Bible Text:

“… but God raised Him…”                  (Acts 2:24, 10:40, 13:30)                               

In far-off Vietnam, a small team of American workers looks for the remains of some 2000 or more soldiers who are missing in action from the Vietnam War. In 1999 they found 36 sets of bones. In 2000 there were 24 sets. About the same number were found in 2001. These people are the bone collectors from a war over 30 years ago. 

There are no bone collectors in the Easter story.

 At the site of the World Trade Center attack in New York City, workers faithfully search for the remains of the 3000 who died that awful morning in September of last year. Late this week several more firemen were found. All work stopped. The remains were carried out of the area in a solemn procession. 

You will find no remains at the empty tomb.

 There is a story about a woman who returned to her birthplace somewhere in North Carolina. She visited the old cemetery that was very much a part of the community when she was growing up. She was impressed with how much it had been spruced up. Then she noticed that something had radically changed. When people died in the town when she was a child, they were buried wherever there was a convenient spot. Now husbands and wives were together, families were back together again, brothers and sisters buried side by side. When she told the story to a friend, she exclaimed, “You mean they exhumed all those bodies and put them back in new places?” “Oh no,” came the reply, “they just re-arranged the tombstones.”

Easter is not a matter of re-arranging tombstones, or finding remains, or collecting bones. In fact, if you don’t mind the pun, there are no bones about it! Jesus is risen. That is the testimony of the ages. I believe it.

 Do you know what an “apologist” is, in the Christian faith? You probably know what it means to apologize for something that you may have done wrong. But a Christian apologist is someone who argues for his or her faith. Lee Strobel has written a very interesting apologetic book entitled The Case for Christ. Listen to his words. 

The evidence for the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus didn’t develop gradually over the years as distorted memories… Rather the resurrection was the central proclamation of the church from the very beginning. The appearances of Jesus are as well authenticated as anything in antiquity… There can be no rational doubt that they occurred.

 While I cannot explain Easter to you, while I do not fully understand the Easter story, I have no doubt that Jesus won the victory over death. I fully believe the Easter event happened.

 Jesus died on a cross one Friday afternoon. But God did something unprecedented. It has never happened before. It has never happened since. And what God did is substantially documented.

A few weeks ago I was reading some stories about the preaching of the early church in the Book of Acts. It was then that I noticed that on three different occasions the preacher used words something like this: “Jesus died on a cross.” Immediately—again, three times, the preacher said, “But God raised him up.”

 I think the two words, “But God” may be the most powerful words in faith language.

 Easter is God’s final trump card in the game of life. These two words—“but God”—tell me at least two things.

THEY HELP ME FACE LIFE’S LOSSES 

First, they help me face life’s most difficult losses. Easter means that we simply do not disappear forever. Death is real. Sometimes death is ugly and painful. But death holds no power. 

A 100-year-old man commented about a recent news broadcast. He said, “They say 73 people lost their lives today in a plane crash. Don’t they know we cannot lose our lives? We can only lose our bodies. They should say, ’73 people lost their bodies today.’” 

Easter helps us face life’s most difficult losses.

 A certain actor played the first-person character of Benjamin Franklin in a lot of elementary schools. During one performance for a group of fifth graders, he finished and asked if there were any questions. One boy spoke up and said, “I thought you died.” 

“I did,” said the Franklin actor. “I died on April 17, 1790, when I was 84 years old. But I didn’t like it, and I’m never going to do it again.”

 There was a brief moment of silence. Then another boy raised his hand. “Mr. Franklin, when you were in heaven, did you see my mother there?”

 The actor’s heart stood still for a second. He wanted the floor to open and swallow him. His only thought was, “Don’t blow this. It was probably a recent occurrence. You have to respond.”

Then he heard his own voice saying, as though a gift from somewhere beyond himself, “I’m not sure if she’s the one I think she was. But if she is, she was the prettiest angel there.”

