Easter Sunday: The Pattern

On the Coleman Glacier, Mount Baker, Washington, USA

[Life] is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. 

Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5

A hundred years ago, British mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell used the Second Law of Thermodynamics in a vigorous assault on theism.  Russell’s position was that since the Second Law requires that the universe is ultimately doomed, life is ultimately meaningless.  All achievement and therefore human life itself are futile. 

You can go with Russell, or take door number two: read Luke 24: 1-12

In a few short days, everything has unraveled, disastrously, for the disciples.  From his triumphant entry to Jerusalem, Jesus is arrested. He is condemned, tortured, then humiliatingly crucified.  One disciple has hanged himself.  The others are cowering and in hiding. 

Now, the first day of the week, at early dawn, some women go to the tomb, taking their spices.  These are not women expecting a resurrection.  Gloom has settled on their hopelessness and confusion.    

Have you ever felt like your life has spun so completely out of control that everything that means anything to you has slipped through your fingers?  Before you even know what is happening, you can’t trust anything, anyone, or even yourself anymore. 

Have you ever questioned whether anything matters, whether there is any purpose at all? 

They find the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they go in, they don’t find the body. They’re confused. 

Suddenly two men appear next to them in dazzling array.  The women, frightened, bow their faces to the ground, and the men remind them that

1.   Jesus himself had told them, repeatedly, that this would happen (“Remember how he told you”).   

2.   Jesus’ death (as well as his resurrection) is rooted in the Old Testament. 

3.   There is a larger plan (“the Son of Man MUST BE delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise).”

Just because you can’t see the pattern yet doesn’t mean it isn’t there. 

God knows what it is to lose a child.  God can take something so horrific and unjust as the violent betrayal and crucifixion of his Son, and breathe meaning into it (and meaning that reaches redemptively to all people everywhere).   

God, the Lord of history, can take your circumstances and redeem them, too. 

We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

That’s good news for Peter.  He’s the one who denied knowing Christ, not just once, but three times, remember? 

Peter runs to the tomb.  Stooping, he sees the linen cloths by themselves, and he goes home marveling at what has happened.

In denying Christ, Peter screwed up, monumentally.  But the story isn’t over yet for Peter (just read Acts and his epistles).

And it isn’t over for you either.  He is risen.  Fresh start.  It’s a new day.  See the world with new eyes. 

Holy Saturday: Actions Amplify Words

Pope Francis washes – and kisses – the feet of a young offender at a detention center in Rome last Thursday.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures

1 Corinthians 15:3, 4

Read Genesis 22:1-18  

Trust is key to the journey with God.  Later writers will cite Abraham’s trust in God, proved in his actions, as a faith worth emulating. 

This story of near-miss child sacrifice, captured in Genesis 22, parallels the gospel remarkably.  At least three elements of the story in Genesis anticipate the gospel: 

1.   An only son

Isaac is Abraham’s “only son, whom he loves.”  

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

2.   Atonement by sacrifice

Atonement is the reconciliation of alienated parties by making amends, blotting out offenses, and giving satisfaction for wrongs done.  Christ’s death on the cross satisfies the just wrath of a holy God against the sins of everyone who trusts in him, so that our relationship with God is fully restored (see Romans 5, especially verse 10). 

3.   A substitute

The Lord provides a ram for sacrifice instead of the chosen son.  In the same way, Jesus offers his life as a substitute for God’s chosen ones (that is, we who are his children by faith). 

And in verses 17 & 18, God’s fourfold promise is confirmed:

1.   God’s blessing, specifically, the presence of God in protection and guidance: “I will surely bless you.”

2.   A seed, that is, descendants: “I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.” 

  

3.   A land, an inheritance, yet with a view to the whole world: “And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies.” 

4.   Blessing that extends to all nations through the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel): “and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”

All this, because Abraham proves his faith in his actions: "because you have obeyed my voice.”

As God acts in history, and the Kingdom of God in Christ became present in Word and in deed, God confirms his promise with his word. 

All of history points to Christ. It’s God’s history; His-story, and you (yes you) are part of his plan.  

In what key area of your life is God calling you to prove your faith, to prove your confidence in him? 

ü  Maybe it is an ethical question you are facing at work. 

ü  It might be a moral issue in your private life. 

ü  It could be that God is saying to you that now is the time to express your faith in Him by what you say. 

ü  Or there is something you need to do – action, and now is the time to prove it. 

Christ’s actions include his sinless and obedient life, his death, his burial, his resurrection and the pouring out of His Spirit on his people soon after.  God explains -- he interprets -- these actions in history by his Word.  The kingdom, present in word and in deed, continues… with you. 

How is God calling you to prove your faith, and demonstrate the presence of the Kingdom today?