Home Sermons But...

But...

BUT ...

Easter Sunday

LUKE 24:1-12

One thing that I like about Easter is that our children join us for the sermon so the church school teachers can be in the sanctuary with their families. I hope you can all settle in for a while with your activity books or scribble cards. I promise I won't talk too long.

A friend of mine told me about an Easter Sunday similar to this when there were a lot of kids in his service. That day they decided to inaugurate their new sound system. He had a lapel mic-not the wireless variety like ours, but a small clip-on attached to a wire. He was so excited about it, he decided to preach from the chancel steps instead of the pulpit-he was going to be free to express himself. But he didn't quite know the range of the cord, so he'd be preaching away and gesturing with his hands when all of a sudden, he'd come to the end of the cord and lurch back. Then he'd move briskly about again only to get jerked back when the cord went taut. From side to side he went, getting wound up in the cord and nearly tripping before it jerked him back again. A little girl in the third pew watched this wide-eyed with increasing alarm. Finally, she leaned toward her mother and whispered, "If he gets loose, will he hurt us?"

 

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

Each Gospel writer tells the Easter story with a unique point of view. This year, Luke is our storyteller. I've read this story dozens of times. I've preached on it 5 times. I've studied it in seminary. But for the first time this year, I noticed something remarkable about it. In the New Revised Standard version, the story is a mere nine sentences long. And in those nine sentences, the word "but" appears six times. But ... the conjunction meaning ... "on the other hand" or "alternatively." Here's the story that Luke tells about what happened after that dark day when Jesus died on the cross. (Your pew bibles are an earlier edition and if you follow along, you'll only count 3 "buts.")

 

Luke 24 :1-12

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them.

5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

 

"The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the messengers at the tomb said to them, 'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.'"

 

But ... on the other hand ... however ... All these conjunctions suggest that there is another way of looking at something, an alternative point of view. BUT, the perfect symbol for Easter Day. It is God's intervention into business as usual. God says, you think the Roman empire is powerful with its vicious system of torture to keep people in line. ... But here's my take on it. You think death is the end. ... But listen to this story!

 

If there is one thing that Jesus showed us by his life, death, and resurrection, it is that there is something more. An alternative reality that transcends the ugliness, hatred, sin, and alienation that many people experience.

 

THE ALL-PURPOSE SERMON

A few of you have come here today because its what you do on Easter as a family. You're not much as kind of a church-goer, but to please someone else, you're flexible enough to give it a chance. I'll let you in on a secret. I pretty much preach variations on the same sermon every week. And because today is Easter, I'll summarize it for you. It's a three-point sermon and it's all about this "but."

 

Point one: Jesus' alternative place:

When Jesus walked the earth, one of his central teachings was about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God: It is that perfect place where people have enough to eat, where the sick are taken care of and healing happens, where there are no social castes and wealth is shared. Where people are accepted for who they are and peace reigns.

 

We know this place. It has lots of names-Heaven, Nirvana, Valhalla, the Messianic Age, Utopia. It's sure not this world, right? Well, not according to Jesus. He preached about this perfect place and then he had the crazy vision that it wasn't far off in the future, it wasn't where you went when you died. No, it was right here and now. "The kingdom of God is among you," he would say. "You are not far from the kingdom of God," he told a fellow who followed the commandments. And most of all, Jesus himself lived in that kingdom every day of his life. It was the realm of "buts."

 

The Roman Empire practiced its brutal oppression, squashing any attempts people made at practicing freedom. But, Jesus walked free, confronting authorities, telling people they were worth something when the political establishment wanted them weak and submissive.

 

The religious leaders preached a tightly controlled practice of faith, discouraging a relationship with God that they did not mediate. But, Jesus called them hypocrites-more interested in power than in real faith. And he preached that religion not following rigid rules but it was a matter of the heart and of justice.

 

POINT TWO: OUR ALTERNATIVE PLACE

The second point in my all-purpose sermon is that just because Jesus talked about that wonderful alternative kingdom 2100 years ago, it doesn't mean that the idea is dead. No, that's why we still read the bible and still gather in communities to try to be his disciples. The second point is that as Jesus' followers, it is our responsibility to craft that alternative place. We're supposed to be creating a little kingdom of God right here in this building at 55 Coolidge Ave., Lexington. This people who get together on Sundays and during the week, who give our money to support this enterprise, our creed starts with "but ... "

 

  • Life can be chaotic, overwhelming, stressful, and anxious, but at church we can find peace and beauty and rest. Sabbath.

 

  • People can be judgmental, mean, and rude, but here, we practice love and hospitality. You are welcome-physical and mental ability, economic status, sexual orientation-none of that matters. We are equals in God's eyes.

 

  • The messages we receive in our culture are often about accumulation and success, victory and warfare, but church stands for giving, for serving others, for peace. Even for sacrifice. For making friends across national and language barriers, for putting healing before winning.

 

When poor people must walk miles for their daily supply of water because corporations are sucking the water out of their wells, faithful Christians say, "But this is wrong. We must act." And a movement happens.

 

When the talk is of war, confrontation, violence, and murder we must be saying, "But there must be another way ... ". And church leaders go door in Boston neighborhoods connecting people with police officers, trying to build relationships, trying to say "But, we must put an end to killing."

 

Now, I don't mean to suggest that we're there. We don't always live in the great alternative community. But, it's a goal we strive for.

 

POINT THREE ~ THIS SHOULD CHANGE THE WORLD AND EACH ONE OF US

From these dedicated individuals, from this small, hopeful community, other cells break off, reproducing yet other organisms that refuse to give in to the culture of death. It's Jesus' parable of the lowly mustard seed that is blown all over the fields. It takes root and soon, as far as the eye can see - mustard everywhere.

 

Does this sound idealistic? Of course it is. But so was Jesus. Does it sound impossible? Of course it does. But so does resurrection.

 

That is another aspect of the alternative reality. Don't be satisfied with what seems to be a given. Do not look for the living among the dead.

 

The most significant "but" of the Easter story is this. The disciples at first thought it was all over when death put an end to their dream. But that did not happen. Jesus rose up among them even stronger than before. Friends, I cannot stress enough how ordinary, how like us the disciples were. They were not chosen for the specialness. But they became special because of what Jesus did for them.

 

As William Sloane Coffin writes: "Christ's resurrection promises our own. Christ is risen to convert us from something less than life to the possibility of full life. Christ is risen to put love in our hearts, decent thoughts in our heads, and a little more iron in our spines. There is nothing sentimental about Easter." No, my friends, nothing sentimental, nothing shimmering and glowing. Easter, in fact, can be boiled down to one simple conjunction ...

 

but