A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .
Luke
24:1-12, Preached at Congregational
A dad figured that at age seven it was inevitable for his son to begin having, you know, thoughts about Santa Claus. Sure enough, one day he said, "Dad, I know something about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy." Taking a deep breath, I asked him, "What is it?" He replied, "They're all nocturnal." It's good to figure out important stuff like that.
Have you figured out how close you are to getting your resurrection? Now you're trying to figure out what the heck I'm talking about, right? Let me remind you about the caterpillar. I know it's cute, and perhaps too obvious but just listen. As a butterfly soared overhead, one caterpillar said to the other, "You'll never get me up in one of those things." Yet for every caterpillar the time comes when the urge to eat and grow subsides and he instinctively begins to form a chrysalis around himself. The chrysalis hardens and you'd think for all the world that the caterpillar is dead. But one spring morning the life inside the chrysalis begins to wiggle and stretch, the top cracks open, and a beautifully formed butterfly emerges. For hours it stands stretching and drying its wings, moving them slowly up and down, up and down. And then, just like that, the butterfly glides aloft, effortlessly riding the currents of the air. Somehow, the incredible life change of the butterfly never loses its fascination for us, perhaps because the butterfly is a living parable of the promise of our resurrection, of us transforming from one thing into another: From someone old into someone new, someone lost into someone found, someone gone into someone good. As scripture says, "Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed." 1 John 3:2-3
There is within us a desire to fly, to get beyond what holds us to our past, our pain, our mistakes, our sin. We want a resurrection, a transformation; we want to begin again. Our hope is "just as Christ was raised from the dead ... we too may live a new life." Rm 6:4
Now I imagine most of us think we've got it pretty good. We want a new life but one that's not so different. We are awfully close to having it all. This is how we feel, on the one hand. And then we awaken to the other side of things. We know life is a test, an almost constant test of will, nerve, hard work, desire, and luck. If just one of these fail us, we can find ourselves in quite a pickle quite quickly. We will be tested. We are tested when we lose a job. We are tested when we lose a relationship. We are tested when we lose ourselves. We're like those ducks that look so calm on top of the water, but that's because they are paddling so furiously underneath. We see the people we love struggle so hard against the current. They struggle with lack of confidence, of hope. We know they could change their life around; we believe in them. Why don't they? Why don't you believe in yourself? God can do some good things with you. You are so close to getting back up, stepping on the right path, doing the right thing. Dig in. Make the decision. Have faith. Trust God. Believe in yourself. Start again. Give it your all. And the change will seem like a miracle.
I truly believe the thing is easier than normally comprehended. Let me give you an example. One night, a man decided to show his newlywed wife how much he loved her. After dinner he began to recite romantic poetry, telling he would climb high mountains to be near her, swim wide oceans, cross deserts in the burning heat of day, and ever sit at her window and sing love songs to her in the moonlight. After listening to him go on for some time about this immense love he had, she ended the conversation when she asked, "But will you wash dishes for me?"
Jesus used to say all the time, "the kingdom of heaven is close by." And that's what the miracles meant: the kingdom was so close, I can make this blind man see, this lame woman healthy, this possessed son free. It may look like a huge boulder is in your way, but it can be moved. It may look impossible for a caterpillar to fly, but it's going to sooner or later.
Easter, Christ's resurrection, is about God creating a way when all the evidence says there is no way. Easter is about a whole new way of seeing things. The resurrection is about a God who will not accept the status quo, who refuses to be sealed in a tomb. Now how close are you to getting your resurrection? You are as close as can be. All you've got to do is to see things in a new way; or believe there is a way when others don't; or refuse to stay down when you've been knocked down. And I don't doubt, you're resurrection is at hand.
Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, the Russian author and dissident, was
working twelve hours a day at hard labor. He had lost his family and had been
told by the doctors in the Gulag that he had terminal cancer. One day he
thought, 'There is no use going on. I'm soon going to die anyway.' Ignoring the
guards, he dropped his shovel, sat down, and rested his head in his hands. He
felt a presence next to him and looked up and saw an old man he had never seen
before, and would never see again. The man took a stick and drew a cross in the
sand in front of Solzhenitsyn. It reminded him that there is a Power in the
world that is greater than any empire or government, a Power that could bring
new life to his situation. He picked up his shovel and went back to work. A year
later Solzhenitsyn was unexpectedly released from prison. He later moved to the
On Easter morning the women and Peter saw Jesus' grave clothes lying on the cold slab, much like the empty shreds of a chrysalis deserted by a butterfly who has left to soar free. "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" the angels asked the women. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Amen.
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