Well once again everybody, a very blessed, very happy Easter Day
to all of you. As I say, we've been through
a rough period, haven't we? A rough Lent and
it's wonderful, we're able to join with our fellow Christians
all over the world to celebrate this
consummate day of joy.
Here's the first thing I want you to know about the Resurrection.
It happened.
Why do I say it that way? Because
way too many people--this has been around for a long time but
many people today--way too many will say--
"Well the Resurrection is a nice story!"
"It's a nice myth"
"Like any other myths of dying and rising Gods"
"We can find this in different cultures and religions all over the world."
"It's just one more iteration of this ancient story."
"Maybe has a moral meaning to it."
Now I'll be willing to bet if there are some young
Catholics, young Christians listening to me
I bet you've heard some version of that in your college or university classroom
It's a very common view in kind of a cultural
elite.
Well, whenever I hear this I think of a saying of
C.S. Lewis, the great writer.
Lewis--one of whose academic specialties was
the study of mythic literature.
Lewis said,
"Those who say the Gospels are mythic,
haven't read many myths."
Here's what he meant, I think:
A myth--and I love the myths, by the way
I remember vividly, I was in seventh grade
when I was kind of introduced to the Greek and Roman myths, I had to do a report
on them--I love those stories from that day
to this day.
Myths are stories with a symbolic importance.
They speak of great general truths.
About the world
about nature, about society, about the psyche.
Think for example of the gods and goddesses
of ancient Greece and Rome. Well, they're
personifications, if you want,
of the natural necessities.
Think of Poseidon of the sea, and Zeus of the air, and Demeter of the earth, et cetera, et cetera.
Wonderful myths.
They convey great general truths.
Which is why, by the way, myths
are always set in some kind of indefinite
distant time. We say "once
upon a time."
Or bring it up to date: "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away."
See, Star Wars is a very good example of a modern myth--
a very effective one I must say.
It's captured the minds of people all over the world.
That's because it taps into this sort of mythic consciousness.
As I say, "great!"
I like the myths.
But we're not dealing here in Christianity with a myth.
The Resurrection is not one more iteration of this ancient story.
Now, here's the clue:
You heard it in our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. Listen:
This is Saint Peter, by the way, speaking:
"You know what's happened
all over Judea
how God annointed Jesus of Nazareth with
the Holy Spirit and power. We are
witnesses of all that he did in the country of the
Jews and in Jerusalem."
As I say, myths are set "once upon a time"
"In a galaxy far, far away"
No one ever wonders:
"Hmm, who was the political leader when Hercules was around?" or
"You know when Osiris rose from the dead, who was the pharaoh at that time?"
I mean, no one's going to ask a question like that because those are inappropriate questions.
But listen to this man:
"You know what happened in Judea about this Jesus
from Nazareth. You know, Nazareth, where that is.
And the country of the Jews, that means the area around
Jerusalem and things that happened in the city of Jeru--
you people know all this!"
This is for my Southern California friends:
But apply it now in your own situation.
If I were to begin a story this way:
"You know, I met this guy first in Oxnard
and then I saw him again in
Montecito. And then just last week he was
here in Santa Barbara."
Would you think for a second that I was about to tell you a mythic story?
No! You'd say, "he's telling me something that really happened to him."
"He's naming times and places."
Can you hear now how Peter's language
is much more like that
than it is like mythic language?
Now
Listen to how this thing ends--How Peter's oration ends.
"This man"--again, not some generic myth
"This man God raised on the
third day and granted that he be seen, not
by all the people, but by us.
The witnesses chosen by God, in advance,
who ate and drank with Him
after he rose from the dead."
Now, can I suggest
You can spend the rest of the Easter season
with that last line--in fact,
you can spend the rest of your life with that last line.
"We, who ate and drank with Him--
this Jesus from Nazareth, whom you saw--that one.
We ate and drank with Him after he rose from the dead."
It takes your breath away.
