Easter
" My friends, I want you to remember the message that I preached and that you believed and trusted. You will be saved by this message, if you hold firmly to it. But if you don’t, your faith was all for nothing. I told you the most important part of the message exactly as it was told to me. That part is: Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say. He was buried, and three days later he was raised to life, as the Scriptures say. Christ appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After this, he appeared to more than five hundred other followers. Most of them are still alive, but some have died. He also appeared to James, and then to all of the apostles. Finally, he appeared to me, even though I am like someone who was born at the wrong time. I am the least important of all the apostles. In fact, I caused so much trouble for God’s church that I don’t even deserve to be called an apostle. But God was kind! He made me what I am, and his wonderful kindness wasn’t wasted. I worked much harder than any of the other apostles, although it was really God’s kindness at work and not me. But it doesn’t matter if I preached or if they preached. All of you believed the message just the same." (1 Corinthians 15:1-11, CEV)
Where are the women? Did you notice how Paul in our second lesson was very careful to record how the resurrected Jesus appeared to Peter and the other apostles, and also himself but excluded the female witnesses to the resurrection? Our lesson from the book of John records how Mary Magdalene was the first to see the Jesus raised from the dead. Matthew, Mark, and Luke record how Mary was accompanied by Mary the mother of James, and a woman named Joanna. All four gospel writers agree that it was women who first saw Jesus raised from the dead.
Yet, in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul forgets this one very important detail.
Now I'm not trying to criticize Paul, but I do think it is interesting, how he failed to take notice of three very significant witnesses to the resurrection. And if Paul could make that mistake, what does that say about the rest of us? How many witnesses to the resurrection do we fail to take notice of? How often have people told us about the resurrected Jesus and his power, and we have failed to hear them, failed to see them, as we really ought to?
We often think, “I've seen it all. I've heard it all.” But truth be told, most of us hear and see only a smidgeon of what is going on in the world around us. We experience only the “tip of the ice berg” so to speak, when it comes to spiritual matters. And oh the things we miss out on!
When I was in seminary, I had a friend from Ethiopia named Melkamu Tesgara. To the world Melkamu must have looked like an ordinary Afro American. He had nice curly black hair and a mustache and beard. He kind looked like the Afro American soldier in the comic strip Beetle Baily.
But as I got to know Melkamu, I discovered a real witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. One evening over supper, Melkamu told me of what it was like to grow up in Ethiopia when the communists were in power.
He recalled how communist officials came to call on his father, who was a pastor, to discourage him from preaching the gospel. They came with a band of soldiers carrying rifles. They rounded up the family, led them out behind the house and threatened to shoot them. At the last second, the execution was called off and the soldiers left leaving Melkamu and his family trembling in fear.
Now you would think, that having experienced such terror, Melkamu would be the last person in the world to want to follow in his father's footsteps. Yet, there he was at Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque Iowa, studying to be a pastor. A witness to the resurrection and its power to transform lives. To the world, Melkamu looked like any other person. No different from you or me. Yet when you really listened to him, really heard what he was saying, he was like Mary Magdalene and the other witnesses, testifying to some higher power that cannot be defeated by rifles, death squads, and crucifixions.
Maybe you know some people who are witnesses to the life giving power of Jesus and his resurrection. Often they are people we work with. People we play with. People we are even married to, or related to.
Walk into any AA meeting and you'll discover all kinds of persons talking about their “higher power”. Some describe that higher power in terms of the spirit or Buddha. Yet most people know that higher power in terms of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one who helps them, just as he helped people two thousand years ago. Being sober may not be a miracle for you, but for many who suffer from the disease of alcoholism, being sober is like going from death to life. It's like being resurrected to new life. And who has the power to resurrect us to that new life? None other than the resurrected Jesus. The Lord of the resurrection.
So many witnesses get ignored, or under appreciated. They sit side by side with us in the pew, or drive side by side with us on the way to work. And yet we fail to hear their stories. We fail to see and hear their witness to Jesus and his power to resurrect us to new life.
Men may fail to appreciate the witness of women. Young may fail to appreciate the witness of the old. Parents might fail to appreciate the witness of their children. Yet nevertheless the witnessing goes on and on.
Martin Luther King Jr. witnessed to the power of the resurrection in his belief that Jesus' could heal racial divisions. Look what happened a generation later. A black president! Who would have believed such a thing in 1960? William Wilberforce and the Methodists of 19th century England witnessed to the power of the resurrection in their belief that faith in Jesus' could rid the world of slavery. And in less than two generations the world went from slavery everywhere to slavery practically nowhere. In 20th century Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Rumania and other Eastern European countries, Christians dreamed of a day when the iron curtain of communist tyranny would come tumbling down. In the early 1990's thanks to candle light prayer vigils and great crowds of protestors singing Christian hymns the iron curtain fell to pieces. The resurrected Jesus is at work among his people, resurrecting them to new life, resurrecting the whole world to new life. And the witnessed are everywhere, if we would but open our eyes and ears, to see and hear them.
And even in our own lives that witness to resurrection power can be found, if we truly listen. How many of us have experienced great healing of the mind, body, or spirit? And for awhile we take notice. We worship more. We pray more. We share our time, talent and possessions more, because thanks to Jesus, we have been resurrected to new life. But what happens as time goes by? The cell phones ring, the horns blare. The rock concerts and large screen TV's take over and crowd out that gentle testimony to grace. And pretty soon life is back to normal.
In this morning's gospel, the resurrected Jesus was standing right beside Mary. Yet Mary, in her grief, did not see him. She thought Jesus was the gardener. Jesus told her, “Why do you seek the living among the dead.” But Mary failed to understand. But then Jesus spoke her name. Much as our name might be spoken in baptism. “Mary..” and that was all that it took for her to believe.
This morning, Jesus calls us by name too. Mary, George, Gretta, Phillip. And gently and lovingly he calls us to take notice of his witnesses. Believe the testimony in your own life as well as the lives of others. Believe in a God who can love us and raise us to new life in his name.
This morning may we join the two billion witnesses to the resurrection and take notice of the God who raises us to new life in Jesus Christ. Amen.
