The resurrection in our lives

Easter 2022  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  15:31
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Two thousand years ago a man was crucified, and then on the third day he rose up and left his tomb. What does this have to do with us today? In a word so different from, and yet so similar to, the world of the first century, what possible impact can the empty tomb have on our lives? Christians have long claimed that this event has changed, and is changing the world! How can this be? Join us for a little insight into the most important event of history.

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Intro

Let’s start this time of celebration by hearing the historical account of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, recorded by one of the eyewitnesses, Jesus’ disciple John. We start early on the Sunday, two days after Jesus’ death.

First readings

John 20:1–18 The Message
1 Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. 2 She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, breathlessly panting, “They took the Master from the tomb. We don’t know where they’ve put him.” 3 Peter and the other disciple left immediately for the tomb. 4 They ran, neck and neck. The other disciple got to the tomb first, outrunning Peter. 5 Stooping to look in, he saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Simon Peter arrived after him, entered the tomb, observed the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, the one who had gotten there first, went into the tomb, took one look at the evidence, and believed. 9 No one yet knew from the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. 10 The disciples then went back home. 11 But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus’ body had been laid. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why do you weep?” “They took my Master,” she said, “and I don’t know where they put him.” 14 After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn’t recognize him. 15 Jesus spoke to her, “Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?” She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, “Mister, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him.” 16 Jesus said, “Mary.” Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” meaning “Teacher!” 17 Jesus said, “Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: “I saw the Master!” And she told them everything he said to her.

Easter Eggsperience

Let’s pause there, and take a chance to reflect on what this experience must have been like for these followers of Jesus. I’d like to use some Easter Eggs to help us experience this, so if you’re good with milk chocolate, please participate.
The first step is the journey to the tomb. So if you can come up here, take an egg, and then return to your seat. As you’re doing that, think about the walk out to the tomb early on Sunday morning. Once you’re back at your seat, unwrap the egg and then hold it. Make sure you don’t crush the egg while you’re unwrapping it, keep it whole and then hold it in the wrapper so it doesn’t melt on your hand.
[Time for collecting eggs.]
The next step is to crack the egg open. Even just poke a hole in it. What’s inside? It’s empty, right? Isn’t it strange how an empty Easter Egg is more exciting than a huge lump of chocolate? Just like the empty tomb is exciting, although by itself its also confusing.
[Time for holing the eggs.]
The final step is to take a bit of your egg. What’s that taste like? It’s sweet and delicious, right? How sweet do you think was Mary’s realisation that she was talking with Jesus? Even sweeter than an easter egg!
[Time to taste.]
OK, you can finish the egg now if you want, as we continue with our reading.

Second readings

John 20:19–21:19 The Message
19 Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.” 20 Then he showed them his hands and side. The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. 21 Jesus repeated his greeting: “Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you.” 22 Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he said. 23 “If you forgive someone’s sins, they’re gone for good. If you don’t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?” 24 But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples told him, “We saw the Master.” But he said, “Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won’t believe it.” 26 Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.” 27 Then he focused his attention on Thomas. “Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.” 28 Thomas said, “My Master! My God!” 29 Jesus said, “So, you believe because you’ve seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.” 30 Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. 31 These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it. 1 After this, Jesus appeared again to the disciples, this time at the Tiberias Sea (the Sea of Galilee). This is how he did it: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed “Twin”), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the brothers Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter announced, “I’m going fishing.” The rest of them replied, “We’re going with you.” They went out and got in the boat. They caught nothing that night. 4 When the sun came up, Jesus was standing on the beach, but they didn’t recognize him. 5 Jesus spoke to them: “Good morning! Did you catch anything for breakfast?” They answered, “No.” 6 He said, “Throw the net off the right side of the boat and see what happens.” They did what he said. All of a sudden there were so many fish in it, they weren’t strong enough to pull it in. 7 Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Master!” When Simon Peter realized that it was the Master, he threw on some clothes, for he was stripped for work, and dove into the sea. 8 The other disciples came in by boat for they weren’t far from land, a hundred yards or so, pulling along the net full of fish. 9 When they got out of the boat, they saw a fire laid, with fish and bread cooking on it. 10 Jesus said, “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught.” 11 Simon Peter joined them and pulled the net to shore—153 big fish! And even with all those fish, the net didn’t rip. 12 Jesus said, “Breakfast is ready.” Not one of the disciples dared ask, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Master. 13 Jesus then took the bread and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus had shown himself alive to the disciples since being raised from the dead. 15 After breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Master, you know I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He then asked a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Master, you know I love you.” Jesus said, “Shepherd my sheep.” 17 Then he said it a third time: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was upset that he asked for the third time, “Do you love me?” so he answered, “Master, you know everything there is to know. You’ve got to know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 I’m telling you the very truth now: When you were young you dressed yourself and went wherever you wished, but when you get old you’ll have to stretch out your hands while someone else dresses you and takes you where you don’t want to go.” 19 He said this to hint at the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And then he commanded, “Follow me.”

