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Psalm 118:
My brother-in-law jokingly refers to Easter as “Zombie Jesus Day”.
No, really, he does.
He’s got a weird sense of humor, even when it’s not April Fools’ Day.
No, Really
For reflection
Because it’s both Easter AND April Fool’s Day, I thought I’d start off with an Easter joke this morning.
The theology of it is sketchy, but it’s still funny.
One Easter a priest and a taxi driver both died and went to heaven.
St. Peter was at the Pearly gates waiting for them.
'Come with me,' said St. Peter to the taxi driver.
The taxi driver did as he was told and followed St Peter to a mansion.
It had everything you could imagine from a bowling alley to an Olympic size pool.
'Oh my word, thank you,' said the taxi driver.
Next, St. Peter led the priest to a rough old shack with a bunk bed and a little old television set.
'Wait, I think you are a little mixed up,' said the priest.
'Shouldn't I be the one who gets the mansion?
After all I was a priest, went to church every day, and preached God's word.'
'Yes, that's true.' St Peter rejoined, 'But during your Easter sermons people slept.
When the taxi driver drove, everyone prayed.'
(From: http://www.guy-sports.com/funny/christian_easter_jokes.htm)
I’m going to do my best this morning not to put you all to sleep.
I was up at the crack of dawn - literally - for a sunrise service this morning, so I can’t promise I won’t myself to sleep.
I was actually pretty torn when preparing the worship service and my sermon for today because I desperately love a good joke and the temptation to add Christmas hymns or do everything completely backwards was strong.
But my sense of decency and my love for the flow of worship and the church year won the internal argument.
And I also love Easter so very very much.
It truly is the high point of the church year.
We get to read some of the weirdest, most interesting passages of scripture together.
We talk about redemption and forgiveness and miracles and all the good stuff after spending Lent dragging our feet through all the hard stuff.
My son doesn’t wear sweat pants to church.
My brother-in-law jokingly refers to Easter as “Zombie Jesus Day”.
No, really, he does.
He’s got a weird sense of humor, even when it’s not April Fools’ Day.
He’s not alone in realizing the absurdity of this holiday.
Even the disciples who first got word about the resurrection were completely at a loss as to what to do with this information.
“Trembling and astonishment had seized them”
Think about it.
This is a weird, weird story.
Just a few days ago, The authorities put to death a man who was saying things that shook them up a bit.
That’s pretty easy to get behind.
Happens all the time in one form or another.
There will always be people - even or maybe especially people in power - who just want to maintain the status quo.
And those people will often go to drastic measures to do so.
The weird part is how God used that.
The weirder part is that not only did God use it, God redeemed it.
The weirdest part is that not only did God use that and redeem that, God redeems US.
Sometimes, I think that is the real miracle of the story.
It seems like it would be easier for Jesus to rise again from the dead than to forgive and redeem the rottenness of humanity.
I don’t know if ya’ll have noticed this lately, but humanity is a hot mess.
People are shooting each other en masse in public places.
It’s almost impossible to have diplomatic dialogue between two people or groups on opposite ends of the political spectrum.
DO NOT - I REPEAT - DO NOT read the comments of any online news article if you want to retain any hope for mankind.
North Korea is breathing threats down the backs of our necks every other day and at least appearing to make nice on the days in between.
And good luck figuring out who’s right and who’s wrong in Israel/Palestine.
I’ve been spending a ton of time researching the history and culture and religion of that part of the world in preparation for a peacemaking conference there next month and the more I read, the muddier the whole thing looks.
I know that there certainly IS goodness in the world.
There is phenomenal love and compassion and kindness in this world.
I’m looking out into this congregation and I see pews full of love and compassion and kindness.
If you’re visiting today, trust me on this - these people are some of the most wonderful and good people you will ever meet.
A static understanding of history always looks backward.
Yet for humans, there is no way to return to the past.
The only option is to move on.
The risen Lord is always “ahead” of us not behind ().
(From: “Faith in the Face of Empire” by Mitri Raheb)
But there are also many mean people out there.
This is just a reality.
There are mean people and mean systems and mean circumstances.
Sometimes, there are even mean people in church.
I haven’t met any of those here yet, but I’ve met them in other churches - one was even a pastor.
I’ve heard about them from other people too.
I’m not saying it’s all bad.
It’s just that it can feel pretty exhausting.
It can feel like fighting for justice and compassion and goodness in the world is an uphill battle.
A static understanding of history always looks backward.
Yet for humans, there is no way to return to the past.
The only option is to move on.
The risen Lord is always “ahead” of us not behind ().
(From: “Faith in the Face of Empire” by Mitri Raheb)
(From: “Faith in the Face of Empire” by Mitri Raheb)
https://www.amazon.com/Faith-Face-Empire-through-
Peter says in our passage today from Acts that God loves everyone.
God doesn’t show partiality to anyone.
God loves all people - even the mean ones.
And in fact, Jesus spent his life bringing healing and compassion specifically to people who were under the oppression of sin.
Everyone.
EVERYONE.
Everyone who believes in him is granted forgiveness.
Jesus didn’t just do all this for the good guys.
Jesus rose again so that all people might be able to experience forgiveness.
It’s your choice if you want to live into that or not.
That is so completely counter to the messages of the world today, but it is so very needed.
So let me say that again.
Everyone who believes in him is granted forgiveness.
Jesus didn’t just do all this for the good guys.
Jesus rose again so that all people might be able to experience forgiveness.
It’s your choice if you want to live into that or not.
Peter frames his message about Jesus and the story of Israel in with two wider declarations - Jesus is Lord of all () and everyone who believes in him received forgiveness of sins through his name ().
How have you seen the power of these messages at work?
Jesus came, taught, healed, died, and rose again so that we wouldn’t have to stay under the oppression of sin and meanness.
Not all people choose freedom, but it’s offered to all.
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