What Do You Make of the Resurrection

Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.

It's our hope that these sermons will draw you

more into the life of following God, Father,

Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and

joining with us each Sunday morning at 10am in

the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find

us online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Facebook,

Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this

sermon. God Bless. Great God, we pray again that

you would stir in our hearts the wonder of your

resurrection, the wonder of life in the kingdom

where death cannot hold you down. God, I pray

that you would speak to us again this morning,

that you would speak to us specifically, or that

you would call us to greater life and to greater

faith in you. We ask in your name. Amen. Now,

I will admit that I actually intended a longer

text there. I'm going to be focusing our attention

on three of the narratives in the Gospel of John

this morning. But I want to tell you a story

that you've probably heard before, at least you've

heard the gist of it. On Saturday, June 17th

in 1972, Five men were arrested and they arrested

for breaking into the Democratic National Committee

headquarters. You've probably heard of this.

The security guard at the office complex had

noticed that there was tape that was covering

the door. You know how you can do this? You can

cover it so that when it shuts, it doesn't really

lock. And so he had noticed that and he'd actually

taken off. He said, that's weird. And then he

went back and he found that there was tape on

again. And he said, well, something's fishy.

And so he called the police and an unmarked police

car arrived. And while the burglars, the burglars

sentry across the street, they were distracted

by watching TV. That's when the car arrived.

Well, the five men were arrested and they were

arrested for conspiracy, right? Burglary, attempted

wiretapping. Y 'all know the story. That wasn't

the big story. The real scandal happened when

the president of the United States, Richard Nixon,

and his committee to reelect him was found to

be behind it all. Scandal and deception, right?

Lies. It's the stuff of actually, it's the stuff

of the great stories and the great movies. Things

that kind of draw us in wondering what's going

on and who done it? Who's at fault? Of course,

what's that known as? That's the known as Watergate,

right? Those buildings are still there, standing

there. I've pointed them out and told the story

to my children. One of the president's men was

known as the Hatchet Man. One of the president's

men was Charles Coulson. He was one of the Watergate

Seven, the seven men who were advisors to the

president, who were part of the cover -up story,

part of the scandal. And you probably know that

he became a Christian. He actually became a Christian

reading C .S. Lewis, his book, Mere Christianity.

And he was eventually put in prison for a little

while, and then he started a wonderful ministry

called Prison Fellowship. Some of you may have

been involved with that at the time. Anyway,

Charles Colson talks about the resurrection like

this, and I love this. He says, I know the resurrection

is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. Watergate

proved to him the resurrection. This is why he

says, this is why. Because 12 men testified they

had seen Jesus raised from the dead. Then they

proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once

denying it. Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned,

and put in prison. That's what happened to the

disciples. The gospel, or John, you know, the...

The disciple John may have lived in prison on

Patmos and may have died naturally, but all the

rest of the disciples were tortured and killed.

And he probably died in that exiled island in

prison. He says, they would not have endured

that if it weren't true. Watergate embroiled

12 of the most powerful men in the world and

they couldn't keep the lie for three weeks. Three

weeks. He says, you're telling me the 12 apostles

could keep alive for 40 years? Impossible. Watergate

showed him the truth of the resurrection. Of

course, I wonder this morning, what do you make

of the resurrection? What do you make of it?

I also wonder what does it make of you? Many

people, many people believe the resurrection

is a watergate, a scandal, a cover -up. It's

a self -producing, self -reinforcing kind of

lie that we just kind of live into. And so many

people have been duped over the millennia about

the resurrection. It's a cover -up put together

by some of Jesus' disciples to dupe the Roman

authorities. to say, gotcha, to the religious

leaders. And people have just been believing

that story time and again. That's often what's

said. It's Easter, a water gate, a cover up.

Is it the Easter gate, right? But I wonder what

you make of it. What do you think of it? What

do you think of the resurrection? I mean, it's

the central thing of Christianity. Paul says,

as I mentioned earlier, if it didn't happen,

Christians are to be pitied, maybe laughed at,

scorned. Look at all these people. They come

in week in, week out, confess their sins, believe

that they're truly forgiven because of the work

of Christ. Is it all a big cover -up? Well, The

Gospel of John gives us a few different narratives

that I think kind of invite us into this kind

of process. One of them, you probably know of,

it's the doubting Thomas story. One of his own

disciples, one of Jesus' own disciples after

the resurrection. And he's wondering if it's

true. And in some ways, I think actually Thomas

is sort of, interacts with Jesus how we would

expect. He doubts this reality of what God has

done. And I think there's a little bit of this.

