“Reinterpreting The Future…”

It is curious that Luke’s account of the resurrection is quite different from the other three gospels. Like the other gospel writers Luke very carefully tells us who was present at the initial discovery of the empty tomb. Also like the other gospel writers he is quite deliberate about informing the reader about what was said. If we set each of the four Gospel accounts side by side, and compared them with each other we could see that each of the gospel writers tells the story slightly differently. In their respective versions there are different people present and a slightly different series of events transpire. So, they each tell the same story, but with different accents.

However, Luke is unique among the gospel writers in at least aspect of how he tells the story. Luke alone immediately starts to interpret the significance of the empty tomb for his readers. In Luke’s version, he quite deliberately directs our attention as the reader backward to the earthly ministry of Jesus.

Verses 24:5-8 are intended to immediately assign meaning to the significance of the empty tomb through an encounter between the women disciples and two angels present at the tomb. “The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified and on the third day rise again’. Then they remembered his words.”

The point is clear. With the discovery of the empty tomb, suddenly everything Jesus had said in the past, everything Jesus had done in the past, now has a different meaning. Given the reality of the resurrection, the future must now be reinterpreted.

The simple truth of Easter is this: The resurrection of Jesus Christ changed everything about human life! The old limitations of human life no longer apply. The defeat of death is the watershed event in all of human history. As we all know, death is both our greatest enemy and the most common. It can strike anyone at anytime and it happens to everyone.

So, then, it is curious that Luke’s account of the resurrection, his account of the empty tomb, does not contain a go and tell emphasis as do the other accounts. In Luke’s version, the witnesses to the resurrection, the women and those with them, are told to immediately “remember”.

Faced with the startling new reality of the resurrection, the angels instruct the women at the tomb to look backward, not forward. Jesus’ resurrection reinterprets all that Jesus said and did in earthly ministry. It is the lens through which we must view all of God’s actions. It is God’s defining moment.

So, let us follow the angel’s instructions given to the women and let us “remember” Jesus’ earthly ministry. If we think back to the primary themes and major points of Jesus’ public ministry there is a common connection which emerges. In almost every major teaching presented in the gospels there is one message which serves as the foundation: All things are possible with God.

Stop and consider just these few examples from Jesus’ ministry. The Gospel teaches us that the poor among us are counted as worthy in God’s sight, and even tax collectors can be counted among the faithful. The Gospel teaches us that repentant prostitutes can become virtuous. With a right heart devoted to Christ, even those whom the world calls religiously unclean can be welcomed into the family of God. With God all things are possible.

Indeed, the prodigal son can come home because the father’s love remains. The adulterous women can be pardoned because there is no one to throw the first stone. And, then there is the Easter message itself; death is not the final word. In every instance Jesus points to a revelation of God’s will regarding how to live out our lives. God’s will is the final word and God’s will is for life, not death. With God all things are possible.

The resurrection reinterprets everything for us. It reinterprets the past. It reinterprets the present. It reinterprets the future. Without the reality of the resurrection then our lives remain finite; we have a set number of days. There is a physical limit for the usefulness of the human body; we do wear out.

Indeed, if we take the resurrection out of the human equation there is a limit to everything. There is a limit to our obedience. There is a limit to our sin. There is a limit to our ability to forgive one another. There is a limit to God’s ability to forgive us. There is a limit to God’s grace. Without Jesus’ resurrection human life is finite.

However, the reality of the resurrection reinterprets human life as potentially open-ended. Since Christ was once dead, and is now alive, everything has changed. It is impossible to overstate the significance of the resurrection. That Jesus is alive again means that grace is unbounded and free to roam. His resurrection means that forgiveness can expand forever in the power of God, there is no limit. The new life God has given to Jesus reveals for us that God’s love cannot be contained. God’s divine love is not even limited by the reality of death. The reality of death has now been replaced by the reality of Jesus Christ’s resurrection.

The resurrection has created a new reality for us. This is why the two angels urged the women to “remember” Jesus’ words while they had all still been in Galilee. The women were encouraged to remember what Jesus had taught them, and to now understand and interpret those words in light of the resurrection reality they now faced.

The women at the tomb “got it”. Verse 8 of this passage tells us that, “Then they remembered his words…” They went straight away back to the larger group of disciples to help them “remember” Jesus’ words. Their efforts did not immediately succeed. In fact, verse 11 tells us that the other disciples were skeptical of this resurrection reality, “But these words seemed to them an idle tale and they did not believe them.” Now, I’m sure that to some extent there was some male chauvinism at work in their reaction to the women, but there is also something deeper going on by their response; they didn’t want to be forced to reinterpret their entire understanding of the future by admitting that Jesus’ resurrection had occurred.

When we accept the reality of the resurrection then we are also called to reinterpret our understanding of the future by “remembering” Jesus’ words from the past. Accepting the resurrection means that we really are called to treat each other as children of God. This means that no one has the right to treat anyone else as if they didn’t matter.

Accepting the reality of the resurrection means that Jesus’ teaching about God’s claim upon our lives is true. We really don’t belong to ourselves, but we belong to God. Our lives are simply on loan to us. What we make of them is up to us.

Accepting the reality of the resurrection means that we are called to reinterpret our future in light of God’s promises. Yes, our days on this earth are limited, but our lives within the heart of God are not. Such a reality changes everything. It changes the past. It changes the present. It changes the future.

Accepting the reality of the resurrection means that we admit that we are loved. It means that no matter how far we may have fallen from obedience, no matter how unworthy we perceive ourselves to be, no matter how carelessly we may lived, God still loves us. God still loves you! You are not beyond hope. You are not out of reach. God was willing to go anywhere and do anything for you! Accepting the resurrection reality changes your future!

Let us, then, reinterpret our future in light of the resurrection. Let us accept its reality. Let us remember Jesus’ teaching from the past in order that our future may be changed. So may it be for us. Amen.

Reverend Marc V. Mason

Easter Sunday

April 8, 2007

Trinity Presbyterian Church

Travelers Rest, SC