Suggested readings: John 20:11-18, Luke 24:13-35, John 21:1-14 TEV

Easter

Resurrection – Not Resuscitation

“As the sun was rising, Jesus stood at the water’s edge

But the disciples did not know that it was Jesus” John 21:4

We started Lent on Ash Wednesday with Stephen Covey’s suggestion to “begin with the end in mind”.  Doing so allowed us to remember that we are a people of the resurrection.  We are people who have been given the promise through the resurrection of Jesus that life always triumphs over death, whatever form of death we encounter in our lives.  Today, we celebrate that triumphant act of God as we join in the liturgy and declare “He is Risen, Alleluia.”

There is an interesting and often overlooked aspect of the Resurrection narratives, however, that I believe offers us an important insight into the nature of Resurrection.  Of the few stories which tell of the encounter of people with the risen Christ, in several instance, they don’t recognize him.  This fact has always struck me as odd.  These are people who have just spent every day of their lives with him for the past three years, and yet, they don’t recognize him initially.  I cannot imagine being with someone day in and day out and not knowing them if they were to appear before me after they have died.

Maybe these encounters contain an important truth God is revealing through the Resurrection experiences of the Disciples.  Could it be that Resurrection is not resuscitation but something far greater?  The new life which Christ embodies is not simply identical to his old life; but one in which he is transformed into something new, as well.  Certainly the stories that speak of his appearing and disappearing in the presence of people, and his ascension, give testimony that this is not just a physical resuscitation but a new form of his life that is a gift from God.

When we look for the new life of resurrection in our own lives, we need to be open to the fact that it is not going to look identical to what we left behind.  Death does bring an ending to the old life we had while Resurrection brings a new life into being, and the new life holds potential for things that the old life did not possess.  We are indeed “born again”.  While it was still the same Jesus of Nazareth who experienced the power of Resurrection, he, too, was changed in ways that led to the transition of leadership from himself to Peter and John.  He moved to a new life far beyond what he had experienced to that point, transcending the limitations of this world. 

Too often, after experiencing death, we try and cling to the old way, to rebuild a duplicate of what we have lost rather than let go and allow the new to emerge.  So, as we look for the resurrection in our own lives, let us be aware that it will not be the same.  Indeed it can become far more than we have experienced up to this time.  As Paul notes, “. . .the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17b; and we must embrace our new life, and build it within the spirit of that Divine love which makes it possible.

Prayer: Lord, as we experience the power of your love to resurrect each of us from the many moments of death we encounter, help us to willingly accept and create with you the new life you offer.

Reflection Question: Where have I experienced a true resurrection in my life?

Mark 15:16-32 RSV

Good Friday

“So also the chief priests mocked him to one another with the scribes, saying,

 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 

Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”  Mark 15:31-32

Reading this passage from the perspective of today’s world, we might indeed wonder why he didn’t do precisely what they requested.  In our world, any semi-competent PR person or ad agency would take advantage of the opportunity in dramatic terms.  From our perspective the really spectacular thing would have been precisely for Jesus to step down from the cross and say something to the effect, “OK, guys now let’s talk”.  It would be a Clint Eastwood or Arnold Schwarzenegger moment and it would make the nightly news for sure.  How better to get across God’s message to humankind than with such a dramatic action?

In contrast, Jesus suffers, dies, and is buried.  Then the resurrection is not recognized except by a select group of people who then carry that almost unbelievable truth to the world.  The most wondrous event in history is greeted in quiet encounters with those who already believe he is the Christ.  There is no public news conference with Jesus standing there taking questions and showing people what they missed during his first tour of duty.  So, what is this all about and what does it say to us?

I suggest it points to a central truth about God and our faith in Jesus as the Christ, meaning God’s chosen one to reveal the nature of God, and God’s ultimate commitment to life and love.  In the final analysis the Divine message of God’s love can only be encountered through faith, not through “dramatic proofs”.  It is the “still small voice” that nudges our souls to fulfill our relationship to the transcendent.  It is our own personal faith encounter with the living Christ in our hearts that must be the root of our “new life” in Christ.  We are called to live our Christian lives by faith not some historical drama.  Faith is how we encounter the presence of the Divine. 

Prayer: So our prayer this day is that of Luther; “I believe, help thou my unbelief”.

 Reflection Question: How can I strengthen my faith in my daily living?

Mark 11:1-10 RSV

Palm Sunday

“Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord!”  Mark 11:9

As I left the grocery store the other day, the cashier said to me, “Have a blessed day.”  That got me to thinking about what makes a “blessed day” as opposed to simply having a “good day”, which is the more common statement.  Is” blessed” something special.  Is it like winning the lottery or having your doctor tell you that the suspicious tests were wrong, and you will live, or some other special happening? 

