EASTER SUNDAY
Isaiah 65:
17-25
I
Corinthians 15: 1-11
Luke 24:
1-12
NOT AN IDLE/IDOL
TALE
Grace, mercy
and peace be unto you from God, or Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. AMEN.
It used to be that if you said,
“It is finished,” on Good Friday, almost everybody, certainly all of your
friends and companions, would know that you were quoting Scripture about the
crucifixion of Jesus. Today, however,
you may post that message on Facebook and receive back the oblivious reply,
“What did you finish?” Really? While it may be a sad commentary on our
otherwise distracted society, it is a perfect opportunity to witness to your
faith and share the story of Jesus – and that is precisely how I saw it being
addressed.
Imagine posting on Facebook on
Easter morning, “He is risen!” and receiving back the response, “It’s about
time that lazy husband of your woke up.”
It’s gotten to the point where many people don’t know what we’re talking
about and many people don’t care. Oh,
they’re grateful to have an Easter bunny with eggs and candy, they’re grateful
for the renewal of springtime, they even vaguely remember that this used to be
a holiday with some religious significance.
But the Biblical message of the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb now
seems to far too many and idle tale.
Did you hear that in today’s
Gospel reading? According to St. Luke’s
account of Easter, it was the women of Jesus’ company who went to anoint the
body of Jesus at early dawn and were greeted, not by a sealed tomb, but by an
empty space where his body had been laid and by two angelic messengers who
asked the haunting question, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” and
proclaimed the very first resurrection announcement, “He is not here. He has risen!”
The women returned to the
gathered disciples and share the first Easter message. “But,” Luke writes, “these words seemed to
them an idle tale and they did not believe them.”
Maybe today is not all that
different from that first Easter morning.
We have this jewel of good news.
God has acted on behalf of human imperfection. God has broken the cyclical pattern of sin
and death. God has defeated the
meaningless finality of death and brought about a new creation. In raising Jesus from the dead God has
fulfilled the completion of divine creation and promises to each one of us the
perfection of eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Jesus Christ is risen today! He is risen, indeed! And to that many may add an “alleluia!”
today, but tomorrow return to their typical response of, “so what?”
Believing it to be a cute story,
but nothing more than an idle tale, they run off to pursue their own idol
tales. And now I have switched words
from “idle”, meaning lazy, worthless and meaningless, to “idol”, meaning
placing other worthless pursuits as gods in your life. If God is not supreme in your life and the
resurrection of Jesus not important enough to give thanks to God on every first
day of the week, then you are guilty of listening to one or many idol tales.
These last few weeks of Lent
have been devastating for us. We have
dealt with untimely death, with undeserved disease, with undirected
futures. Without faith in our crucified
and risen Lord Jesus Christ, there would be no promise to live on, no hope for
the future, and no purpose for today.
But for those who are alive in
Christ, for those who have smashed their egotistical idols to the ground, for
those for whom the good news of Jesus’ resurrection is not an idle tale, but
rather the foundation of their faith, they see hope in despair, they see a
blessed future in a confusing present, they see life even in the face of
death. We, like Peter, need to run to
that empty tomb and enter into the experience of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ for ourselves.
From the small group of women on
Easter morning to the less than dozen disciples on that Easter evening, the
message had changed from an apparent idle tale to the best news of their lives:
good news that would forever change, forever improve, forever fulfill their
lives.
Allow me to share with you
several of my Good Friday experiences. I
had wanted it to be an idle day for me, maybe rake the lawn of the winter
debris, or start up that car that had been in the garage all winter with a dead
battery. But it was not to be. I spent the morning at the home of a dying
woman in hospice care, surrounded by her family. The woman had been struggling with the belief
that she deserved her pain and suffering and family members were reliving their
unresolved life situations in her dying process. I asked them some basic questions:
“Do you believe God loves
you?” The dying woman and her family
answered with an emphatic “Yes.”
“Do you believe that Jesus died
for you on this day?” Again, they
answered “Yes.”
“Do you believe God forgives
you?” And they all answered “Yes.”
A sudden peace surrounded that
woman and her family. I guess the
message of Jesus was far more than some idle tale!
Then I spent the afternoon at
the Northern Dutchess County Hospital in Rhinebeck with Pastor Mark Frickey as
the patient. His kidney/liver disease
has flared up overnight. As acting Dean,
it was my responsibility to make sure that Good Friday services for his four
congregations were taken care of and arrangements made for their Easter Sunday
worship.
They would need help for the
Easter services at Christ Lutheran Church in Viewmont. I turned to Duane and Phyllis Keeler who
anticipated an unusual Sunday off from all their preaching and worship leading
responsibilities. Their immediate
response was, “Yes, of course! Nothing
could be better than to get the opportunity to preach the good news of the
Easter resurrection of Jesus.” They were
willing to give up their free Sunday because preaching the Gospel would be no
idle tale for them but a life-changing, hope-filling, promise fulfilling
message.
Then came our Good Friday
worship here in this place. With
Scripture and hymn, darkness and prayer, we entered into the experience of the
death of Jesus on the cross. But that
story and all the events of my Good Friday would be nothing more than an idle
tale if not for this morning when the story continues with shouts of “Christ is
risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!”
May it not be for you today or
tomorrow, in joy or in sorrow, in health or in sickness, in success or in
failure, in life or in death just an idle tale.
But may it be for you the reason for all that you do. May it be for you the basis for all you
believe. May it be for you the support
for all your days. May it be for you the
joy of all your life! AMEN.
May the
peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.
AMEN.
Rev. James Slater
Emanuel Lutheran Church – Stuyvesant Falls
St. Luke’s Lutheran Church – Valatie
March 31, 2013
