The Resurrection of Our Lord
Texts: Mark 16:1-8;
Isa. 25:6-9; Acts 10:34-43
A SURPRISE BEGINNING
When the topic of surprise endings or cliffhangers comes up, what do
you think of? I didn't
watched the prime-time soap opera in the 80's Dallas,
but I sure remember the buzz all one
summer when one of the show's season-ending cliffhangers left
everyone asking, "Who shot
J.R.?"
I am a Trekkie. So when I think of cliffhanger or surprise endings,
I think of the
season
cliffhanger at the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation's
third season, which was said to have
saved the show from cancellation. The writers came up with one of
the scariest alien races ever,
the Borg, who capture their humanoid enemies and turn them into
half-machines by implanting
loads of cybernetic parts, including hook-ups to the brain so that
you become tied into a hive-like
mind and lose all freedom and sense of individuality. The Borg don't
kill and destroy; they
assimilate you. They arrive in huge space ships and broadcast, "We
are the Borg. Resistance is
futile. We will assimilate you." At the end of the Third Season, the
Borg arrive in our part of the
galaxy, they cripple the starship Enterprise, capture and
assimilate Captain Picard, and then
move on toward earth to assimilate the entire planet. The next fall
brought parties -- one of
which Ellen and I attended -- to watch and see how this cliffhanger
would be resolved.
Perhaps the most famous and compelling of surprise endings from
Hollywood came ten years
ago in the movie Sixth
Sense. Haley Joel Osment played a young boy who saw and
talked to dead
people; Bruce Willis played a child psychiatrist who treated him.
But the ending brought a
shocker that had you suddenly sitting on the edge of your seat,
"What! That can't be!" Here's a
spoiler warning. Since the movie's ten years old, I hope I won't
ruin it for anyone who's never
seen it and still wants to someday. Cover your ears, if that's the
case. We find out at the end of
the movie that Bruce Willis is dead and hasn't realized it. And
neither have you, the movie
patron, realized it. It pulls you in makes you want to watch it
again right away. And I think some
people did. They went out and paid to watch again so that they could
spot some clues about why
about why they hadn't realized it.
Well, did you know that the Bible has a surprise, shock ending in
one of its books? We just read
it a few minutes ago. You might not have realized that this is the
end of Mark's Gospel. You
might have assumed it went on, as the other Gospels do, to tell of
the Risen Jesus appearing to
people, like Mary Magdalene. But this is how Mark's Gospel ends: "So
the women went out and
fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and
they said nothing to anyone,
for they were afraid." That's how it ends! Some people that Mark
designed his Gospel like the
Sixth Sense, to pull you in and want to hear it again.
You're on the edge of your seat: "What!
That's how it ends? Did I miss something? Why are they afraid? Why
don't they tell anyone?"
In a way, Mark didn't have to manufacture a shock with his abrupt
ending, because the real-life
apparent end to Jesus' life had been such a shocker. Messiah? God's
king to turn the table on our
enemies tortured and executed by our enemies? That makes no sense at
all! But Mark's abrupt
ending compels the reader to go back and read it again. What didn't
I realize? What clues along
the way did Jesus' life give us that leads to a crucified Messiah?
Mark's Jesus did leave plenty of
clues to try to help his followers understand why God's chosen king
had to sacrifice himself to
the powers that be in order to show forth an even greater power in
the world: the Creator God's
power of love, which is the power that gives life itself. God's
kingdom of life and grace is
breaking into the world through this crucified king. It shocked
Jesus' own people that a kingdom
could be built on love and forgiveness instead of military might and
vengeance.
But what about us? Does it shock us anymore? Or have two thousand
years of hearing, and
perhaps reshaping the story to fit our comfort level, removed the
shock value to us? Here's what I
mean. Did it surprise you a bit to hear me speak a moment ago about
a real kingdom of love and
life breaking into this world? What have our expectations
of God's Messiah, God's Christ,
become? Haven't they become largely expectations for going to
another world called heaven
when we die? Isn't that the usual telling of the Good News these
days? "It's Easter. Jesus is
risen! We're all going to heaven!"
