"Anatomy"

Joshua J Sander
4/22/12
Third Sunday of Easter
First Sunday as Pastor of Trinity UCC, Biglerville
“Anatomy”

1 John 3:1-7
Luke 24:36-48

Jesus was dead. He died on a Friday. Can you imagine? This man, this friend, this mentor and teacher—this great, great man tortured to death on a Friday. Gone. Just gone. Where do you go after something like that? How do you go on after something like that? Can you imagine being one of his disciples in the aftermath, waiting out the Sabbath and asking each other, “Where do we go from here?” We know that some of the women stayed in Jerusalem to take care of Jesus body once the Sabbath—when nobody traveled or worked—was over. And we know that the very same day at least two of the disciples decided to travel to a little village about seven miles outside of Jerusalem called Emmaus. And as they walked together they were talking with each other about all the things that had happened.

While they were talking and discussing, a man started walking with them. And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days? ’

He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. It’s only been three days. But now, some women of our group were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they didn’t see Jesus.’

Then the man told them that they were missing something huge—that in fact Jesus was the Messiah and therefore needed to suffer through all those things. Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about the Messiah in all the scriptures. And although they didn’t admit it to each other until after the fact, their hearts were burning within them while he was talking and opening the scriptures to them.

When they came close to Emmaus, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they insisted that he stay with them because it was almost evening. So he went inside. When they had dinner, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized that he was Jesus; and then, just like that *snap* he vanished. Well, they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. And the eleven said that Jesus had risen and had appeared to Simon. Then the two of them told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

It is while they are talking about these things that we get to today’s scripture reading, where Jesus stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." And they were all startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost.

Which is understandable, right? After all, Jesus was dead and had just appeared quite suddenly inside of a locked room. On the other hand, Jesus’ reaction, “Why are you frightened?” is also understandable—after all, they’d just been discussing the fact that Jesus had risen and appeared to the women that morning, and to Simon, and on the road to Emmaus.

Speaking of Emmaus, there has always been something very powerful to me about the idea of not recognizing Jesus. It is all too easy to forget that we were all made in God’s image, or as the author of I John puts it: See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. It is way easy to look at yourself and say, I’m too fat, I’m too skinny, I’m too tall or short or hairy or bald. It is way, way too easy to forget that you are a beautiful creation of the divine.

I hope I’m not the first person to say that to you. You are one of God’s most beautiful creations. I don’t know about you, but I frequently find it difficult to behave as if that’s true. We live in a society where only one or two kinds of bodies are uplifted as the ideal—and that leaves the rest of us out, doesn’t it? I’m never going to look like a movie star, so why should I bother with my appearance? I should bother because I was made in the image of God, just like you were. The only good and true response is for me to make it as healthy an image as I can make it. I don’t know about you, but for me that means keeping track of what I eat and exercising—two things that I admittedly struggle with.

It is just as easy to not recognize the image of God in our brothers and sisters. I don’t find that person attractive. I find that person’s personality to be obnoxious. That person does not share my views on sexuality. I don’t agree with that person’s politics. Now, I’m not saying that there isn’t evil in the world. It’s just that I don’t believe that people are inherently evil. There are people who do evil things—in fact some people seem to choose evil more frequently than they choose good. But I refuse to refer to them as evil people because that implies that they don’t have a choice. As much as it pains me to say it, even Hitler was created in God’s image and there must have been something good inside of him. If I were to say that Adolf Hitler was pure evil I would be saying that God made him for the purpose of causing genocide—and I don’t believe that.

But what really pains me is when we manage not to see the image of God in precisely the kinds of people that Jesus himself told us to: for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me… Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.

When we feed the hungry, when we give something to drink to someone who’s thirsty, when we give someone clothes, when we take care of the sick, when we visit someone imprisoned—and I mean anything from criminal prison to elderly shut-ins—when we do these things it’s exactly like doing them to Jesus. That’s why I always find it so striking that the followers of Jesus do not recognize him. We all fail to recognize Jesus every day. Every day.

