Transitional Words

What's Your Excuse?
Robert K. Tschannen-Moran
Broad Street Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)
April 19, 1998

Texts: Isaiah 61:1-4 and John 20:19-31

Prayer: Gracious God, who moves in mysterious ways, move among us now with the rushing wind of your Spirit. Stir us up and makes us hear your Word. Transform us into worthy examples of your love. Amen.

Here we are on the traditional "low Sunday" of the church — the Sunday after Easter. The pastor has gone away to recover, the special music has all been performed, the children have all been baptized, and the crowds have all gone back to business as usual — which obviously does not include sitting here in church on Sunday morning. Even the sun has gone back behind the clouds.

For those of us who are left, the Sunday after Easter graphically presents the challenge of the resurrection. It's one thing to believe in the power of God when the church is filled and the ambiance is extraordinary. It's an entirely different thing to believe in that power when the church is sparse and the ambiance is ordinary.

I know something about this firsthand from my experience of visiting churches over the past several months. Most of you know that I was the pastor of First Congregational Church until about three months ago. I resigned without any plans for the future, other than to stay in Columbus at least until my two children graduate from high school. My family and I have therefore been visiting a variety of churches in our quest to find a new church home.

Every pastor should have such an opportunity! Visiting churches and sitting in the pew for several months, midway through my career, has been an eye-opening experience, to say the least. I've sometimes found myself wondering why anyone bothers to go to church at all. Poorly planned and poorly executed services, sparse and ordinary, seem to be the rule rather than the exception. This past Sunday, Easter Sunday no less, the church we visited had a hard time passing the offering plates and the communion elements. I overheard one of the elders saying, "Next year we're going to practice this." That would be good.

After almost 2,000 years, one might think that the church would have figured out how to do something as basic as worshiping the Almighty God, maker of heaven and earth, the creator and sustainer of life. Hollywood puts more time and effort into a B-movie. And we reap what we sow. Few people would argue with the assertion that Hollywood, rather than God, has the upper hand in the formation of our culture, values, and families.

It is in the midst of such Godforsaken times and places that we are now called, on the Sunday after Easter, to believe once again in the resurrection — the simple, albeit somewhat bizarre, claim that God, without any assistance from medical science or witch doctors, raised Jesus from the dead. In other words that God interrupted the natural way of things, snatching life from death, reversing the judgment of a lower court which had convicted and executed Jesus as an enemy of the state.

This bizarre proclamation, if it is true, changes everything. First, it changes our worldview. If Jesus was really raised from the dead, apart from human agency or design, then there must be more to life than meets the eye. Call it God, call it the spiritual realm, call it eternity, call it the supernatural — call it whatever you want. The Christian proclamation, if it is true, means that the spiritual realm is not a figment of our imagination but a fact of life. There is substance and reality beyond the limitations of our existence.

Second, it changes our attitude. If Jesus was really raised from the dead, then the spiritual realm obviously intersects and interacts with the material world in which we live. And that introduces all kinds of new possibilities. The empirical law of cause and effect is not the only operative principle in the universe. There's also the spiritual law of love. This law cultivates "affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity, a willingness to stick with things, a sene of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people" (Galatians 5:22, The Message). This law gives us a new attitude.

Finally, the resurrection changes our lifestyle. If Jesus was really raised from the dead, then God must want us to pay attention to Jesus. Why else would God have done such a thing? Why else would God have reversed the ruling of Caesar's court? The intersection of eternity with the course of human history means that we should bend our lives to such curious and counterintuitive notions as loving our enemies, turning the other cheek, giving to the poor, suspending judgment, forgiving sins, praying for help, and trusting God to provide. These values may not always be popular, and they may not always work, but they are commended to us on good authority if the Christian proclamation is true.

So what's your excuse for not believing in the resurrection as something that really happened? Do you have an intellectual problem with that idea — does it challenge your worldview? Do you have an emotional problem with that idea — does it challenge your attitude? Or do you have a political problem with that idea — does it challenge your lifestyle?

Since the time of the scientific revolution, in the 16th century, the Western world has been obsessed with the intellectual and emotional problems posed by the resurrection. What do we do with something that can't be replicated, on demand, in the laboratory? What do we do with something that can't be manipulated, on demand, to our advantage? The Western world — filled with sophisticated, modern, rational, enlightened, analytical, skeptical, depressed people — has not known what to with that "something." So it has largely rejected the resurrection and the supernatural as fanciful and irrelevant.

Listen to Richard Dawkins, Professor of Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University in Oxford, England. "What has theology ever said that is of the smallest use to anybody?" he writes in a recent journal article. "When has theology ever said anything that is demonstrably true and is not obvious? I have listened to theologians, read them, debated against them. I have never heard any of them ever say anything of the smallest use, anything that was not either platitudinously obvious or downright false."

"If all the achievements of scientists were wiped out tomorrow, there would be no doctors but witch doctors, no transport faster than horses, no computers, no printed books, no agriculture beyond subsistence peasant farming. If all the achievements of theologians were wiped out tomorrow, would anyone notice the smallest difference? Even the bad achievements of scientists, the bombs, and sonar-guided whaling vessels work! The achievements of theologians don't do anything, don't affect anything, don't mean anything. What makes anyone think that ‘theology' is a subject at all?" (The Emptiness of Theology, Free Inquiry, Spring 1998, Volume 18, Number 2).

Now that man writes with an arrogance usually reserved for bishops and popes! He obviously has both intellectual and emotional problems with the resurrection. Since it is not "demonstrably true" according to the principles of the scientific method, and since it doesn't "do anything" that Dawkins values or trusts, he's been led to reject and ridicule it out of hand.