Well, if that's what we're celebrating today, then here's a shock:
we're in need of an ending just
as jolting as Mark's Gospel was to its first listeners. We need to
hear again the gist of the Good
News that Mark's Gospel proclaims. From the very beginning, Jesus
comes proclaiming that
God's kingdom, God's way of doing things is coming near. It's coming
into our midst, as a
matter of fact. This isn't about going to heaven someday when we
die, though we will be held in
God's power of life somehow when our earthly bodies die. But just as
surely as Jesus went ahead
of the disciples to their home in Galilee, he comes to our homes
today. He comes to call us to
live by God's way of sacrificial love right here this morning. God's
power of life has proved
itself to be the reigning power of the universe, the power which
gives life in the first place. And
we can begin living by that power of life right here and now. Come
alive! Really alive!
In the movie the Sixth Sense, the first time Haley Joel
Osment's character, Cole Sear, meets
Bruce Willis' character of the child psychiatrist, Dr. Malcolm
Crowe, they have this
conversation:
Cole Sear: I see dead people.
Malcolm Crowe: In your dreams?
[Cole shakes his head no]
Malcolm Crowe: While you're awake?
[Cole nods]
Malcolm Crowe: Dead people like, in graves? In coffins?
Cole Sear: Walking around like regular people. They don't see each
other. They only see what
they want to see. They don't know they're dead.
Malcolm Crowe: How often do you see them?
Cole Sear: All the time. They're everywhere.
I think there is much that is good and even brought about by the
Holy Spirit in the huge changes
we're undergoing in our current culture. But when the faith that
the church has been touting for
some time now has payoff mostly for a life-to-come in some other
place than this creation, this
universe, then what prevents us from becoming the walking dead,
going through the motions of
this life, with the only true payoff in some life to come? So we
bide our time with entertainments
to thrill us for a few moments, addicted to cliffhangers and
surprise endings that only leave us
wanting to take in the next thrilling surprise ending. The next
victory for our favorite team. Do
we even know that that's like already being dead? "I see dead
people. They only see what they
want to see. They don't know they're dead. They're everywhere."
No! In our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, God's way of really living, by
sacrificial love and
forgiveness and grace, has already broken into this world. Come
Alive! Start living by that new
way today!
Or perhaps our lives do have a definite shape to them, but they are
more like the Borg. We are
plugged into the matrix of consuming wealth without an abiding
awareness of what that does to
those who are left out, unplugged. We aren't aware of what our
consumption does this planet
home, this universe that a Creator God lovingly fashioned. Are we
even aware that in being
plugged into this constant consuming we lose our freedom, our sense
of individuality? How
much of our recent Western imperialism has been like, "We are the
Borg. Resistance is futile.
We will assimilate you."?
No, In our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, get unplugged from thoughtless
consumerism and get
plugged into a real life of freedom, a life in which you and I are
precious and absolutely unique
individuals, given gifts and talents to join the Creator in caring
for this earth and for each other.
God's way of doing things in love and grace has broken into this
world and has begun to
refashion it, to recreate it, to fulfill and complete it. Even after
two thousand years - but a
blinking of the eye in evolutionary time - the work has only just
begun. Get unplugged to
consumption and plugged into earthkeeping, to mission and ministry
in Christ's name! Come
alive! Really alive! The story of sin and death hasn't left us with
an unresolvable cliffhanger, a
shocking ending. No! That first Easter is actually a surprise
beginning. Christ is Risen! Alleluia!
The true story of life has barely begun! Let's celebrate today!
And then tomorrow? Back to work. Christ is Risen! We have a job to
do, serving our Risen Lord
with purpose and with real freedom and love. Amen
Paul J. Nuechterlein
Delivered at Prince of Peace Lutheran,
Portage, MI, April 12, 2009