Two weeks after the September 11 attack, the New York Times columnist Frank Rich wrote an article that said

“Everything has changed. As we straddle this incredible moment, poised between Armageddon and a future only a fool would predict, there is rampant hunger for certainty…in truth, we don’t know where we are…we’re in limbo.”

He might was well have been at the tomb on that Easter morning, at early dawn when the sun was just beginning to chase the shadows away and things could again be seen for what they really were. An empty tomb. A body gone. A message from angels.

And then the sightings of a resurrected Jesus begin. The women gathered there might have said the same thing: “In truth we don’t know where we are. Everything has changed.”

The truth is…we don’t know what to do with resurrection. And so we move to poor analogies:

a) Check out the Hallmark Easter cards. Try to find one that says anything at all about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. You’d be hardpressed. All the eggs and bunnies you want.

You can find things about new growth, a million about springtime, about flower bulbs that seemed dead, but weren’t. That is not Resurrection.

b) Check out the sports analogies. The American League baseball championships, the playoffs last fall.

The New York Yankees are up 3 games to 0 over the Red Sox. Down 0-3 and the Red Sox come back to win 4 games to 3! (can I get an Amen?!)

They looked like they were dead…but they weren’t. That is not Resurrection.

c) Check out the movies. Take the intellectual classic from years back, The Princess Bride! The hero, Wesley, is dead.

His friends take him to see Max the Miracle Man. Wesley is dead, but Max is able to do a miracle. Why?

Because as Max (a.k.a. Billy Crystal) says, “You only think he’s dead. He’s actually mostly dead.

There’s a big difference between all dead and mostly dead .” Yes. That is not Resurrection.

d) Look at preacher’s sermons from Easter, filled with abstract platitudes like these:

“On Easter day the world takes a turn for the better.”

“The heartbroken disciples gradually came to sense that Jesus was still with them.”

“Easter is about the enduring symbols of ultimate truth.”

That is not Biblical Resurrection. If it is…well let’s just come fill up the sanctuary on Easter, have the pastor tell a few stories, go out to brunch…and then tomorrow is Monday and we just go back to it.

Resurrection means the physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It’s what Jesus said would happen (at least 4 times in Luke, and 6 in Matthew), though no one could really hear it.

It’s what the women and Peter saw evidence of at the tomb, though they and others couldn’t believe it. Even those who were there might have staggered out and said “We don’t know where we are. Everything has changed.”

We don’t know what to do with resurrection. They didn’t know what to do with resurrection. In all 4 gospels, the response to resurrection was always:

• wonder
• astonishment
• surprise.

Unexpected, unimaginable, unbelievable.

Resurrection happened. It changed the world forever. If we let it…it will change us forever too.

Usually when we think Resurrection, we think of the assurance of life after death.

And that’s right. If Jesus destroys the finality of death, he’ll take us through it too. If Jesus bore our sin in death but physically came back to life:

• the door to heaven is open,
• He has prepared a place for us in heaven,
• we’ll sit one day at that feast in heaven with rich food and no more tears.

If resurrection happened, it can happen for us…and so death is not so very powerful. Rightly so. Resurrection totally changes death.

Last fall I went out near Kansas City to a meeting at a rural retreat center. The retreat center had acres and acres of trails through the woods or rolling hills.

One hot afternoon I went for a long walk, and stumbled on an old, old graveyard out in the middle of the woods. It had an old picket fence around it. It was very small, and almost all of the graves in it were people who had died in the late 1800 or early 1900’s.

Many of the gravestones were toppled over, or so worn that they were unreadable, but as I looked around, there were two identical markers from the same family. The stones read like this:

Dorothy Smith
Born April 15, 1889
Died May 22, 1935”
“Gone, but not forgotten.”

At first I wanted to say “Whoever wrote that was just flat out wrong. This person is totally forgotten, anyone who knew her in the slightest is long dead, and this gravestone is falling apart in a little rural cemetery. She’s forgotten.”

But I had it wrong.

You see…Resurrection.

Because death means nothing to Jesus Christ, Dorothy Smith is not forgotten. Never was forgotten. Resurrection says “God doesn’t forget.”

Some of you have lost friends and loved ones in this year. A couple of months ago, Wendy German, a good friend from this community passed away.

Yesterday another friend, Carol Krengel, who attended this church, died in Arizona.

When people die, it is hard. Really hard. We are left to deal with friends and loved ones, or ourselves…whose lives are torn apart. But because of Jesus’ resurrection…the story is different than it once was. Resurrection says “Death is not the end of the story.”

And so Resurrection changes death.

But…resurrection is about more than eternity.

• Jesus was raised in his physical body,
• Jesus walked this earth,
• Jesus met with friends,
• Jesus ate real food.

In resurrection, God has invaded a realm dominated by death and begun to set things right.

Theologian Richard Hays says “the gospel declares that God is reclaiming power over the world, not just beaming us up out of it.”

