Easter Sunday - Resurrected Lamb
Jesus is Risen - 21419, 5:57 pm / 1
Jesus is Risen.
The tomb is empty.
[SLOWLY]
The lingering sorrows of betrayal,
...of agony,
...of denial,
...of desertion,
...of mockery,
...of death,
...of darkness begin to fade.
In an event that forever changes human history, that transcends human history,
yet stands within human history, God has raised Christ from the dead.
[PAUSE]
In raising Christ from the dead, God says
an emphatic Yes to Jesus
and no to death.
Yes to a message of humility and sacrificial love
and no to religion seeking power and prestige.
Yes to a life of non-violence resistance
and No to the empires of blood and oppression
Yes to a man who included all and forsook none
and No to those who sought to build up walls and keep others out
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[PAUSE]
Yet, just as the crucifixion has no significance apart from the resurrection, the
resurrection too has no significance apart from the crucifixion. They are one cosmic
event, a unit: the risen Christ is the Crucified Christ.
The resurrection is not a reversal of the crucifixion. The events of Friday are not
undone.
The risen Christ bears the scars of the crucifixion.
The Gospel of John tells us that Thomas touched the scars in Jesus’ hands and
felt the hole in his side.
The book of Revelation envisions Christ as “a Lamb standing as if it had been
slaughtered” in the middle of the heavenly throne room.
And just as Christ carries the scars of Friday in his body on Sunday, the Roman
occupation of Jerusalem that enabled the execution of Jesus was still controlling
Jerusalem on Sunday.
[PAUSE]
We’ve all watched movies or TV shows were the hero or the villain returns from
the dead. In these stories, the character returns more powerful and more determined
to enact their revenge.
That’s not how the Christian story goes. In fact, if you think about it, after the
resurrection Jesus becomes a background character in the story. In Mark, Jesus is
not seen again after the resurrection, all we have is an empty tomb. In the stories
where Jesus does appear to his followers, he ascends into heaven not much more
than a month later. The resurrected Christ is no more interested in taking back Israel
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by force than he did before the crucifixion. Rather, we find Jesus in Galilee, taking
the disciples back to their roots as fishermen. Even after the cross fails to defeat him,
Jesus continues to take the way of nonviolence, of humility, of complete and utter
surrender to the will of God.
One only needs to walk past a cemetery to realise that the resurrection of Christ
was not the end of death. Even those closest to Christ would die, some at the hands
of the same powers that nailed Jesus to the Cross. However, the resurrection
defeats the power of death.
“All will be made alive in Christ,” the Apostle Paul assures us. “But each in his
own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”
The resurrection changes everything.
[PAUSE]
Paul declares that death has lost its sting, it has been defeated. The resurrection
of Christ has stripped death of its power. The resurrection tells us that death is not to
be feared. That death is not the final word on us, on our lives, on our mission, on our
purpose. God will restore every good thing in its time. Finally, death will be destroyed
once and for all, but first Christ must reign until every enemy is defeated.
The scene in Revelation continues this idea. The elder invites John to notice the
conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah. What John sees is shocking and profound. In
the middle of the court of heaven is a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered.
I’m sure I don’t need to point out that slaughtered lambs don’t usually stand up. John
is reminding us that even in the heavenly court, Christ bears the scars of the
crucifixion. This is not simply an idle reminder. The scars of the cross both stand in
contrast to the image of a conquering Lion, and are ironically the very reason Christ
is that conquering Lion.
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The heavenly chorus sings that the Lamb is worthy to cast judgment upon the
world because he has bought with his blood people from every nation, tribe and
tongue. But Christ does not judge the world as a conquering lion, even if he rightfully
could. Christ judges the world as a slaughtered Lamb.
[PAUSE]
As followers of the Risen Lord, this serves as both an encouragement and a
warning. As we pursue justice in our world, it is not for us to conquer like Lions. We
should follow Christ who although worthy to conquer like a Lion, chose the opposite
path and conquered as a Lamb, a Lamb led to the slaughter.
[PAUSE]
For the disciples, proclaiming that “Christ is risen” was and remains “political
dynamite”. While the resurrected Christ does not call us to take up arms against
empire, he does compel us to resist empires of power, greed and wealth, through
sacrificial, non-violence resistance. One scholar writes that “Because of the
resurrection it is impossible to be reconciled to coercive or natural violence, to
ascribe its origins to fate or cosmic order ... all violence, all death, stands under
judgment as that which God has and will overcome.”
[PAUSE]
However, the resurrection does not strip us of our inheritance. In Revelation, the
people bought by the blood of the Lamb are “made to be a kingdom and priest
serving our God, [who] will reign on the earth”. It is actually unclear from Revelation
when those saints will reign. If anything it is an immediate future, unveiling in front of
us. We, the saints, have already been crowned as a kingdom of priests serving our
God, but our reign is realised as we lay down our arms, let go of our claims to power,
and serve one another.
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In raising Christ from the dead, God says
No to our life of sin and death
And Yes to a Life in Christ
God says No to our ambitions of power and prestige
And Yes to humble sacrifice and service towards others
No to violence and force
And Yes to peaceful and non-violent resistance
No to exclusive clubs and racial prejudice
And Yes to those who open their doors to the stranger, the refugee, the orphan
and the homeless
Hallelujah, the tomb is empty!
Jesus is risen. God has raised him from the dead!