The Jesus Train

I’m grateful to be here this morning. Some background on me. My name is Fr. Thom Blair. I’ve been in Whatcom County since 2015. I’ve served at St. Brendan’s in Bellingham since we got here and I’m now planting an Anglican Church in Lynden. But I have been so thankful for this church, especially over the last year. Discerning a calling to a new ministry can be a bit disorienting. That process also began after being laid off from my non-ministry job early last year. And during that time of discernment in the face of disorientation, this church was here for me. I first visited around that time. Samantha, I think had just begun her role. She asked me to fill out a contact card. I said, no, sorry, this is just a one-time thing for me. But it wasn’t. My apologies to Samantha. And so, off and on over the last year, I’ve benefitted from the ministry of this church. Thank you for being a place where someone can wrestle through their issues in the context of worship.

I know I shouldn’t have been, but I was caught off guard by how good the good news is in our passages today, how much life and encouragement can be found there. Like a kid who’s found himself locked inside an ice cream shop overnight, it’s really hard to know where to dig in.

Let’s use Luke’s narrative as our framework, walking through the Gospel account and branching off where appropriate. So we begin with some women going to the tomb where Jesus was buried. Their Lord has died. Since Messiahs win and don’t die, they were going to anoint a special man, one who had been their friend, their teacher, who loved them and brought the word of God to life for them, one who healed so many, who had raised one of them, Lazarus, from the dead. This man was not the Messiah. He was not the Son of God. And that was because he was dead. They had been there. They saw it. There’s nothing they can do about it now, except honor this very special man in his death by bringing spices for his burial and bestowing on him human dignity, even after, enduring great shame. They get to the tomb and they see the stone door is rolled away and the body is nowhere to be found. What could have possibly happened? There was a Roman guard at the entrance to stop anyone from tampering with Jesus’ body. Did the Romans decide to do something more with his body? Did one of his enemies make a deal with them to move it and so deny him the honor and consolation of having his body anointed with spices for burial? What happened here? What could this empty tomb possibly mean? After the events of the past week, was Jesus cursed? Even his body was taken away and denied a proper burial. This also means there’s no closure for his friends. Was the mystery of the death of Jesus going further where now they would also always wonder what happened to his body? What should they do? Luke says they were perplexed. And at the lowest point in the story of Jesus, where he had gone from honor at the triumphal entry to deeper and deeper dishonor, to shameful death, while they were standing in his very grave, with even his body gone, and his friends ashamed and afraid for their own lives, there is one last fear. But it’s different. It’s the fear that comes from God breaking into the story. He’s intervening. And these messengers from him, dressed in dazzling white, tell them that he has already intervened, that their bad news, the gravesite they were standing in, was actually good news, the first resurrection site. The site where the human story has turned around.

The long genealogies in Genesis are probably not anyone’s life verse. They’re these long lists of short accounts of people’s life, who their ancestors are, who their descendants are, and maybe a couple of facts about their lives. Here are are a couple from Genesis 5:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years,

It goes on like this for pages. The common thread, over and over, is that each account ends with “and he died.” We can get into a couple of special entries where God is said to have taken one man, but the thread through these passages is that even when they live 900 years, their story ends with “and he died.” That is the course of human life after the fall. But now, standing in Jesus’ tomb, for the first time, the words “and he died” would not be the final word. For the first time the final word for a human being would be “and he died. AND he lives!” And because of that one “and he lives” the story of humanity is changed forever. Humanity gets to live out the story line that is objectively the best one: Hero makes it, against all odds, until he’s overcome, and dies. . . And then he lives! You see this plot in books and movies all over the place. It’s almost as if it’s the only good story. If I give examples of where this plot plays out, they will all be spoilers, by default. You mean the hero lives after he dies? Yes!

And the hopeful delusion that humans have written into their stories for a very long time, that maybe after dying, I could live, that foolish hope is no longer a delusion. That hope has actually become somewhat reasonable. Someone has risen from the dead. Perhaps I can too.

The fact that Jesus’ story went from “and he died” to “and he lives” means that that we are literally living in a new age of realized hope. Humanity’s hope has come true. BC has become AD. Death is no longer final, but another stop on the train line heading on to eternity. Now if we’re super skeptical, and we are, we might think, “No, this just means that JESUS’s train heads on to eternity, but my train stops at death.” But the answer here is: You think you have a train? No, you have been on the Adam train. That one stops at death and hell. It’s simply time to switch trains! I have never seen myself as the kind of person who would say the words “It’s time to get on the Jesus train…” But it is absolutely time to get on the Jesus train.