The boy smiled. The actor knew it was the right answer.[i]

 Easter brings us new words for this life, here and now. Richard Holloway is the Anglican bishop of Edinburg. He tells of an experience he had with a dying woman while he was a priest in a small parish. He was called to her home. The woman was active in the church and Sunday school program. The woman said to him, “Father, I’ve been waiting for your arrival. My doctors have just told me that I’m dying of cancer and have at the most two months to live. We haven’t much time left. Will you please prepare me for death and help me to die as a Christian?” 

Holloway said that for the next few weeks they studied what the Christian Scriptures say about the Resurrection. The woman’s name, appropriately enough, was Kitty Hope. Holloway went on to write, 

All that awaited her was the great void and abyss of death, the great nothingness that awaits us all, and which we spend much of our life trying not to think of… the Christian faith does not help us escape from death, does not sweeten its bitterness, but it assures us that, at the final point of human weakness and defeat, at the moment when we are utterly brought to naught, we meet God and are raised by God. Kitty Hope died six weeks after my first visit to her, and her funeral was one of the best Easter services I have known.[ii]

 Easter helps you face life with hope and confidence.

LIVING LIFE MORE FULLY

 The words of Easter also help me to live my life more fully “in the meantime.” I love the story of an Easter pageant in a small community where different people in the town were assigned to play the roles in the story. One year the character of Jesus went to the most unlikely person—a big, common, burly oil field worker. He was the antithesis of typecasting. He was an unlikely person to play the part of Jesus because he was one who cursed like a sailor and had a reputation for barroom brawls. 

After several weeks of rehearsals the day of the Easter pageant finally arrived. People from all over the county came to see the performance. There must have been several thousand people gathered to watch the dramatic re-enactment of the last week in the life of Jesus. 

When they came to the part of the play where Jesus was being led away to be crucified, one little man who was simply filling in as an extra—and as a part of the crowd—became caught up in the emotion of the moment. He joined in the shouts of “Crucify him! Crucify him!” as Jesus was being led away toward Calvary, carrying the cross on his back. Then this little man, who was so caught up in the emotion and in the shouting of insults at the top of his lungs, actually spit in the face of the character playing Jesus as he walked by. This big, burly man stopped in his tracks, reached up, and wiped his face dry. Then he looked down at the little man and said to him, “I’ll be back to take care of you after the Resurrection.” 

That’s exactly what God has done in the Risen Christ. God is taking care of life in the here and now because of the Easter event. Easter is God’s grace for the living of these days. 

Earlier I read you a quote from a book by Lee Strobel. There’s a wonderful story from Strobel’s home life. In his early adult years he was a journalist for the Chicago Tribune. He was profane, often angry, and verbally harsh, and he was away from home a lot.

 Then he met Jesus, and over a period of time he became a man transformed. He reports that his 5-year-old daughter said to his wife one day, “Mommy, I want God to do for me what He did for Daddy”—meaning, I think, “If this is what Jesus does to a person, that’s what I want for me.”

Friends, Easter means that God can transform your life right here and right now.

 Booker T. Washington is famous for his story about a ship lost at sea. The ship was floundering in a storm amidst high waves and dense fog. It went on for a number of days. Finally, sighting a vessel in the distance, the ship sent out a distress signal, “Water, water, for we die of thirst.” The response came back, “Cast down your bucket where you are.”

 The captain of the ship could hardly believe his eyes. He sent the message a second time. “Water, water, for we die of thirst.” Again the response came back, “Cast down your bucket where you are.”

 Four times this happened. Finally the captain relented, and let down the buckets into the water. Up came two gallons of fresh, sparkling water. In the fog and the darkness, the ship had unknowingly drifted into the mouth of the Amazon River.

 Let me ask you something. How did you get here today? Did you come because you’re a member or a regular visitor? Did you come as a guest? Did you come because you happen to be visiting Pittsburgh? Did you wake up this morning and just think because it was Easter you should go to church?

 Let me tell you something if you don’t already know it. You have drifted into the mouth of the river of life. Drink deeply. Drink often. Be refreshed for your journey. Because the Lord of Life, whose name is Jesus, is the source of that river.

 Amen.