A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .
PRE-RESURRECTION RESURRECTION?
Matthew 27:45-54, Preached at Congregational Church
of Boca Raton, March 29, 2009
A very zealous, soul-winning young preacher came upon a
farmer working in his field. Being concerned about the farmer’s soul the
preacher asked the man, “Are you laboring in the vineyard of the Lord, my good
man?” Not even looking at the preacher and continuing his work the farmer
replied, “Naw, these are soybeans.” “You don’t understand,” said the preacher.
“Are you a Christian?” With the same amount of interest as his previous answer
the farmer said, “Nope my name is Jones. You must be lookin’ for Jim Christian.
He lives a mile south of here.” The young determined preacher tried again asking
the farmer, “Are you lost?” “Naw! I’ve lived here all my life.” “Are you
prepared for the resurrection?” the frustrated preacher asked. This caught the
farmer’s attention and he asked, “When’s it gonna be?” Thinking he had
accomplished something the young preacher replied, “It could be today, tomorrow,
or the next day.” Taking a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiping his
brow, the farmer remarked, “Well, don’t mention it to my wife. She don’t get out
much and she’ll wanna go all three days.”
This scripture is among the most interesting and
perhaps even bizarre in the New Testament. I am not talking as much about the
first half as about the second, where it says: “the tombs also were opened, and
many bodies of the saints ... were raised.” This event is recorded only in
Matthew. It serves as a preview of the coming attractions. While other gospel
writers wait until Easter morning for the Resurrection, Matthew pictures it even
as Christ dies for our sins. This verse evokes more questions than we have
answers. First, what does it mean that many holy people were raised to life? Is
this resurrection or the appearance of ghosts of some type? Second, why did they
wait until after the resurrection to enter the holy city, that is, Jerusalem?
Finally, what does this event mean? It sounds like a legend that has slipped
into the text.
Matthew’s account of the events after Jesus’ death
includes four incidents not found in Mark’s account: The earthquake, the
resurrection of the holy people, the setting of the guard at the tomb, and the
second earthquake before the women arrive at the tomb. Now earthquakes are well
enough known in Palestine, with fault lines around the country similar to those
around San Francisco. These two earthquakes, one to open the holy people’s tomb
and one to open Jesus’ tomb, are not surprising either in their effect. The
stones of tombs could be popped open because of an earthquake. But that’s as far
as this goes. It’s one thing for a stone to roll out and another for the dead
person to do the same, or I should say, walk out. This is a resurrection. The
bodies are raised, says Matthew. It’s as if the death of Jesus lets loose a wave
of resurrection power that begins to ripple out, starting in Jerusalem. And they
wait to go into the city until Jesus, their leader, enters. As for what happens
to them, the final answer is that once their witness function is finished, they
are of no more interest to Matthew; his Gospel is the story of Jesus, not the
righteous dead.
Jesus’ death opened the graves. The greatest
separation we all fear, death, is destroyed so that we may never fear death
again. Jesus’ death conquers both our guilt which precludes our coming to God
and our grief which disturbs us as we face death. Jesus promised this earlier
when he said in John 5:25, “An hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear
the voice of the Son of God," and those who listen will live. This brief event
also answers the question as to the power of Jesus' death for those who died
before his coming as well as a picture of what will take place from then on. The
opened tombs tell us that his death has as much power to raise those who looked
forward to his work as it does to raise those who look back to His work.
Christ’s death reaches in all directions in time and space. His death and his
resurrection reach out as far horizontally into history as they reach up
vertically into eternity.
There are so many things that defeat us every day:
sins, selfishness, petty jealousies, habits that we don’t seem able to break.
But how often the writers of the New Testament speak of the power of Jesus
Christ to raise people from the death of sin to newness of life; not just after
we die, but right here and now. The writer of the first Epistle of Peter said to
the first Christians, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 1 Peter 1:3 No wonder
the most obvious characteristic of those first Christians is that they were
happy. They were beaten, persecuted, kicked down and kicked around, laughed at,
ridiculed and rejected, but they were happy. They were happy because they were
absolutely convinced that sin and death would not have dominion forever. They
believed Jesus when he told them that He was the resurrection and the life. And
they brought their message into a world which had just about given up hope. Many
had abandoned the traditional religions. Others believed that they were caught
up in the hands of a blind Fate; their destiny determined by the stars, or the
planets, or the gods, or whatever - and there was no help or hope for
them. After Lazarus emerged from the tomb, Jesus said, “Unbind him, and let him
go!” Jn 11:44 Well, millions of people all around us are wrapped up in
themselves, in their sins, their selfishness, wrapped up in despair and
hopelessness. To them, through us, Jesus says, “Unbind them, and let them go!”
He still brings newness of life to people. A converted and reformed alcoholic
was once asked whether he believed the miracles of the Bible. For instance, did
he believe that Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana? The
former alcoholic replied, “I don’t know whether Jesus turned water into wine,
but I do know that in my house, he turned beer into furniture!”
Jesus Christ is still raising people to new
lives. It doesn’t have to be as dramatic as that. Many people are selfish, dead
to the feelings or needs of others, so involved in petty dishonesties and
disloyalties that they are dead to honor; or so frightened by the forecasts of
imminent disaster which come from the peddlers of doom in our world that we are
dead to hope. Many marriages are dead to love and need to be resurrected to new
life. Christ came to give that new life. “I am the resurrection and the life,”
he said. No wonder the early Christians were happy. They believed, and
they believed the important stuff, the big stuff.
St. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I
who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Gal. 2:19b, 20 It is a little thing to believe the little stuff. It is a
big deal to believe the big things. God is not only the God of life, this
temporary, transient, at times heart-breaking life, but the God of Life,
forever, eternal, and perfected life.
Pat Williams, senior vice president of the Orlando
Magic basketball franchise, tells a story he heard of a man named Walter. Walter
was married to his childhood sweetheart, Murtis, for 64 years. The two had met
in school, and Walter immediately took a liking to Murtis. He took bold action,
sending her a note asking for permission to walk her home after school.
First, he had to clean the teacher’s erasers. Would she wait for him?
Murtis wrote back that she needed to get home, but that she would walk
slowly. Obviously, she didn’t mind if Walter caught up with her. This was the
start of a lifelong romance. Murtis was the first one to go. As she lay dying,
she told Walter, “I’m going home to heaven to be with Jesus.” And then she
added, “But I’ll walk slow.”
The greatest affirmation of the Church, in my
opinion, is not the affirmation that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. It's not
the affirmation that he performed incredible miracles or that he was a profound
teacher or that he embodied the very presence of God. No, instead it's the
affirmation that Jesus Christ is alive, and his home is open to us.
I heard of the retiring minister who confessed in
his farewell remarks to the conference after 35 years of ministry, "The first
person saved under my preaching has backslidden. The first persons married under
my ministry have divorced. But the first person I buried has stayed there." Well
I hope not. In fact, I believe not. Believe in Christ’s power to bring new life,
free souls from chains, unlock love buried beneath guilt or fear. There are so
many miracles that surround God’s love in Christ, that, just as Matthew points
out, ever since then there have been resurrections upon resurrections occurring
all the time.
A Sunday school teacher was speaking to a group of
second graders about the resurrection of Christ. One student asked, "What did
Jesus say right after he came out of the grave?" The hand of one little girl
shot up. "I know what he said," she insisted. "What was that?" asked the
teacher. And the girl exclaimed, "Ta-dah!"
Don’t limit God’s works to the little things, but
let God be God in all things, especially the big things.
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