Let's call him, if you will, "Doubting Dawkins." He sounds very much like the "Doubting Thomas" in this morning's New Testament lesson. But the story of "Doubting Thomas," often interpreted by the West in intellectual and psychological terms, exposes the more fundamental political problem with the resurrection. The story cuts to the quick of who we are, what we value, and how we live.

Let's review the story at the end of John's gospel. In a hearing before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, Jesus is convicted of sedition and sentenced to death. After a public flogging, Jesus is crucified outside of Jerusalem for refusing to disavow his royal authority in deference to the authority of Caesar. He's publicly humiliated and destroyed in order to keep others from getting any wild ideas. His body is taken down from the cross, wrapped in a linen shroud, and placed in an empty tomb. Jesus is dead.

Three days later, strange reports began to circulate. First from the women in the company of Jesus, who went to the tomb and found it empty. Then from Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved, after they went to the tomb to verify the women's report. No one knew what to make of it all until later that same day, when Jesus appeared to the disciples behind locked doors.

"Peace be with you," he said as he showed them his hands and side. "Peace be with you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you." Then he took a deep breath and breathed upon them, saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

Thomas, we're told, was not with the disciples when Jesus appeared to them. "I'm not about to believe that story," he told the disciples later, "unless I see him for myself. I want to see and feel the nail holes. I want to touch his pierced side. I want an Easter Sunday experience, a full church, with all the bells and whistles." Eight days later, Thomas got his wish. Jesus appeared to the disciples again and went through the same routine, at which point Thomas humbled himself and said, "My Master!" and "My God!"

Now why do you think Thomas wanted to see Jesus for himself? Why was he reluctant to accept the testimony of his peers? Somehow I don't think it was an intellectual or an emotional problem. We certainly don't read about him pulling the disciples aside, saying, "Uh, guys, I hate to tell you this, but people just don't come back from the dead. Everyone knows that. It's been a stressful time, I know you're upset, but get a grip on reality here. Come to your senses and stop talking crazily."

We also don't read about Thomas objecting to their attitude. They were certainly exuberant about what had happened. No, I suspect that Thomas had a political problem with the assertion that Jesus had returned to send them out into the world. For one thing, that was a dangerous proposition. For another, the disciples' new attitude was not resulting in new actions. I imagine the scenario to have gone something like this:

Thomas went back to the disciples and found them all worked up about their encounter with the risen Christ. "What happened?" he asked. "Tell me the story." "Well," they said, "Jesus was here. He came in our midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.' Then he commissioned us to go out into the world as his ambassadors and he blew upon us the breath of the Holy Spirit."

"I don't believe you," Thomas said. "Why not?" they asked with incredulity. After all, they had seen Jesus with their own eyes. Why wouldn't Thomas take their word for it? "Because you're still here," Thomas said in reply. "You expect me to believe that you saw Jesus, that he breathed the Holy Spirit upon you, and that he sent you out into the world even as he was sent into the world. But here you sit."

"You remember how Jesus was in the world. You remember what God sent him to do. When the Spirit came upon Jesus, he preached good news to the poor, set the captives free, and gave sight to the blind. He lifted up the oppressed, healed the brokenhearted, and proclaimed the year of God's favor. If you had really seen Jesus, and if he had really given you this Spirit and this Commission, you would be out providing for those who mourn in Zion. You would be putting on the mantle of praise rather than this faint spirit. You would be oaks of righteousness, raising up the former devastations and repairing the ruined cities. You wouldn't be sitting here, on your hands, doing nothing."

Thomas, you see, understood the profound political dimensions of their report. If what the disciples said was true, if Jesus had really come back from the dead and commissioned them to continue his work, then Jesus was asking them to put their life on the line. Jesus was telling them to adopt his values and continue his program. Jesus was challenging them to live out of step and out of sync with the surrounding culture. And in the absence of demonstrable faith, Thomas wanted to see for himself.

The other day I was in the hardware store getting some keys made when the manager came back to talk to this big hefty guy who was making my keys. They were apparently having some problem receiving a $1,000 dollar order, and that was a large order for this small store. They said a few things, back and forth, trying to figure out who was to blame for the problem. Finally, the big hefty guy said, "It's probably the slant-eyes' fault. You can't ever trust them."

I would have walked out of the store, then and there, but the guy already had my keys. And he was big. And he was hefty. It was then that I noticed the man had a cross tattooed on his left arm. "Christians don't say those things," I thought. "They don't even think those things." I should have said what I was thinking.

The arguments of white supremacists around the world notwithstanding, the fact remains that Jesus was not raised from the dead so that people could put crosses on their forearms and talk about "slant-eyes." The resurrection poses a profound political problem for anyone who takes it seriously. "Doubting Dawkins" is no different from the big hefty guy behind the counter. They all find one excuse or another to explain away the gospel and to ignore its radical claim upon our lives.

What's your excuse? Last week was a big Sunday in the life of most churches, but this week the true test begins. Do we still live in the light of the resurrection? Or do we now find one excuse after another to take it less than seriously? When the pastor's away and the crowds have gone, do we still believe in the transforming power of God? Or do we forget all about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, as though it never really happened at all?

I, for one, put my faith in the Resurrected Lord. When I go through empty times, when I go through difficult times, I remember the One who went through the worst of times only to be vindicated by the mighty hand of God. That vindication establishes the Christian worldview, attitude, and lifestyle. It establishes our faith, hope, and love. I may not always succeed in that witness, and I may not always be true to that calling, but the resurrection leaves me with no illusions about how important it is to try. Amen.