"Don’t Wait To Be Surprised"


Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – March 31, 2013

Centenary United Methodist Church

I Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 24:1-12

 

Easter Sunday

 

    Ever since I was a little boy, I was intrigued that Christians are so preoccupied by the crucifixion of Jesus.  The Cross has become the centerpiece of our faith. Have we ever asked ourselves why this is so?  Most of us realize that the theology of the Cross is very complicated. There are several theories that try to interpret the meaning of what happened on the cross and all of them were created by people years after Jesus was gone.  

    For example, there is a theory that the cross has to do with our personal salvation.  We have also been taught that Jesus’ death was a tribute, ransom or price that was paid for our sins.  To whom was that price paid and why did it have to be paid?  We have been led to believe that Jesus was like a sacrificial lamb in order to take away the sins of humanity. If these and a number of other meanings given to Jesus’ death were so important, why is it that Jesus was silent about them?  It is as though Jesus’ death somehow changed humankind’s relationship with God.  Has there really been a change either with God or with people?     

    In addition to these questions, do we devote the same amount of time teaching our children about their eternal nature? Do we teach them that God’s love for them is so all encompassing, so perfect, that living with God forever is part of the gift of life that is not a theory, not a hope, not a dogmatic belief and most certainly not a reward.  Think of how this information could stimulate the imaginations of children.  Do we teach this to our children? 

    Jesus knew the larger picture regarding our physical lives and provided hints about our eternal nature throughout his ministry.  He said, “In my Father’s house there are many rooms.  I would not tell you this if it were not true.”  (John 14:2f). 

    There is evidence that people do not have to be followers of Jesus or know anything about him to have their lives continue following their physical deaths.  For example, Elijah and Moses had never heard of Jesus when they were alive. Would God let them go simply because they happened to be born at an earlier time?  It is obvious from Scripture that God did not.  Both of them met with Jesus briefly in the presence of Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration.  (Matthew 17:3)  

    Jesus turned his head and spoke to one of the thieves that hung next to him on a cross.  That criminal knew nothing about Jesus’ ministry and yet Jesus said to him, “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.”  What that thief did know was that Jesus was innocent. (Luke 23:43)

    While Jesus knew that eternal life is a given aspect of creation for human beings, it is unfortunate that for billions of people, the experience of their true nature does not come until they experience it at death.  Even atheists are surprised by a reality that they never took the time to understand.  I know two of them that saw their bodies on the operating table and heard the medical team’s discussion during surgery.  Their attitude about reality radically changed.

    This morning, our passage in Luke is unique among the Gospels because it reveals that absolutely no one was prepared for the surprise they were about to experience.  Our lesson tells us that when the women went to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance, “they stood there puzzled.” (Luke 24:4)

    After they had an extraordinary experience of two spirit-beings that told them why the tomb was empty, they ran and told the disciples that Jesus had risen.  The disciples, however, thought that the women had taken leave of their senses and did not believe them.  (Luke 24:11)  Even Peter ran to the tomb, and when he saw that it was empty, he went home.

    Some of the disciples decided to go back to their former professions perhaps assuming that Jesus’ ministry ended with his crucifixion.  Peter said, “I don’t know about you, but I’m going fishing.  Several other disciples said, “We will come with you.” (John 21:3f)

    Not long after these responses by the disciples, Jesus began appearing to them. After each appearance, the attitudes of discouragement, disillusionment and fear immediately dissolved on the sands of their encounters.  These experiences changed their lives completely. 

    During our experience of Holy Week, Jesus went through each episode from his arrest to his crucifixion willingly because he knew without any doubt that death was not the final chapter.  It is easier to love others, suffer injustices, experience betrayal and rejection when we know that the spirit within us does not draw its strength or take its cues from the issues happening during our earth-experiences.  

    Think of it . . . The religious authorities and Roman military had subjected Jesus to the worst sustained pain possible in the ancient world.  By doing so, Rome was sending a message to potential revolutionaries that this cruel and inhumane death awaits them.  What Jesus’ crucifixion could not attack or influence was the infinite bright, loving spirit that was shown through his dying body.  During his ministry, Jesus taught his listeners that all of them were capable of living this way every day.    

    People have said to me, “If everyone makes it into Heaven in spite of what they have done during their lives, why should any of us care about anything?”  People forget that God graduated from the primitive images people once held of our Creator.  Jesus taught people that God loves the just and the unjust alike.  Jesus demonstrated the same response when his love allowed him instantly to let go of everything people were doing to him.  The gift of eternity is like the gift of living in societies where human freedom is a right.  People do not respond to having that gift in the same way.

