+An idle tale. This was the apostles’ reaction to the women who announce the Resurrection. It was 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 them— “Poor women, they’re so overcome with grief their minds are playing tricks on them.” But really, 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 deep down (or maybe not so deep down) wonder if this, the miracle of Jesus’ Resurrection, isn’t after all, simply an idle tale?
He was dead and now he’s not? Let’s be clear, 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 insane.
I have no doubt that there are people here tonight who find this entire thing, an idle tale.
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.
The Resurrection is completely true--
AND 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 prove…
…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.
To little Oliver, who we’ll baptize in a few moments and whom I have the distinct honor of sponsoring, I’d like to say this:
That’s not how faith works, buddy.
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, including yours little man, 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 Jesus.
Oliver, everyone has doubts now and again.
It’s difficult for people with questions to feel comfortable in church because they mistakenly assume that us “regulars” 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.
After hearing from the women, Peter ran to the tomb and seeing it empty, he started to get it. And then, when the disciples saw Jesus, wounds and all, they understood some more. The more they encountered Jesus, the more their faith was strengthened.
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 darkens…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.
To Oliver and all gathered here tonight:
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 regardless of whether your faith journey is just beginning as it is for Oliver or whether you’ve been following Christ for your entire life, I have an invitation for you….
Step up and step out in faith because the miracle of Jesus’ empty tomb, the wonder of Jesus’ complete defeat of death, the amazement of the Easter miracle is yours for the taking. So, grab ahold and start on your way because your journey of faith—-no matter how many fits and starts, detours and doubts it contains, will never ever be an idle tale. And to that we can only say:
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia and Amen.+
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