The Resurrected Church

John 20

There is a lot of excitement in my mind when I think of Easter. My memories of Easter growing up are of coloring Easter eggs and putting an empty basket by our bed on Saturday night. When we awoke, there was a basket overflowing with candy and some non-candy Easter gift as well. When we finally managed to get our parents up, we had an Easter egg hunt (we learned to count the Easter eggs because of the experience one year in the summer when there was a terrible odor and we found an Easter egg under the cushion of one of our stuffed chairs). We had our Easter breakfast in which we would hold our favorite colored egg and crack ends with someone else to see who would end up with the champion uncracked egg. Then there was the Easter parade with my father taking pictures of us in my suit and my sister’s dresses and bonnets. And then after church there was a delicious meal with baked ham.

Easter is an exciting time in the life of the church. Our faith centers on what happened to Jesus at the time of the Jewish Passover two millennia ago. There is a sense that we need to do something special on Easter Sunday so preachers try to stir up their congregations to experience the emotion of Easter. We say, “He is risen!” and the congregations respond with, “He is risen indeed!”. We try to capture the emotion of that first Easter, but this is a difficult task.

It is difficult for two reasons. The first is simply because the resurrection of Jesus is not fresh news. We are not caught by surprise. The resurrection of Jesus is not unexpected news. There is not much we can do about that and if I have to sacrifice the thrill of hearing the news for the first time that Jesus has risen from the dead for the assurance day by day that Jesus is alive, that is a sacrifice I will easily make.

But a second reason why it is difficult to experience the emotion of Easter is that the circumstances of our lives are not the same as those of the early followers of Jesus. Let’s take a look at the state of the church the morning of that first Easter.

The followers of Jesus came into Jerusalem with high expectations, high hopes. For three years Jesus had been performing miracles and teaching with authority but it seemed he had kicked into high gear in the weeks leading up to this Passover. Lazarus was raised from the dead and the crowds were larger and more enthusiastic than ever. Jesus entered Jerusalem with the crowds singing his praises and the disciples must have felt they were on the verge of something big. The time when Jesus would be publicly revealed as the Messiah couldn’t be far off. In fact, Jesus had already started a bit of a revolution, going into the temple and overturning the tables of the moneychangers. This was an exciting time for the disciples. Granted, Jesus had been saying some strange things they couldn’t quite understand, about suffering and dying and giving people the sign of Jonah who was in the belly of the whale for three days. So there was that, but overall, there was tremendous excitement, enthusiasm, heightened expectations.

But then, suddenly,  it all fell apart. Judas betrayed Jesus and they came to arrest him in the night. This tight group, the inner group of disciples, saw their master arrested. One of their own betrayed Jesus. In their minds they had seen Jesus leading a revolution against the Roman occupiers and restoring Israel, but now all their hopes were dashed and replaced by fear they might also be arrested.

In Matthew 26 we read of the arrest of Jesus.
55 At that time Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me.  56 But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

The disciples into whom Jesus had poured his life, teaching, encouraging, training, the leaders of this new movement, deserted him and fled. They went from the exultation of the arrival of Jesus into Jerusalem to running for their lives.

But certainly not Peter? Not Peter who said just the night before, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

Peter was bold enough to stay on the fringes to see what was happening to Jesus, but not bold enough to stand with Jesus. Peter denied knowing Jesus two times and then when he was again confronted by some who said he was one of those with Jesus,

74 Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”
Immediately a rooster crowed.  75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Even Peter, the one you would have thought you could count on, deserted Jesus.

In all of this, don’t think about how Jesus felt. That’s not the point here. Try to put yourself in the place of the followers of Jesus. One of their own has betrayed Jesus. Peter, the leader of the disciples, has also betrayed Jesus, denying that he knew him.

Judas was overcome by what he had done and went back to the chief priests and elders to try to undo what he had done. He failed, finding no consolation from these men.

5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

Judas hanged himself. An ignoble death for one who had spent so much intimate time with Jesus.

And then the unthinkable, the unimaginable, Jesus himself died. When the disciples were running for their lives, I imagine they were shaken but there was still hope. Jesus had done many miracles, perhaps he still had a miracle left in his bag. There was hope for his release, but things kept getting worse and now any hope they had was completely destroyed. Jesus was dead, taken down from the cross and put into a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea.