    Last week during Bible Study, I mentioned a humorous poem about Heaven that someone gave to me. It describes what Heaven is like from the point of view of the author.  

I was shocked, confused and bewildered as I entered Heaven’s door, not by the beauty of it all, nor the light of its décor.  But it was the folks in Heaven who made me sputter and gasp – the thieves, the liars, the sinners, the alcoholics and the trash. 

There stood the kid from seventh grade who swiped my lunch money twice. Next to him was my old neighbor who never said anything nice. Herb, who I always thought was rotting in Hell, was looking remarkably well.

I asked Jesus, ‘What’s the deal? I would love to hear your take. How did all these sinners get up here? God must have made a mistake.  And why is everyone so quiet, so somber – give me a clue.’  Jesus said, ‘They, too, are all in shock.  No one thought they would be seeing you.’

    There may be more truth in this poem than what we would prefer to believe. Again, Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms.”  We could call these rooms “levels of awareness, levels of spiritual maturity, and levels of consciousness” or these rooms could be a reference to the evolving steps in any craft, e.g., apprentice, journeyman, and master.  

    At every stage of life, people separate themselves from one another by the quality of their attitudes, their self-starting abilities and by the spirit in which they live.  God does not need to divide the sheep from the goats.  We are experts at making our desires and goals visible. 

    All of us are well aware of the spiritual caste system that exists in our present world. We have known people that display constant unhappiness about life.  They constantly complain about everything, find fault with the decision of others and look for flaws in people’s character. We have also known people that are compulsively happy and generous to a fault.  Every experience comes up roses not because they are lucky but because happiness and generosity are part of the overriding attitude they have toward all their life-experiences. 

    Why do some Christians assume that God needs to punish people that have not awakened, that are not asking the threshold questions regarding their spiritual growth and that have become overly committed to the ways of this world?  At the heart of every life is that people do not know what they do not know. 

    Some people assume that we have one lifetime to get our minds around the totality of what God has created.  That simply is not the case.  Nowhere in this world is there a level playing field for people when they are born.  Everything from the quality of their environment to the imprinting skills of their parents can be markedly different in teaching children how to navigate in this life.  Newborns have no choice concerning the belief system of their parents.

    There will always be people who find the pearl of great price and others that claim that such a pearl does not exist.  This difference in thinking is an understanding that clearly divides people in our world.  The issue with countless people is that they first need proof that what they cannot see or understand is actually real.  We have proof of what we cannot see or understand everywhere.  The quality of every life is often dependent on how we interpret events.

    A number of us recently learned about the 17-year old that began writing computer software at the age of 12.  He created an application for i-phones when he was 15. Several weeks ago, his product was pulled from the shelves of computer stores.  Yahoo, a web search-engine company, paid the teenager from the U.K. 30 million dollars for his product and they offered him a job. 

    People think that Nick O’Alvisio is a young genius.  However, no one could see or understand the inner workings of Nick’s mind until Yahoo gave him a check for 30 million dollars.  THEN lots of people paid attention.  Isn’t that interesting?  People had faith in something they could neither see nor understand.

    The disciples did not believe the women until Jesus delivered the proof. Is that what we need before we begin living without fear?  Jesus had an answer for that, too.  Remember when Jesus said to Thomas, “Do you believe because you have now seen me?  How blessed and happy are those who believe without seeing me.” (John 20:29)

    What makes resurrection an equally powerful symbol as the cross for Christians is that the empty tomb demonstrated that the profound darkness created by the crucifixion was no match for the greater truth Jesus was demonstrating.  Jesus knew that nothing in this life will cause God to stop loving us. (Romans 8:38)  Whether we have that understanding or not makes no difference.  God’s love for us does not depend on our thoughts or beliefs about it.

    God would not be God if God allowed our eternal destiny to remain up to us. We all know the attitudes we have about parents who allow their children to grow up without much guidance.  The greatest guidance God equally gives to everyone is that only loving responses toward all life-experiences will work if we want to be happy, peaceful and grateful that God is in charge of everything.  Every other response to life creates only fleeting glimpses of what is possible.

    Jesus taught that we do not have to wait until the moment of our death to be surprised that our lives do not end. “Instead,” he said, “focus your lives on living in the Kingdom of God right now.  Use the talents and abilities that God has given you and God will manage everything else.”  (Matthew 6:33)  Take this understanding home with you. Continue to live in eternity now with total confidence that God knows that your soul is spiritually evolving in God’s time, not yours.   Happy Easter!