As for the immediate aftermath of Jesus’ sudden appearance *snap* “Peace be with you,” the Gospel writer goes to great lengths to describe all the ways Jesus proves to the his followers that he is not, in fact, a ghost, but rather a fully resurrected man with a transformed but still undeniably human body. You can’t put your hands on a ghost. You certainly can’t play with their wounds. And despite what a certain slimy green ghost did in that movie with Bill Murray, ghosts don’t eat food. Jesus clearly isn’t quite the same—after all, he seems to be able to appear and disappear at will—but he is also very clearly not a ghost.

Have you ever wondered why? Why resurrection, I mean, because God clearly could have sent visions of Jesus’ spirit to the disciples as proof of life after death, kind of like Obi-Wan Kenobi allowing Darth Vader to kill him with the promise, “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.” I know, I know, it’s a little silly to imagine the voice of Jesus echoing from beyond the grave and saying, “Use your faith, Peter.” But you get the idea—why not that instead of this whole rigmarole of having to prove that Jesus isn’t a ghost?

Well, the truth is that ever since the days of Plato we’ve been taught that there’s a physical realm and a spiritual realm and that the spiritual is the better of the two. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that in today’s day and age, we spend an awful lot of time in the physical and tend to neglect our spiritual selves—that there’s a balance to be had that we frequently have out of whack. I think that maybe that’s why the ways we get caught up in the physical realm are so unhealthy so much of the time—but that’s another sermon for another day. Let’s talk for a minute about the dangers of getting out of balance the other way—where only the spiritual matters and the physical isn’t important.

Martin Bell, an author and Episcopal priest, puts it this way:

Something like an eternity ago, human beings got all caught up in the illusion that being human is a relatively unimportant proposition. Here today—gone tomorrow. A vale of tears—that sort of foolishness. 

What’s more tragic, of course, is that in the wake of this basic error there quickly followed the idea that human beings are expendable, which easily degenerated into the proposition that some human beings are expendable. Really bad guys are expendable. Guys with low I.Q.’s are expendable. Any who disagrees with me is expendable. A long time ago, human beings got all caught up in the illusion that being human is a relatively unimportant sort of proposition.  

Well, that’s not true. It’s wrong. All wrong. And it has always been wrong. From the creation of the heavens and the earth, it has been—wrong. There is nothing more important than being human. Our lives have eternal significance. And no one—absolutely no one—is expendable.  

Jesus was dead. He was dead and buried. It was expedient that he should be dead and buried. Caiaphas had explained that to himself and to others over and over again. It is expedient, he said, that one man should die for the sake of the people. Jesus is expendable. Caiaphas suffered from the illusion that being human is relatively unimportant. And so Jesus was dead.  

What happened then wasn’t so remarkable, really. God simply raised Jesus from the dead. He merely walked into the tomb that we call insignificance and absurdity, and meaninglessness, and other such names as that—he merely walked into this tomb and raised Jesus from the dead.  

There was nothing very spectacular or remarkable about this. God revealed himself to be the same God who created the heavens and the earth and called his creation good; the same God who led his people out of Egypt to be a light to the nations; the same God who affirmed David in his weakness; who called forth the prophets; who kindled the heart of John the Baptist; and who reached out to touch his tiny children in the person of Jesus Christ.  

God raised Jesus from the dead to the end that we should be clear—once and for all—that there is nothing more important than being human. Our lives have eternal significance. And no one—absolutely no one—is expendable.

Please be with me in the spirit of prayer: God of ceaseless new beginnings, we rejoice that through your powerful love Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. In the resurrection you have shown that neither trouble nor persecution, hardship nor poverty, danger nor death can separate us from your love. Free us to trust in you that we may live in the confidence of your children.

In the resurrection you were victorious over sin, violence, and oppression. Free us to risk ourselves in the struggle for justice and peace that we may be your partners in restoring all creation to your will.

In the resurrection you have opened the gates of eternal life. Free us from the fear of death that we may serve you with courage.

In the resurrection you bring new possibilities out of hopeless situations. Free us from all despair that we may bring your hope to those who have lost heart.

Through the presence of Jesus Christ among us, draw us into a community of freedom, hope, and love. Work your new creation among us that we may serve you without fear.

God Most Holy, God Most Loving, God Most Knowing, we praise your name for ever; through Jesus our risen Christ and Savior.   Amen.