Easter Sermon

"And on the Third Day He Rose Again"

Given by the Very Rev. David Bird, April 12, 2009

Did he? And if he did, did rise again, then what does that mean for us today? These are the two questions which arise for us: Did he? What does it mean for us?

(A) Did he?

When questions like this arise, I give thanks for the fact that I am Episcopalian. First, because it means I belong to the church which encourages questions. We recall that we don’t need to leave our minds behind when we enter an Episcopal Church. Secondly, because it was a great bishop in our tradition who centuries ago pronounced, "probability is the very guide of life."

Hold on, David, you respond: probability is the very guide of life. Is there anything more improbable than that someone should rise from the dead?

"No," we reply. "But let’s look at the evidence. Is the resurrection story probable or not? People don’t rise from the dead." Resurrection just doesn’t happen. There needs to be more than this. Is there?

Let’s look at the evidence. The empty tomb, if it was empty, was only fifteen-minute walk away from the center of Jerusalem, no further than going from a parking space in certain local hospitals to a patient’s room. Easy to check. The probability is, they did. And if they found it was not empty, the overwhelming probability is people would have said so.

But there is more than that. It wasn’t a grave yard as we know it. The Gospel writers tell us that the20body was placed in a new, solid-rock tomb—John 19:41-42; Mk.15:46b—with an entrance of four-and-a-half to five feet tall. The only way to get the body in or out was through the entrance, sealed with a stone–a stone, however, that scholars at Georgia Tech have calculated probably weighed about two tons; a stone that it would have taken about twenty men to push aside. In addition to that the body was prepared according to the burial practices of the day-John 19:39b-40. They wrapped the entire body and head with 11-inch strips, and between they put aromatic spices-which were mixed with a gummy substance known as myrrh. The linen and spices made a 75 to 100 pound encasement.

Extremely improbable, I suggest, either that Jesus was still alive, having merely swooned, and rolled the stone away himself, or that his frightened disciples did.

Now the other day, our family watched a movie that claimed to be "based on a true story." Perhaps if we showed the movie of this true story of the Resurrection, the Governator could be shown ripping apart 75-100 lbs of gummy linen and sending a two-ton boulder flying back up the hill down which it had previously been rolled. Great theatre, but we would know that was not part of the true story. Furthermore, it would totally undermine the church’s fundamental teaching that Jesus of Nazareth was truly and fully human.

Probability is the very guide of life and this scenario becomes even more improbable as we further examine the evidence. First, there were guards present. Whether they were the Jewish Temple guards or Roman guards is irrelevant. Both groups were decidedly nasty and numerous. They would have wrought rough justice upon Jesus or any bunch of friends coming to get him out. In addition, the Romans set a seal above such a tomb and would check to ensure the seal was not broken.

Probability is the very guide of life. The overwhelming thrust of the evidence–and I could give you so much more–is that the tomb was empty. But there is still the second question: what does it mean?

The greatest conservative theological scholar of the twentieth century, the Swiss theologian, Karl Barth, is clear that the empty tomb is not the point: the point of Easter is that God says an Almighty "Yes" to the life, teaching and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.

Last night we celebrated our first Eucharist of Easter 2009. We started in darkness and we ended in light–the light of Christ. The message of Easter is the same as that of Christmas: "in him was light and that light was the light all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never extinguished it."

The very existence of the Christian Church with its great sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist, the moving of the day of worship from Saturday, the Sabbath, to Sunday, the Lord’s Day, the moral teaching of Christianity which, in its basic accords with the fundamental moral vision of well nigh all major religions, all of this points to another dimension to human existence. And that dimension is God.

The empty tomb catches our attention, but the substance Easter is that death triumphs over the grave, that decent human values are ultimate, whereas self-centered, self-seeking grasping for power, riches or fame are consigned to the darkness reserved for the devil and the devil’s minions.

Christ is risen and when we embrace his way of life, we too participate, though now only in part, in his glorious life and light. The light of Christ has shined in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out. Though now we may see through a glass darkly, we shall see face to face.

Now this part comes much harder to us. For St. Paul, it was a titanic struggle leading to a massive, life-transforming experience on a Damascus road. A bitter opponent, on his own admission, of the new religion proclaimed by the followers of Jesus, he became its foremost spokesperson. The three distinguishing marks of Judaism, which separated them from the religions around them, food laws, circumcision and the Sabbath, were all put aside as he felt the experience of God’s new revelation overwhelming him.

For the great writer of the Narnia stories, C.S. Lewis, the moment of change came on a bus–I believe it was a double-decker bus. For most of us, coming to a full Christian faith is a life journey. We know some of the truth of Christianity, including the fact that we often do things we deeply regret, we do not yet see how God has placed within us the possibility of experiencing resurrection life.

As a student in Wales, very close to the stormy sea coast, we knew or heard often of boats capsizing and people drowning. We prayed for them in evening chapel and would change the hymn to the Navy hymn: “Eternal Father, strong to save . . .” And we knew that many would not come back. Yet in a philosophy class, every one of us agreed that even if we could not swim, we would instinctively begin by rushing into the waves to try to save a drowning child. The fundamental truth that God is love and that we are to be people of love is the light that shines within us, and the darkness will not put it out.

And so my dear friends in Christ, if this Easter you still have questions about your Christian faith, (still wonder "Did he? Did he rise again?") do not despair. Live as if he did. Remember that this person, Jesus of Nazareth transformed the world. Recall that Christians affirm that God cried "Yes" to the whole event in time that was Jesus of Nazareth. Take consolation in the story that he consoled the thief dying with him with the words, "Today you shall be with me in Paradise." And live in the hope and expectation that one day, as our prayer book reminds us, he will say to each and every one of us: "Come, ye blessed of my father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world."

AMEN

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