I delivered this message to Church of the Abiding Savior on Sunday morning and to the delightful folks of the Stewart Health Center at Springmoor Retirement Village. A recording of the Springmoor message is here.
The lectionary texts for this message are:
Acts 9:26-43
Psalm 23
Revelation 7:9-17
John 10:22-30
Holy Spirit, please come. Speak your will into our hearts. Amen
Psalm 23. Such a lovely Psalm! So comforting! It was my Mama’s favorite. She would recite it over and over to herself as she was going through cancer treatment.
And that story about Tabitha (also known as Dorcas). She had just died and when Peter came, all they could think to do was show him the beautiful tunics and other clothing she had made. Such a legacy! My Mama was also a seamstress and for most of my life she was the one who kept me clothed, with clothes she fitted and made with her own hands.
Mother’s Day is not actually a biblical thing, so it was interesting to me that today’s texts were so connected to my mother. But then I realized something else:
I am not here to talk to you about my Mother (although we can do that later if you are really interested). Today I am here to preach Jesus
Christ crucified
Jesus Christ, the one about whom we say (y’all ready?)
CHRIST IS RISEN!
<Christ is Risen indeed, Alleleuia!>
I am here to talk to you about Jesus Christ, because 16 years after her death due to the cancer, my Mama is still in the grave… while three days after his death, Jesus was alive.
CHRIST IS RISEN!
<Christ is Risen indeed, Alleleuia!>
This Resurrection matters y’all. One of my best friends, I’ll call her Mary – a young woman, 27 years old - was with her father when he died this past Friday. She had been sleeping at the hospital for weeks, taking care of him, talking with doctors, generally managing his care through one surgery that was supposed to get him ready for even more intensive procedures. Instead it was more than his body could handle and after a couple of weeks of fighting, he died. Mary will be heartbroken for awhile, I believe, but right now shocked is a probably a better word.
Because death is shocking.
Not one thing that the very best doctors at two of the very best hospitals in the country did could have stopped it.
Wanting him to live with every fiber of Mary’s being did not stop it.
Death will come.
To Mary – to anyone who is feeling the fresh grief of the death of a loved one – the Resurrection matters.
A lot.
But here we are. People of faith on the 4th Sunday of Easter. In the face of death and pain, injustice and evil, we are reveling in what Jesus did. What Jesus did for us!
Today, in this place, we step out of the pain and heartache of this broken and cruel world.
Today we put out our hands to help, and our hearts to pray and care for and love those around us who are feeling the pain.
And because you may be the one feeling the pain, today I bring you this news:
Jesus loves you,
Jesus cares for you,
You can count on that.
We gather here today to be nourished by Word, to share a meal at the table because this life is hard on us and we need to rest in the arms of Jesus and eat the life-giving food of Jesus’ body and blood.
In our conversations yesterday, Mary and I talked about miracles. She knew that miracles do happen. And I imagine there were lots of miracles surrounding her in those hospitals, but she did not get the miracle she wanted.
In our texts today we also hear stories of miracles:
* The miracle of Peter, raising Tabitha with prayer, even though the grieving had already commenced. The widows did get what they wanted.
* The miracle of a God who promises TWICE in our Gospel that if we look to Jesus following his voice as we have come to know it,
No one can snatch us out of his hand.
No one can remove us from the miraculous love of Christ.
What bold stories, bold statements. How different than the lives we so often lead, right?
It is easy (and tempting) to hear and read these stories and go to this pat place:
Just have faith.
Follow Jesus!
Just do that, ok?
Do what the widows did: have faith that Jesus is the answer and call one of his besties. But they did that when all they had was her handwork. The artist they loved was gone. Were they holding the cloth to their faces, hoping to catch a whiff of the scent that was only Tabitha’s?
Do what Peter did: pray in faith. Even when there was no reason to think anything would come of it. But what did he say? How did he intercede with God? What do we say when our brains are frozen and we have no words?
Live into the promise of Psalm 23: trust Jesus to lay out a spread, right in front of our enemies. Even the greatest enemy of all: death.
This is so much easier said than done! It is all so much easier to tell each other to do… than to do it ourselves.
It puts me in mind of my friend Martha. Martha has moved heaven and earth to raise a child and go to school and work, and things have not always gone well. She says “Every day something else tries to kill me, and every day, Jesus says NOT TODAY” She has a very keen and practical understanding of what it means to feast on God’s goodness at a table spread before her enemies. All the forces of culture, and academia, and regular everyday life were not going to stop her from following Jesus.
Because THANKS BE TO GOD even a mustard seed of faith is enough.
And when we have no words, the Holy Spirit will intercede for us.
So how do you react in these situations, like Tabitha’s situation?
Would you act like you believe – like you KNOW – by making beautiful clothing and doing acts of charity, like Tabitha did?
Would you appreciate the beautiful work of others and show up when someone has died, like the widows did? To bring the courage borne out of your faith into the moment of tremendous pain? To hold each other gently and lovingly, as a reminder that Jesus holds us gently and lovingly – and with a grip that will not be broken?
Or maybe you would be the one who goes to get help, who rustles up prayer from all over.
Would you be the one who prays, even when the situation seems hopeless? The one who says “yes, miracles happen, and I am going to believe that Jesus is there with us making miracles, even if they are not the ones I had hoped for.”
Can you see all the things Jesus has done in living a perfect life, in loving every person – EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON – and say “oh, yes, I believe.”
Can you hear of the Resurrection and say “even DEATH could not stop Jesus! He is the one!”
I hope you can.
I hope you can hear the stories, see God working in your own life, and have faith.
Because if you have faith, you are safe in Jesus. This is not an earthly safety. This does not have anything to do with money or politics, with possessions or family.
This Jesus, who could not be held even by death, is holding you. Gently, lovingly, certainly. And nothing will snatch you from his hand.
CHRIST. IS. RISEN.
<Christ is Risen indeed, Alleleuia!>
So relax into the Jesus who is stronger even than death.
Fear not.
Even when it is the most incomprehensible, frightening moment ever. Because in those moments – ESPECIALLY in those moments – Jesus is holding you in loving care.
Live in the confidence that you will one day be wearing robes washed and made white because this ordeal has ended.
Live in faith that the work has been done, and all that’s left to do is worship the one who made it all happen.
Live like the Resurrection matters. Because as my friend Mary would tell you… it really, really does.
Amen.
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