Expect Resurrection

You are made of bones, sinews, flesh, skin, and... 

Homily audio can be found here. This homily is based on Genesis 1:1-2:4a; Genesis 22:1-18; Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Romans 6:3-11 ; Matthew 28:1-10

We have made our way through Holy Week. We have walked the streets of Jerusalem waving palms. We have had our feet washed by Jesus and washed one another’s feet. We have witnessed the betrayal, denial, and sentencing of Jesus. We have journeyed to the Cross to behold the pain of Jesus and the glory of God’s self-sacrificing love. Now after a day of rest we are at the tomb.

“Suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them” (Ezekiel 37:7-8).

You are made of bones and sinews and flesh and skin. You are also made of atoms, a lot of atoms! Rob Bell, who is a Christian thinker and author, said on a recent podcast that we are made up of 7 billion, billion, billion atoms. Some of the atoms in our bodies date back over a billion years. That is right, you are made of atoms that previously constituted something else. The heavier atoms actually come from star dust. So you are made of bones, sinews, flesh, skin, atoms, and stars!

What is more parts of you are constantly dying away. Every week you regenerate new skin cells. More amazingly every seven years or so your entire body will be reconstituted by new cells. Hundreds of millions of cells die within you and hundreds of millions more come to life. You are ever dying and you are ever coming to life. You are not just made of bones and sinews and flesh and skin and atoms and stardust. You are made of death and rebirth! The you that you are today is not the you that you once were, nor is it the you that you will become. You are made of death and rebirth. You are death and resurrection.

If this is who you are, which I believe is the case for all of us, spotting death and resurrection would seem an easy task, but somehow we miss it or part of it. We easily observe death, just turn on CNN, open your paper, or check out a news website. Death drives sales! Yet, all this death tends to dry us out. We end up like the bones from Ezekiel’s valley. We are breathless. So what do we do? How can we mere mortals catch God’s breath? We can’t. Not because we are unworthy or bad or wrong, but because God’s Spirit already resides within us. Yet, if this breath is in us how can we get so lifeless? We need Resurrection.

A long time ago there were two women. Although they did not appear in the foreground of Matthew’s account of the Good News about Jesus of Nazareth until the very end, they had been with him since the beginning at Galilee. They have provided for him Matthew tells us. This is an interesting word for it is not used all that often except to describe angels, Peter’s mother-in-law, and Jesus himself. They provided Jesus with comfort, food, and fellowship. They gave life, but how?

Now on the first day of the week after the day when Jesus was crucified and after the Sabbath when Mary and Mary had been starring at the place where Jesus rest, they decided to go see the tomb. These women act strangely at first glance, why would you sit and stare or go to look at a sealed grave? Recall that Jesus foretold of his Resurrection, well these two actually heard it and remembered it. They were not going to look at an enclosed cavern they were coming to see the Resurrection. They were on the hunt for Resurrection. They understood that they were not going out to look at death for they brought no spices to adorn the dead. They went out actually looking for Jesus to be raised from the dead.

To be here at the Easter Vigil I imagine that you are pretty serious or pretty curious. You are either pretty serious about following Jesus or you are pretty curious about what following Jesus actually means. Following Jesus means recognizing the substance of your being comes from death and resurrection. Following Jesus means being like these women who provided for Jesus, except that when we provide for Jesus now that means we provide for everyone who makes up his body now (i.e. the least among us). Following Jesus means that we do not remain dry and breathless in the face of death, but in the face of death we expect God’s resurrecting power.

On this most Holy night remember that you are made of bones, sinews, flesh, skin, atoms, stardust, death, God’s breath, and Resurrection. Know that your call in this new glow of Easter is to be like Mary and Mary. Go out and provide for Jesus wherever you meet Him. And, most importantly expect Resurrection! Expect to find Resurrection wherever you may see death! Be Resurrection, provide for the Resurrected Lord, and expect Resurrection!

In the name of the Resurrected Lord who is Father, Son, and Spirit! Amen.

Human Failure and God's Love

This Good Friday Sermon is based upon John's Passion Gospel. Sermon audio can be found here.

On Good Friday we hear John’s Passion Gospel every year. Somehow though something different sticks out each time that I hear this painful story. Today, I cannot help, but hear the failure of human beings just like you and me. Mistake after mistake after mistake:

Judas betraying Jesus into the hands of a detachment of soldiers and police from the chief priests and Pharisees.

Peter not just wielding the three-fold blade of denial, but also striking Malchus on the ear, as he attempted to save Jesus.

The religious crowd, which recently cheered “Hosanna!” fearfully transforming into a mob shouting, “Crucify Him!”

Pilate tired and apathetic giving up on a man whom he knew was innocent.

Soldiers tearing the garments off of Jesus for their own gain.

Roman occupiers meaning not only to kill Jesus but through crucifixion to embarrass and torture him and his people.

What stands out at first is human failure after failure after failure resulting in the death of Jesus of Nazareth. I think I see this because I want to reach back in time and stop this moment from happening. I want to say, I would never fail you Lord, but as soon as I say those words, I hear Peter telling Jesus he will never deny his teacher. I want to skip over this day.

