Easter Sunday- Align yourself with Jesus
There are some really fascinating details that are included in the stories about the resurrection.
Mary is deep in grief over the death of Jesus. She goes to the tomb but then she finds his body is missing, which is salt in the wound after watching him be tortured, humiliated, and killed in such an awful way. But then Jesus is standing right in front of her and she doesn’t recognize him. … Many have tried to explain this by saying that she was crying so hard that the tears were blurring her vision, or that Jesus was behind some bushes. … But we see this happening in other places too. Two disciples are walking to Emmaus, and Jesus joins them on the road and has a significant conversation with them about the Scriptures, and they don’t recognize him either. Eventually, he is sitting with them and they see that it’s him when he blessed the bread, but then he vanishes. … Again, people struggle to explain this. When this is shown on film they try to give Jesus a big hood that hides his face. But to imagine that they wouldn’t recognize his voice is sort of inconceivable. … Another time, after the resurrection, the disciples are fishing. They have been fishing all night but catch nothing. We read,
“Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus” (Jn 21:4).
We imagine maybe he was a long way off, on the shore, so they can’t tell that it’s him. But when they have a miraculous catch of fish, and try to haul it to shore believing that it is Jesus, we read,
“Jesus said to them, ‘come and have breakfast’. Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘who are you?’ They knew it was the Lord.”
That’s an odd comment to include, isn’t it?
But then, at other times, Jesus will appear in locked rooms, and he is immediately recognizable. He eats with them, and he invites them to touch him, and examine his crucifixion scars, probably to show that he isn’t a ghost.
The Gospels don’t seem to try to explain why they couldn’t recognize him. It is a strange detail to include if they are trying to convince people who might be skeptical.
Not recognizing Jesus is a strange detail to include, but it seems to me that it was something they were still trying to understand. They witnessed something profound and holy that they can’t quite wrap their head around. …
There are other interesting details. There is the footrace to the tomb with John and Peter. Details are given like, who got there first, and who went in first. Those details don’t seem necessary for the story. But these details seem like the kinds of things witnesses would mention. They seem like details that would be included when someone is sharing a story with a group of friends.
Details like this make me trust that they are describing something that actually happened- That Jesus did actually come back from the dead, and there are parts of that experience that they don’t understand. …
There are other details that help me to trust that the resurrection happened too. For example, women were the first witnesses to the resurrected Jesus in a culture that was less likely to value to testimony of women. If it was a made-up story to fool people, that wouldn’t be the first witnesses you would put in your story. …
Multiple people experienced the resurrected Jesus. He also appeared to groups that seemed to still be alive at the time Paul was writing his letters. The implication is that those reading the letter could go talk to them. …
The disciples also became bold in their proclamation of the resurrection, to the point of risking their own death. This didn’t happen when false messiahs were killed in the past. The movement died out. But Christian tradition tells us that most of the Apostles were martyred for their belief that Jesus rose from the dead. … I think there are good reasons to trust that the resurrection of Jesus really did happen.
But believing in the resurrection as a historical fact- a fact we hold in our head- isn’t the point. James 2:19 says,
But then, at other times, Jesus will appear in locked rooms, and he is immediately recognizable. He eats with them, and he invites them to touch him, and examine his crucifixion scars, probably to show that he isn’t a ghost.
The Gospels don’t seem to try to explain why they couldn’t recognize him. It is a strange detail to include if they are trying to convince people who might be skeptical.
Not recognizing Jesus is a strange detail to include, but it seems to me that it was something they were still trying to understand. They witnessed something profound and holy that they can’t quite wrap their head around. …
There are other interesting details. There is the footrace to the tomb with John and Peter. Details are given like, who got there first, and who went in first. Those details don’t seem necessary for the story. But these details seem like the kinds of things witnesses would mention. They seem like details that would be included when someone is sharing a story with a group of friends.
Details like this make me trust that they are describing something that actually happened- That Jesus did actually come back from the dead, and there are parts of that experience that they don’t understand. …
There are other details that help me to trust that the resurrection happened too. For example, women were the first witnesses to the resurrected Jesus in a culture that was less likely to value to testimony of women. If it was a made-up story to fool people, that wouldn’t be the first witnesses you would put in your story. …
Multiple people experienced the resurrected Jesus. He also appeared to groups that seemed to still be alive at the time Paul was writing his letters. The implication is that those reading the letter could go talk to them. …
The disciples also became bold in their proclamation of the resurrection, to the point of risking their own death. This didn’t happen when false messiahs were killed in the past. The movement died out. But Christian tradition tells us that most of the Apostles were martyred for their belief that Jesus rose from the dead. … I think there are good reasons to trust that the resurrection of Jesus really did happen.
But believing in the resurrection as a historical fact- a fact we hold in our head- isn’t the point. James 2:19 says,
“You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.”