Story

One of the things that people say you shouldn’t preach about is politics. Well, we’re in the middle of a federal election, I’m going to talk about politics.
Well, actually, I’m going to talk about politicians.
You may have seen on the news this week that Anthony Albanese, the leader of the opposition and aspirant to the position of Prime Minister of Australia, had a terrible week on the campaign trail. On his first day he had no clue on the currently value of two of the most important economic indicators, the Reserve Bank cash rate, which sets interest rates, and the unemployment figure, which indicates the health of business. This was especially embarrassing for his campaign, which was trying to claim that his party, Labor, was a safe pair of economic hands. Later in the week he messed up again, getting confused about his own party’s immigration policy and whether they would continue with offshore processing of immigrants who arrived illegally. Again, this was damaging because Labor also wants to be seen as strong on national security.
Of course, this brings Albanese down to Scott Morrison’s level in the public eye. Scomo hasn’t made any campaign mistakes, but his “I don’t hold a hose” comment during the fires early last year, the accumulated frustration with lockdowns, vaccine rollouts, and his tardy response to the floods have all dented his reputation badly.
And yet, one of these two men will almost certainly be the Prime Minister of Australia in five weeks. Does that mean we’re forgiving?
Hardly! It just gives us the opportunity to whinge and complain about our politicians incessantly, right?
Now, people are the same, fallible and frail, no matter what job they’re doing. It might be hard to credit, but our politicians are generally very intelligent, hardworking, responsible and moral people. They still make mistakes, and they still occasionally fall into ethical potholes. And that’s why we have so many checks and balances in our government.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people could just be perfect?

Peter’s experience of failure and redemption

Of course, there’s only been one perfect person in the history of the world. And the rest of us are so thoroughly imperfect that even the disciples that spent three years living with this man, watching his life, listening to his teaching, still messed up big time. Even Jesus’ perfect life wasn’t transferable to his followers. Or was it?
After his resurrection, Jesus spent time meeting with his disciples. After a range of encounters, he finally he confronts Peter, one of his three closest disciples.
Peter had been especially confident in his own perfection, promising Jesus during their Last Supper that he would never abandon him. Yet only hours later Peter had denied that Jesus was his master, his teacher, three times. That makes Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison look like legends!
What a mess Peter was in. He had been so promising a leader, and now he was a train wreck. Where would Jesus find a replacement?
But Jesus didn’t find a replacement, did he?