We in the Church often say that we are Easter people and are in the business of new life, reconciliation, and resurrection. While I fully believe we mean this, we do not wear miniature empty tombs around our necks, nor do we put that symbol on a pole to follow as we make our way through life together. On this day when we have hidden the sign of the Cross I find it difficult not to see the Cross everywhere I look.
Yesterday 147 students were massacred at a Kenyan college primarily because they followed Jesus. Throughout the Middle East ISIS continues to persecute and kill Christians without hesitation. Closer to home over 14,000 people are murdered every year within the United States (FBI Crime Stats). 32 states, including Alabama, still implement the death penalty. Prophets of our age warn us of the harm we inflict on the earth through poor care of Creation practices, yet we apathetically continue our lives of convenience. AK-47s, electric chairs, and smoke stakes are the Crosses of our day. We who are Easter people may just want to skip ahead like fast-forwarding through painful scenes in a movie.

In the movie Shawshank Redemption (a film particularly fitting for this weekend) the protagonist, a man named Andy Dufresne, finds himself imprisoned at Shawshank Penitentiary. In a moment of desperate clarity he says to his friend, “Get busy living or get busy dying.” I think when we simply call ourselves Easter people we tend to twist this phrase around, as we say to Jesus, “Get busy dying, so that we can get busy living.” We are not strictly Easter people, nor is the Cross simply about human failure, nor is today merely a day to make it through.

Last night Peter did not want Jesus to wash his feet. The disciple could not understand what was happening. He protested his teacher’s lesson of service saying, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Yet, this message did not just pertain to the moment when Jesus knelt down at his disciples’ feet. We are now at the feet of Jesus who hangs upon the Cross and we must receive another washing, but this one is not so peaceful or placid.

Jesus did not endure the shame of the Cross because of human failure. This moment when we see the worst in humanity simultaneously serves as the instant when we see just how profoundly God loves us. If we are not willing to gaze upon the Cross, if we cannot see the pain that the Body of Christ still endures today, if we do not see past our own failures to the self-emptying love of this moment, then we are not actually Easter people at all. Unless Jesus washes us with his blood we have no share with him.

This day Jesus shows us the extent of God’s love. When asked by Pilate, “What is truth?” His response as the Word of God is not with mere words, but with the fullest act of self-sacrificing love ever witnessed. What is truth? The Truth is Jesus. And the Truth is if we want to be Easter people, then we have to receive the love of Jesus now at the foot of the Cross.

Jesus willingly drank the cup given to him, he willingly took the load of our failings on his back, and he willingly laid down his life on the Cross. If we receive this love of Jesus, then we too are able to love Jesus as he loved us, not just when things are good, not just on shiny, happy mornings, but when everywhere we look we see the Cross. We are Easter people, but first must be Good Friday people. Unless we are washed by Jesus by his blood we have no share with him in his Resurrection.

The Only Time I Want To Finish Second

Who are you following? (Picture courtesy of Bondiband)

During this Holy Week we have been wandering together as we follow Jesus and pondering together what does it mean to follow Jesus to the Cross?

I feel the need to confess something that may not seem all that sinful to you: I do not like to lose. I never have liked losing. My family knows this. My friends know this. Maybe even some of you know this. Certainly no one likes to lose, but I actively avoid it almost to the point that I have a diagnosable phobia of losing.

Lately though I have been actively trying to push myself to the point of losing. Not just to get over my fear of it, but also because by actually avoiding challenges in which I might fail my gifts and skills atrophy away. Plus, I will never learn how good I might be at something I am afraid to try because I might lose at it. This reminds me of one experience in which failing brought new insight and new growth in my life.

When I was in college I switched from being a life-long soccer player to a first-time track and cross-country runner. I was terrible. Not just bad, but awful. I was the last placed runner for most of the first track season I ran. In the slowest heat of the 800 meter or 1500 meter race I was often a distant last placed finisher too. For some reason though instead of quitting I kept with it.

Eventually I learned to push through what I perceived were my barriers and with the encouragement, advice, and pacing of others I actually turned out to be an okay student-athlete. Yet, what I learned in this endeavor of failing over and over again was not so much my strengths or my weaknesses, but rather the truth from the letter to the Hebrews we heard today.

“Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Running a race with perseverance requires some skills, good training, and sound advice. And yet, some more pertinent pieces, albeit less catchy ones, from the author of the letter to the Hebrews get overlooked. First, we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. We have help in this race that we call life. People who have gone before us and those alive now can give us aid in this journey.

Next, to run a race with a weight tied to your ankle or strapped to your chest sounds torturous. On this journey of following Jesus lay aside the burden of sin that we so often carry around our necks. In this vein, do not think about the past times of failure either. They have brought you to this very moment.

Finally, and most importantly, you are not running this race without someone who is pacing you, someone who is blocking the wind for you, someone who has run the race before you. Jesus is the pioneer and perfecter of this journey that is our race. Somehow I often overlook the leader who goes before me, instead focusing on how I might fail.

In today’s Gospel story from John, Jesus goes before us in a very direct way. In the synoptic gospels we find Judas to be a traitor who seeks only more money. Yet, here we find that Jesus tells Judas what to do. Even in how he was handed over to torture and death the Son of God remained aware and in control of the race he was running.

We cannot control all things. However, we do have the power to control our interior spiritual life, the thoughts to which we give energy, and the feelings which ebb and flow our mood. Jesus did not let the shame of the Cross destroy him. He knew guilt lay with others and that he was God’s Son worthy of praise and devotion not riotous murder. We too are called to cast aside the shame of whatever it is that haunts us, whether it is the irrational fear of losing, the pain of a bad decision, or something else that clings to us. Within us we have inherit worth for we too are children of God adopted through the all-encompassing love of Christ.

This section of the race brings us every closer to our yearly remembrance of Jesus’ death. Run it with perseverance, or better yet slow down to walk the way of the Cross. For we have been given a perfect pace-setter to follow. And for me, trailing after Jesus might be the only time when I want to follow finishing second instead of leading.