Can You Believe It?

David Orendorff · Luke 24:1-12 · April 8, 2007

That Jesus was crucified is clear but the resurrection is problematic.   Dying is easy to understand, it is universal. But coming back from the dead is very uncommon.  The resurrection accounts of the Bible are confusing. Good and bright men and women who have dedicated their lives to studying the resurrection come to diverse conclusions.  Yet I believe that behind all the confusion and contradictions there is a fundamental affirmation of the resurrection that we can share.

Paul doesn’t mention an empty tomb. The gospels tell of an empty tomb but are inconsistent in who discovers it.  Various women play prominent roles but differ on what they say and to whom they speak.  Mark’s women don’t say anything to anyone.

There is not even agreement on who first saw the risen Lord.  Paul reports it was Cephas/Peter; Mark has no appearance; Luke has Jesus appear to Cleopas and another unnamed disciple on the road to Emmaus; Matthew has Jesus first appear to the disciples as a group; and John has the first appearance to Mary Magdalene alone.

I doubt a rational mind will ever be satisfied with the science or the history of the resurrection.  The reported details lead in several too many different directions.  More questions are raised than answers given.  The earliest church is divided on what happened. What is the ordinary believer two thousand years later to believe, think or trust?

I am not going to tell you.  In Methodist tradition you are asked to come to your own conclusions.  What I say next is a confession of my belief.  Use what you can and delete the rest.

Jesus was dead.  His followers were afraid that they would be next.  They hid in fear and despair for a failed future.  And then, something remarkable, something that defied the usual course of things, happened and overcame their fear.  They came out of hiding and announced to the world that Jesus was alive.  Their belief in the living Jesus was so strong that they were transformed from cowards to missionaries, from poor students into founders of the world's largest and most fearless faith.  That something unplanned and unexpected happened not even the most thorough historian can deny because men and women with nothing to gain and everything to lose began to preach of God's victory over death.

“Something happened” that made the crucifixion of Jesus not the end of faith but its beginning and the earliest followers called that something the resurrection of Jesus the Christ.  Resurrection has transformed life after life, generation following generation, from fear of life's cruelty to trust in God's compassion.  This mysterious something made people of all nations bring loving kindness to hunger, peace to violence, and purpose to lost souls.

Resurrection in life is more common than we often think. The seed dies and the plant rises.  A cell in the body dies and a new one is born.  A career is lost and a door opens.  A relationship fails and a new one is emerges.  In the morning we rise from the small death of sleep.  Again and again resurrection makes this life a series of new beginnings, of greater loving.

Andra Schaub sent me this Easter tale:

Last week I took my children to a restaurant. My six-year-old son asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads he said, "God is good, God is great. Thank you for this food, and I would even thank you more if Mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And liberty and justice for all! Amen!"

Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby I heard a woman remark, "That's what's wrong with this country. Kids today don't even know how to pray. Asking God for ice-cream! Why, I never!"

Hearing this, my son burst into tears and asked me, "Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?"

As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table. He winked at my son and said, "I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer."

“Really?!”

"Cross my heart," the man replied … Then in a theatrical whisper he added, (indicating to the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), "Too bad she never asks God for ice cream … a little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes."

Naturally, I bought my kids ice cream at the end of the meal.

My son stared at his for a moment and then did something I will remember the rest of my life. He picked up his sundae and without a word, walked over and placed it in front of the woman. With a big smile he told her, "Here, this is for you ... ice cream is good for the soul sometimes, and my soul is good already."

There are several resurrections in this simple story.  The child who feared having done something wrong is resurrected.  The mother who grieves her wounded son is resurrected.  The gentleman who offered the healing word is resurrected.  Even the grumpy woman is offered resurrection by way of a child’s ice cream.

If it is true that God daily resurrects us from small but painful deaths then why may it not also be true that God resurrects Jesus and us at our final death.  The something that happened to those first disciples convicted them to no longer fear any death.  John Donne said it this way:

He brought light out of darkness, not out of a lesser light, and he can bring thee summer out of winter, though thou hast no spring.  Though in the ways of fortune, understanding, or conscience thou hast been benighted till now, wintered and frozen, clouded and eclipsed, damped and benumbed, smothered and stupefied, now God comes to thee, not as the dawning of the day, not as the bud of the spring, but as the sun at noon.1 John Donne, "Of the Seasons of his Mercies"

On this Easter and in every Lent and Easter of your life may something happen that is “the sun at noon,” leads you from fear and convicts you that God comes to your tomb and raises you from the dead.  Shalom and Amen.

 Addendum: Reports of Jesus’ Resurrection

Paul makes the first written report of the resurrection in a letter to the Corinthians, probably written around 50 CE.  Paul reports the tradition he has received (I Cor. 15:5) saying that Jesus first appeared to Cephas whom we call Peter.

The Gospel of Mark, written sometime around 70 CE says (Mark 16:1-8) that Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, went early to the tomb and there found it empty.  An unidentified young man tells them that Jesus has risen and gone to Galilee.  The women are afraid and tell no one of what has happened.  We hear nothing more from Mark and we don't know who actually saw the resurrected Jesus first, if anyone.

The Gospel of Luke was written around 85 CE.  Luke's report (24:1-35) indicates that unnamed women discover the empty tomb and two men in "dazzling apparel," perhaps angels, tell them that Jesus has been raised.  The women return to the men and tell what they have been told.  The resurrected Jesus is first seen by the disciple Cleopas and another disciple, probably his wife, on the road to Emmaus.

Matthew, probably written around 90 CE, repeats Mark (Matthew 28:1-20) saying that Mary Magdalene and another Mary go to the tomb and find it empty.  There an angel tells them Jesus is raised and they run to tell the men.  Later, on a mountain in Galilee, Jesus appears to the disciples as a group.

The Gospel of John, written sometime near the end of the first century or the beginning of the second, is our final report of the resurrection.  Like Mark and Matthew, John (20:1-18) tells us that Mary Magdalene, this time alone, finds the tomb empty.  She runs to tell Peter and the others.  Peter and another disciple return with Mary Magdalene to the tomb.  They find the tomb empty.  Mary Magdalene sees two angels in the tomb and they asked why she is weeping.  Then turning she sees a man she supposes to be the gardener and asks where they have taken the body of Jesus.  But it is not the gardener it is Jesus to whom she speaks.  And so according to John the resurrected Jesus first appears to Mary Magdalene.