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EASTER SUNDAY - THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD

A Much Bigger Picture

Acts 10:34-43; Luke 24:1-12

There was once a teacher who took a large piece of white paper.  In the middle of it, he drew a loosely shaped “V.”  He held it up before his students and asked them, “What do you see?”

            They all said, “We see a bird.”

            “Are you sure?” he asked.  “Is that what you see?”  They stared at the paper and then looked at him in confusion and bewilderment.

            “It is a picture of the sky,” he said at last, “with a bird flying through it.”

            We often miss truly seeing what is right in front of us either because it is not what we expect or because our vision is not great enough.

            So, it is with Easter.  We have heard this story so often, it is easy to miss how unexpected it was and how much confusion and bewilderment it caused the first witnesses.  For that first Easter was not met with eager acceptance and glad faith.  It was not greeted with loud hosannas and hallelujahs.  The good news of Jesus’ resurrection elicited fear and confusion and unbelief and resistance, even among those who should have known better. 

The first to hear it was a congregation made up of all women – Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, as well as others.  After resting on the Sabbath, as God commanded, they went to the tomb to pay respects to the body of Jesus.  They had watched him die on the cross.  They had seen him taken down.  They witnessed where he was laid in the tomb.

            Now they return.  To their surprise, the tomb, where they had seen his body laid, is now empty! 

            While they were still trying to figure out what was going on, suddenly out of nowhere, two men in dazzling white appeared.  They were bathed in light.  The women were terrified and bowed down to worship them.

            But they said, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?  Jesus isn’t here; he’s been raised.  Don’t you remember?  He told you himself what had to happen – The Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised.”

            And the women do remember.  So, they run to the disciples and tell them what happened.  But the disciples are in no mood to believe them.  They think the whole story is a bunch of baloney!

            Peter, however, is curious.  He goes to the tomb in order to see for himself.  But he too is puzzled by the empty tomb.  He too wonders if there is something he is missing, if maybe there is a bigger picture.

            There was confusion and bewilderment and doubt and skepticism.   Maybe it’s not what they expected.  Maybe they couldn’t see the whole picture.  Maybe death was too real to them and that’s all they could see.  So, the Easter story had to go on.

            Later that day, two disciples were walking away from Jerusalem toward the town of Emmaus .  A stranger approaches them and asks them why they seem so sad. 

            They explain to him that Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet mighty in word and deed, was put to death by the temple priests and religious authorities.  This had dashed all their hopes, because they had expected him to bring glory to Israel .  But they had just heard the strangest thing – some women they knew had been to his tomb this morning.  Instead of finding his dead body, they were met by angels who told them he wasn’t dead, but alive!  And they didn’t know what to think!

            This stranger says, “Don’t you see it?  Aren’t you getting the big picture?”  Then he gives them a Bible study.  He goes through the whole Bible – Moses and the prophets – and shows how it was necessary that the Messiah must suffer and shows how his resurrection shines new light on what God is doing.

            When the two of them arrive at Emmaus and sit down at their place for a meal with this stranger, he takes bread and blesses and breaks it.  They suddenly see that this stranger is none other than Jesus himself – alive again!  As soon as they seem him, he disappears.  They leap to their feet and run all the way back to Jerusalem to tell the others. 

            By this time, Jesus has gotten to Peter, too.  At last, Jesus stands in front of all of them.  He gives them a Bible study, too, and opens their minds to understand what God is doing and why – that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem .  At last Jesus tells them, “You are witnesses of all of this.  My work is finished, but your job is just beginning.”

            So, it is that Peter and the disciples finally come to believe.  It takes awhile, even with some special instruction.  But now they see a much greater picture.  Death is not all that there is.  Death is real, but it does not have the last word.  Jesus has been doing the work of God – in his death and in his resurrection – and by that we know that God has the last word!

            The disciples now believe.  Peter now believes.  But, for Peter, I don’t think it stops there.  I don’t think Peter really gets the resurrection until several chapters later, in the sequel to Luke’s gospel called, “The Acts of the Apostles.”  Peter preaches his Pentecost sermon.  He stands before the Council in Jerusalem and defends his faith.  He spends time in prison.

            Then, in chapter 10, Peter has a vision in which God tells him, “Don’t call unclean what I have deemed clean.”

            Right away, Peter meets Cornelius, an Ethiopian eunuch.  No one could be more unclean that Cornelius.  Because of his nationality, Cornelius could never be a member of the people of Israel and because of his sexuality could never enter the temple in Jerusalem . 

Because of his vision, though, when Peter meets Cornelius and sees God working in his life, he says, “Now I finally get it!  Now I finally understand!  God doesn’t play favorites!  God shows no partiality!  In every nation, everyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him!”

            That is the moment for Peter when the doors finally get blown off their hinges.  It is the moment when he realizes how empty the tomb is.  It is empty enough to embrace the whole world.  Before he died, Jesus healed a few people and taught a few people and fed a few people.  Now, because of his resurrection, Jesus has gone global.  Jesus is for everyone.  Jesus is for you.  Jesus is for me.

That means nothing can get in your way with God.  Your color or your company; your country or your creed; your past or your prospects; your pedigree or your people – none of it matters to God.   God wants everyone to come back!  God wants you to come back to him!

Maybe there’s something that’s keeping you from God.  Maybe you don’t feel like you’re the religious type.  Maybe you think you have too much in your past.  Or maybe you’ve just had too many losses, you’ve seen too much death to hope for anything more and you are fully convinced that we die and that’s it.

But let me ask – Is that all you see?  Is it little things?  Is it big things?  Is death all you see?  Are you sure?  Are you really seeing the whole picture?  Or is God showing you a picture as big as an empty tomb?

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”  For the Lord is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!