I then thought of these words from the gospels addressed to Jesus as he entered Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday.  His days that week certainly didn’t seem to fit the concept of “blessed”. He was publically challenged, ridiculed, threatened, beaten, and executed.  So, I turned to the dictionary for some enlightenment.  The word “blessed” covers several different meanings but one seemed to indicate an important understanding, both for Jesus and for us.  Webster says one of its meanings is “to invoke divine care for” which suggests walking with God through the day being consciously aware of the ongoing care of God in our life.

Jesus entered Jerusalem with a personal sense of the presence of God caring for and guiding his every moment.  That presence gave him meaning and purpose to his actions and the courage to face whatever would come to pass.  Whether that is what the crowd meant for him is unknown, but that is a message worth remembering and passing along to others.  So, when we wish someone a “blessed day” we are really wanting them to walk consciously within the presence of God’s eternal caring love and guidance.  It is in that spirit I wish each of you reading this a “blessed day” today.

Prayer: Lord, help me to be conscious of your presence in my life today.

Reflection Question: How can I live today in a way that makes it truly blessed?

Mark 6:45-47 RSV

A Spiritual Necessity

“…he dismissed the crowd.   And after he had taken leave of them,

he went up into the hills to pray.  And when evening came…he was alone.” Mark 6: 45-47

Several years ago there was a cartoon in which a teenager encounters a breakdown in his ear buds.  Not being able to hear the music, he falls to the ground in a panic.  The main character in the strip then says this poor youth is suffering from a “loss of stimulation syndrome.”

We do live in an age of continuous stimulation.  The cell phone and computer make it possible for us to have something grabbing our attention every moment of the day, and it appears that we have become addicted to the experience.  Go into any restaurant today and note the number of people who are sitting at a table together and not conversing, but rather tapping away on their phones and that is only one example.  Additionally, we have been sold the idea that we can multi-task despite the clear evidence of neuroscience that the human brain can’t perform more than one focused task at a time. So, we are encouraged to continually keep in contact through electronic media and do multiple activities at the same time.

Contrast this with Jesus’s life where we have multiple examples of him withdrawing from the stimulation of the crowds and going off to be alone and quietly encounter God through prayer.  This behavior has interested me since he was a person of great compassion, and I wondered as a youth how he could go off by himself and stop working with those who needed his healing powers.  It seemed to me like a doctor who says, “Well, it’s five o’clock so the office is closed. See you tomorrow”.

As an adult I have come to understand Jesus’ action as a truly necessary part of living.  We need time to charge the batteries.  We need down time, time alone and for our spiritual health, time to sit in the presence of God through meditation and prayer.  Today though we are threatened by a society that no longer values such time.  Instead we are encouraged to never “be still and know that I am God”.  The price we pay is becoming evident in our loss of moral values, the increased use of drugs to keep us going, and the failure of so many primary relationships in life.  As the hymn reminds us, “take time to be holy, speak oft with your God.”  The message has never been more needed.

Prayer: Lord help me to set aside time for me to simply be in your presence, listening for your guidance.  Amen

Reflection question: When will I make time in my life for mediation and prayer?

“Jesus said to the servants ‘Fill these jars with water’.  . . .

“Now draw some water out and take it to the man in charge of the feast.’

They took him the water, which now had turned into wine.

John 2:1-11 TEV

John reports this incident as the first miracle performed by Jesus at the onset of his ministry.  What is often overlooked is the nature of this “miracle”.  What Jesus did was to create something out of nothing.  Water as a beverage at this wedding has no meaning.  Wine, on the other hand, plays an important and meaningful part of the celebration.  I think it is that ability to create something meaningful from that which isn’t significant that is the lesson we can learn from this event.

Many of us are aware of the story of the mother who founded “Mothers Against Drunk Driving”.  She lost her son in an automobile accident in which the other driver was intoxicated.  The death of her son was a random, meaningless event.  But she transformed an arbitrary event into something of great meaning as she created a movement to prevent others from having to face similar incidents in their lives.  Like Jesus, the lesson is clear that we have the power to create meaning in our lives out of events that may appear to have no significance.

Each day, amidst the routine activity of our lives there are opportunities to create something meaningful and significant out of what appears to be ordinary or mundane..  Taking the moment to really listen to someone; to hear beyond their words and respond to them.  To pause and compliment a person when they are doing a good job, even though what they are doing is just an ordinary part of their role, e.g. the person waiting on you in a restaurant.  To give a hug to a family member who seems to be having a hard day.  Each experience in life is an opportunity to create something meaningful.  God has given us many gifts and one of the greatest is the ability to turn what appears to be meaningless “water” into meaningful “wine.”   I believe that is the challenge placed before us through this story.

Prayer: Lord help me to see today’s opportunities for creating meaning out of the ordinary events of my life.

Reflection Question: Today, where will I have opportunities to transform the ordinary into meaningful events for others?

