Mark 16:1-8

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

This morning I’m inviting you to consider the main reason why we are gathered for Easter in the first place. That is, to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from death to life; and, to recognize that very promise is held out for us, also.

This might sound like a no-brainer to you. Of course we are gathered to celebrate Jesus’s resurrection and the promise of our own resurrection. But have you really grasped that idea? Do you really believe that?

It’s not a given, and it’s certainly not an expectation here at Cross of Grace, that one would understand the Bible stories and faith tenants as being literally true. I constantly wrestle with how much of scripture is literally true and how much is true in a different, less scientific, more symbolic way. After all, what we understand today as capital “T” Truth (i.e., evidenced-based facts) wasn’t really a way people looked at the world until the Age of Enlightenment a couple of hundred years ago. Up to that point, a story that never actually took place in the exact way in which it was described would still be widely understood as “true” so long as that story provided meaning and value.

From the Enlightenment onwards, theologians, as well as the average Christian, have wondered and debated whether the events of Jesus’ life as told in scripture actually happened. For example, the virgin birth, Jesus turning water to wine, Jesus restoring the sight of the blind man, Jesus being raised from the dead, etc. At this point in my life and education, I have come to understand that things can be true even if they didn’t happen in a way that could have been documented or recorded. Meaning can exist beyond literal fact. But today, with you all, being honest and speaking from my heart…today I can do nothing other than proclaim what I believe to be literally true: Jesus rose from the dead and you will too.

I don’t have any sermon illustrations to share. No stories, no jokes, no funny pictures nor clips from a TV show. I’m not offering a nuanced “hot take” where I talk about the value of a figurative or metaphorical resurrection from the dead. Though it certainly is true that God can create new life out of any metaphorical deaths in our lives, be they ego, relationships, hopes, opportunities, and so on.

If literal resurrection from death doesn’t quite fit into your faith today, I respect that and have no desire nor any way to change your mind. In fact, I’m especially grateful for your presence and your worship this morning. And hopefully, you can still glean some degree of hope and inspiration from my message this morning.

But today, on this Easter Day, or what in the church we call “The Resurrection of Our Lord,” my call and conviction is to proclaim that Jesus––the human being who was God’s Son––was dead and buried in the tomb…until he wasn’t.

Days after Jesus breathed his last breath, his heart started beating, the neurons in his brain started firing, his lungs took in their first tentative sip of rotten-smelling tomb air, followed by a huge gasp in and a mighty exhale. As the oxygen rushed through his bloodstream, every nerve started tingling as your foot does after you move it after it has fallen asleep.

I believe that all this actually happened and that it is the same fate that awaits all who have received God’s promise of the resurrection of the dead and eternal life in God’s Kingdom when it comes here on Earth––this physical earth that God created, redeems, and will always love.

Here’s the truth, and be warned, it might make you uncomfortable: There are people worshipping with us right now who will not be alive by the time Easter rolls around next year. I don’t know who, and I’m not venturing any guesses. It’s simply a fact that at some point every year we gather to say goodbye to a Partner in Mission who has died. As your pastor, what else can I possibly tell you and your loved ones today, other than that one day you, too, will be resurrected in the same physical and literal way that Jesus was resurrected.

There is nothing else for me to tell you today other than “Where, O death, is thy victory? Where, O death, is thy sting?...[T]hanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:55, 57).

That is why we gather, why we worship, why we laugh and cry and shout “Alleluia!” We do all of that because of Jesus, literally raised from a literal death. We do all of that for our friends and family whose deaths we have mourned and whose deaths we will soon experience. We do all of that because in this world that is so confused, angry, anxious, and lost, we believe God is taking us somewhere good. We do all of that because God promises to create new life out of all the metaphorical deaths we experience, as well as the actual death that awaits us all.

Amen. Alleluia. Thanks be to God.

John 11:32-44

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

The original, pre-Coronavirus, plan for today was for the high school youth and I to use the sermon time to share our experiences about our mission trip to North Carolina. We would have arrived home yesterday; but, of course, we never went on the trip.

