"Don’t Wait To Be Surprised" Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler
– March 31, 2013 Centenary United
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 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, 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 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! |