The Celebration of the Resurrection

The Celebration of the Resurrection
John 20:1-18
4/8/2007
Rev. Philip A Bouknight

 Was Jesus raised from the dead?

Is he still dead in the tomb?

Did someone steal the body?

 Every Easter, you will find secular magazines running articles that ask these questions.  They believe they have found Jesus’ tomb now and the suspense behind this story is whether or not there will be a body in that tomb.  The soldiers guarding the mouth of the cave in which Jesus was buried reportedly told authorities that while they were sleeping, someone stole the body.  That is what they were told to say.  Who would have believed the truth?

 All throughout the gospels, we are given account after account of Jesus’ followers who witnessed the resurrection.  Mary Madeline came to the tomb and saw that it was empty.  Jesus appeared to her and she mistook him as the gardener until he called her name.  She ran to tell Peter and John, but they would not believe until they saw it for themselves.  On the first day of the week, the disciples were gathered in the upper room and Jesus appeared among them.  He showed them his hands and his side, but Thomas was not there.  Upon hearing the news, Thomas said "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."  Jesus appeared before them again while they were locked up in that upper room and offered him this proof.  Then he appeared before the disciples a third time, offering a meal of fish on the shore of the sea of Tiberius.

 These things were recorded so that we, who have not seen him with our own eyes, could believe that he was indeed raised from the dead.  Do you believe that He has been raised from the dead or is he still dead in the tomb.  I pray that you do believe that he was raised from the dead, because the world is watching, waiting for some sign of His life.

 Often I wonder if Christians believe the words they profess in the creed.  I wonder this because I am looking to see the marks in their hands and the gash in their side.   I am looking for some semblance of Christ alive in them, proof that they have been raised from the dead.  Sometimes, I do not find the proof that I am looking for.  I peek into the doors of the tomb, the church, and see a body that is lifeless.  No one runs from the tomb proclaiming “He is Risen!” and for that reason, no one comes running, searching for the risen Lord.  They are left to continue their journey walking away from the cross as they live in the world.  Rarely do they return to the Church to remind themselves of the time when they did walk and talk with Jesus.  Sometimes, during the middle of the week, I open the doors to the church, the stone is rolled away and I find this tomb empty.  Everyone is gone.  I wonder to myself.  Are they out in the world for people to see?  Are they opening their mouths for people to hear?  Are they living as though they were raised from the dead?  Are they being the Body of Christ? Or has someone stolen the body?

 Every Sunday is a little Easter; a day where Christ appears among us.  He comes to those who doubt, takes their hands and says here, put your finger into the mark in my hands and place your hand in my side.  Then we, like Thomas, confess our faith.  He has called us by name and like Mary; our eyes have been opened so that we recognize him.  We are sent from the tomb to tell others that he has risen.  Like the disciples, we finally recognize him in the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the cup.  We can not stay locked up in our upper room.  We are released into the world, proclaiming what we have seen and what we have heard.

 Brothers and sisters, it is not enough to peek into the tomb and find it empty.  We have to run from here and tell the world that he has risen.  It is not enough that we have seen his hands and his side.  We are to take their hands and trace the marks in His hands.  We are to place their hands in His side so that they may see what we have seen.  Since we believe that Christ is risen from the dead, we act like it.  We do not leave the church as though we have just left a funeral.  We leave excited, because we have just witnessed a miracle.  He is risen and he has raised us from the dead.  He has called us by name.  He has fed us, given us his Spirit and he has commanded us to run, run from the tomb and proclaim that

He has been raised. 

 No one has stolen the body.  It is right here.              I see hands and feet, arms and legs, eyes, ears, and lips.  Here is the risen Christ.  Your lives bear the marks of his hands.  Your lives reveal the gash in his side.  If the world is wondering, “Was he raised from the dead?” then we are not showing them that he has.  If they are wondering, “Does his body still lie lifeless in the tomb?” then we are not telling them that he has risen.  If they believe that someone has stolen the body, then the body is not among them.  The feet are not walking.  The hands are not holding.  The mouths are not moving and the lungs are not breathing.  Use your feet, your hands, your mouth and your lungs.  Run!  Run because you have heard the news that he is risen.  Run because you have seen him with your own eyes.  Run, because you have felt his hands. You have placed your hands in his side.  He is risen, just as he said he would.

 I don’t want to hear that someone has stolen the body.  I want to show them this body and say, here it is.  Look at the lives of these people.  Listen to the stories of their faith.  In them, you will find Christ, alive and well.  The body isn’t in the tomb.  Christ is making appearances day after day after day.  You can see him every time we empower a child with the Word of God.  You can hear him every time someone invites another to come and worship.  You can feel him every time a life is touched by the ministry of this church.  In you, they hear his voice.  In you, they see his hands.  In you, they feel his side.  The world has been searching and they have found the body.  He is not dead.  He is alive and you are the Body of Christ.