The realism of it!
Here's something else: when you read a myth
or you read, let's say, a writing by a spiritual
teacher,
there's something very serene about it.
It's conveying important truths, sure,
but it's told usually in kind of a detached, serene manner.
Pick up the New Testament. Now maybe a lot of you haven't
haven't been reading much of the New Testament recently.
Pick it up. Any page. Matthew through Revelation.
What you find there is not serene, detached
reflection on abstract spiritual truths.
What you find, on every page of it is
what I would call a "grab you by the lapels" quality
See, something happened to these people.
Myths can be made up in the privacy of your home.
Or in a faculty lounge, you know what I'm saying?
But, these people aren't talking that way.
Something happened to them that was like an explosion.
And the after-effects are being felt to this moment.
They wanted to go all over the world and tell everyone they possibly could
that this Jesus rose from the dead.
Here's something else:
How many missionaries of Hercules are there?
The answer: None!
How many martyrs for Osiris are there?
Answer: None!
Because those are mythic figures.
People don't become missionaries and martyrs on behalf of mythic characters!
Of Jesus? Missionaries? Are you kidding?
These people went careering around the world
with this urgent sense of mission to tell the whole world.
Martyrs? Yep, every single one
of his most intimate followers, with the exception of John,
met a martyr's death.
In fact, well you can't fly right now 'cause of this Coronavirus, but
the minute that's over, you can get on a plane if you want,
you can fly to Rome, you can visit the grave
of the man who said these words.
"We who ate and drank with Him after His Resurrection from the dead..."
I can show you where he's buried
because it's the biggest, most beautiful grave marker in the whole world:
It's called Saint Peter's Basilica.
And that's where the man who said these words is buried...
who was crucified upside-down
rather than to deny the truth of what he saw.
Myths? Give me a break! Myths...
And again young people, listen to me, if you hear that in your college classrooms, or university or you read it,
Don't you believe it!
That's not what these people are talking about.
And the explosive power of the Resurrection message
felt to this day.
Okay.
I want to tell you now three things:
We got a little time, it's the Coronavirus, you're not going anywhere
so I'm going to give you three implications
once we accept the fact of the Resurrection.
Here's the first one:
First implication of the Resurrection:
Jesus is
who he said he was.
Think about Jesus, you know, "oh, he's a great spiritual teacher"
well, yeah, you could distill spiritual teachings from Jesus, sure.
But what's really interesting about Jesus was
that he spoke and acted in the very person of God.
"Unless you love me more than your mother and father
more than your very life, you are not worthy of me."
Can you imagine any other spiritual teacher saying that?
It'd be the height of arrogance. Unless...
He, in person, is the highest good.
"You've heard it said..."
[in the Torah], but I say..."
For a first century Jew, that was outrageous speech!
Torah: highest law possible, the law that God gave to Moses.
Who could claim authority over it
except the author of the Torah himself?
"My son, your sins are forgiven you,"
And the people say, "Who does this man think he is? Only God can forgive sins."
Quite right.
"Heaven and earth will pass away..."
"My words will never pass away." Who could say that
except the eternal Word of God?
Now, what was the reaction to Jesus? Well, you can see
it in the Gospels. Some, sure, were fascinated
and they followed him.
Others were kind of puzzled and wondered about it.
Others hated him.
And hounded him to his death because of it.
What did the first witnesses of the Resurrection realize?
"Huh...
He is...
who he said he was."
The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the ratification of his claim
to speak and act
in the very person of God. Now listen,
if Jesus is not just one spiritual teacher among many,
one philosopher among many,
but rather, if Jesus is himself,
God-made-flesh
then we have to give our whole life to him.
Right?
If he is who he says he is, well then, I have to surrender my whole life to him.
There's the first implication of the Resurrection.
Here's the second one:
Our sins are forgiven.
The Resurrected Christ always does two things--
look at all the accounts of the Resurrection appearances.
First, he shows his wounds.