There's a couple reasons why we think this is

what we'd expect. One is that Thomas is an interesting

character in the Gospels. He doesn't appear too

much. He's not like the Apostle Peter or John

or James. They get a lot of attention. Thomas

doesn't get a lot of attention. But at one point

in John chapter 11, he basically says, well,

John 11 · chapter mention

if we're going to go with Jesus, let's die. Maybe

he's kind of a dour guy. Chapter 14, he basically

tells Jesus, Lord, your teaching's not very clear.

Which, you know, that's true sometimes. Sometimes

you're kind of wondering what's going on. But

on the first Easter, all the disciples are gathered

together in a room and that door is locked and

Thomas isn't there. And in some ways, at least

first when Jesus appears to them. And in some

ways that's maybe not a big surprise because

because of his own kind of history, but also

because he understands what we understand. Maybe

he had thought to throw in the whole towel and

the whole thing. Maybe he had actually seen Jesus'

hands nailed to the cross. He had seen him breathe

his last, all that kind of stuff. Maybe he knew

what you and I know. Which is not new to sort

of modern science that once people breathe their

last they don't breathe again When you die you

die In the gospel of John there are some that

are simply sort of hostile to Jesus You can think

of the religious leaders who plot to kill him,

right? You can think of the the crowds that we

remembered last Sunday who shout, Hosanna, and

then on Good Friday, they're saying, crucify

him. Do away with him. There are a lot of people

who just misunderstand Jesus. You know, again,

think of last week, you know, the people are

mixed, right? That's what I was saying last week.

They're throwing these palms and these cloaks

down and they're thinking, okay, you're going

to kind of do away with the empire, do away with

the Romans. They're not quite understanding Jesus.

And then there are some who believe, and then

there are people, other people like Thomas, right?

Initially here, at least in that story. And I

want to suggest to you that maybe that's you.

You're not necessarily hostile. You just kind

of go, I don't know what to make of this stuff.

I don't know that I kind of buy it. What do you

do with a God who comes and heals people and

declares the forgiveness of sins? What do you

do with a God who who dies on a torture instrument

and Christians celebrate that? What do you do

with the God who comes and liberates? What do

you do with the God who rises from the dead?

Right. I mean some at least you may be scratching

your head and you're wondering I don't know what's

going on here Thomas I'm suggesting to you in

some ways is who we expect him to be but it's

Who we expect him to be because it's the case

for so many. No doubt it's the case for some

of you this morning. That you hear the story

of Thomas and his doubting of whether or not

Jesus rose from the dead and you go, yeah, I

get that. Rowan Williams, who was the last, I

guess two archbishops of Canterbury ago now,

says, death and the hells of dereliction and

abandonment eat people up. You know, like our

life kind of eats us up. Broken hearts and broken

relationships bodies that don't work Exhaust

us they scrape us out. They bring us to nothing

and it's often even in that that we kind of go

there is no Hope and so we hear something like

resurrection. We go. I don't know. I'm gonna

have to see some of that If I buy that We live

lives of death and loss we live lives where our

minds are often confused Where sin persists where

death really does seem to run rampant and resurrection

real resurrection life is just Too much to buy

into maybe too much to believe So again, I just

want to ask this morning do you think of the

resurrection is just kind of this fanciful story

Maybe a cover -up for something else maybe like

some people say it was a hallucination It was

Jesus raising in their hearts so they could feel

good about stuff. Now the claim of Christianity,

the claim of the scriptures is that God truly

rose. Real life, body. So what you have in the

story of Thomas is, is Jesus meeting him in that

place of doubt and wonder and questioning. Not

shirking him off not pushing him away, but coming

to him and saying here put your put your hands

in my hands Place your hand in my side don't

disbelieve but but believe And this morning I

want to suggest you if you're kind of somebody

who's like figment of the imagination Probably

didn't happen. Everybody's duped Would you come

to the Lord in that place? Would you Maybe invite

him to say, it's true. Let Jesus draw you into

a world where Good Friday's not the end of the

story. Where it breaks way into Easter morning.

Where the cross becomes a flowering tree. Well,

another story, actually the one that precedes

that in John's Gospel. is the story of the disciples,

right? So the disciples are gathered and Thomas

isn't there. They're gathered in this room together.

And what the text tells us is that the room's

locked. And why would the room be locked? I would

guess that the disciples are full of fear. My

guess... is that Peter told them stories. You

know what? When I was following Jesus around

after he got arrested, people were like, hey,

you were with them. You were one of them. Your

accent betrays you. You're from Galilee. I saw

you with them. And they saw what happened to

Christ on Good Friday, nailed to a tree. They're

locking the door, right? They're locking the

door. They don't want people to come in. Certainly

not the people that might say you were one of

his people and one of his disciples. And in comes

Jesus. That's how the story goes. They got a

locked door and in comes Jesus. He doesn't come

in through the door. He's bodily, but this resurrection

bodily is a different kind of bodily dynamic.