Resurrection denies the importance of death and…underscores the importance of life.

If you notice, the gospel accounts…all four…don’t speak to the idea of life after death for us because of Jesus’ resurrection. No, they speak to life here:

Why do you look for the living among the dead?

At the end of each gospel account is resurrection, and then:

- In Matthew, the resurrected Jesus tells them “God now and make disciples…and I’ll always be with you".

- In Mark, the resurrected Jesus sends the disciples out into the world to proclaim the good news.

- Here in Luke, the resurrected Jesus tells his followers that repentance and forgiveness need to be proclaimed to all nations.

- In John, the resurrected Jesus says “As the Father sent me, so now I send you…go feed my sheep.”

Easter changes how you die. And Easter changes how you live.

In resurrection, Jesus says go and live!

The gospel doesn’t end with resurrection, it moves people out to mission, to ministry, to share, to real life!

Resurrection makes living, real living, possible. Things are happening. Things can happen. God has broken in. Everything is different! The story is still being written.

This week I read about perhaps the most famous atheist in the world, the renowned English philosopher Antony Flew. Flew has taught and lectured at Oxford, Aberdeen, has lectured all over the world, has written 26 books and won countless prizes. He has steadfastly remained one of the most renowned atheists of the century, and helped others in their unbelief.

Now at 81 years old…he has changed. He is not a Christian, but he has shocked the unbelieving world by becoming a deist…someone who recognizes the presence of God in the universe, like Thomas Jefferson years ago.

He has come to believe that one cannot prove that miracles are impossible. And, he says, “if this is the case, why not be open to God’s possible intervention?”

He is not yet a Christian…but no one ever imagined him saying the things he is saying now. Maybe some day soon. Why not? Everything is different.

The New York Times magazine last week ran an article about “Degrassi High,” a cable TV show from Canada that has run in several variations for about 25 years. It has recently gotten a strong following in the U.S. amongst teenagers. It portrays high school life in a setting that shows teens trying to figure out life without a lot of help from parents or teachers.

In the last few years, the group of teens on the show has dealt with the following:

• pedophile cyberstalking,
• drug abuse,
• date rape,
• discrimination,
• abusive boyfriends,
• people coming out of the closet,
• a school shooting,
• abortion,

add,

a gonorrhea outbreak…and on and on and on.

This is just a small part of the list. Reality TV, I guess. Some weeks “Degrassi High” is the most popular teen show on all cable or network TV.

I’m certainly aware that our kids need to know about reality. But did you hear that lineup? These are our kids. I have a strong hunch that they are not receiving an equally strong dose of input from role models showing

• kindness,
• gentleness,
• self-control,
• respect for others,
• maturity in tough decisions,
• faithful marriages,
• the value of discipline,
• honest intellectual wrestling,
• the richness of relationships.

I know they’re not seeing it on TV, but do they in real life? Are we, God’s resurrection people, showing them: as parents, teachers, adult friends, Sunday School teachers, coaches, uncles and aunts that there is another way to live?!

Resurrection means God has broken into the here and now. Things are different. Things can be different.

I had a whole series of conversations in the last two weeks with people who have encountered Jesus Christ here, and now. Lives are changing. They kept saying

“I can’t believe I’m saying this. I can’t believe I’ve become a Christian. I can’t believe being part of a community of faith is like this. I can’t believe what God is doing.”

But why not? If Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead…everything is different. Everything can be different.

There are dark times in this world. Resurrection hasn’t brought the whole kingdom here…but it changes everything.

Desmond Tutu, the archbishop of South Africa who lived through some of the worst atrocities of apartheid…once said “Even in the darkest moment…hold onto your hope! I’ve read the rest of the book…and we win!”

All of these stories tell me…we have work to do. We are sent out, we are given a mission, we have a chance to live differently.

Resurrection is the certainty for the future, but also the light for the present…that says the story is still being written. That we have a chance to live resurrection lives. That we can look for Jesus among the living.

Everything has changed.

Resurrection changes death.

And it changes life.

It denies the power and importance of death, it underscores the importance of life. Real life. Why do you look for the living among the dead?

Today we get glimpses of resurrection life breaking into this physical world, in small and large ways. And someday we will know more. We will, perhaps, sit at table like the one Isaiah describes, tasting good food, with good jokes, with no more crying.

And we’ll sit, perhaps, with this crowd of folks we’ve talked about this morning: the women from the empty tomb, the Apostle Peter, the two on the road. Dorothy Smith from the cemetery outside Kansas City, some young people who have been given a glimpse of a different life, maybe this philosopher Antony Flew, Desmond Tutu.

We will sit at the table of the One who brings resurrection, and from somewhere off down that long table a voice will shout out…I bet it will be Peter…and he will say

“Christ is risen!”

And we will respond:

“He is risen indeed!”

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Christ is risen! Alleluia! He is risen indeed!”