The Rev. Neale L. Miller

Sermon for March 23, 2008 (Easter)

Texts: Jeremiah 31:1-6/John 20:1-18

Title:  “Once Again for the First Time”

            Fresh off forty days of self-imposed solemnity focusing on such spiritual disciplines as repentance, prayer, and fasting, and four more days of intense reexamination of the events by which Jesus, the carpenter’s son from Nazareth, hailed by his followers as “king of the Jews,” was reviled and executed by his enemies as a false prophet and enemy of the state, we have, at long last, arrived at Easter, thank God.  It’s been a marathon we Christians have run, with the briefest possible water stop one week ago where we peered over the shoulders of a sizable Jerusalem crowd who celebrated Jesus’ arrival in town with shouts of “hosanna,” and waving palm branches.

              You would have to say, however, that our “marathon” was little more than a walk in the park when compared with what Jesus’ disciple, Peter, was forced to suffer over the course of the last four days of Jesus’ earthly life. Some of you will recall that his trials began in a moment of passion when he pledged to stand with Jesus no matter the consequences, “Though all become deserters because of you, I will never desert you.” Sounded great.  Jesus knew better.  “Peter, you will deny me three times before the cock crows.”

              Have you ever been forced to eat your words? Some of us have.  We know it to be humiliating. Peter put himself out there, way out there. He didn’t show up well when the chips were down.  The last Peter is heard from before Jesus’ execution is in the garden of the high priest, when, at his third denial of the Lord, a cock is heard to crow. Jesus’ prophesy that Peter would deny him those three times fulfilled, the Gospel of Matthew tells us, “[Peter] went out and wept bitterly.”

              It was a terrible way to end what had become a terrible day, but not just for Peter, for the other eleven disciples as well, particularly Judas Iscariot, Jesus’ betrayer. Yes, it was a terrible way to end the day; it was a terrible way to end a ministry that had had barely three years to establish itself.

            The disciples were coming into their own.  Their rough edges were smoothing out. Their confidence was building.  What a waste to see all that potential be lost. We can only imagine what great things they might have accomplished if they had had more time.  It was not to be.

            Let’s face it; they saw a bright future ahead for themselves. They were ambitious men, overly so from time to time, scripture tells us. Ambition, however, does not equate to courage. 

Where were they, we ask, as Jesus dragged his cross to Calvary to be executed?  Peter, the one who denied him, is the only one identified as being present even in the vicinity of where Jesus was being interrogated after his arrest.

            Where were Peter and the others when Jesus was being beaten and hung on the cross to die?  The four gospels variously report that Jesus’ mother was present, so too Mary Magdalene, and some other women.  You will not find a single disciple named to be present. They were marked men after all, they might have been arrested. 

             Wherever they were Mary Magdalene tracked them down after she discovered the tomb to be empty. It was fully understandable that Peter, effectively Jesus’ second in command, would be the first person to whom Mary would take the news of the empty tomb. Upon hearing the news, John reports in our lesson that Peter, and this disciple identified as “the one whom Jesus loved,” took off for the tomb on the run, the other disciple outrunning Peter to their destination. Interesting detail.  Peter was second arriving at the tomb, but slow also in his willingness to stand with the Lord in Jesus’ time of need.    

               Inside the tomb something occurs that has challenged students of scripture for centuries. While the Gospel of John has Peter and the other disciple inspecting the contents of the tomb, the linen wrappings in which Jesus was shrouded, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, we are told that it was the other disciple, and not Peter, who “saw and believed.”  

               To say that Peter didn’t show up well over the last days would be an understatement.  First there was the denial, and then the desertion, and then, in all likelihood, a failure to believe that Jesus had, in fact, been raised from the dead.

                The all too human character of the disciples was exposed to the world in Jesus’ last days on earth. A resume like that would not commend them, or any one of us, to a position of responsibility. Their actions in the last days of Jesus’ earthly life would be the kind of thing you or I might want to conceal if making application for new employment.

