Not-yet-ness?

     This coming week marks the third Sunday after Easter. By this time, it is really beginning to feel like Easter is over - the lilies will have started to wilt, or be taken home by those who donated them; the spring decorations will have begun to be replaced with more summery flair; and at least in our congregation we are marking the end of our program year of Sunday School, confirmation, and many other ministries that take sabbath breaks during the summer.

Messiah by He Qi*

     On top of that, we are moving ever closer to the end of The Story, the resource our congregation has been using since last September and the chapter for this week is all about Paul's missionary journey. It is one of the lengthier chapters in the book, and covers a wide range of scripture, from Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Galatians, and 1 Thessalonians.
    Yet given the variety there were several passages that fit the Easter theme quite well, and I landed on a couple of passages from 1 Corinthians 15. The focus on these texts is the resurrection of Christ, but also there is strong emphasis on our own resurrection at the end of time.
     This portion of 1 Corinthians gets at that phrase of the Apostles' Creed that many question, but which we say each week

I believe.. in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

If I am to believe certain studies out there, there are actually very few Christians who believe in an actual bodily resurrection. This may be thanks to a few creative artists who portray the spirits of cartoon characters leaving their body and floating up to heaven, recently given wings, a halo, and a harp to play in paradise. It may be because we know that if we visit any grave, even those who lived the most faithful of lives will still be in the ground. Regardless of where the idea comes from, resurrection of the body is indeed one of the greatest mysteries of faith, as even Paul himself says in this passage. So rather than focusing on the mystery itself, let us focus on the implications of this mystery.
     I admit that in my own preaching and teaching I tend to emphasize eternal life as a present reality for those of us who have died and been raised with Christ in baptism. For so long the only emphasis was on the future life, the life after death, and indeed eternal life is one of the beautiful paradoxes we live in: we have already been given eternal life yet we do not yet experience it in its fullness.
     It is in fact in those moments when we experience the not-yet-ness of the paradox, the words from Paul ring most true

If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, 

we are of all people to most be pitied.

The last day is indeed one of the greatest mysteries of the Christian faith, but it is also the moment that we perhaps yearn for most in the moments of lament, fear, despair, and doubt. What Paul does say for certainty is that in that moment, when the trumpet sounds and the dead are raised, we will all be changed.

     Hoping for the change is not a difficult thing. There is so much about this world: our selves, our neighbors, our societies, that I long to change. And yet there is also so much that I know will never change until that last day. So, rather than get caught up in despair and nihilism that anything we do is worthless anyway, we Christians continue in spite of. For the sake of. In hope of.

     It is with this hope that we do anything at all in this world. So then with this hope that at the last day all will be changed we live our lives as if it were already a reality, witnessing in glimpses the already-ness of our victory in the resurrection and new life. Martin Luther, in his book The Table Talk of Martin Luther says, 

Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. No husbandman would sow one grain of corn, if he hoped not it would grow up and become seed; no bachelor would marry a wife, if he hoped not to have children; no merchant or tradesman would set himself to work, if he did not hope to reap benefit thereby, etc. How much more, then, does hope urge us on to everlasting life and salvation?

And so we live in the already-not-yet of our eternal salvation, experiencing in bits and pieces the gift of Jesus' resurrection while fully awaiting that great and glorious day when the trumpet sounds and all will be changed.

He, Qi. Messiah, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46119 [retrieved April 28, 2014]. Original source: heqigallery.com.

What do I witness?

Peter Preaching at Pentecost*

     Christ is risen! The scent of lilies still permeates the building, coming from the sanctuary where we celebrated our own baptisms into Christ's death and resurrection. Yet for the people in our gospel lessons, life has moved on to normal. Well, as normal as it gets when you believe that someone came back from the dead to conquer sin, death, and the devil, and to bring eternal salvation to the world.
     Recall with me from Matthew's gospel that the two Mary's who had gone to Jesus' tomb left quickly to return to Galilee, the land they are from. There was no reason to stay in Jerusalem as life there had returned to normal, too. So Jesus instructs the women to tell the men to meet him in Galilee. As we read the rest of Matthew 28, we see that Jesus does in fact meet them there, and that Jesus gives them the Great Commission:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

But you know, even in the midst of Jesus' very strong words of assurance and presence, some still doubted. And that's the beauty of these stories. As we heard on Sunday, the doubt still remains along with the faith. Our realities remain unchanged, right alongside the new reality which laughs at death and suffering because they are not final.
     And this is the reality we find the disciples living in this Sunday's text from Acts. We are continuing to gallop through the Bible, already in chapter 28 of The Story. It is from the Acts of the Apostles and chronicles their actions in those days, months, and years after Jesus' resurrection. In Sunday's reading we happen to find the disciples in Jerusalem again and preaching to a great crowd. It is one of the many sermons in Acts, and is spoken by Peter (you remember - the Peter who denied Jesus three times?). The beautiful and ingenious part of Peter's sermon comes right at the end when he says, "All of us are witnesses of this." The 'this' being Jesus' resurrection.
     That is the mystery I ponder today. How am I a witness of Jesus' resurrection? How are you? How have you seen the risen Jesus in the world? Many of us, along with the witnesses in Matthew still doubt, at times. Yet the important thing is that the doubt happened alongside worship. When we can come and worship - with all our doubts and imperfections - certainly we witness the risen Jesus.

