+An idle tale. This is what the apostles thought when they first heard the women announce the empty tomb.
It seemed outrageous, absurd, ridiculous and unbelievable. Angels saying that the Lord was raised—that he was alive? No way.
The apostles saw the crucifixion, they witnessed the hasty burial. They knew dead when they saw it and Jesus was definitely dead.
Can’t you hear the guys? “Poor women, they are so overcome with grief their minds are playing tricks on them.”
Who can blame them?
Let’s face it; this whole Resurrection thing is pretty difficult to imagine, to understand. To accept.
How many of us here this morning, deep down (or maybe not so deep down) wonder if this, the miracle of Jesus’ Resurrection, isn’t after all, simply an idle tale?
I mean, really? Resurrection? He was dead and now he’s not? Let’s be clear, this isn’t a case of dying and being resuscitated through some type of Divine CPR, no this was a return to life after complete and utter death, up to and including burial and the sealing of a tomb.
Go ahead, try and explain this to someone who has no understanding of the Christian faith---at best you’ll sound confused, at worst, you’ll sound NUTS.
But the truth is, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, his defeat of death, ISN’T an idle tale, it isn’t a story; it’s the definitive narrative of our faith.
But that doesn’t make it any easier to understand or to explain.
Now I know this is Easter Sunday and that there are quite a few of you sitting here this morning who aren’t here…well…voluntarily.
You’re not here to praise the Resurrection or to re-connect with your faith, no you’re here this morning to please your parents, your grandparents, your spouse, your sibling or your friend. Coming to church is just part of the whole package---church, Easter baskets and brunch.
For you this story we just heard may indeed sound trite, for you it may be just an idle tale. But it isn’t.
The Resurrection is completely true--
AND it’s impossible to explain.
It’s impossible to explain because we aren’t supposed to explain it--it isn’t some concept to master, it isn’t some theorem to prove.
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: a man arrested, tortured, killed and buried may be impossible to explain…
…But it’s not impossible to believe. And believing, rather than proving, is what faith is all about. This is where people get hung up. They want to figure it all out before saying that they believe, they want all the answers before they commit.
But that’s not how faith works.
Faith doesn’t ask for proof and faith doesn’t expect lock step adherence.
Faith can’t be explained, faith can’t be proven, faith can’t be diagramed.
Faith can only be lived.
Faith is a journey, a journey filled with steps….some small, some giant, some forward and some back.
Everyone’s faith journey is chock full of fits and starts, ups and downs, good times and bad.
It’s normal to doubt, to question, to wonder.
Just ask Jesus’ closest friends. The apostles believed in Jesus and then, they didn’t. Peter proclaimed Jesus as Lord and Savior and then denied him three times. Thomas followed Jesus faithfully for three years but missed Jesus’ initial resurrection appearances so he---a man who had seen the miracles of Jesus up close and personal-- refused to believe the resurrection until he placed his own fingers into the wounds of his teacher, his friend, his rabbi. Everyone has doubts now and again.
I think it’s difficult for people with a lot of questions to feel comfortable in a church because they mistakenly assume that we have all the answers, that our way is steady and sure. It isn’t! We doubt, we wonder, we worry. We wrestle with our faith each and every week. But we don’t give up, we persevere, we slog ahead and bit by bit, step by step, we start to get it.
Peter and John ran to the tomb when they heard the women tell of it being empty…and when they saw it empty, they started to get it. And then, when they saw Jesus, wounds and all, they understood some more. The more they encountered Jesus, the more their faith was strengthened.
For some it was touching his wounds, for others it was hearing Jesus’ voice, for still others it was sharing a meal with him. Belief in the resurrection came to Jesus’ most ardent and loyal followers step by step.
Belief in Jesus isn’t a one-time event and faith in his teachings doesn’t come to us in one neat little package.
Belief and Faith don’t have on/off buttons.
Faith operates more like a dimmer switch.
There are days when the light of faith burns brightly and fully in our hearts and minds and souls. There are other days, other moments in time, when the light of faith is dimmer, when it burns a little less brightly…there are times when our faith is reduced to the embers of a long ago burning fire.
Faith isn’t linear, it isn’t straightforward---our faith is a moveable, ever changing, always evolving thing.
Martin Luther King Jr said:
“You don’t have to see the whole staircase to take the first step.” You take a step and then you take another.
The point isn’t to get to the top of the staircase faster than anyone else.
The point is to start the climb, one step at a time.
So whether you’re here today to please someone else, or whether you’re here today because you’re always here, or whether you’re here today because you are searching, searching for something, anything to make you feel whole again, I have an invitation for you….
Step up and step out in faith because the miracle of Christ, crucified and risen is yours for the taking. So, grab hold and start on your way, the climb may be long and it may be difficult. But the climb, your journey of faith will never ever be an idle tale.
Alleluia, Christ is Risen!
The Lord is Risen, Indeed. +
* the Idle Tale Focus is taken from Rick Morley: A Garden Path @ rickmorley.com
No comments:
Post a Comment