James is saying that holding a particular fact in our mind about God isn’t really the point. … We believe in God. James says, that’s good, but the demons believe in God too. … Checking the “true” box next to the question “is there a God” isn’t necessarily a virtue.
The kind of belief that matters in the Gospels isn’t necessarily about believing that something is true or false. It’s the kind of belief where I “believe” in my friend. I “believe” in my wife. It is about loyalty. It is about dedication. It is about trust. It is about faithfulness.
St. Anselm of Canterbury’s method for doing theology was “faith seeking understanding”. It doesn’t start with having everything figured out, then saying “I guess I can faith now”. When St. John went into the empty tomb and examined the linen wrappings, he didn’t fully understand, but he believed. John didn’t have a fully formed theology of the resurrection. All he knew was that something wonderfully mysterious was going on, and that Jesus wasn’t a failed messiah. This is about allegiance before it becomes explanation.
So, what does that practically mean?- To not just believe in the resurrection as an historical event, but to lean into that so it becomes about loyalty, allegiance, dedication, trust, faithfulness? … That leads us to what the resurrection ‘means’. The New Testament Scholar NT Wright says that the Resurrection is about God vindicating Jesus. He was executed as a false prophet, but God reverses that verdict. The resurrection is God’s public verdict about Jesus. Jesus is who he claimed to be. His Kingdom message is true and authoritative. He truly is the Messiah, and he is worthy of our allegiance. He is our King, and we are invited to live as his subjects in his Kingdom.
Our reading from Colossians gives us a bit of a guide to what it means to be aligned with the resurrected Lord –
The kind of belief that matters in the Gospels isn’t necessarily about believing that something is true or false. It’s the kind of belief where I “believe” in my friend. I “believe” in my wife. It is about loyalty. It is about dedication. It is about trust. It is about faithfulness.
St. Anselm of Canterbury’s method for doing theology was “faith seeking understanding”. It doesn’t start with having everything figured out, then saying “I guess I can faith now”. When St. John went into the empty tomb and examined the linen wrappings, he didn’t fully understand, but he believed. John didn’t have a fully formed theology of the resurrection. All he knew was that something wonderfully mysterious was going on, and that Jesus wasn’t a failed messiah. This is about allegiance before it becomes explanation.
So, what does that practically mean?- To not just believe in the resurrection as an historical event, but to lean into that so it becomes about loyalty, allegiance, dedication, trust, faithfulness? … That leads us to what the resurrection ‘means’. The New Testament Scholar NT Wright says that the Resurrection is about God vindicating Jesus. He was executed as a false prophet, but God reverses that verdict. The resurrection is God’s public verdict about Jesus. Jesus is who he claimed to be. His Kingdom message is true and authoritative. He truly is the Messiah, and he is worthy of our allegiance. He is our King, and we are invited to live as his subjects in his Kingdom.
Our reading from Colossians gives us a bit of a guide to what it means to be aligned with the resurrected Lord –
“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-3).
This reorients our identity. It changes the center of gravity in our life. You are raised with him into a new life. You have died to the ‘old self’ and its old ways. You are now hidden in him, which has to do with being unified with Christ. God has taken your life and placed it somewhere safe- in Christ. Our loyalty to Christ means that our soul is safe with him- he has conquered evil, sin, and death. But there is also a mystery about this hiddenness- it is not yet seen what you will be. …
To align ourselves to the Resurrected Christ means that we live in ways that match our new identity. We seek the things that are above. We place our thoughts on God and on holy things. We learn to live as people of the Kingdom of God- living in ways that align with Christ as our King. The Kingdom isn’t here in its fullness yet, but we live with that anticipation. Our assumptions are transformed to align with the Kingdom. We learn to train our thought-life, so it aligns with the Kingdom of God. We train our attention. We train our patterns of thought. We treat the people around us accordingly. … When St. Paul talks about Earthly things he isn’t talking about trees and mountains. By earthly things he means the passions that enslave us- lust, addiction, greed, and pride- things like this that are a part of the false self that draw us down into being enslaved to our lower desires. That self is put to death. It’s a citizen of a different country- a different kingdom.
The Resurrection has personal consequences for us. It is Christ’s victory, but he invites us into that victory- like people being rescued from slavery in one kingdom to freedom in his Kingdom.
The Icon you see here next to the baptismal font is of the Harrowing of Hades. It is sort of doing theology through an image. Hades is the place of the dead. In Hebrew, it is called Sheol. What the picture shows is Jesus kicking down the doors of hades. That’s what he’s standing on. If you look closely, you can see Christ grabbing Adam and Eve by their wrists and pulling them out of their graves. He has defeated death and the devil and now he is leading Adam and Eve to Paradise, along with many other who have been imprisoned in the place of the dead. It is an image of Christ rescuing humanity from the prison of death. He is rescuing them from the kingdom of the dead and bringing them to his Kingdom.
