But before he was raised, Jesus died. He died just as he told them he would. He went to Jerusalem at Passover and became victim to the religious and the romans, hell bent on crushing rebellions and dreams. They had to stop him from becoming bigger than he was, a mere Galilean peasant with grandiose ideas and a following of naïve and needy souls. He told them it was going to be that way, that it must be that way. He told them that he would die and in three days rise again. They hadn’t believed him though. They had chosen not to believe it because they loved him, they needed him, they expected more than death from him. Accepting mortality and death is hard for any of us. We hate death and how it robs us of ourselves, our loved ones. Besides, they expected that he was the one to set right what was wrong with the world. They believed that he could change the world, heal the wounds, reconcile the wrongs, fix the broken. Usually putting that much hope in a single human being is a bad idea, never ends well. But they believed that he had the power to change everything, if he stayed alive and accepted his role as the anointed King. They believed that he was messiah, a holy king sent by God himself to restore the kingdom of Israel, to abolish the powers that threatened daily existence, to release prisoners, heal the sick, give hope to the dying. They had reason to believe in him; he was healing and teaching with power and authority and what he said and did was Good, very good. His goodness seemed to include all kinds of people; jews, pagans, men, women, children, ethnic minorities practicing other forms of Judaism, soldiers, tax collectors working for the roman empire, prostitutes, lawyers, the wealthy and the poor. Everyone was invited, but few were willing to accept. No one wanted to be with those people. What he offered was life for the ages, but not without cost. Discipleship was about serving others, giving freely and generously, accepting the other, loving the enemy. Following his path might mean to reject one’s own family. Putting God’s mission first. Putting my wants and needs last. He called fishermen and zealots and tax collectors and not-so-trustworthy followers. And he entrusted them with his work of healing and forgiveness. He said, only in becoming the last, the least, and the loser does one get into God’s kingdom. For those who did believe this, the last thing they needed was a dead rabbi.
A dead rabbi is not the messiah. He is not the solution, not the savior promised; and the only response to that is despair, anger toward God, possibly to doubt God altogether.
Seeing what we see, death and destruction, degradation and dislocation every single day it is easy to doubt God’s goodness; easy to think that the Christian message is for fools. After all, has anything changed in 2,000 years? Muslims oppose Christians in Egypt. Wars continue to divide nations. Children starve. Marriages fall apart. Politicians lie. People we love die. Jesus died.
But then. Something happened that could not be explained. By analogy afterward. But in the moment, captured in the speech and written documentation of the evangelists, a story is told that defies logic, experience, and any evidence before or since. There is no other story like it in the bible or anywhere else. It is not some hyper spiritual reaction to his death, not a delusional grief response. Jesus does not become an angel or a ghost or an immortal soul flying off to heaven. Jesus is resurrected. In the vocabulary of that world and ours, this means that a dead man is raised from the dead. He is not resuscitated or revived. He is raised. He has physically overcome death. He has passed through death to become something different than before. He is not a zombie. He is not undead, not a vampire. He is alive. Resurrected. For that world, this meant a couple of things; first it meant that the end of the age had arrived, but not the way they expected. The Jews anticipated a general resurrection as the final act of God to save human kind and restore the garden of eden reality humans once enjoyed. Paradise restored was part of their end vision. Even the Greeks believed in life after death, the immoral soul. They hoped that death was not the end of the world. Some of the Jews described their hope as resurrection of the dead. But they never anticipated a single event like this. Never. Second, resurrection meant that God’s power defied the ultimate destructive powers of this world. Not even the Roman cross could defeat God. This was the best news for our world because no empire, no tyrant, no terrorist regime, no war machine, no political or religious dogma, no scientific evidence, or financial meltdown can defeat God.
So what did happen and what will happen now? Jesus died. Then, he was raised from the dead. God did it. People saw him. People who did not believe it, who could not fathom it, who doubted it, people who were not credible witnesses---they saw and believed and told others what they saw and believed. They themselves suffered and died for their belief in the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus’ resurrection was later interpreted to mean something like this: Because he was raised from the dead, we too will have new life---both now and after death. Because he was raised from the dead in a transformed body, we too must honor our bodies and realize that it is for this world, this planet, this skin, these bones, this hair or lack thereof, that Jesus died and lives. Because he died and lived, we can live a new kind of life, another way---His way, the way of love and service. And in so doing we take up our original created purpose, to care for all living things. We believe that all of creation has been groaning under the power of death and decay. The hope we have is for a new life, a new creation, new bodies, and a new earth---one where heaven and earth are united. One where God and humans walk together in peace and harmony. We await restoration of the garden in which our purpose shall be to plant the seeds, to help them grow, to enjoy the fruits, and to thank God for it all. Jesus did not die so we can go to heaven. Jesus died to usher in a new age, where His people live to love and serve the earth and all its creatures. Resurrection means new bodies and a new earth. So, when your life is falling apart, when things are a mess, not going the way you hoped or need them to go. When the world seems to be going to hell around you. When you are sick and tired of being sick or tired, when things are decaying, when you face the gravest of circumstances remember this: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Jesus' incarnation, death, and resurrection affirm the goodness of God's creation and the hope of God to put creation back together under God's order and rule; characterized by loving devotion to that good creation. We are living creatures called to serve all living things with care, thanksgiving, and gladness. The Resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God, is confirmation that LIFE with GOD awaits us. Happy Easter. AMEN.
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