He just appears and they can touch him. Thomas

touches him. He's as real as real can be. And

he comes to them in the midst of this place where

the door is locked. And the first thing he tells

them is peace. And he repeats it, peace, peace

be with you. And they touch him again and he

says, peace be with you. So the first thing that

the resurrection does to this group of fearful

disciples is it brings peace. It comes to a world

that is The world of Thomas, right? The one who

properly doubts that this kind of good news can

really happen because the resurrection comes

to a world that is full of death and decay and

despondency and depression and despair and all

of that. That's the way of this world. And it

says that's no longer the order of things. That's

what the resurrection does. It speaks into this

world that is full of understandable fear. And

Jesus says, peace be with you. Jesus comes and

he brings peace. And when he does, it's not just

that we have to make something of the resurrection,

but the resurrection made something of those

disciples. It changed them. And specifically,

actually in that text, it makes them into assent

people because right after he gives them peace,

he says, as the father sends me, I'm sending

you, which is great when you're locked in a room,

because what he's saying is get out, get out

of this room, go, unlock the doors. He's sending

them out into a Good Friday, fear -filled world

with an Easter hope. Get out and tell people

that death is no longer the order of the day,

life is. Get out, get out from your fear, from

your locked up self. Nothing can hold you back.

Death is no longer a real obstacle for you. All

of the disciples gave their life for that truth.

They went out of that room, locked up, opened

door, all of it. So it was a sent people, but

it also, this is an interesting thing in the

text too, is that makes them a, the people who

are the presence of God in the world. Cause after

he says, get out, I'm gonna send you out. He

says, I'm gonna give you the Holy Spirit. And

he says this, if you forgive the sins of any,

they're forgiven. If you withhold them, they're

withheld, which is a really weird thing for Jesus

to say in that moment. But he immediately follows

that up with receive the Holy Spirit. What he's

saying is, you are my presence. You are the good

news presence into the world. Get out and go

in my name and do my work. So what's that look

like? Here's what someone suggested. How is a

Christian to prove the tomb is still empty the

day after Easter? They dare to love difficult

neighbors. They repent for wrongs a little bit

more quickly. That's partly how you believe in

the resurrection. You repent a little more quickly.

You repent and engage with conflict a little

less defensively. That's hard. You return to

work with a fresh sense of purpose and mission.

You commit to praying for the impossible situation

that you're finding yourself in. That's part

of believing in the resurrection. You quietly

preserve in the long -term battles with depression.

You approach your spouses and your children,

your roommates with fresh wonder and fresh affection,

fresh hope. You can risk serving where nobody

else wants to go. That's what is happening there.

Go out, forgive, here's the Holy Spirit. Fleming

Rutledge, some of you have read her wonderful

book, The Crucifixion. It says, it cannot be

said too often. If Christ was not raised from

the dead, we would never have heard of him. Of

course, the flip side is that because you heard,

because he did rise from the dead, you have heard

of him. You have gathered together. Broken relationships

are healed. Forgiveness really is on offer. New

life in the midst of death. Disciples would have

never been sent. The disciples... I mean, think

about them. They were a motley crew. Peter, of

course, was impetuous. He's always doing crazy

things. Some of them we don't hear anything about,

but some of them, you know, they're zealots.

Simon the zealot. He's wanting to take up arms

against the Romans. Matthew's a tax collector.

He's in cahoots with the Romans. They're just

a weird group of people. And somehow that weird

group of people, God changes in that moment.

He sends them out with his good news. and it

changes the world. Christians throughout the

world this morning and Christians throughout

time are gathering together not because of some

cover -up, not because of some scandal, not because

of some wishful thinking, but because the resurrection

made something of them, made them into a sent

people into the presence of God in this world

of death. But here's the great thing is that

the first story actually that tells of the resurrection

in John's gospel is when John or when Peter meets,

what am I saying, when Jesus meets Mary. And

Mary comes to the tomb that first Easter morning

and she comes right with spices. That's part

of a big part of the story. Why is she coming

with spices? Because she knows that dead bodies

smell. She's not thinking this will be fun. Maybe

I'll see my savior again. She's thinking this

will not be fun It will smell and I'll need to

cover up the stench And when she comes she stoops

down, right? She it says she weeps She's probably

cries she probably cries bitterly And my guess

is you know sort of those deep weepings deep

times of tears Times of loss and estrangement

of death the death of a loved one, where tears

sort of have their own timetable, and they just

kind of keep flowing until they sort of stop,

they have their own rhythm to them. And as she

wonders what's happening as she's weeping, it

seems as though there's figure there. She's wondering,

where have they taken my Lord, right? She's looking

and she's saying, where is Jesus? Where is his

body? And then it's in that moment that Jesus

comes to her. If you remember that story, one

of the things that she says is that she thought

that he was a gardener. But she doesn't say gardener.

