Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Really? He is alive? You really believe that because to proclaim that Jesus has in fact died and has been raised from the dead is a life-changing, world-shattering reality.
In making this affirmation we are saying that we believe him to be actually who he claimed to be; the son of God, the Messiah who died for our sins.
God made man who ushered in an utterly new kingdom and an utterly new way of life, detaching us from everything that binds us to this world, and anchoring us; our lives, our hopes, our purpose, our destinies, to Jesus.
To say we believe this is to be willing to risk all for him to accomplish what he will through us so that, we recognize no one of more importance than Jesus and nothing of more significance than to look to him, listen to him and follow him daily – because he is alive.
But, you see, there is a danger that we can affirm this truth with great gusto, and yet never really appropriate it into our lives.
We can affirm that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead, and still live like he didn’t.
It is a sad fact that we as humans can be inconsistent with how we live what we believe.
How many of us affirm that speed limits and stop signs are a good thing and make life a little safer? But how many of us always completely stop at stop signs and never go over the speed limit? Guilty!
How many of us affirm that eating healthy can be good for us? And how many of us really appropriate that truth into our life, never eat sugar or fried foods or foods with unpronounceable additives? Guilty!
And we know getting exercise can assure us of better health and life but how many of us appropriate that into our lives and get regular exercise? Guilty!
And I am not even going to bring up cigar smoking!
How many of us go through our day, without ever a thought that Jesus is risen?
Many of you have met our little 15 month old grand- niece Lily. What a precious little soul. She just makes me smile with joy to look at her.
When we babysit she sleeps in our room in a collapsible cradle thing. The first thing we hear in the morning – before the sun is up – is this little “Hi, Hi” as she stands in that crib greeting us, looking expectantly at us. You just can’t ignore her.
And yet how many days do I get up thinking already about everything that has to happen that day and miss Jesus who stands there trying to get my attention saying “Hi, hi; I am risen.” And I completely ignore him.
This simple yet profound affirmation that Jesus is risen has great implications both for us and for the world because it implies a radical reorientation of our lives to live in accordance with this truth. It should completely change us, change our relationship to this world.
If Jesus has risen, if he is alive – alive today, now, then our lives should be different and the world really should know this! Our days should open, and run, and close with our acknowledging that he is risen. How very different our lives might be if we did.
We heard in the gospel lesson just read about Thomas the Apostle.
One of the twelve, he was an eye-witness to Jesus’ life, he saw all of what Jesus had done; healing sicknesses of various sorts, feeding multitudes from insignificant amounts of food, driving out demons, even raising a man from the dead.
He had witnessed Jesus’ life, had heard teaching that turns the human heart upside down; words about forgiveness, loving the unlovable, living life in a different way, holy teaching that convicted some and comforted others,
And he heard Jesus speak the words warning of his impending suffering, death and resurrection, and words that explained the reasons for that coming event.
But when the risen Jesus visited his disciples on that Sunday, when the disciples were gathered together, he was not there.
The text doesn’t say where he was on that Sunday, maybe a late event the night before that caused him to miss that encounter with the risen Jesus. If it were a Sunday morning one might suppose he slept in because he had a very busy week or he might have been playing golf or tennis but for whatever reason he was not with the rest of the disciples, where Jesus was.
One of the great results of our affirmation is the formation of community, a fellowship of people who all believe and proclaim that Jesus is risen: The Church. It is the place where faith is built up and strengthened; where we learn to live out this faith. It is essential.
Separation from community is both a symptom of unbelief and a cause of unbelief and doubt. Thomas illustrates this as many do today but not you; you are here.
When Thomas finally showed up, and the disciples told him: “We have seen the Lord” he responded in a way that one would not have expected given his time with Jesus, but in a way that is so very human.
He says “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the marks of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
Have you ever found yourself responding to a faith challenge in that way? Unless, fill in the blank, unless God does something special, does this or that, gives me what I think I need or want then I will not believe. I will not take God at his word, I will not believe he is in charge of this particular situation, I will not believe he is really my Lord unless….
It is so very like us, we make a choice not to believe unless God does something for us to convince us. And the amazing thing is God sometimes does!! Not all the time, and not for everyone, but sometimes he challenges our willful unbelief in astounding ways.
He did that for Thomas. A week later Jesus physically appears and confronts his unbelief, challenging him to touch him, and all Thomas can do is to humbly proclaim: “Lord and my God” – as much a confession to Jesus of his doubt as a profession of his belief in Jesus.
Jesus said to Thomas regarding his profession: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
There are many of us who have had encounters of one sort or another with the Lord, maybe heard a word spoken to your heart, or felt his touch or presence in a visceral way, or have been the recipient of angelic assistance, or a miraculous healing. Or maybe even have seen the Lord that we would believe.
And those are very real and true encounters because Jesus is risen and he is God and he is active every day with us and in us.
But most of us believe because of the witness of others. John tells us in the last line of the gospel reading that “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and that believing you may have life in his name.”
In spite of his initial willfulness to disbelieve, after his encounter with the risen Jesus, Thomas was infused with a faith and life that as tradition bears account, empowered him to go into far lands proclaiming that which he once had a hard time believing, that Jesus is risen, that in him, in his cross and resurrection, are found forgiveness, eternal life and joy. His life reflected his proclamation: Jesus has risen, Jesus is alive, he is Lord and God.
Our belief is important because our lives, transformed by the reality that Jesus is risen – that he is alive with me and in me and living in the fellowship of other believers, proclaim to the world: The Lord is risen indeed.
Living the truth that Jesus is risen reorients our life to be in the world but not of this world and proclaims that Jesus lives, lives in us, lives through us so that others may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing they may have life in is name.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
May we truly appropriate this truth into our lives, for the sake of Jesus’ desire that all the world may come to believe and have life in his name.