SPECIAL DAY: Easter Sunday
April 12, 1998 - LESSON: Ephesians 1:20-23, NRSV
SERMON TITLE:
Resuscitation
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INTRODUCTION:
A pastor was preaching a children's sermon on a
Easter Sunday morning.
He was using a paper bag full of props.
At one point he pulled an egg from the bag and,
pointing to the egg, he asked, "What's in here?"
A little boy exclaimed, "I know! I know! Panty
hose!"
Here we are on Easter Sunday.
What's inside"
Well it all depends!
MAIN BODY:
Sean Gonsalves(1)
writes an Easter parable for preachers & theologians, and really for all people.
He writes of growing up, and spending more than a few
Sundays at Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church in East Oakland.
He remembers a very special Easter sermon.
"It's around this time of year that one of the
most vivid of my church recollections flashes in front of my mind's eye over and over
again:"
"The preacher (whose name I cannot recall) had
just given a powerful message about how the human spirit can be perpetually renewed by
God's spirit.
It was the concluding story of this preacher that
stayed with Sean Gonsalves.
"The Preacher said:
"I am going to end this morning by telling you
something that happened when I was in seminary," he said, dabbing his forehead with a
white handkerchief that had been folded into a perfect square.
"I went to the University of Chicago Divinity
School.
"Every year they used to have what was called
'Baptist Day.'
"It was a day when they invited the entire
Baptist community in the area to visit the school, basically because they wanted the
Baptist dollars to keep coming in," he explained.
"On this day everyone was to bring a bag lunch
to be eaten outdoors in a grassy picnic area giving the students, faculty and visitors a
chance to mingle.
"And every 'Baptist Day' the school would invite
one of the greatest minds in theological education to give a lecture. This one year the
great Paul Tillich came to speak."
"The preacher paused to sip some water.
"Dr. Tillich spoke for two and a half hours,
proving that the historical Resurrection was false.
"He quoted scholar after scholar and book after
book, concluding that since there was no such thing as the historical Resurrection,
"the African American religious tradition was
groundless, emotional mumbo jumbo, because it was based on a relationship with a risen
Jesus, who, in fact, never rose from the dead in any literal sense."
"The preacher told us that Dr. Tillich ended his
talk with a sweeping, "Are there any questions?"
"The silence in the packed lecture hall was
deafening.
"Then, finally, after about 30 seconds--it
seemed like five minutes an old, dark-skinned preacher with a head full of short-cropped
woolly white hair stood up in the back of the auditorium.
"Docta Tillich, I got a question," he said
as all eyes turned toward him.
He reached into his bag lunch and pulled out an
apple.
"Docta Tillich..." CRUNCH, MUNCH, MUNCH,
MUNCH...
"My question is a simple question."
CRUNCH, MUNCH, MUNCH, MUNCH...
"Now, I ain't never read them books you
read..."
CRUNCH, MUNCH, MUNCH, MUNCH...
"and I can't recite the Scriptures in the
original Greek..."
CRUNCH, MUNCH, MUNCH, MUNCH...
"l don't know nothin' about Niebuhr and
Heidegger..."
CRUNCH, MUNCH, MUNCH, MUNCH...
He finished the apple.
Then he began to lick his fingertips and pick his
teeth.
"All I wanna know is: This apple I just ate--was
it bitter or sweet?"
Dr. Tillich paused for a moment and answered in
exemplary scholarly fashion:
"I cannot possibly answer that question, for I
haven't tasted your apple."
The white-haired preacher dropped the core of his
apple into his crumpled paper bag,
looked up at Dr. Tillich and said calmly,
"Neither have you tasted my Jesus."
The 1,000-plus in attendance could not contain
themselves. The auditorium erupted with roaring laughter, cheers and applause. Paul
Tillich promptly thanked his audience and left the lectern.
Sean Gonsalves writes that he loved that story. Hope
you have a joyous Easter.
How are we going to have a joyous Easter, a joyous
life?
We will have a joyous Easter if we have tasted Jesus.
To taste Jesus is to allow ourselves to truly come to
know Jesus and experience the power of God in resurrection.
It is the power of God that is evidenced in the
resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
Not the alternative theories of the resurrection
It is not the swoon theory.
Jesus did not pass out in a faint and then was
removed from the cross only to go into hiding.
It is not the drug theory.
There were no powerful drugs in the sip of liquid
that moistened his lips.
It is not the kidnap theory.
The disciples did not spirit his body away and
declare a lie.
The soldiers guarding the tomb would have prevented
this from happening.
God exercised the creative and restorative power that
brought Jesus back to life.
Put him on his feet and let him speak to the women
and men to whom he appeared and ate and drank.
The resurrection proclaims more than the resurrection
of the body.
The resurrection proclaims the rebirth of the spirit.
It is energy for those who are tired.
It is strength for those who are weak.
It is determination for those who can't decide.
It is hope for those who are hopeless.
It is faith for those who are lost.
Jesus knows the dark disappointment in the
experienced of his followers.
Jesus knows the heavy grief in the hearts of those
with whom he has shared the intimacies of his life.
The resurrection resuscitates, revives, energizes
them.
They go out and turn the world upside down.
They do this because they have tasted and seen the
Lord of life.
It is no wonder that Paul declares
17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him,
18 so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened,
you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his
glorious inheritance among the saints,
19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his
power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.
20 God put this power to work in Christ when he
raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
CONCLUSION:
God is reaching into his bag of props
He points to an empty tomb and asks "What's in
here?"
What do you see?
What do you understand?
We are not physically dead.
We may be, in other ways, dead.
God's power has the ability to resuscitate, to
restore, us.
What more do we need?
There is something that we really need.
During WW II, some Jews, with the help of some
concerned and conscientious individuals, were passing themselves off as Christians.
The Nazi's grew wise
One day, as the people gathered in the church, the
Commandant set his guards at the doors and forced a priest to read from a piece of paper.
Will all the Jewish fathers leave the church.
Will all the Jewish mothers leave the church.
There was a rustle as people left to be taken to the
camps.
When heads were raised a bare crucifix was to be seen
in the cancel.
Christ had gone with his people.
As you leave this celebration and go out into the
world
Do not leave Christ here in this place.
Take him with you.
Take him with you to your home and let him help you
to live in peace and harmony.
Take him with you to your places of pleasure and let
him help you to live with a sense of joy and recreation.
Take him with you to your places of work and let him
help you to live with a sense of satisfaction in your productivity.
My dear friends, Please, take Christ with you!
1. (Sean Gonsalves, a reporter for
The Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, MA, writes a regular nationally syndicated column. The
following column by Sean Gonsalves appeared at Easter time. Dist. by Universal Press
Syndicate. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.)
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