Promises Kept

Isaiah 25:6-9, Matthew 28:1-10

Barbara Brown Taylor says, "I listened to an Easter sermon once in which the preacher stood up in front of a church full of people hungry for good news and told us Easter bunny jokes, one after another. He never met our eyes. He looked up at the light fixtures as he delivered punch lines, never noticing how we laughed less each time. Finally he said something about how Easter was God’s joke on death and we should all laugh more. Then he said Amen and sat down. I have never in my life wished so badly for pulpit police. I wanted someone with a badge to go up and arrest that guy, slap some handcuffs on him, and lead him away." (Barbara Brown Taylor, When God is Silent, 22.)

Happy Easter! Call off the cops, because I’m not going to be telling Easter bunny jokes today. Instead, you and I are here to think about and rejoice in the most significant event in history. I could not find the exact quote, but I think somebody put it this way. "If Jesus was raised from the dead, nothing else matters. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, nothing else matters."

"If Jesus was raised from the dead, nothing else matters. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, nothing else matters." That’s what Matthew claims is at stake in Jesus’ resurrection. He says Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went on the first day of the week, the day we now call Sunday. They went just as the sun was coming up. They went to look at the grave. And without warning, there was an earthquake. A reminder that the resurrection of Jesus was a cosmic event that shook the earth and affected the universe. An angel, a luminous, scary messenger of God descended, rolled back the enormous stone that covered the tomb’s entrance, then sat down on it. In other words, "How ya like them apples?" And the guards said, "Not so much." The live guards who thought they were guarding a dead man, became like dead men themselves. Meanwhile, the angel spoke to the women. "Don’t be afraid. I know you’re looking for Jesus who was crucified. He’s not here. He’s been raised. Come see where he lay. Then hurry and tell his disciples, ‘He’s been raised from the dead. He’s going to Galilee . You’ll see him there.’" So the women ran with the natural combination of fear and joy. But Jesus surprised them on the way. "Greetings!" he yelled. It can also be translated that he yelled, "Rejoice!" And that makes sense too, doesn’t it? The women must have rejoiced as they fell at Jesus’ feet and worshiped him. But he said, "Don’t be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee . They’ll see me there." Did you catch the amazing way Jesus referred to the disciples who fell asleep, the disciples who abandoned him and ran off when the Roman soldiers came to arrest him? What did Jesus call these scared disciples who deserted him? Yes. He called them "my brothers."

My brothers. The disciples who betrayed and abandoned Jesus got another chance. They got another chance. They did not keep their promise to be faithful to the Christ. But he kept his promise to be faithful to them. He forgave their cowardice. He forgave his would-be followers who ran away. He forgave them and gave them another chance. My brothers. Praise God.

Like all of you, there’ve been many times in my life when I’ve been encouraged and challenged by a teacher, coach, mentor, or pastor. There’ve been times when I’ve been commended for doing well. And there’ve been times when I’ve been told I needed to change. Let me speak the truth in love. One sinner speaking to other sinners. We Christians believe that all of life is meant to be a joyful response to God’s love in Christ. We believe God wants us to worship, study Scripture, pray, and give generously of our time, abilities, and money, to speak and act for justice, don’t we? We believe God wants us to teach and lead our children by example to do those things. We believe God wants us to keep the promises we made when we joined the church. (I’m not talking about people who have to work on Sundays here), but do we think God is pleased if we worship only a few times a year, fail to study and pray, and serve? Do we really think we’re going to grow as Christians and that our children will grow as Christians if that’s what we do? Of course not.

I know people say, "Well, I don’t need to do those things. I’m busy. I’m a good person. I’m a spiritual person. Or I’m frustrated about something or I’m mad at someone at church." I don’t think God buys those excuses, do you? But miracles of miracles, God gives us another chance to be renewed and try to keep our promises again. God gives us another opportunity to respond to Christ with gratitude. My brothers. My sisters.

The resurrection was and is a cosmic event. But it’s also a personal event for each one of us. You see, God forgives us of our sins, and God loves us as we are. But God loves us too much to leave us as we are. God wants to transform us day by day. God wants to fill our lives with purpose, peace, and joy. God wants to empower us to overcome addictions, to be more loving in our relationships, to reach out to the poor and needy with our lives, and to find our true gladness and hope not in sports and entertainment but in God. But, as we can see in the crucifixion, God is a vulnerable God who will not force us to be transformed. God is a gentle God who comes again and again not coercing us, but whispering to us, inviting us, enticing us to a new life.

Maybe you and I are experiencing that transformation right now. Doesn’t it feel good to know that purpose, peace, and joy? Isn’t it wonderful to rear our children and youth in the faith as they take part in the church and notice our example? Rejoice!

But if we’ve turned away from our opportunities and promises, and turned away from God, then God’s invitation is open. Imagine God in Christ transforming you. Imagine God in Christ transforming and renewing this church.

The resurrection of Christ is the most important thing that has ever happened. And being Christian means spending the rest of our lives responding to this grace and this miracle.

One of my favorite theologians was a man named Shirley Guthrie. He was a theology professor at Columbia Theological Seminary near Atlanta . In the summer of 2004, Guthrie began losing his appetite, losing weight, not feeling well. As you can guess, the diagnosis was cancer. Chemotherapy was begun. After a few weeks, Guthrie’s wife and a good friend took him to see the oncologist who was kind but also direct. The chemo would need to stop; it was time for home hospice care. Guthrie’s wife and his friend began to cry at the news. Did he want to be alone? No. He said, "I am not afraid to die. God gives us our life, and when our time comes to die, we give our life back to God. In life and in death we belong to God." Over the last weeks of his life many friends visited. Guthrie repeatedly said to them, "The Christian life has forgiveness at its heart." He’d had many difficult disagreements with one friend. He said to him, "Weren’t we stupid to argue like that? We wasted time doing things that were not important." When one friend began to cry, he said, "Don’t cry so hard. We are going to be together again." And then he also said, "When I was teaching, I did not always know if it was true–what I was saying about heaven–but now I know its truth." (Erskine Clarke, "Remembering Shirley Caperton Guthrie Jr.," The Presbyterian Outlook, January 31, 2005, 12-13.)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God keeps God’s promises. It is true. Our sins are forgiven. Evil and death have been defeated. We are going to be together again. And wonder of wonders God gives us the opportunity every day to live lives of gratitude. He is risen. Rejoice! Amen.

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