Sermon - 2016-04-03

One of the main questions that I hear people ask about the resurrection is: What did Jesus look like?

Many people will say that Jesus looked the exact same. However, when we hear from the disciples encountering Jesus after the resurrection, they do not recognize him.  They are not able to simply look upon him and know that this person is Jesus.  The disciples did not know that it was Jesus until after talking and being with him for a while.  

You have heard the phrase, don’t judge a book by it’s cover.  This is a phrase that we often remind people, about but have a very difficult time putting into practice.  Especially in the midst of the world that seems to be getting more chaotic, more violent, and even more misunderstood.  

Today, we hear of the closest to Jesus, his own disciples, hiding in fear of their own life.  They were worried about their own safety and security. They locked themselves into a room that would separate them.  This is a common notion that we have as people, fear, to run and hide so that we might be safe.

Yet, just one week ago, we celebrated Easter.  We found out, a promise of God that no one thought would be true or really how God was going to fulfill that promise. They heard that the work was going to be done because they were told by Jesus.  Yet it was their fear that gripped them and caused them to run for their life.  

These same events, we talk about over and over again.  Every year, we speak about the birth of Jesus among us and the death that he faced upon a cross.  So many of us know the story, yet we struggle with how we fit into the story or struggle with how we are being called to live it out into the world.  Or perhaps some of us just want to stay in the nice quiet tomb.  

But still we return to the events and the accounts so that we can learn more about God and even finally give us the courage to move forward, out of the safe tomb, and into the newness of life that Jesus has given to us.  It is this reason, that we are a people who celebrate the cross.  We do not live only in the glory of the events after the cross, we do not live only in the teachings of the parables that Jesus shared.  Rather, we are people who are always at the cross.  We are constantly being reminded of the promise and gift that is Jesus Christ.  To do otherwise, means that we are forgetting this great and wonderful gift and our calling.  We are a people who live beneath the cross of Jesus because that is where we find new life and hope for the future.  

The cross is the accounts that happen within our own life.  We suffer, we cry that something else may come but we know that this is our calling, We go through life, our joys and our sorrows, but we do not do them alone.  We know that our life will come to an end, but we do not know the day or the hour.  Which is a good thing.  Yet we also know of the gift and promise of our own resurrection.  

This is the story that we have told over and over again.  Many of us know it so well that we can share it without even looking at the scripture.  However, today we are reminded, we do not share the story for our own sake, but because there are those among us who need to hear it for the first time. There are those who have heard it but need to understand it, and there are those who understand but need to apply it to their daily life.  

Today, as you go forth, may you live and breath this story, share it with others, but above all may your faith be at the cross.  Amen.