She speaks to him in a sort of impersonal way.

She says, sir, sir, where have they taken my

Lord? And in that moment, actually, Jesus speaks

her name specifically. Which is to say, in the

midst of her tears, in the midst of her experiences

of Good Friday reality, death on this side of

glory, He knows her pain. He says, Mary. And

it's sort of like saying, Bella, Bettina, Alec,

Devin Peter Bruce Part of what's happening in

this story of the resurrection are is the reality

of the specifics of God knowing your experiences

of living in the Good Friday world Your experiences

of doubt and wonder and questioning your experiences

of weeping and crying and pain He speaks to her

and he turns her weeping also then into going.

He turns her weeping into a life towards others.

You might remember that she goes back and tells

the disciples. What do we make of the resurrection?

Well, part of the question is, what is it doing

to you? Is it just a figment of our imagination?

Is it a scandal or is it a cover up? Is it a

cute fairy tale that gives us a reason to eat

chocolate? As if we need a reason to eat chocolate,

right? We don't need one of those. Is it a parable?

That though bad things happen in the world, don't

give up. Is it a moral story? Love is stronger

than death. wishful thinking. Did it really happen?

Because if the resurrection didn't happen, nothing

matters. If it did, everything matters. If Jesus

really rose from the dead, physical, everything

physical is sort of charged with wonder, glory,

and beauty that God would come among it and declare

it good and worth redeeming. What do you make

of the resurrection? I'm gonna tell you a story.

There is a beautiful ritual in the Habsburg family,

you know that Austrian Empire. When the emperors

would die, they would be brought to the cathedral.

I looked up the name of this cathedral, but I

honestly, I feel like sometimes I try to say

things in other languages and they just don't

come out very well. I was like, I'm not going

to write it down because it was too tricky. But

they come to this cathedral in the middle of

Vienna. And if you go down deep into the steps

below there, there's the crypt where these emperors

are buried. And the tradition when an emperor

dies is that they are brought, their cask is

brought down and there is a door that is locked.

It's sort of like the story there in the disciples.

It's all locked. And the master of the ceremonies

comes and he knocks on this door and a voice

from inside says, who's there? Sounds spooky,

but it's just part of what happens, right? Well,

the tradition goes is that... The Master of Ceremonies

responds by saying something like this, Franz

Joseph, Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary,

King of Croatia, and then rattles off all 27

titles that the Emperor had. Who's there, right?

Let me tell you all of what I have, all the titles

that I have. Let me in. And inside the monk,

responds, yeah, we don't know him. So anyway,

the master of ceremonies, he knocks again. And

the voice from inside says, who's there? And

the tradition goes that this time, the master

of ceremonies is to recount the emperor's great

deeds, the peace treaties that were made, the

wars that he won, who he married, what children

he had. rattle off all of this great stuff that

the emperor did. What's the reply from inside?

We don't know him. And then a third time, third

time the master of ceremonies knocks and the

monk from inside says, who's there? And the reply

the third time, is Franz Joseph, a poor sinner.

And this is the invitation to this new life.

The doors opened up. The crypt is just a temporary

thing for somebody that comes to Jesus and says,

I'm just gonna rest in your grace for me and

trust that death is just an entrance into a whole

new life. That all the things that I've sort

of added up all the titles I've gained all of

the jobs I've done all of the blah blah blah

blah That I think earns me something all I need

to do is come to you knock Come to you and say

I'm a sinner and Jesus says let me give you new

life Resurrection hope is on offer for you just

come to Jesus Come to Jesus and knock and the

door will be opened to you. What do you make

of Christ? What do you make of the resurrection?

What do you make of it today? And what? What

if you gave yourself to following this Lord?

Coming to him and just saying, I'm a poor sinner

and I need you. What might it do to you? Let

me pray for us. Lord, we're thankful that Good

Friday is not the end. That this world that we

live in now that is so full of despair and death

and despondency and so many reasons for doubt,

Lord. So many reasons why we can see ourselves

right there next to Thomas going no way. So many

reasons why In the world that we live in, something

like resurrection hope, death not actually having

the final say seems impossible. But I pray that

we'd come to you this morning and just say, Lord,

I'm a sinner, give me belief. That we'd come

maybe like Thomas and desire to put our hands

into the, our fingers into your hands and into

your side and to hear Jesus say, don't disbelief,

but believe. And I pray that as we do that, Lord,

that we would become a resurrection people, that

we'd be people that press into the dark places

of life, that we press into the dark relationships

of our lives. We move out into the world with

a hope and a belief that you can do the impossible

and that you are with us. I hear this, Lord.

We lay these prayers before you. Transform us

by your resurrection power. In Jesus' holy name,

Amen.