tozer was a great
preacher and prolific writer of the last century whose final years of ministry were at the
Avenue Road Church in Toronto, when it was a Christian and Missionary Alliance Church
(congregation moved to Thornhill, now Bayview Glen church).
He once made the observation of; ‘so many Christians satisfied with an
“Easter celebration” instead of experiencing the power of Christ’s
resurrection.’
And one of the places where we
experience the power of Christ’s resurrection, is the way in which it intrudes into
our human perceptions of reality and shakes everything up, the way in which it demands the
complete restructuring of our categories of life and death.
Some have noted the
intrusiveness of Easter, particularly this year, because of how early its celebration has
arrived this year. Easter can fall as early as
March 22nd, so this year falling on March 23rd it is at the early
end with respect to the progression of the year. By
the way, the last time Easter fell on the 23rd of March was in 1913, the next
time this happens, should the Lord tarry, will be the year 2160. So for most of us, this
is a ‘once-in-a-life-time’ event – so enjoy!
But this sort of intrusiveness
is more inconvenience than it is the shake up of how we think and feel about everything. We are used to celebrating Easter in April when the
weather is warmer and spring clothing can be worn without shivering – so it seems odd
that today is Easter, it just doesn’t feel like it typically does. It also feels like we haven’t had enough time
to get ready for it. Not long ago, I was in
one of those moments of panic brought on by the realization of the proximity of Easter
with respect to the number of things that I needed yet to prepare for it. I muttered to myself – ‘well,
Easter is coming whether I want it to or not.’
And in a much more blunt way,
that is precisely the experience of Mary Magdalene and the other Mary when, as Matthew
recounts, “Suddenly Jesus met them.” Easter
came whether they wanted it to come or not. And
this intrusion isn’t because of some perception of inadequate time to prepare for an
‘Easter celebration’. This intrusion
is because they have nothing in their experience, nothing in their imaginations, nothing
in their perceptions of life and death that can possibly prepare them for this moment. Suddenly
Jesus met them.
The gospel writers are trying
to explain something for which they didn’t have a precise vocabulary. The want to tell us that Jesus is very much alive,
yet different. That the Jesus they saw
crucified and buried in now very much alive standing there in front of them. How would you describe such a moment if it came to
you? The word ‘suddenly’ speaks of
so much more than the fact that it happened is a surprising or immediate fashion.
This is not the kind of ‘suddenness’
we speak of as if someone jumped out from behind a bush and surprised us. This is the use of a word to approximate an
experience for which they have no word to express the enormity of what is happening. ‘Suddenly’ is as good a word as any to
express utter surprise at what is happening. “Suddenly”
is as good a word as any to describe the arrival of the risen Jesus – whether we want
him to come or not. Jesus intrudes alive on
their realty were everything from their experience, imagination and perceptions of life
and death says to them: Jesus is dead. Suddenly
Jesus met them.
If you were either of these
women, what text message would you send to the disciples? When you endeavour to stand in
their shoes and imagine how you would describe the experience, you realize that you have
no word in our language to that captures what you see.
The word ‘resurrection’ comes to have this particular meaning, in
the way we use it today of Jesus, after this event. As
I was writing the preceding sentence this past week, Stuart called me about upcoming
service details and I said something about needing a sermon for Sunday to which he said
that it could be considered bordering on arrogance to deign to preach on Easter. And there is a truth to that, because you can’t
explain it. It intrudes into our world view in
a rather untidy way and crushes all our neatly constructed categories. The best we can do
is chronicle the event; ‘suddenly Jesus met them.’
It is much tidier for these
women and the disciples if he remains dead. Their
view of life and death says today we need to be mourning because we lost you to death. The imagination says we must be seeing a ghost or
hallucinating but as they grab his feet to worship him he is really quite ‘grab-able’. The categories of life and death say it is
someone else, a look-a-like, but as he greets them they know it is his voice, no one says
this word of greeting quite like he does. Imagine
now having to bear witness to what they see – would you want to tell others about
this? In an instant everything about how they
think and feel about life has changed – and He, that is the change, is standing there
right in front of them very much alive. Suddenly Jesus met them.
It has ever been so, that
people find it much tidier that he remains dead – that is to say, any theory of
events to explain this story is much tidier for us, other than the way it is told to us by
the gospel writers. Humans desperately want to
keep on re-shaping this story so that it fits into our world views, our experience of life
and death. Matthew tell us of how the priests
gave their spin on the events – “The disciples came and stole the body.”
We have the resuscitation
theory – somehow Jesus survived his wounds and staggered out of grave – a theory
made popular by books like The Da Vinci Code. The ‘cognitive dissonance’ theory is
another that supposes the disciples believed it so strongly they kept on saying so more
shrilly when faced with contrary evidence, sustaining their position the only way they
can, shouting louder and trying to persuade others to join them. Another theory is that the idea of ‘resurrection’
was found in other religions all over the ancient Near East and so the disciples borrowed
the idea from others – what this theory fails to take into account is that in these
‘dying and rising god’ religions of
the near east, nobody ever supposed it actually happened to individual humans.
What all these theories have in
common is that Jesus is dead. It fits better
with our explanations of life. Friends, if
that were the case, the story of Jesus’ life would never have seen the light of day
– he would have been simply one more in the long list of the forgotten folks
crucified by the Roman Empire. Only one
explanation accounts for the rise of Christianity – it is that Jesus really did
reappear, not as a battered, bleeding survivor, not as a ghost, not as the idea of some
folks suffering from cognitive dissonance, but as a living, bodily human being.
Our world wants to reduce
Easter to a celebration of spring and chocolate and bunnies.
The preferred message is like the headline; ‘They found the body. Easter has been cancelled.’ Friends, the gospel story is that that the body was
never lost – Suddenly Jesus met them. The
resurrection of living, bodily Jesus is not so much a sign that there is really life after
death after all, rather it is to announce in Christ the possibility of being bodily alive
again after a period of being bodily dead. The
hope of glory is that there is a day coming when we shall be like him for we shall see him
as he is! No disease, nor any of the
accompanying debilitations are ever that last word about our wonderful, ever so bodily
life as we trust in him – the pains of crucifixion destroyed his body and even so;
Suddenly Jesus met them.
Now we will explore more of the
implications of the resurrection through the season of Easter in our worship. Today, I have invited you to be open afresh to its
power in that it changes the way we think and feel about everything. I have asked you to consider that the story of
Jesus risen stands as given by these gospel writers – I also know that what you do
with that story is another matter. I
understand that it is logical to say: experience teaches me dead people never rise so, I
conclude that there must be some other explanation.
As N. T Wright (Bishop of
Durham) put it; “The trouble is that believing that Jesus was raised from the dead
involves, at the very least, suspending judgement on matters normally regarded as fixed
and unalterable: or, to put it positively, it requires that we exchange a worldview which
says that such things can’t happen for one which, embracing the notion of a creator
God making himself known initially in the tradition of Israel and then fully and finally
in Jesus, says that Jesus’ resurrection makes perfect sense when seen from that point
of view. Faith cannot be forced, but unfaith
can be challenged.”
Friends, if Easter remains for
me merely a celebration, then I have it tamed – I can prepare for it. But the power of this resurrection – Suddenly Jesus met them – it is untamable, it
interprets us, everything gets reshaped, nothing can ever be the same again – nothing
in our experience could prepare us for it.
In a few moments we will be
confessing our faith with the Apostles’ Creed – and when we come to that
incredible phrase – ‘On the third day he rose again’ – may the wonder
of what we confess we believe explode afresh in our hearts and in our imaginations with
its reshaping power for our lives.
Christ is risen! He is risen
indeed!
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