RISE

Scriptures: The Resurrection of Our Lord, A.D. 2015 B

Sermon:

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

So what? Who cares? What difference does it make? What does it mean that Jesus is risen? What does it mean that He was dead and now He lives?

Brothers and sisters, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ goes against everything we think we know of this world. We’ve come a long way in convincing ourselves that the only reality left consists in the material things of the here and now. We’ve told ourselves that we exist for a certain period of time, going through a set number of chemical reactions, and then we cease to exist. We might as well while away the time in between as painlessly and indulgently as possible.

Everything else in this world—truth, beauty, goodness, meaning, value, purpose, love, hope—that’s all just the silly musings of our monkey minds. Superstition, really. Eventually, it all ends. Human beings fall apart, our cities collapse, our books rot away, the Earth falls into the Sun, the Sun burns out, the universe collapses, and that’s that. It all ends in death. End of story. Now, who wants a drink?

But then this Man rises from this tomb—and everything changes. Suddenly we are confronted with the reality that death is not the end. That life, in fact, triumphs. Suddenly we see that what we thought we knew of life and love and Creation was just the tip of the iceberg. Suddenly the world is filled to overflowing with hope and possibility and the superabundance of life!

Jesus Christ—God made flesh—promised us in our baptism that all He has and all He is has become ours. We are made inheritors of God Himself. Not because we deserve it, not because we earned it, not because we’re special.  But because God, by God’s own nature and will, is so loving, so giving, so good, that He loved sinners even unto death. And now He loves us all the way up to eternal life!

By God, He made good on that promise, didn’t He? He made good on that promise in His birth, His life, His teachings and healings and proclamations of forgiveness.  He made good on that promise in His passion and Crucifixion and death. And He made good on that promise on the glorious Sunday morn when the tomb burst forth, the walls of Hell were shattered, and Christ rose from the grave!

What does it mean that Christ is risen?

It means that you and I have nothing more to fear. Ever. Sure, bad things are going to happen. Tragedies, sufferings, unjust afflictions. It’s a broken world; that’s why Jesus had to come in the first place. But now we know that no matter what happens to us, no matter how bad it gets, we are not alone. Christ is with us. He lives! And because He lives, none of the tragedies or hardships or losses in this world will ever have the final word.

You will not taste death. You will live forever. Every disease that afflicts us is, by its very nature, temporary. Every wound will be healed in this life or the next. Every bill, every stress, every hardship will die, and you will not. Cancer cannot outlast you. Infections cannot outlive you. Mourning will cease and tears will dry and you will still be alive and loved forever. There is nothing left for us to fear—not pain, not death, not Hell, not loss. On this Easter Morn, Christ has conquered them all!

What does it mean that Christ is risen?

It means that we will see our grandparents again.  It means that all the mothers and fathers, the siblings, the friends, the children who have died aren’t dead. They’re waiting for us! They sit at the great feast of life that follows death, and they have saved us a spot! They are alive, they are fulfilled, they are loved, and we will see them again in our own good time. There will be reunions unlike anything we could possibly imagine, and it will be so glorious, so wonderful, so unspeakably beautiful, that we will have to call it Heaven.

What does it mean that Christ is risen?

It means that people are more important than things, because things are temporary but God claims people forever. It means that we must never flag in standing up for rights and for freedom in this life, because a single human being is more important than any state or nation. It means that totalitarianism and inhumanity in all their forms are not simply intolerable, but are already doomed to fail. They will pass away, and we will live on. It means that the love of our children is infinitely preferable to gold, because gold will melt through our fingers, but our children will live on throughout eternity. It means that friendships should never be sacrificed over petty disagreements or selfish aspirations, because those latter things will rot, and our friends will live on with us in God.

What does it mean that Christ is risen?

It means that there is always a new dawn coming! There is always hope in the sure promise that Christ is alive, Christ is love, and Christ is at work in every aspect of Creation for the healing and salvation of this world. Christians sing in prison! Christians laugh on their deathbeds! Christians look at the x-ray of their cancer and say, Christ is Lord, Christ is alive, and Christ will still be my Lord long after sin and death and illness and pain have been nailed to the cross and crushed in the tomb. It means that there will always be a new chapter, a new chance, a new possibility, a new healing, a new life! Because we live in Christ, and Christ has broken death!

What does it mean that Christ is risen?

It means that we are free! Free to stand up for the oppressed!  Free to give of what we have and of who we are! Free to be brave, free to be active, free to be selfless! Free from fear or hatred or timidity! Free to be virtuous and chivalrous and brave and all those other corny things that the world thinks died out centuries ago! They came back out of the tomb with Christ. Free to set the captives free! Free to liberate the whole world under the banner of the One who liberates us all!

What does it mean that Christ is risen?

It means that, despite all our doubts and fears, there is a God, that God is good, and that God, believe it or not, cares for you, specifically.  Cares for you so much that He will always be with you in this life, through joys and through horrors, through faith and through doubt. He will walk with you every moment in this world, march with you into the open maw of the grave, and then He will rip you up, out of the ground, out of the jaws of death, and dance with you into a new life hereafter. A life based on fulfillment and dynamism and growth! A life of selfless joy and of ceaseless wonder! A life unlike anything we could possibly imagine now!

What does it mean that Christ is risen?

It means He will call you by name and you will know Him and love Him because He has first loved you. It means you matter. It means He cares. It means you are never alone, never unloved, never lost, never beyond hope. It means that we will fail Him, but He will never fail us.  It means that everything you’ve ever known has been built and tended by a God who means for all of this to be used for your growth and joy, and for the growth and joy of all your brothers and sisters.  And while this world may be broken now, it still begins and ends in the heart of that God who will never forget you, never abandon you, never stop loving you, ever. As the slaves in bondage sang out with defiance:

Ain’t no grave dug deep enough to hold me.

Ain’t no devil been slick enough to trick me.

Ain’t no gravedigger man enough to bury me.

You can’t hold me down.

Ain’t no grave can hold me down.

You can’t keep me underground.

When the silver trumpet sounds,

Ain’t no grave can hold me down!

What does it mean that Christ is risen? Everything. It means everything.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!