                How is it then that the risen Lord, knowing their weakness, came back to them and sent them back into the world in his name?

                The last chapter of John’s Gospel reports an encounter between the risen Jesus and Peter where Jesus confronts Peter with an important question, “Do you love me more than these?”  [The other disciples.] Keep in mind Jesus and Peter had parted in strained circumstances. The very last words Jesus and Peter exchanged before that had occurred the night of Jesus arrest when Jesus declared that Peter would deny him three times.   

              “Do you love me more than these?”  Jesus asks not just once, but three times, to which Peter responds with greater and greater conviction each time, “You know I love you.” So how does Jesus respond? “Follow me,” the last words Jesus would speak to Peter while he was on earth.

                 I doubt there are any saints present today, only people who are more or less adept at concealing from ourselves realities concerning ourselves we would rather not see. There is on each of our records some blemish we would like to erase. A fresh start may well be the best gift any of us can ever hope to receive. 

                A fresh start is what Easter is all about. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury speaks to that, writing, “Resurrection is in part about the sheer toughness and persistence of God’s love.  When we have done our worst, God remains God.  God was God even while God in human flesh was dying in agony on the cross; God is God now in the new life of Jesus raised from the dead.”

                 Even “when we have done our worst,” God keeps coming back.  And we keep coming back to places like this one, even if we haven’t been here for a long while, a very long while.  It is my conviction that we keep coming back because there is something in this notion of new beginnings that fills us with hope. I venture that each one of you know someone whose life was made new through the tough and persistent love of God.  You yourself may be experiencing the force of that tough and persistent love in your own life right now.

                 In the experience of some of you, however, God appears to show little of the toughness or persistence in loving that Rowan Williams attributes to him.  You regard all this talk about God’s love as little more than “feel good rhetoric.” God may well have his work cut out for him insofar as you are concerned, but this Easter, this day of resurrection, recalls each of us to new possibilities, new beginnings. If God can raise Jesus from the grave, he can remove that stone, or whatever other obstacle, is blocking entrance into your heart. 

                Jesus was raised not merely to affirm the faith of diehards like Mary who, because she remained at the tomb pouring her heart out to God, caught the first glimpse of the resurrected Jesus.  Jesus was raised not merely to put Peter’s life back on track, and see to it that his message was carried into the world.  Jesus was raised to demonstrate that not even death itself can impose a barrier between him and those he loves, and make no mistake, we are those he loves.

                This is probably not the first Easter any of you have celebrated. You and I have done this before, but never as the same person twice.  You and I are not the same people we were a year ago, we have entertained new thoughts, gained new experience, and because of that we may be giving God new opportunities to work with today, a new place to begin building a stronger, deeper relationship with us.

                 “When we celebrate Easter [Rowan Williams writes] we are really standing in the middle of a second ‘Big Bang,’ a tumultuous surge of divine energy as fiery and intense as the very beginning of the universe.”  That energy is still going forth to meet us where we are today, tomorrow, and on to eternity.  Easter is God’s definitive declaration that nothing in heaven or on earth can withstand his power. Yet to enter into God is to enter into divine mystery, it is to respect the bounds which God has established around himself.

                I will confess.  I watch reality TV.  One of my favorite shows is Top Chef. I can see that some of you have heard of it.  Perhaps some of you watch it.  The contestants invited to compete on that show are all experienced chefs from some of America’s fine restaurants. To compete the contestants are expected to master a number of challenges.  The most recent one was a team challenge where teams of three contestants were given four hours to plan, shop, and prepare appetizers for two hundred persons attending a zoo benefit. They were asked to prepare food that a given animal in the zoo might eat, a bear, a penguin, a lion, for instance. The contestants, individually, or in teams, face a new challenge like that one each week.

                It is little short of amazing what those chefs can do in unfamiliar surroundings, under tight scheduling pressures, and without benefit of recipes.  The chefs do amazing things with the most exotic foods and ingredients, turning their creations into works of art on a plate. The skill and imagination that go into the dishes prepared is amazing. Yet while we may acknowledge the creativity on display, and the skill that produced it, there is one thing we, the viewer, cannot do. We cannot taste the food the chefs have prepared.  We may admire, but we may not taste. To taste we would have to go to where the dishes were being prepared.