Matt 27
57 As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.  58 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.  59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,  60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.  61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

They had seen, just recently, a dead man who was raised to life but the one who had done this was now the one in the tomb. If Jesus was alive, then a miracle could take place. They had seen it with their own eyes. But what do you do when the miracle worker is the one who is dead?

This is what the disciples did. They hid from the Jews and met behind locked doors. We know this because when Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them, this is where he found them.

John 20
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them

Despair, discouragement and fear was the environment into which the good news of the resurrection of Jesus came. The good news that Jesus had risen from the dead came with such power because it was the antidote to the gloom in which they were living. Despair was replaced with hope, discouragement with encouragement and fear with boldness.

The resurrection of Jesus was good news, first of all, because despair was transformed into hope.

Three years is a long time. Working toward something for three years, giving yourself totally to something for three years and then having that thing you have worked for completely and miserably fail is a devastating experience. The disciples had given up their careers and family to follow Jesus and then suddenly, the person who had inspired them to leave all and follow him died. Despair is a natural and logical response to all that had happened to them.

But despair is not where they stayed. One of the pieces of evidence that Jesus actually resurrected from the dead is that despair was transformed into hope. Peter who denied knowing Jesus wrote toward the end of his life about the hope he received as a consequence of the resurrection of Jesus. Peter writes in this letter, not of despair but of hope. And he writes not just of hope with a small h but of hope in capital letters.

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you,  5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

He writes of a living hope that lives because Jesus rose from the dead. He writes of an inheritance we who are Christians have which is our salvation. This salvation is our hope. This salvation, our inheritance, can never perish. It cannot be destroyed in a flood, hurricane, earthquake or volcanic eruption. It can never spoil. There is not a date stamped on it that says not to use it after this date. Mold will not grow on it and ruin it. It can never fade. It is not like a painting that fades over time. Our inheritance, our salvation will never perish, spoil or fade. Our inheritance is kept safe in heaven for us and we ourselves are shielded by God’s power until the end of time. This is hope that is unshakeable, indestructible, more solid than the Rock of Gibralter.

The despair of the disciples was transformed into hope.

Secondly, the resurrection of Jesus was good news because it transformed discouragement into encouragement.

When the disciples fled from the Garden of Gethsemane, do you think they had an orderly exit? Do you think they had made a contingency plan with a planned rendezvous where they would meet later in the night? Of course not. They fled, each one taking off in some direction. They ran away as fast as they could with no sense of where they were going or what they would do next.

What were they thinking that night after they had escaped from the guards of the Romans and the chief priests? They were in despair because they had no hope for the future but they were also discouraged. What would they do now? How do you go back to being a fisherman in sleepy Galilee where nothing eventful ever seems to happen after these three event-filled years with Jesus? People healed. Demons cast out. Crowds coming to hear Jesus teach and then being fed with just small bits of food.

What next? Go back to collecting taxes? Go out looking for another Messiah who would deliver Israel from Roman occupation? Put your hope in another Messiah after this one failed so miserably?

Despair and discouragement were the environment  into which the good news of the resurrection of Jesus came. There was still the question of what to do next, but now that was an exciting and energizing question, not a depressing and discouraging one.

They were energized and went out into the world, taking the good news of the gospel to distant lands. According to tradition, they took the good news of Jesus out from Jerusalem to Asia, Africa and the rest of the Roman Empire.

In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians he blesses them with this blessing.
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope,  17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

The discouragement of the disciples was transformed into encouragement.

The resurrection of Jesus was good news because it transformed despair into hope, discouragement into encouragement and thirdly, it transformed fear into boldness.

The disciples of Jesus in the Gospels and the disciples of Jesus in Acts seem like two different groups of people. In the Gospels we read of the disciples running for their lives, hiding, afraid of being arrested, Peter denying he knew Jesus. And then we move to Acts.

Let me put this section of Scripture in perspective. It has been just three months since Jesus was arrested and crucified. Just ninety days since the disciples were running for their lives and denying Jesus. Just three months since the disciples were hiding behind locked doors. And now Peter and John are brought before the Sanhedrin. The ones who had plotted to kill Jesus now ordered Peter and John to come.