I imagine that by this point in our collective social distancing experience you are well aware of the things you have been missing out on. Some of you, like me, are lamenting missing out on long-awaited travel experiences. Some are missing work (or at least work as you knew it). Others are missing out on physical proximity and relationships. And most of us miss living in a world where the thought of being subjected to a deadly disease was not at the forefront of our mind whenever we venture to the grocery store.

All of these things that we miss are legitimate. There’s nothing wrong for wishing things could have turned out differently, for wishing that our lives look more like they did a couple weeks ago before everything changed.

Much of what we feel today is what’s behind Mary’s words to Jesus following the death of her brother Lazarus. Recall that when Jesus arrives in Judea from Jerusalem Mary tells him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

This is simultaneously a confession of great faith and a confession of great frustration. Mary believes Jesus has the power to prevent death. What an extraordinary claim...an extraordinary claim rooted in the many times she witnessed him healing others. Mary also feels let down that Jesus did not arrive in time to help her brother. Mary laments that her life has changed completely in the course of one week, and she feels like Jesus did nothing to prevent it.

This dynamic is the core question that has frustrated God’s people throughout history. If God can heal people, why didn’t God heal that person?

Sit with that question for a moment. I think it’s a universal concern that will bring up very specific examples in your mind. Maybe you are drawn to one particular person in your life who suffered in such a way that it seemed like God was not present. Who is it in your life that causes you to march up to Jesus and demand an explanation? “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

“Lord, if you had been here, my spouse would not have died.”

“Lord, if you had been here, my child would not have died.”

“Lord, if you had been here, my friend would not have died.”

“Lord, if you had been here, thousands of people would not have died from this disease.”

All these thoughts and questions are perfectly acceptable. It is perfectly acceptable to be disturbed by the pain, injustice, suffering, and death that is in our world. It is perfectly acceptable because God, too, is greatly disturbed by these things.

Notice how Jesus responds to Mary. He doesn’t disregard her concerns as unfaithful or short-sighted. He doesn’t get defensive or argue that it’s all part of God’s plan. Instead, we read that Jesus was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. Jesus, the Son of God, had a friend who died. This made him feel greatly disturbed and deeply moved.

This demonstrates that God is not far off, detached, or watching the events of our world play out while sitting safely on the sideline. Rather, God is here in the thick of it, in the pain and devastation and fear and suffering and loss and death and grief. God doesn’t want any of that for any of us. It’s not the way things were meant to be. I simply have to believe that because I’m not about to worship a God who stands apart from all the pain and suffering and either says, “Not my problem” or “Get over it” or “At least she’s in a better place now.”

It is comforting to know that God is with us in our suffering; but we are still left with a giant “why.” Why? Why is there pain and devastation and fear and suffering and loss and death and grief?

I have no answers to that question. It’s one of the great unanswerable questions. To be clear, volumes have been written in an attempt to explain the problem of suffering. But in my experience they all eventually fall short of providing a satisfactory answer.

But we can still ask the question. We have to ask the question. Otherwise we resign our faith to one of two false extremes: either a God who causes these things to happen or a God who is completely powerless to stop them. Asking the question keeps us in the paradox and uncertainty, which is a perfectly safe place for your faith to reside. Faith, after all, is only possible in the absence of certainty.

Now, what happens next in the story does not answer the question of suffering, but it is incredible and important nonetheless.

What happens next is that Jesus, greatly disturbed in spirit, commands Lazarus to come out from his tomb. And he does! This dead man’s lungs take in oxygen, his heart beats and pumps blood throughout his body, the neurons in his brain fire. The dead man walks out from his tomb and into the presence of God. As impressive as the raising of Lazarus is, it is only a taste of what is to come; for, shortly, Jesus will go to even greater lengths to defeat death and fully resurrect. And even that is just a taste; for, in due time, all of God’s creation will be resurrected. All of God’s creation will live again. Your friend, your sibling, your parents, your child, you, and I...all will live again.

So, when you experience suffering and death, go ahead and ask “why?” It is a perfectly healthy and natural thing to do. But please also take courage in the good news that though we cannot explain why there is suffering and death, we know that it is not our ultimate destination. God has the last word, and that word is life!

Amen.

Literal Resurrection

The Big "Why?"