How such redemption is possible: new life

In the brief span of three simple questions and three simple answers, Jesus approves of Peter as a leader in the church. Given how treacherous Peter has just been, how can Jesus do this? Isn’t he just setting himself up for a Royal Commission?
Notice the questions Jesus asks:
First, he asks Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” Is Jesus asking Peter if he loves him more than he loves the other disciples? Or is he asking Peter if he loves him more than the other disciples do? Either question is a bit weird. But, remember that Peter had, just days before, said,
Mark 14:29 CEV
29 Peter spoke up, “Even if all the others reject you, I never will!”
So it would make sense for Jesus to be asking Peter to compare himself to the other disciples again, after his failure.
But more important than the comparison is the core question: do you love me? And Jesus repeats that twice more.
Peter’s answer is plaintive—you can hear the pain in his voice: “Yes, Master, you know I love you.”
And with that, Jesus commissions Peter to care for his followers, the church, “Feed my lambs, shepherd my sheep.”
But how could Jesus do that? How did he know Peter was up to it?
Years later the apostle Paul explained to the church in Corinth the crucial difference between following Christ and every other belief system. He wrote:
1 Corinthians 15:17–23 CEV
17 Unless Christ was raised to life, your faith is useless, and you are still living in your sins. 18 And those people who died after putting their faith in him are completely lost. 19 If our hope in Christ is good only for this life, we are worse off than anyone else. 20 But Christ has been raised to life! And he makes us certain that others will also be raised to life. 21 Just as we will die because of Adam, we will be raised to life because of Christ. 22 Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us. 23 But we must each wait our turn. Christ was the first to be raised to life, and his people will be raised to life when he returns.
You see, Jesus’ resurrection is our guarantee that God can, and has given us a new life. A new life that can be free from the mistakes and messes of the past. A new life that allows us to care for others in ways we couldn’t do before, because we were too selfish.

What the resurrection has to do with new life

This might sound too good to be true. And the reality is more complex than many would like.
Let me explain. When Jesus died on the cross, he died as the God-man, not just an ordinary human being. His death had so much weight that it could cover for many people’s deaths. In fact, because Jesus is God, and God is infinite, his death could cover for an infinite number of deaths. Now, without Jesus’ death, we all face death in response to our rebellion against God—that rebellion is a selfishness that throws the whole of creation out of whack and ultimately destroys everything. Our rebellion is so terrible, that our death is the only appropriate response. But Jesus died in our place, not for himself because he never rebelled.
But Jesus’ death only solves one problem: our death. We still have the ongoing problem our rebellion has caused—messed up, selfish lives. (Not to mention a messed up world, but that’s the topic for another sermon.) Jesus’ resurrection shows the solution to our messed up lives: God can give us new lives, just as Jesus has new life from the tomb.
Unlike Jesus, who was already perfect in his heart and life, our new lives come in two separate stages. The first stage, unlocked by “putting our faith in Jesus,” involves us receiving a new heart from God. This is an internal newness. The core of our mind is transformed—we die to our selfish self—and we are set free from that selfishness.
The next stage is getting new bodies. Of course, like Jesus, we don’t get new bodies until after our old ones die. In fact, we don’t get new ones until Jesus has fixed the mess of the world and given us a good world to live in.
In the meantime, until our bodies die, we have new hearts in old bodies. That means that we will always experience a struggle between what our hearts love (Jesus) and what our bodies love (physical pleasures, selfish stuff). As we learn to love Jesus more and more, our hearts become stronger and our bodies have less influence over our choices and our lives.
And that is why Jesus asked Peter if he loved him. Because if our hearts are in control, not our bodies, then we can serve Jesus by loving him and the people around us. Unlike our politicians, we can change and live better lives.

What does this have to do with us?

This promise of new hearts is just as relevant today as it has ever been. You only have to turn on the TV news or read the newspaper to see how horrible our world can be. People slaughtered in their thousands in Ukraine. People attacked while travelling home on the subway in New York. These things don’t happen by accident. They are not inevitable. They are the result of many people making many evil choices. And this happens at every level, from broken relationships in the home to international war.
The church has struggled so much with weak hearts that it sounds almost silly to claim that we have the solution. But we do! We just need to give the same answer to the same question as Peter.
Do we love Jesus?
Yes we do!
Let’s go out into the world and make that love visible in our lives, our actions, our relationships, with the help of the Holy Spirit—but that’s yet another sermon.
If you want to love Jesus like Peter did, and you want to have a new heart, either come and have a chat to me, or talk to anyone here and ask them how to love Jesus.
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