               Suppose, however, the producers of the show decided they wanted to reach out to their viewing audience with an opportunity to taste those carefully crafted dishes.  And suppose they were willing to spare no expense, and disregard all practical obstacles that might prevent them from getting that done. I DO mean any expense, and ANY practical obstacles.  That would be an extraordinary commitment on their part, wouldn’t it?    

                 Friends, that is just the sort of commitment we are talking about today. God has populated this world with wonders beyond human imagining; wonders so exotic and sublime that even the steadfast non-believer is prompted to consider how all this came to be. But to merely create the world, and then choose a people, the nation of Israel, through whom his name might become known to the world, was not enough.  He saved his best work for last. God took on flesh and came to live in our midst.

                The message of Easter is that he came to us, and there was nothing we could do to him that would defeat his holy purposes. He came to us, but not just once, he keeps coming to us, knocking on the doors of our heart.

                We celebrate Easter once again, but in a very real sense, also for the first time.  You see, Christ meets us where we are today, not where we were a year ago. He meets us in the midst of life, in whatever circumstances we happen to be. As he came back to Peter and his disciples, Christ keeps coming back to us. We may have erected our barriers of doubt, guilt, anger or shame, but Christ keeps coming back to us.  I ask you, isn’t that what God’s love is all about? Hallelujah, He is Risen.  Amen.

PRAYER

              O Christ of the empty tomb, Christ of the victory over death, Christ of the new day that has dawned, we worship you as the very son of God, but also our brother.  In praise of you we add our voices to that great chorus assembled across continents who like us have gathered today to celebrate your resurrection.  In obedience to you we renew our commitment to bring your message of hope into the world, for such is our calling.

            The grave is empty, so too the threats of those who throughout history have sought to discredit or deny you.  Grant to your church, O Christ, the confidence to live the victory you have won.  May those who speak and teach in your name do so with courage, confidence, clarity and conviction, always open to the guidance of your Spirit. May battles over doctrine and policy not so occupy the church that its proclamation become an afterthought, instead may those who lead the church continually put first things first.

               O Christ, many in the church struggle to understand that what you did two thousand years ago affects them today, in real time. Obvious signs of the victory you achieved in overcoming death are nowhere to be seen, even as the church proclaims victory with shouts of “hallelujah.” O Christ, may we who believe the victory has been won, give a more convincing demonstration that we believe that is so.  Called to make visible your victory in our speech and actions, let us not try to convince ourselves that proclamation is solely the work of the “professionals.”

             In gathering today, O God, we acknowledge that many in the world live in the chains of poverty, illiteracy, and oppression. We pray for the suffering around the world, those who have no stake in opportunities most of us take for granted. We give thanks for the ministries of the church, the work of aid agencies, and the efforts of individual volunteers who have committed themselves to aiding the needy, and we pray that their numbers may even include us.

              On this Easter Sunday we pray for our city as it faces challenges of crime in the streets, a substantial homeless population, and major restoration yet to be completed.  We pray for our mayor, the city counsel, and all those who are committed to rebuilding this city. Grant them wisdom sufficient to the challenges they face.

              Lord, we pray your blessing on this congregation in our time of testing.  Blessed with substantial resources, may our faith in you, and our growing clarity about our mission, make us a contributing partner to the spiritual health of our neighbors in Lakeview, and the city at large.

             O God, many of our beset with issues of health, finances, life goals, and the future.  Abide with each person here as we acknowledge in silence our special needs.

            O God, we praise you for this day, our freedom, our families, our prosperity, our faith and all those things that enrich our lives even as we offer special petitions on behalf of those with special needs, Rudy, Shane, Joyce, Mary Ann, Pam, Gary and Jeffrey.  We pray for.

             O Christ, our resurrected Lord, strengthen and embolden us for the living of these days…