EASTER April 12, 2009

the Rev. Ken Kroohs

(Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3 & 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21)

WHY ??

St. Christopher’s, High Point, NC

MAY THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH ... AND THE MEDITATIONS OF ALL OUR HEARTS ... BE ALWAYS ACCEPTABLE TO YOU --- OUR STRENGTH AND OUR REDEEMER AMEN

Those who know me know I have an impish side. So let me begin by giving you something you might use someday. .... The definition of “preaching” is telling the good news. The definition of the “good news” is that Jesus’ tomb was empty. THEREFORE – according to the Bible, the first Christian preachers. .. the first people to proclaim the good news that the tomb was empty — was women! ..... I suspect we all know someone we can have fun with by using that fact.

I have been working on article that might be published some day. Frankly publication is not as important as the thought process of writing it. Sometimes I think my brain works best through my fingers!

In that article I am exploring some of the ways various people view churches. One of the groups I discuss is what I call the “truly unchurched” — people who have, for all practical purposes, never attended church. They might have come to a wedding or funeral. They may even been baptized when the grandmother insisted on it. They may even attend grandma’s church when visiting but for all practical purposes they have never been involved in church.

Specifically they have never been educated by a church. The truly unchurched people know only what society has told them about Christianity. Their knowledge is very limited and frequently inaccurate.

For example, a truly unchurched person might wonder what fuzzy little bunnies with colored eggs have to do with Jesus Christ.

Frankly, I have always wondered about a rabbit delivering eggs! Let me pause because I am already in trouble with one family! There is nothing morally wrong with Easter egg hunts!! Enjoy them!

But despite well intended attempts to create a connection, plastic eggs with hershey kisses have nothing to do with Jesus’ resurrection! I ran a web search out of curiosity and found several contradictory stories about the history of Easter eggs including whether or not it was another example of the Christian church taking over a pagan practice.

Again there is nothing wrong with Easter eggs and especially if they are a change from Lent fasting without chocolate – they can be good. But I find it difficult to learn anything about Jesus’ resurrection from them. So I wonder what a truly unchurched person, depending only on the secular world’s teachings, might conclude about the question: “What is the importance of Jesus’ resurrection?” “What difference does it make?” AND if we cannot answer that question than ----

Again you can find a number of answers to: “What difference does it make?” although in this case I believe more than one may be correct. In the case of Easter there is more than one explanation of its importance. Those explanations overlap and combine into a complete picture. But for me, the central explanation is that Easter makes Good Friday important. Without Easter, Good Friday — Jesus’ death on a cross is of little importance.

Without Easter Jesus’ death is only another martyr dying for a cause. Obviously in this context “only” is not meant to demean or minimize the sacrifice made by martyrs. The intent rather is to emphasize that without Easter, Jesus becomes fully human – only.

Again a truly unchurched person might shrug their shoulders and ask “so what? What difference does it make if Jesus is only human? Are not His teachings still relevant?”

His teachings would still be relevant. In fact, if Jesus was only human we become basically Moslem! They believe in the Jewish teachings and that Jesus was a great prophet and teacher — just not the son of God.

What Easter says to us who believe is that Jesus was and is God. Jesus was fully human but also fully divine. Easter tells us that God cared enough for us ..... that God loves us (present tense) .... loves us enough to have gone through Good Friday. God loves us enough to give up everything, to be tortured and killed for us.

Ultimately Easter tells us that God loves us. God loves us whether or not we deserve that love. God loves us when we fail to obey the commandments. God loves us when we don’t know about God. God even loves us when we do the worse possible thing ... when we ignore God.

Easter is about God’s love for us. That’s not the question. The question is how we respond to God’s love. Do we doubt it? Despite Good Friday and Easter do we still doubt God’s love?

Or do we ignore God? Stay away from worship? Avoid speaking about Jesus? Avoid speaking to Jesus?

Those questions make me wonder ... do those of us who have been in church most of our lives understand the meaning of Easter? Do those of us who have been in church most of our lives reduce and minimize what Easter means about God’s love for us? Have we heard the story so often we no longer hear the story? Have we gotten to the point where the colored eggs are more important than the cross?

Worth considering. But even more important is to remember that God love us anyway. I suspect God is occasionally — frequently? – disappointed in me, but God loves me - and you - despite all that.

Jesus went to the cross even after the leaders of “God’s chosen people” condemned Him. Jesus went to the cross even after all His friends deserted Him. Jesus went to the cross even when the overwhelming number of people in Jerusalem were ignoring Him. Despite all that, Jesus went to the cross ... for us.

Just like why Easter matters can be answered in many ways, so can “Why did Jesus have to die?” has multiple answers. For me the most important one is that by His death we are shown how much God loves us. By His resurrection we are shown the unbelievable importance of the death.

Next time someone asks you the meaning of Easter, simply answer: “God loves me.”

AMEN

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CLICK 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)