Now when you say something like, it is absolutely time to get on the Jesus train, as a preacher, it’s a good reminder that it’s probably time to open up the Bible again and find your place. I want us to look at our reading from Isaiah, because it’s so helpful and life-giving and grounds the discussion a bit. I’m especially interested in that last verse Isaiah 51:11

Isaiah 51:11 ESV

11 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Here we get a picture of the destination, but also the joy of the journey. The Lord has paid the ransom of the captives. And they are now returning from their life away from him to the place where his temple is, because he ransomed them. And we can hear their singing. And we can agree with Isaiah that everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. Because they had been cut off, alienated, lost. In exile, they had lost their sense of their identity with him, just like Jesus’ disciples were probably wondering who they were in God’s story after Jesus had died. But now Israel is experiencing restoration. And the disciples would experience restoration. And now we too can experience restoration. Isaiah says “They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” I am ready for sorrow and sighing to flee away. That moment is upon Israel, upon the disciples, and upon us at the resurrection of Jesus. What was lost, even ourselves, is now found because the Lord has paid our ransom and we are on our way to the place he has made for us. That picture from Isaiah of the journey of faith in motion from death to new life totally justifies thinking about, that’s right, getting on the Jesus train.

There are good ways and bad ways to land this analogy. But before we tie it all together and leave it behind forever, I think we need to talk about tickets. How to get a ticket? Because you don’t have one. That is, you DIDN’T have one. You’re not good enough to get off the Adam train and get on the Jesus train. I’m CERTAINLY not good enough. The resurrection shows us that the Jesus train exists. A human has beaten death. Before the resurrection, the Jesus train stopped at death, just like the Adam train. Jesus’ story up to that point looked like it ended with “and he died.” But at the resurrection, the Jesus train now goes on past death and into eternity.

But beyond that, the resurrection proves that what happened on the cross was more than a beautiful tragedy. More than a profound parable of human suffering or a fascinating study in historical political philosophy. The resurrection shows that the cross accomplished something. The resurrection isn’t just good news that someone who had died is now alive. The resurrection turns the bad news of the cross into the good news that we can go with Jesus into new, incorruptible, life eternal. The resurrection makes the cross into our ticket to the train that’s bound for glory. And that is because the resurrection shows that our sins, past, present, and future, were paid for at the cross. The worst thing you have ever done and will ever do, whatever is defeating you in your striving with God, your pride, your system of sin, is no match for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, the Cross is not just a reminder or a picture of the love of Jesus. The resurrection validates all of Jesus’ work done there. The resurrection means the Cross was not simply something that made God sad, as Satan would have loved. But instead was finally an offering for sin that pleased God, once and for all, without making him compromise his righteousness. God could have said, yes, enter my rest, all idolaters, video filth watchers, yellers at innocent children, murderers, liars, torturers, you prideful. He could have welcomed all of us in, without Jesus, but he would not be welcoming us into the presence of a righteous God. For a righteous God to compromise, to bend his understanding of righteousness, makes him less than righteous. For a righteous God to welcome us into his presence to give us anything but death and hell, our sins would have to be dealt with. The resurrection shows that God accepted Jesus’ offering for our sins on the cross. Our ticket has been validated, punched in the hands and feet and side of Jesus and handed back to us in baptism. And the train we’re getting on doesn’t have death and hell as a final destination.

No this train is full of sinners who have become new creations riding in the protection of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, through the kingdom of God, to a new heavens and a new earth, people without tickets that cost infinity dollars that were paid for on the Cross. God’s infinite righteousness is satisfied and we get to experience his infinite love because of the infinite worth of Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man’s offering on the Cross. I’m at risk of preaching the entire book of Romans now, so let’s focus on the piece from Colossians. We can get there from the angels’ question. They said: Why do you seek the living among the dead?

And of course, they were talking about Jesus’ physical body. But the question hit me differently as I was preparing. We tend to look for the things of life among the things of death. The world, the flesh, and the devil promise us life, happiness, abundance, peace. But our time in Lent, clarifying our focus, shows us that these things can’t deliver. Why do we look to them to be our source of life? Instead, we should pay attention to Paul as he writes to the Colossians.

Colossians 3:1–4 ESV

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Last night, at the Easter vigil service, I got to witness the baptism of Debbie. And baptism is the picture of our participation in the death of Jesus, as we go under the water, and the resurrection of Jesus to new life, as we emerge. And Paul’s point is that if we have been raised with Christ, as Debbie has, then we need to stop looking for our life among things of death. Our life is above, with Christ, hidden with him. Who can damage it there? Who can destroy it there? Who can manipulate it there? Or ruin it there? No one. Nothing. So because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, our life can be found with Christ. So find your life with Christ. Rest in the fact that your life is hidden above with Christ. And when he returns, when the train rolls in, you will be found with him.

Rest in him on this day of both HIS resurrection and the prospect of your own. And as you live, live in him, now and forever.