Not A Secret!

When we read the resurrection story in the gospels, we need to remember that the stone was rolled away, not to let Jesus out of the tomb, but to let the people in. (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20) His departure from death was not to be kept hidden in the back side of some cemetery. People were to know of this event, those who saw the empty tomb and those whom they told. The resurrection was never intended to be kept a secret!

Easter, Resurrection Sunday, is only a few days away. The event and its meaning were not and should not be kept a secret. Closet believers offer little to the work and progress of the Kingdom of God in this world. Without the resurrection we have nothing to offer the world unique from some humanitarian and philanthropic spirit. The resurrection separates Christian believers from the rest of the attempts by man to offer spiritual meaning to our existence.

During this season groups of believers will emphasize the love of Christ, the commitment of Christ, the suffering of Christ, and the power of the Father to conquer death and bring the Son out of its grasp. We will do it through personal and corporate times of prayer, self-denial, retelling the story of the events of Holy Week, and worship. We will do it with fellow believers and hopefully with those who do not believe but want to know why we believe as we do.

When the women came to the tomb, now empty, on that first day of the week, they were given a message, “Go and tell”. That command is still relevant today. The message of the empty tomb is to be spread to the ends of the earth. It is not to be kept a secret!

During this season the western world especially will see images of rabbits, ducklings, eggs, and baskets. Just maybe a few crosses and lambs will be visible. The people who emphasize those former items will probably know very little of the empty tomb. They will know few details about the Lamb of God that died upon a Roman cross, abandoned by his Father, to carry the sins of the world. The people who do not believe will not know about the promise of the resurrection unless someone goes to them and tells the Story.

Recently the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church went into conclave to choose a new leader. Today we know that leader as Pope Francis I. This leader replaces the recently retired Pope Benedict XVI. The new pope will serve for a while and then he too will be replaced. The One who came out of the tomb lives on and will never be replaced. This news cannot be kept a secret.

Each believer should seize the opportunity to share the good news Jesus is alive. Each believer should be ready to go and tell. Maybe it will be a simple invitation to come to a church service where the resurrection is celebrated. Maybe it will be offering a tract explaining the resurrection story. Maybe it will be sharing one’s personal story of why the resurrection has eternal importance.

Every congregation must claim its responsibility to “go and tell”. Easter dramas and cantatas are reminders for the faithful, but they are also opportunities for proclamation to those who do not believe. Resurrection Sunday offers one of the best contexts in which to tell the Story to those who need to hear it. People will come if they receive an invitation from those whom they know.

The stone in front of the tomb was rolled away for the benefit of those who needed to know. Our churches must throw their doors open for the benefit of those who need to know. Don’t keep it a secret. Go and tell!

What Happened That Weekend?

Abraham wondered how a smoking pot could float between a line of sacrificed animals (Genesis 15). Elijah wondered how he could hear and understand a voice when there was no sound (I Kings 19). Peter, James, and John probably tried to figure out just what it was they saw on a mountain top when Jesus was altered in his appearance in a way that couldn't be explained (Matthew 17). And on that Friday, what did Jesus mean about being abandoned by the Father with whom he was One (Matthew 27). Come Sunday morning a resurrected body became visible, even touchable, to those who were closest to the One who had just died and been buried (Matthew 28). What is a resurrection body?

Leaving events unexplained and accepting them on faith is not something that comes easily to mankind. We find it important that we explain all events in some form or fashion. We need to be able to put something in a box, under a scope, or on a scale. Accepting it as something we cannot measure, control, or understand leaves us with an uncomfortable feeling that borders on intolerable. Yet that is exactly what faith calls us to do.

What happened at the end of what we call Holy Week fits into that category of "accept but do not attempt to explain". That appears to be the case any time God intervenes in human history without our request or our permission or our involvement. God acts. We are left to be spectators, wondering why we are here, and what the consequences will be for us both in the current context and in history.

On that Friday afternoon the crowds saw what most deemed to be an impostor, a charlatan, and a threat to their power base in Judaism and Judea. Their solution to the problem Jesus posed was to have him killed in a way that would bring down upon him the curses of God and the masses. They wanted him rejected by the very people who had followed him across the dusty hills and around the Sea.

What they, and we, accomplished through lifestyle decisions was far more evident in the words Jesus cried out from the cross than in the calls for his crucifixion. Jesus was rejected by his people. He was also rejected by his Father. He was rejected by the Godhead of which he himself was a part. He was abandoned and in his cry we hear what?

In that moment we see an event in which no man could play a part. All were spectators. All were ignorant of the divine drama that was taking place on the cross. All were unable to comprehend then and forever how God could abandon a part of Himself. It was a moment in which the divine drama unfolded on a human stage extending into the spiritual realm oblivious to any human audience.

By Hebrew reckoning across the time contained in three days, another event took place that cannot be captured by human understanding. A stone was rolled away from the entrance to a tomb so that sinful humans could see that the dead was dead no longer. This was no creature from some humanly created horror story. This was an event that could only be described as death conquered, overcome, declared irrelevant, no longer to be feared by man. The event hardly can be described as something to be taken into a laboratory.

What happened that weekend? The ancient stories spread by the religious authorities of the day would have us believe that the followers of Jesus came on Saturday evening and stole his body away while assigned guards were sleeping, then went out and spread the word that he had risen from the dead. Faith and the later actions of the disciples of Jesus would lead us to believe that an event had occurred that was divine in its origin, did not involve man in its process, and demanded a response of acceptance or rejection with consequences to be revealed at some future point.

Whatever happened, it was enough to make a group of individuals and those they were able to convince of the truth in this event willing to die rather than deny their belief that all had transpired just as they had said. They were willing to reject power and accept servanthood. They were willing to leave behind homes and families for the need to tell others of what they believed happened. They were willing to declare that the greatest force in history, self-sacrificing love, could even conquer death.

Love happened that weekend. Love offered life in the place of death. Love offered hope in the place of despair. Love offered peace in the place of warfare. Love offered forgiveness in the place of condemnation. To understand this you must understand God. Yet God will not allow himself to be understood. Rather he offers us the assurance that he understands us (Isaiah 55, John 1).