This is an image of what the resurrection means for us. He has rescued us from everlasting death, and now invites us into the way of life in His Kingdom. He has given us a new citizenship, and that comes with a new culture, and a new way of life. …
We come back to Mary in the garden. … She stands there weeping, and unable to make sense of what she is seeing. She is witnessing the risen Christ, but she doesn’t recognize Jesus until he speaks her name. “Mary.” And suddenly everything changes. The grief that had hollowed her out is now filled with hope and light.
But Jesus says something odd: “Do not hold on to me.” … I don’t see Jesus saying this in a cold and distant way. I think it is about there being more to do in the story. They aren’t going back to how things had been. Something new has begun.
Mary is sent. She becomes the apostle to the Apostles. Her encounter with the risen Christ becomes a commissioning. She is sent on a mission. She is invited into a new way of life. And that is the pattern for us too.
The resurrection is not just something we admire. It is something we participate in. It isn’t just a doctrine we affirm- a historical fact that we say is true, rather than false. The resurrection is a life we enter.
To believe in the resurrection- to put your allegiance with the resurrected Christ- is to hear Jesus call your name. It is to let him reorient your identity. It is to let him pull you- like Adam and Eve in the icon- out of the grave of the ‘old self’ and into the freedom and citizenship of his Kingdom.
When we filly embrace that citizenship, then our life will show that death no longer has the final word- that sin no longer has us prisoner- and that there is hope for the future.
And so today, on this Feast of Feasts, the risen Jesus calls us by name- Inviting us into his life- Inviting us into his victory- Inviting us into his Kingdom.
Christ is risen. Alleluia!
To align ourselves to the Resurrected Christ means that we live in ways that match our new identity. We seek the things that are above. We place our thoughts on God and on holy things. We learn to live as people of the Kingdom of God- living in ways that align with Christ as our King. The Kingdom isn’t here in its fullness yet, but we live with that anticipation. Our assumptions are transformed to align with the Kingdom. We learn to train our thought-life, so it aligns with the Kingdom of God. We train our attention. We train our patterns of thought. We treat the people around us accordingly. … When St. Paul talks about Earthly things he isn’t talking about trees and mountains. By earthly things he means the passions that enslave us- lust, addiction, greed, and pride- things like this that are a part of the false self that draw us down into being enslaved to our lower desires. That self is put to death. It’s a citizen of a different country- a different kingdom.
The Resurrection has personal consequences for us. It is Christ’s victory, but he invites us into that victory- like people being rescued from slavery in one kingdom to freedom in his Kingdom.
The Icon you see here next to the baptismal font is of the Harrowing of Hades. It is sort of doing theology through an image. Hades is the place of the dead. In Hebrew, it is called Sheol. What the picture shows is Jesus kicking down the doors of hades. That’s what he’s standing on. If you look closely, you can see Christ grabbing Adam and Eve by their wrists and pulling them out of their graves. He has defeated death and the devil and now he is leading Adam and Eve to Paradise, along with many other who have been imprisoned in the place of the dead. It is an image of Christ rescuing humanity from the prison of death. He is rescuing them from the kingdom of the dead and bringing them to his Kingdom.
This is an image of what the resurrection means for us. He has rescued us from everlasting death, and now invites us into the way of life in His Kingdom. He has given us a new citizenship, and that comes with a new culture, and a new way of life. …
We come back to Mary in the garden. … She stands there weeping, and unable to make sense of what she is seeing. She is witnessing the risen Christ, but she doesn’t recognize Jesus until he speaks her name. “Mary.” And suddenly everything changes. The grief that had hollowed her out is now filled with hope and light.
But Jesus says something odd: “Do not hold on to me.” … I don’t see Jesus saying this in a cold and distant way. I think it is about there being more to do in the story. They aren’t going back to how things had been. Something new has begun.
Mary is sent. She becomes the apostle to the Apostles. Her encounter with the risen Christ becomes a commissioning. She is sent on a mission. She is invited into a new way of life. And that is the pattern for us too.
The resurrection is not just something we admire. It is something we participate in. It isn’t just a doctrine we affirm- a historical fact that we say is true, rather than false. The resurrection is a life we enter.
To believe in the resurrection- to put your allegiance with the resurrected Christ- is to hear Jesus call your name. It is to let him reorient your identity. It is to let him pull you- like Adam and Eve in the icon- out of the grave of the ‘old self’ and into the freedom and citizenship of his Kingdom.
When we filly embrace that citizenship, then our life will show that death no longer has the final word- that sin no longer has us prisoner- and that there is hope for the future.
And so today, on this Feast of Feasts, the risen Jesus calls us by name- Inviting us into his life- Inviting us into his victory- Inviting us into his Kingdom.
Christ is risen. Alleluia!
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