Peter and John are brought before the Sanhedrin. They are questioned, threatened and then released. And how do Peter and John respond to these threats from men who had killed Jesus just three months earlier?

23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.  24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.  25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
”‘Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the Lord
and against his Anointed One.’
27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.  28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.  29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.  30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

At Gethsemane the disciples considered the threats of the Roman guards and religious leaders and fled. Now with a resurrected Jesus and the filling of the Holy Spirit, the disciples considered the threats made to them and responded by praying for boldness.

An amazing transformation.

When Jesus rose from the dead, despair was transformed into hope, discouragement into encouragement and fear into boldness. So they all lived happily ever after and the church was always strong and faithful. Despair, discouragement and fear were never again seen in the church.

That’s not what happened is it? The truth is that we drift back into despair, discouragement and fear from time to time. What I said in the beginning of this sermon is not entirely true. There are times when we find ourselves in the environment of the disciples that first period of time between Good Friday and Easter and need to receive the truth that Jesus has risen from the dead and be transformed, as the disciples were transformed, into people of hope, encouragement and boldness.

When I read the newspapers and watch TV news and hear reports of what is happening in the world, it is easy for me to become discouraged. I see the increasing materialism and voyeurism of the United States and ask, “Where is the church?” I see the corruption and promiscuity in Nigeria and ask, “Why does the church spend so much time in praise and so little in discipleship?” I see the growing number of mosques in Europe and in the United States and wonder why a religion that does not hold on to truth can spread among a people who have access to the truth. I read about the brutality between supposed Christians and supposed Muslims in Indonesia and the Philippines and around the world. I don’t want to discourage and depress you on Easter morning, but in this world we are still in need of the good news of the resurrection of Jesus.

When Jesus appeared to the disciples, he did not erase what had happened, he transformed and gave new meaning to what had happened. The things that cause me to despair in this world are real. I am not imaging them. I’m not making them up. But the reality of the resurrection of Jesus allows me to see these events in a new light.

The church of Christ may seem to be losing at times. It may seem to have little impact on the world. Other religions may seem to be gaining while the church of Christ may seem to be losing. Religion itself may seem to be losing to secularism. But the reality of the resurrection of Jesus transforms these perceptions. Jesus was God in the flesh. He did die to save us. He did rise from the dead to give us hope that when we die we will be raised to eternal life with him. In the end every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of all and all that we observe in the world needs to be viewed in light of that reality.

There are times when we become fearful. We worry that if we speak about our faith to someone they will ridicule us or think less of us. We may worry that if we speak boldly about our faith that we might be put in jail or called in by the police for questioning. There are Christians in this country who do not want to be identified as Christians for fear that they will be put out of the country.

We need the transformation that comes from the resurrected Christ that took fearful and timid disciples and changed them into men and women who responded to threats with boldness. This is not a call for us to be stupid, but it is a call for us to be bold in our witness for Christ. I don’t read in the book of Acts of men and women who worried about being rejected, imprisoned or kicked out of town. I don’t read about that timidity in the book of Acts and there is no reason why we should be timid today in this country.

The challenge to us is to live the life of the resurrected church. Are we the church of Good Friday, in despair, discouraged and fearful? Or are we the church of Easter, full of hope, encouraged and bold in the declaration of our faith?

We began our service with the Graham Kendrick song some of us learned last week in Marrakech, Say the Name of Love. It is a gentle but powerful song and I have had a sense that this should be our Easter song. That’s why we sung it at our Sunrise Service this morning and why we are singing it in our Easter Service. We don’t need to get charged up to go out and conquer the world this Easter day. But we do need to focus on Jesus, the resurrected Jesus who brings us hope, encouragement and boldness. We go out this Easter in the power of the name that is love, peace, mercy and goodness.

Do you find yourself this morning in the environment of despair, discouragement and fear? Then I bring you good news.  Jesus has risen from the dead. Death has been defeated. Salvation has come. The church will endure. Christ will prevail. Eternity awaits. Let us go out into the world in his power.