Perplexed. Terrified. Skeptical. Amazed.


This is the sermon I prepared for Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Beatrice, Neb., for Easter, Sunday, April 4, 2010.

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Readings

Acts 10:34–43
Psalm 118:1–2, 18–24
1 Corinthians 15:19–26
Luke 24:1–12

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Prayer

Stir up in us, O Father, the gift of your Holy Spirit, so that we may see your Son, risen and reigning as Lord of all. Amen.

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Message

We live in a time of boundless information,
with data no longer cloistered in books
ranked in rows on the shelves of libraries,
but digitized and flowing to our fingertips,
accessible by smartphone and laptop,
Kindle and iPad.

So many of us think nothing
of having the almost miraculous ability
with these electronic tools
to search the Web’s 50 billion pages
to verify—at an instant—
any fact, any statement, any news we hear.

And so, we have a hard time
listening to today’s Gospel
with the ears of our ancestors in the faith,
who depended upon the words of witnesses
to tell them the news about their world.

So it’s difficult to picture ourselves
in the position of the women who journey in mourning and sadness,
coming to the tomb of their crucified Christ.
They arrive to offer a last labor of love
by preparing his lifeless body for burial
with sweet-smelling spices.

They had seen with their own eyes
their Lord’s crucifixion,
his harrowing suffering on the cross.
They had heard his final cry and prayer,
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke 23:46, NRSV)
They had watched him take his last breath.

They knew the facts—firsthand.
His death was truth. Verified. Certain.

And so, imagine their surprise,
when they come to the tomb and do not find a lifeless body.
They are perplexed.

Then they encounter two men in dazzling clothes—angels—
and they are terrified.
But then their fears are assuaged
as the angels—God’s messengers—share with them the news,
“He is not here, but has risen.” (Luke 24:5c, NRSV)

They cannot Google the Web
to know for sure what they just had been told.
They have only the testimony of the angels,
reminding them of Jesus’ prediction
of his own suffering and death,
his promise to rise from the dead.

And when they leave and return
to the remaining disciples and the other followers of Jesus,
they tell their story,
share their testimony,
and witness to their faith.
They are met with skepticism.

But then Peter decides to check on their story.
He goes to the tomb
and sees it is empty.
And to the side are the burial cloths lying by themselves,
just as the women had said.
He has heard the words of the women
and he becomes his own eyewitness to the empty tomb.
Even and rightly so, Peter is amazed.

This all happened so long ago and so far away,
and the world we live in today is so vastly changed.
But on the other hand,
not much is different.
We share a common humanity with
Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James
and the other women and Peter and the other disciples.

We share the capacity to experience the same feelings they had
when we are told the good news that Christ is not dead, but raised.

We can be perplexed, terrified, skeptical, and amazed.
We can wonder what to make of the news that Jesus is risen.
We can feel scared by the shifting foundations of our world.
We can harbor nagging doubts about whether the news is true.
And we can come to the moment
when we have heard and seen
just enough to lead us to amazement.

And for a start, that is all that we need.
The first step on our journey of faith
is a matter simply of receiving a witness to the truth.
It is not at all about enjoying unfettered access to the data.

If just one person will tell us the good news,
will share with us the account of how Jesus is not dead, but risen,
will testify to a life-changing encounter with the Lord,
then we can come, like Peter, to be amazed.
This is the work of the Spirit.

And from there, the journey can take us places beyond our imagination.
Look at Peter.
He went from hiding in a room with his friends in Jerusalem—
for fear of discovery and detention—
to preaching in public in the town of Caesarea,
as our first reading tells us.

And just as the women told their good news to Peter,
he, in turn, tells the good news to Cornelius and the others,
that Jesus was put to death, but raised by God,
that he appeared to his followers,
that he commanded them to preach and to testify,
that the message he has given them to pass on is this:

[Christ] is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.
All the prophets testify about him
that everyone who believes in him
receives forgiveness of sins through his name. (Acts 10:42b–43, NRSV)

We have heard this news, this good news.
You can search for it on the Web.
You can Google it on your computer.
But in the end, this news is not data;
it does not reduce to facts.

It is the Good News, the Word of God,
the message about how God our Father
sent his Son to be with us
and to suffer for us
and to die on our behalf
and to be raised by the Spirit
so that we might live
and tell others what we know to be true. Amen.