by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
Easter Sunday
April 16, 2017
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever!
Let Israel say,
‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’
The Lord is my strength and my might;
he has become my salvation.
There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
‘The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
the right hand of the Lord is exalted;
the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.’
I shall not die, but I shall live,
and recount the deeds of the Lord.
The Lord has punished me severely,
but he did not give me over to death.
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it. - Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24
And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.
But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” This is my message for you.’ So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’ - Matthew 28: 1-10
They were relieved to see the coming of the dawn in light of all they had experienced. The past three days had been haunting. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, the mother of Jesus, had watched Jesus suffer on the cross of Good Friday from a distance.
The intensity grew. Creation had been eagerly waiting for that very moment of liberation; the earth quaked in response as Jesus gave up his spirit (Romans 8:20-21). The temple curtain tore in half and God’s presence could no longer be contained. The prophesied life of Emmanuel, “God With Us,” was being fulfilled and now God was let loose into the world (Matthew 1:23; 27: 50-51, 55-56).
These two women had lovingly sat opposite the tomb and watched Jesus’ burial (Matthew 27: 61). It must have been overwhelming to process everything that had happened to Jesus – their Rabbi, their Lord, and Mary’s promised Son who was to save the people from our sins (Matthew 1: 21). They must have left the tomb with so many questions, so much grief, so much in life that seemed unfinished.
They returned to the tomb on that Sunday morning as the rays of sun pierced through the night’s dark veil. And then they were disturbed again to their very core as the earth quaked once more; for God’s unconditional and sacrificial love had conquered sin and death when the angel rolled away the stone (Matthew 28:2). God’s steadfast love could no longer be contained for it had a story to proclaim to all the earth.
Matthew tells us that the very first Easter was not comforting. It was not warm and fuzzy like the yellow down of a baby chick or the soft fur of a bunny. That first Easter brought Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ mother, and the guards to their undoing. The finished work in Jesus Christ for God’s salvation came face to face with humanity’s unfinished faith. They were all so alarmed that they could do nothing. Caution seized them.
Arthur Gordan, a writer and journalist, once said:
One of the most insidious maladies of our time [is] the tendency in most of us to observe rather than act; avoid rather than participate; not do rather than do. [We have a] tendency to give in to the sly, negative, cautionary voices that constantly counsel us to be careful, to be controlled, to be wary and prudent and hesitant and guarded in our approach of this complicated thing called living.[1]
You see, Easter is not a holy day to observe. Easter is a day for us to act and to participate in. God has been let loose into the world and this glorious power of LOVE interrupts our lives. And just as it disturbed the ones who gathered around the empty tomb on that first Easter it should interrupt something in you and in me too.
When God disturbs our hearts and minds it moves our spirits to be re-awakened. The pulse of our faith reawakens not from being comfortable, prudent, hesitant, and guarded. Easter reawakens us when we allow ourselves to stand in that space where the risen Christ comes face to face with all that is unresolved in our lives. Grace begins to weave together our tattered and loose ends.
We may not fully comprehend what it all means. What we do know is that we are never the same when we encounter Jesus Christ. Our hearts are filled in ways they never have been before.
Michael Yaconelli was a pastor for forty-two years. I am drawn to Yaconelli because he never sugar coats faith; he is honest and real. In doing so he encouraged the faint-hearted, helped the weak, and cared for those who suffered. In his book “Messy Spirituality,” he shares:
Spiritual people admit their unfinishedness. Unfinished means incomplete, imperfect, in process, under construction. The construction site of our souls exposes our flaws, the rough-hewn, not-finished faith clearly visible in our hearts. When we seek God, Jesus begins to take shape in our lives. He begins a good work in us, he starts changing us, but the finishing process is a more-than-a-lifetime-process.
I’ll never forget the day Eric stood up in our church during [prayer concerns.] Eric’s lifelong battle with alcohol had been mostly unsuccessful. He had been in and out of jail, and his [addiction] was taking a toll on his marriage [and family].
[Yaconelli and the congregation loved and cared for Eric and his family. And Eric knew the church to be a save space.]
That day Eric said, “I need prayer. My wife has given me an ultimatum – my [addiction] or her. She asked me to decide today, and I just wanted to tell you all what I have decided…”
[In that long pause of silence] every person in the church was on the edge of their seat with their face turned toward Eric, encouraging him, pleading with him to make the right decision. You could have heard a pin drop.
Finally, he stumbled on, tears in his eyes: “I’ve decided to choose my wife!”
Applause and cheering broke out. [In that moment I saw that] Eric was not afraid to tell the truth; he was not afraid to reveal to all of us how difficult [his decision was]. Eric is a spiritual man. Troubled? Yes. Unfinished? Absolutely.
Eric refused to pretend life is clean and neat and he knew he had to tell [God and] us the way things were, not the way we wished they were. [2]
We all have unfinished places in our lives. Easter empowers us to be real with God and to be embraced by a beloved community we know as the body of Christ. Easter moves us to share with God and one another that we still have a need for a Savior. The power of God’s Love enters into our family dynamics, our fears, our hurts, and our questions.
It is the mystery of grace that allows us to give God whatever is unresolved in our lives and to trust God with it. God, in Jesus Christ, leads the way for us to experience deliverance, healing, and wholeness.
God’s finished work in the Risen Christ comes face to face with our need for mercy that God desires to bring about within us. We all need God’s mercy to weave the unraveling parts of lives with forgiveness; mending us with faith, hope, and love. We all struggle with past regrets, those times we were too cautious to speak out or ask for help, that broken relationship now calloused with hurt.
Frederick Beuchner once said, “Christ’s love sees us with terrible clarity and [also] sees us whole.”[3] This is where we see the hands of our Creator and the redeeming love of the cross reshaping us into a new creation, a new resurrected life.
We cannot explain it, we can only experience it. If God’s Love can make the earth quake, tear the temple curtain, and raise Jesus Christ from the dead, what can God not do to bring the glory and praise of our Savior Jesus Christ in your life and mine? Nothing is impossible with God.
On this Easter Sunday, we are to stand boldly in the presence of our Risen Lord and Savior. God’s amazing grace has a story to proclaim to us where second chances and new life are abundant.
So today we do not hide our unfinishedness. Today is Easter and we give all that is still unresolved to God and we say “Hallelujah!”
As we experience the power of God’s Love, Scripture reminds us we cannot keep the joy of God’s promises to ourselves. We too must follow the angel’s charge and the word of our Lord as well: “Do not fear but go quickly! Take your unfinished faith and tell everyone you meet - our Lord has been raised from the dead!
The glorious power of God’s redeeming love will always go ahead and meet us on the journey of faith – wherever we are. It is there in the messy parts of our spirituality that we will rise up and truly see the holy work of Easter.
The costly grace and mercy of Jesus Christ assures us of God’s faithfulness in our lives. The good work that Christ began in you and in me will be brought to completion through this wondrous love that we celebrate.
Let us say the joyous refrain together once again!
Hallelujah! Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed!
In the name of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.
Sources Referenced:
[1]Quoted from Michael Yaconelli, Messy Spirituality (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), p. 137.
[2] Michael Yaconelli, Messy Spirituality (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), p. 41-42.
[3]Quoted from Anne Lamott, “Hallelujah Anyway” (New York: Riverhead Books, 2017), p. 40.
No comments:
Post a Comment