Century Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)

1301 Tamarack Road, Owensboro, KY 42301, (270) 684-0286, Pastor:  Rev. Jim Westmoreland

Living the Resurrection!
John 20:1-18
by Jim Westmoreland

You probably do not remember the name Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin. During his day he was as powerful a man as there was on earth. A Russian Communist leader he took part in the Bolshevik Revolution 1917, was editor of the Soviet newspaper Pravda (which by the way means truth), and was a full member of the Politburo. His works on economics and political science are still read today. There is a story told about a journey he took from Moscow to Kiev in 1930 to address a huge assembly on the subject of atheism. Addressing the crowd he aimed his heavy artillery at Christianity hurling insult, argument, and proof against it.

An hour later he was finished. He looked out at what seemed to be the smoldering ashes of men's faith. "Are there any questions?" Bukharin demanded. Deafening silence filled the auditorium. But then, the echoing footsteps of one man approached the platform and mounted the lectern standing near the communist leader. He surveyed the crowd first to the left then to the right. Finally, he shouted the ancient greeting known well in the Russian Orthodox Church: "CHRIST IS RISEN!" En masse the crowd arose as one and the response came crashing back like the sound of thunder: "HE IS RISEN INDEED!"

That's how we greet each other today. But how do we come to know the risen Christ? We live under the growing influence of an atheistic secularism. What will make our belief and conviction strong enough to stand en masse and unambiguously say out loud, "Christ is Risen." Would we be the one to step out from the crowd and to speak the words of faith, not knowing what the response would be? Whenever we see someone putting their faith into action, we see something of what it is to live an Easter faith. The Christian hope, which is our Resurrection faith, is something to be lived out in the here and now. It's a truth which holds even in the grimmest of circumstances. It is rooted in that first Easter morning nearly 2000 years ago, when the women went to the tomb of Jesus and found it empty. But the meaning of the Resurrection is worked out in our lives as we are transformed today.

There is no external evidence proving the resurrection. The evidence is in changed lives. There are no certainties in the Easter story that we can produce and show to unbelievers. The message of Easter is that the evidence has gone. He is Risen. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome come early to the tomb to embalm the body of Jesus, and they found nothing! They came to the tomb with a question, "who will roll away the stone which covers the mouth of the grave?" But the stone is gone! The body is gone, and for a time at least, these women can say nothing as they flee from the tomb in terror and amazement!

But even in the fear which grips them, these women are the first witnesses to the Resurrection. They overcome their timidity, and it is the women who first carry the message that Christ is risen. They come to the tomb in despair. They'd seen Jesus die, they'd seen him buried without the customary rites. They had no idea what to do about the massive stone which would block their access to his grave. And suddenly everything is changed! And they know their lives are transformed! There's a wonderful prayer by Janet Morley based on today's Easter Gospel:

When we are all despairing;
when the world is full of grief;
when we see no way ahead,
and hope has gone away:
Roll back the stone.

Although we fear change;
although we are not ready;
although we'd rather weep
and run away:
Roll back the stone.

Because we're coming with the women;
because we hope where hope is vain;
because you call us from the grave
and show the way:
Roll back the stone.⁽¹⁾

Easter faith in the Resurrection begins when we acknowledge that massive load that we feel unable to bear.  It begins when we confess Jesus as Savior and Lord.  It begins when that stone we feel we can never roll away and when that burden we can never get away from is gone, lifted from us! We have tried to escape it, but we have been unable to move it, and then we discover that God has done it for us! Or, we find God's love revealed in ways beyond our imagining. Most of the time, the greatest miracle occurs within us, not in our circumstances. Dennis Potter, a playwright who knew much about suffering even before he learned that he was dying of cancer, wrote these words, "God is in the wound, not the bandage."

To believe in the Resurrection is not simply believing that the tomb of Jesus was empty on Easter Day. It is believing that God was at work in the suffering and death which preceded Jesus' burial, that God was at work in the lives of those who encountered Jesus in his ministry of teaching and healing, that God raised Jesus up to make a difference in the lives of those who would tell the Easter story, and that a Resurrection faith is what makes the difference in the lives of millions today.

Both then and now, Easter Day does not have meaning by itself. It does not stand alone. First, we experience the long days of Lent and the horrible, repulsive days of the Passion. Both before and after, we bring our needs and longings to Jesus. It is when we draw near to Jesus in both His suffering and His resurrection that we come to realize that we can't have healing without having born the wounds that we try so hard to escape.

"God is in the wound, not the bandage!" In John's gospel we hear how the witnesses looked into the tomb and found it empty except for his grave clothes, the strips of cloth or bandages which would have been bound round Jesus' body. But again, the point is that Jesus is not in them! As Lazarus emerged from the tomb from which he was raised, Jesus gave the command, "Unbind him, let him go free." And they are the words he speaks to us as well! He meets us in our needs to unbind us and free us to live His risen life!

Martin Luther once spent three days in a black depression over something that had gone wrong, just like some of us do. On the third day his wife came downstairs dressed in mourning clothes. "Who's dead?" he asked her. "God," she replied. Luther rebuked her, saying, "What do you mean, God is dead? God cannot die."  "Well," she replied, "the way you've been acting I was sure He had!"⁽²⁾

Many of us have been caught in that trap! When others look at our lives, can they tell if God is dead or alive? This is also what had happened to Mary. Until we are willing to be unbound, we will not know what it means to live a life transformed by the power of the resurrection. Life is full of choices, just like our choice to come to worship today. Let us choose to celebrate the resurrection every day! Everyday, let us believe in the power of the resurrection by letting God unbind us from all of our sin and false priorities. Let us show others that God lives by letting them see the way that God lives in us! Let our words and our lives proclaim, He is risen indeed! Amen.

1. Janet Morley, a leading contemporary liturgist, in Praying with the World's Poor - Bread of Tomorrow.