*West, Benjamin, 1738-1820. Peter Preaching at Pentecost, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55159 [retrieved April 22, 2014]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Peter_Preaching_at_Pentecost.jpg.

Who is this?

Crucifixion by El Greco*

This week marks the greatest mystery of our faith: Jesus' final days, his suffering, death, and at the end, his resurrection. When you stop to think about it, reason has a dangerous way of taking over.
Really? You are hanging your whole life on the fact that over 2000 years ago a dude was killed and then came back to life three days later, and now is somehow still present in the world through the Holy Spirit and people who believe in him? And because of this you can now have forgiveness and life?
It sounds absurd, really, when you just read it. Yet it is true, and as Martin Luther said, I would stake my life on it a thousand times.

On Sunday, thanks to David Lose and his entry The Question of the Day, I posed the same question to our congregation: Who is this?

Who is this man who rode into town like a king? Who some actually claimed was a king, who performed signed and miracles, who attracted and angered thousands in equal number? For those who cut branches and spread cloaks, this man was their hope. He was for them the Messiah, the anointed one promised by God for centuries to bring new life and salvation to the world. He was the hope of a life without oppression and hunger, where justice and peace both reigned, and peace through terror and tyranny was nonexistent. (Think Pax Romana.)

Yet just a few days after that triumphant entry these same people who had pinned their hopes on this man had turned and instead of crying Hosanna! cried out Crucify!

Who is this man? Who didn't defend himself, who saved others but couldn't save himself from his own terrible fate, who stirred up hope only to let everyone down that terrible Friday afternoon? He was for them a scapegoat, one on whom to take out anger and hatred, whose promise of a new kingdom went rejected, whose body was broken, and who asked forgiveness for those who inflicted his suffering and death.

These are the questions we pondered Sunday during worship. And the worship continues this week as we celebrate the Great Three Days, culminating on Sunday morning with our Easter celebration. The question, however, remains.

Maundy Thursday we hear from John's gospel about Jesus the servant who stoops to wash his disciples' feet and we ask, Who is this?

Good Friday we hear once again about the cross - that ultimate sign of our faith, the sign of God's own suffering, death, and resurrection for the sake of the world, and we ask, Who is this?

Easter Morning we gather with the disciples and hear from the angel that Christ is alive! We hear these words, perhaps in the same way as those first women, with 'fear and great joy' and we find ourselves once again asking, Who is this?

As we enter into the mystery of this week, please ponder this question with me. In my own journey of faith I have answered this question in many different ways, and if I have learned one thing in this mystery, it is that the answer is rarely ever the same. I know that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, but exactly how that is played out varies with mysterious regularity. How about for you? Who is this for you?

 *Greco, 1541?-1614. Crucifixion, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48044 [retrieved April 15, 2014]. Original source: www.yorckproject.de.

Gain the world and lose my life?

     As we approach Holy Week it feels like time is speeding up, that this Lenten journey which began four weeks ago is somehow accelerating the closer we come to the cross. This week in our gospel from Mark we have a simultaneous confession of faith and betrayal of Jesus' identity.
    Peter boldly declares that Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Savior of the world. And at this confession Jesus orders them sternly not to tell anyone. The time had not yet come. But the time was coming for Jesus to reveal exactly what it meant for him to live into his role as Messiah - and it wasn't what the disciples expected. To be the Messiah meant to suffer, to be rejected, to be killed, and then after three days to rise again.
     While Peter boldly confessed Jesus to be the Messiah before, now he turns and tells Jesus that the Messiah does NOT suffer, be rejected, be killed, and then rise again. Surely the Messiah would rise to great glory so that the whole world might come to know God's salvation. Surely the Messiah would enjoy great power and honor and respect fitting a king, especially a king in the line of David. Yet as always, Jesus uses this opportunity to turn everything we know on its head.

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ~ Mark 8.34-36

As we speed toward our Three Holy Days, the mystery of faith looms before us. How is one to live as a follower of Jesus? What does it mean for us that the one we follow suffered? What can it mean that we are called to deny the self?
     A wonderful Christian artist named TobyMac composed a song based on these verses several years ago, and it is my prayer that the song and the video invite you into living this mystery with me.