EASTER SUNDAY 2008
March 23, 2008
the Rev. Ken Kroohs
(Acts
10:34-43; Ps. 118:12 & 14-24; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-18)
THE END OF DEATH - IN THIS LIFE
St. Christopher’s,
MAY
THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH ... AND THE MEDITATIONS OF ALL OUR HEARTS ... BE ALWAYS
ACCEPTABLE TO YOU --- OUR STRENGTH AND OUR REDEEMER AMEN
Alleluia !! Christ is Risen!!
How true ... how very
true. He is risen, or as a friend likes
to put it: “He got up!”
So what? What difference does Jesus’ resurrection make
in our lives? Notice I said “our lives”
and not “our deaths”. The discussion of
eternal life we will hold for another time.
Today I wonder, “what difference does it make in our lives?”
Last week I shared a
quote with the Vestry. An evangelical
Christian leader said that the question used to be: “if you died tonight do you
know where you are going?” Now, he said,
the question is: “if you live tomorrow do you know who you are following?” ...
What difference does the resurrection make in our lives?
What difference does
Easter make in our lives? I believe it
makes a major difference for one simple reason.
It shows Jesus is God. Many humans
have died for others ... even died horrible, painful deaths. The Buddist monk who sets themself on fire in
opposition to a war ... the Civil Rights worker who is tortured and
killed. Many other powerful, powerful
examples of human beings willing to die for others. But none of them “got up”. None of them were resurrected. The resurrection says that God was willing to
knowingly, deliberately go to this painful death for us. God.
A couple weeks back I
preached about the question of why God choose this method ... why God choose to
have Jesus die such a terrible, painful death.
If God wanted to change the world, why not do it an easier way? That sermon is on the website or call the
office and ask Bonnie to print you out a copy.
If God was willing to
go to such a dramatic length for our sake, then it must be important. Important enough to matter in our lives.
Another thing I will
not discuss today is whether the relationship between humans and God changed
with Jesus’ death and resurrection. Or
more precisely, did the relationship from God’s
perspective change or only from the human perspective. That’s an interesting question and well worth
a morning at Starbucks — call me, you buy.
What I will focus on
is the teaching that Jesus’ resurrection ended death. Again, that is usually applied to eternal
life ... that our physical death will not be the final step. But I believe it also applies to our current
life.
We all experience
many deaths. We may not always see the
events in that light but they happen.
We lose our job ...
that is the death to us of our plans, our hopes, our dreams, and our security.
When a loved one
days, particularly a spouse ... that is the death to us of our plans, our
hopes, our dreams.
When we discover our
child has a drug or alcohol addiction ... that is a death to us.
And the examples
don’t have to be so dramatic. I worked
for several years to get into good enough shape to run a 10,000 meter race in
under 6 minutes a mile. I got within
about 8 seconds ... about 6 minutes and 1 second per mile. Then I got hurt, fell and hurt my back, hurt
my knees and never fully recovered. That
was a death to me ... the death of my dream.
If you have ever had a dream die you know what I am speaking about.
The point of the
resurrection is that it was God who died on the cross which means it was God
who walked this earth for those 33 years.
Personally I believe God did not have to walk on the earth to understand
what it meant to be human. God already
knew. But Jesus was willing to live on
earth so we knew God knows. .... But
that’s another good Starbucks conversation ... I will have a skinny, decalf,
vente, laite with two shakes of cinnamon.
Go walked this earth
so God knows about the many deaths we suffered.
Jesus apparently saw Joseph die.
Jesus cried at Lazarus’ grave – He knew our sorrow. Jesus lived in a poor village and certainly
saw people unemployed, begging for food.
Jesus certainly saw young children die from disease and injury.
It is not that Jesus’
resurrection means we will no longer suffer those deaths, or suffer from those
deaths. It means we can be confident our
God is walking with us. The alcoholic
needs the recovering alcoholic. The
newly diagnosed cancer patient needs most the cancer survivor. We need to know that God is with us through
the many deaths and it is the resurrection which makes that clear.
But you ask ... why
are there some dramatic, even miraculous changes in situations – cures, people
saved for example ... while others are not cured? The simply answer is: “I have no idea.” I am convinced it has nothing to do with who
prays or the words they use. But this is
certainly high on my list when I have that one on one conversation with
Jesus! Even Lazarus, after being raised
from the dead, later died again.
I am also convinced
that we need to acknowledge the difference between “curing” and “healing”. God does not always provide the dramatic,
miraculous cure. But God will always heal. The family who grieves but survives the death
of a child and later is able to enjoy life again — they have been healed. And I believe that knowing God knows about
our grief ... being confident that God can truly walk with us as a friend, as
well as God ... helps us to move forward.
Helps us to heal.
The resurrection
destroyed death ... even death in our lives.
We usually find that healing difficult to accept and reach out for ...
but it is there for us.
The resurrection
destroyed death and made the whole creation new.
What more can we
ask?
AMEN
We have previous sermons on our
website. To read an earlier recent
sermon just enter: www.st-christopher.org/sermon.html.
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HERE TO RESPOND: I would enjoy reading your comments about this sermon.
Please feel free to discuss content or presentation. (If you wish to use another email system send
your comments to: ken@st-christopher.com)