And then he says,
"Shalom."
Now, the showing of the wounds, why is that important?
Don't forget
what you did.
The Author of Life came
and we killed him.
There's that stark message I had preached on the other day.
The Author of Life came
and we killed him.
"I'm okay and you're okay." Come on!
"Everything's just fine with me." Give me a break!
The wounds of Jesus are the sign of our own spiritual dysfunction.
"And don't forget it," is what the Risen Lord is saying.
That's a salutary move
that we are aware of our sinfulness.
But then,
what follows the showing of the wounds?
Not vengeance! Now, you'd expect that in any Hollywood movie
and actually, in many of the myths of the world.
What would you expect?
This poor man who had been betrayed and denied
they abandon him at the moment of truth.
And now, now, he's back from the dead!
What would you expect if you're watching a Hollywood movie?
"Well, he's going to visit his vengeance upon them."
But the Risen Jesus says,
"Shalom."
Peace. And that's a word, everybody, that is basic in the Bible.
It sums up what God wants for His people.
What God has wanted from the beginning.
What sin has interrupted
is "shalom."
Peace. That means well-being at every level.
But here's the thing:
To those who had denied, betrayed, run from him, abandon him
he says a word of forgiveness and peace.
We killed God,
and God returned in Forgiving Love.
You see what that means? Do you see what that means?
We killed God
and God returned in Forgiving Love.
That means, there's no sin that God can't, in principle, forgive.
There's nothing that can finally separate us from the love of God.
And doesn't Paul say exactly that in Romans?
"I am certain that neither death nor life
neither angels nor principalities,
neither height nor depth,
or any other creature, could ever separate us from the love of God."
Paul knows that because he met the Risen Jesus
who showed his wounds and said,
"shalom."
The second great implication of the Resurrection is:
Our sins are forgiven.
Third, and final implication:
The Resurrection shows
who is our king
and what our mission ought to be.
Remember Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor
puts a mocking sign over the cross,
this pathetic figure crucified:
and over the cross, the sign: Iesu Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum
Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews
And just so no one would miss it, Pilate put it in
Hebrew and Greek as well
so everybody could see.
It was meant as a joke: Look at this poor, pathetic man who claimed to be the King of the Jews.
What did they sense now after the Resurrection?
That the joke was on Pilate.
Because this Risen Christ is, in fact, the King of the Jews,
Therefore, the king of all nations.
And, deliciously, Pilate thereby became the first great evangelist,
announcing to all the nations, in all the relevant languages:
"You got a new King!"
Now, that's the message of the first Christians.
Pick up your New Testament, open up to any of the letters from Saint Paul.
What will you find? Like a refrain:
Iesu Kyrgios, Iesu Kyrgios
Iesu Christos, Iesu Christos
Jesus the Lord.
Jesus the Messiah.
Who is lord, in that world?
Well, there was a watchword.
Caesar Kyrgios: Caesar is lord!
Caesar's king!
He's the one to whom your allegiance is due.
What's Paul saying? How revolutionary it was!
Not Caesar!
But rather, someone whom Caesar put to death.
But whom God raised from the dead.
Iesu Kyrgios: Jesus is the Lord!
He's the one now to whom your allegiance is due.
See, and here's the point, and I'll close, everybody, with this:
Here's the point:
Stop messing around with Caesar and all of his successors to the present day.
I mean, all these phony kings, all these false claimants to
ultimate allegiance.
Don't give your life and heart and mind to them.
Their day is over.
Who's the real king?
Well, Pilate told us.
Iesu Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum
Jesus of Nazareth: He's the King!
He's the one now
to whom we should give our hearts
we should give our minds
we should give our energy
we should give our bodies and souls. He's the one to whom final allegiance is due.
So everybody, on this Easter day:
Rejoice!
Because Jesus is Lord!
Rejoice!
Because our sins have been forgiven.
Rejoice!
Because we know who's the king.
And we have our mission.
