Easter Sunday

Today's text is John 20:1-18. This morning's sermon was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Phil Snider.

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So the very first resurrection stories about Jesus recorded in the Bible date back to around the year 70. They developed over the next couple of decades. So this would have been roughly a generation or two after Jesus had died. Now, this same time period around the year 70, in fact, in the year 70, it was a tumultuous time for those who were living in Judea. The year 70 is the year that the Roman Empire destroyed the Jewish temple, putting it in ruins, continuing to show what would happen if you resisted Roman rule. They would crush you. That was the message. Now, adding to all of this drama around this same time was the fear that the despised Emperor Nero, the one who was, you know, legend tells us played his fiddle while Rome burned, there were rumors that Nero was going to be resurrected from the dead to continue to wreak havoc on his subjects. Now Nero was a loathsome ruler, a true despot. And when things went badly, he would blame anyone but himself. When Rome burned under his watch, he had to find someone to blame, so he scapegoated the early followers of Christ, violently persecuting them. Now, to be clear, this is a very different kind of persecution from what we are so used to hearing about from a large subset of Christians in our society today, those who confuse persecution for not having complete and total cultural domination and control over everything. I mean, just to be honest, not wanting to let someone have the same civil rights that you have enjoyed and taken for granted for centuries, otherwise known as equal rights, wanting other people to have those or allowing other people to have those, that's not exactly persecution, and it's a far cry from being killed for your faith. But Nero had to have someone to blame for his mistakes. So he scapegoated the early Christians. And similar, kind of in a tragic irony, is kind of like the way that it's common for Christians in today's culture to scapegoat immigrants or LGBTQ siblings. People look for scapegoats, then and now. Anyhow, at around the same time these first resurrection stories about Jesus were being compiled, there were fears in the ancient world that Nero, when he would be resurrected, would try to reclaim his power violently, wreak havoc, seek retribution. And all of this makes me value the resurrection stories that we have in the Gospels about Jesus all the more when we juxtapose the fears of Nero as people were afraid of him rising back to power. In contrast to the kind of things that the people expected from Nero, Jesus offered something very different. Now, Jesus is someone who was killed. We have a reminder of this every Sunday when we gather here. Jesus was killed for standing up to the violence and the oppression and the exploitation of Rome. Rome said, no more, we're going to crush you. Rome killed him. Tried to get rid of him, tried to silence him. Yet in all of the resurrection stories that appear in the Gospels, and there are several of them, reflecting different perspectives from the authors and what Jesus meant to them, not in any single resurrection story or appearance in the Gospels does Jesus try to seek revenge or retribution against those who killed him. Who did him wrong? And he died an unjust death. It was innocent suffering. But he did not seek retribution or revenge one time. Now can you imagine how like a leader like Nero would respond if they were resurrected? You know, how they would respond to those who tried to take him down. I mean, all you would hear about is revenge and retribution to rain down fire on his enemies, to prosecute, I mean to persecute them without abandon. Yet in Jesus' resurrection appearances, he never does this, not one time, in stark contrast to the Neroes of the day. He loves, he serves, he cares. Not wreaking havoc, but seeking restoration. A few examples. In John's Gospel, Jesus says, Peace be with you. And then again he says, peace be with you, even to those like Thomas who doubted him. He didn't make Thomas feel badly about doubting him, didn't question Thomas's loyalty, didn't call out Thomas. He said, Peace be with you. Later in John, he asked those who love him to show their love, not by seeking retribution and revenge, but by loving and caring for their neighbors, feeding the sheep. In Matthew's gospel, Jesus says, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Could you imagine if Nero came back how terrified people would feel? The violence that he would threaten against their lives? Jesus says, do not be afraid. In Luke, Jesus says, peace be with you, encouraging folks to forgive and to share the kind of love that is beyond nation and tribe and race that is beyond all boundaries. As Pope Leo described on Monday Thursday, Christianity has often been distorted by a desire for domination which is entirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ. Pope Leo went on to say, we tend to consider ourselves powerful when we dominate. We tend to consider ourselves victorious when we destroy our equals. We tend to consider ourselves great when we are feared. But God has given us a different example. Not of how to dominate, but how to liberate. Not of how to destroy life, but of how to give it. Every moment. Now for Benjamin, the idea of the Messiah is not just for those who happen to believe in God or supernatural things and things like that. Rather, it's about the desire in all of us for our world, for our future to be different from what it is. The time of the Messiah is about the hope and the dream of a different kind of world being born. Every moment, Benjamin says, opens the door through which the Messiah might enter. He says the time of the Messiah does not change the past, but it changes the meaning of the past. For Christians, the resurrection, these stories invite us into the kind of life that we often feel like in our world is unimaginable, impossible. Every day, every day, we see how our world can still be so captivated by the lust for power and violence and domination and retribution and revenge. Yet we are liberated to live into a different way of being in the spirit of the resurrected Christ. There is a new world breaking in. That door holds open, and we are invited to participate in it, becoming people of the resurrection. It is the presence of Christ rising among us, changing the past, opening the door to the future, because we are empowered to join Christ in the inbreaking of God's kingdom of love and justice and restoration here and now. And there is nothing, not even the power of death and unjust suffering that is strong enough to contain it. When our worlds have come crashing down on us, and we don't know if a different future is possible. When we have been so disappointed or surprised or taken aback, and we feel like we're losing hope. And we're afraid, we are scared, we don't know if we can make it. Jesus meets us and says, Do not be afraid. Peace be with you, letting us know that new life and new possibilities can be ahead, can be forged, even when we see them the least. So in your friendships and your relationships and your concerns about this world, Jesus comes bringing us hope in our lives that the power of love is stronger than anything that can tame it and will forge a new path ahead. It's an entirely new way of being, and it invites us to think about what resurrection and community truly looks like, shaped by figures like Christ, in contrast to figures like the Emperor Nero. So I want to end with a quote, and I'm seriously gonna end with it. I'm not gonna say I'm gonna end with a quote and then just go on to a whole nother section of a sermon. I'm seriously ending the sermon after the quote. I might have like a tiny tagline at the end. There's this philosophical theologian named Peter Rollins, and one time he was asked if he believed in the resurrection. And he responded by saying, without a qualification or hesitation, I fully and completely admit that I deny the resurrection. I deny the resurrection of Christ every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed. I deny the resurrection of Christ each day that I turn my back on the poor. I deny the resurrection of Christ every time I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden. I deny the resurrection of Christ when I lend my support to an unjust and corrupt system. However, there are moments when I affirm the resurrection, few and far between as they are. I affirm the resurrection when I stand up for those who are forced to live on their knees. I affirm the resurrection when I speak for those who have had their tongues torn out. I affirm the resurrection when I cry for those who have no more tears left to shed. The power sought by the Neroes, and the power of love in the figures of Christ. The resurrection invites us to participate in the kind of community that brings life, love, liberation, and restoration. Thanks be to God.