John 5:1-13

When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?” John 5:6

In this passage we read of a paralytic who has been waiting to be healed for 38 years. That’s a long time.  One can only imagine what his life was like during that time span; a daily routine which no doubt involved his family in getting him ready to be taken to the pool, then transporting him there where he sat waiting hour after hour, day after day, for a miracle to happen.  In response to Jesus’s question, he offers the excuse that he has no one to help him get into the pool to be healed before someone beats him to the punch.  In other words, he excuses his behavior by saying that he is unable to act because he doesn’t have an agent outside himself to make the change in his life happen.

How many of us have some area of our life where we wish things were different?  Maybe it’s in our job, our marriage, our lifestyle, etc.  But, like this man, we have gotten into a routine waiting for something outside us to come along and change our lives for us.  Like him, we are paralyzed into inaction, finding excuses as to why things can’t be different.

It is worth noting that Jesus doesn’t really do anything to heal this man.  While John records that Jesus commands him to “get up”, the real twist in the encounter is Jesus’s question “Do you want to be healed?”  In our vernacular, Jesus confronts the man with his attitude toward changing his own life and says bluntly, “get up and do something.”  His message to the man is simply if you want to change things in your life, you have to take responsibility for that and do what you can.   

Today this passage challenges us to consider where in our lives we are paralyzed by inaction to change something that would make our life better?  What would it mean to “get up” and do something about it?  The key question remains “Do you want to be healed?”

Prayer: Lord, give me the courage to act in ways to change my life.

Reflection question: Where am I presently paralyzed from doing something that would make my life more satisfying and meaningful?

John 1:43-50 RSV

Confronting Prejudice

Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  John 1:46

If Jeff Foxworthy had lived in the days of Jesus, he might well have joined Nathanael by saying “You might be a redneck if you came from Nazareth.”  The town Jesus came from was a small, rural “hick” community with no status in the eyes of anyone.  Nathanael questions how the messiah can come from such a nondescript, remote, little town.

Nathanael’s prejudice points to the need of all of us to examine the pre-judgments that we hold, the thoughtless, unconsidered beliefs, we then apply to the world around us.  While some of these, such as racial or ethnic prejudice receive some public attention by society, there are others, equally insidious, that are often overlooked, particularly by those of us who think of ourselves as liberated from these forms of prejudice.

Consider the prejudice many of us have about the mentally ill, the elderly infirm, the homeless, or those who are mentally challenged.  What about our prejudgment about “conservatives” or “liberals”, Republicans or Democrats, Yankees or Southerners?  The unfortunate truth is that each of us holds judgments about others that restrict us from seeing what they might have to offer us and the world.  Like Nathanael, we wonder “Can anything good come out of [fill in the blank]?”

Today, let us ponder what our pre-judgments may be, and use today as a time of confession and repentance.  As followers of the man who came out of Nazareth, we are called to do so.

Prayer: Lord, help me to uncover my hidden prejudices that you may help me challenge and live and act without them.  Amen

Reflection Question: Where in my life am I limiting my relationships because of my pre-judgments?

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John 1:1-14 RSV

Ash Wednesday

“The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”  John 1:5

Stephen Covey, the well-known author of the book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” suggests that when we begin anything, we do so “with the end in mind”.  So where does LENT end?  It ends with Easter and the powerful event of the Resurrection.  We who seek to take this journey from Ash Wednesday to Easter morning need to do so with the end firmly in mind.  We are a “Resurrection People”, people of faith who know that the darkness of death is not the conclusion, rather the eternal light of life is.

So as we begin this LENTEN journey, let us recall the power of this event in our own lives.  God has revealed through Christ that Resurrection is a response to death whenever and however it is experienced, and death comes into each of our lives in many different ways.  While some of our experiences of death may be the physical loss of someone, each of us also encounters death in other ways as well.  There is death when we face a divorce, lose track of a friend, get downsized or fired, move to a new place and start over again, face a life threatening disease, lose our hearing, or surrender some aspects of life because of aging, to name only a few examples.  But in each of these instances, Easter reveals God’s demonstration of the promise of a new life beyond these experiences.  After each of the moments of death we encounter, whatever they may be, the promise in Christ is for a new beginning and an emergent life beyond the loss we have experienced.

On Good Friday, humankind attempted to demonstrate our power to eliminate God’s gift to humanity.  On Easter morning God laid before us God’s response.  As Luther would proclaim “God will win the battle”.  The beginning of this journey called LENT needs to start with that end in mind.  We are a people whose faith is that God can enable each of us to be triumphant over any and all deaths we will experience in our own lives.  We, too, will be resurrected again and again in the midst of our experiences of darkness and loss.  While the passage from John quoted in this meditation is most often thought of as a Christmas passage, it nonetheless affirms the truth of Easter!  In our lives, because of Christ, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not and never will overcome it.

Prayer: Lord, as today I begin my journey toward Easter make me ever aware of how your promise of resurrection continues to create new life in my own.  Amen

Reflection Question: Where have you experienced resurrection in your life?