sermon

April 4, 2010 Sermon

This page is offered for those unable to attend the service or who would like more time to study the message.

Easter - 2010

John 20:19-31 April,4, 2010

Allan Conkling Emmanuel, San Angelo

In 1892, Anatole France, a social commentator, published a short story he called "The Procurator of Judea". It was based on a fictional dialogue which takes place between two old friends, now advanced in age and long in retirement. One of them is Pontius Pilate. As they talk Pilate recalls the stubbornness of the Jews, his attempts to keep law and order, and the people’s resistance to Roman Rule. The two friends talk about the High Priest and the quelling an uprising of the Samaritans, the building of an aqueduct...but when the name of a crucified miracle-worker, put to death for some vague crime against the state is brought up, this memory eludes him:

"Pontius Pilate contracted his brows and his hand rose to his forehead in the attitude of one who probes the deeps of memory. Then, after a silence of some seconds: ""Jesus?" he murmured, "Jesus, of Nazareth? I cannot call him to mind.""

Had it ended with the crucifixion and death on Good Friday, Jesus would have simply been forgotten--just another Jew crucified by the Roman Empire, one of thousands of such executions. Maybe something would have shown up in the history books, but that would have been all. Indeed without Easter, there would have no abiding community to remember and give meaning to his death. But something happened that day. What was it?

In the Bible nothing is told of how the body of Jesus disappeared. No one witnessed it let alone caught the event on video. No witnesses. No proof. No explanation. Detractors would say the body was stolen, or that people mistakenly went to the wrong grave, or that Jesus body was never put there in the first place. The book of Acts (the 1^st reading) tells us that what was seen was not witnessed by everyone:

"They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses."

Jesus didn't appear to Herod, or to the Sanhedrin, or to the crowd, or to Pontius Pilate. In fact, most people didn’t know anything had even happened. It has been said that by far the best proof of the Resurrection is the existence of the Christian Church. Nothing else could have changed sad and despairing men and women into people radiant with joy and flaming with courage. (Barclay, Mark, pg 368). Still for me the most important miracle was not the Resurrection, by that I mean that God could bring a dead man back to life, as spectacular as that would be. The most important miracle is the one which takes place within us daily as we open our spiritual eyes and choose to follow the Risen Christ.

The ultimate question then to ask ourselves is not "How in the world did it happen?" but, "What in the world does it mean?"

If you are a seeker, if you are unsure of what to make of these stories, or even if you are fairly certain that you can't believe in the Resurrection the way that others do, the question still remains, What do these stories mean? Here I would submit, is the answer:

First, everything we do here at Emmanuel church--our prayers our hymns, our readings, the lilies, the flowers, the eggs--all point us to the belief that the Risen Christ is not a figure in a book, but a real living, spiritual presence. Now. We can study the stories of Jesus like we read about the life of Plato, Socrates, and Shakespeare--but in the end we must end by meeting him. To put it another way: Easter means that Christ is not a memory but a presence. Long ago, time would have wiped out the memory of Jesus just as it did in the short story by Anatole France. His memory would have been long gone, unless he had been a living presence forever with us.
Second, Easter is about relationships--with our family, our children, and our God. I can know about your spouse, or your children, or your parents, but only you can know them. It has been said that the greatest scholar in the world who knows everything about Jesus is less than the humblest Christian who knows him.
Finally, Easter means that life is endless. Christ who broke the bonds of death continues to renew us each and every day.

Neither Mary Magdalene nor Peter, nor any of the disciples ever expected to see their Lord again. But they did, and so can we. Come to the Table and you will find him in the bread and the wine. Go into the world and you will find him there. Find him in your family; find him in the laughter of a child, or in the eyes of a lonely shut-in. You will find him in your friends, and in those who are most different from you. Find him as you pray or as you work.

I have heard it said, that to search for the Body of Christ, Christians don't excavate first century tombs, they go to Church on Sunday. And here you are! So, if someone asks you what you learned when you went to church today tell them that "Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!"

I love this day and I hope you do too. Have a blessed and happy Easter.

Back To Current Sermon

HOME

webmaster@emmanuel-sa.org