Life in All Its Fullness (Luke 24:1-12)

 On Friday, I joined with a dozen or so other religious leaders for a Good Friday worship service, which was held this year at the Mennonite Church in Normal.

At that service, I mentioned that we are living in a hard season. I said we’re living in a time when the poor are being shown little mercy. The “stranger” who we are commanded to welcome is being denied refuge. The weak and vulnerable are being given neither help nor compassion.

That’s how things are today, and that’s how things were in the first century—even more so. The Roman Empire was an empire of great prosperity, but only those at the top of the social hierarchy—the rich and powerful—benefitted from that prosperity. Everyone else, though they worked hard to make that prosperity possible, struggled just to survive.

So “life in all its fullness” was not something most people were able to enjoy. It was a fearful, anxious time of toil and tribulation.

But a few courageous dreamers dared to imagine a better world; a world more in line with God’s intentions. A world where everyone was free to enjoy the fruits of their own labor, and live in love and harmony.

But the reordering of society they imagined was a threat to Rome. It was dangerous to be a dreamer. Most of the dreamers didn’t last long before they were imprisoned or crucified.

Jesus stood out among these dreamers. There was something about him and his vision that was so compelling. Many saw the world he envisioned as the hope they had been longing for.

Jesus called this world that he envisioned “the kingdom of God.” It was, in many ways, the exact opposite of the world under Roman rule. 

In the kingdom of God, good news was proclaimed to the poor. Those imprisoned were set free. Strangers found welcome. Those who were oppressed found comfort. The hungry had all the food they needed. The lonely found companionship and friendship. The sick were healed, and the broken were made whole.

In the kingdom of God, every person would be able to live life in all its fullness. They’d live lives of wholeness and abundance.

Jesus went around, proclaiming this kingdom; and he worked to make it a present reality, wherever he went. He healed the sick. He welcomed and embraced outcasts. He treated everyone with love and respect. He especially treated well those who were the recipients of others’ hate and vitriol. He dined with people no one else wanted to dine with: sinners and tax collectors and prostitutes.

Through his actions, the kingdom of God really became a present reality. It was a kingdom for everyone, an inclusive, welcoming kingdom that embraced the entire spectrum of human diversity.

Jesus’ vision of the kingdom of God was rooted in the Torah and the prophets. Which means that the religious leaders of his time should have been right there with him, proclaiming God’s kingdom with him, and working with him to make it a present reality. 

But many of the highest ranking religious leaders were under the influence of power and wealth. The Bible describes their longing for power and wealth as demonic; they were possessed by their desire for power and wealth. And it led them to side with the oppressive Roman government, instead of with the people. 

Jesus condemned these leaders for their hypocrisy. These leaders are the only ones he ever routinely condemned, because they turned religion into a weapon against the poor and the vulnerable. He said to them: “Woe to you, hypocrites! You make your offering, but you forget about the more important matters of the Law: justice! mercy! and faith!” [Matthew 23:23]

Because Jesus exposed their hypocrisy, these religious leaders turned against Jesus. They worked with government officials to spread rumors about Jesus. They said Jesus was aligned with the devil. They said Jesus was an enemy of the empire. They called him a traitor. 

Eventually, because of these rumors and reports, Jesus was arrested and brought to trial. The Roman government, responsible for passing a just judgment, instead condemned this innocent man, and sentenced him to die a traitor’s death. 

And thus, on Good Friday, Jesus was crucified. Another dreamer put to death by Rome.

Did the dream of a new world die with him? 

Did the hopes for a new kingdom, a kingdom of God, vanish when Jesus took his last breath on the cross?

That’s what those who followed him thought. That day, they didn’t just lose their friend, their companion, their teacher; they lost the hope they had been holding on to; the hope that “life in all its fullness” could be theirs. They lost the hope that they and their children and their children’s children would finally be able to live lives of wholeness and abundance.

Their grief was overwhelming. They had pinned everything on Jesus: their hopes, their dreams, their love and friendship; their very lives. There could be no worse tragedy than this.

After his crucixion, a group of women  felt obligated, out of love and loyalty, to perform the traditional rituals to honor Jesus’ body, and they prepared to do so, just as soon as the Sabbath was over…

Scripture: Luke 24: 1-12

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 

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, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 

Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

“To those who were not there, these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” 

When I was younger, I used to think: How could they not believe? Those silly disciples…

But now, I realize: sometimes it’s very hard to believe. And sometimes, it’s very hard to hold on to hope.

When the world seems bent on death, when compassion is in short supply, when the leaders of the world are still favoring the wealthy and the powerful over the poor and the vulnerable… 

It’s hard to believe, and to hold on to hope.

When the world Jesus envisioned still seems so far away—when strangers are sent away rather than being welcomed, when the hungry have what little they have taken from them, when the sick are denied care, when innocent people are being imprisoned, when rights are being taken away from people because of their gender identity, when history is being erased, when racism remains a threat (a growing threat, at that), and when efforts to include people, and work for justice, are ridiculed…

It’s hard to hold on to hope.

When “life in all its fullness” seems to be slipping away, giving way to a life of limited freedom, limited opportunity, with greater anxiety and fear about the future…

It’s hard to hold on to hope.

When the dreams of a better world have all but died, it’s hard to hold on to hope.

So I understand why those disciples found it hard to believe. They had seen Jesus die! They had seen all their hopes die, too! It was all gone! A new and better day wasn’t coming. Life in all its fullness was just a dream, an unfulfilled dream. 

That’s what they believed.

But when Peter heard the excited proclamation made by the women, something reawakened in him. The women’s words were not spoken quietly and gently. The women spoke boldly, with conviction. The tomb is empty! Jesus is risen!

So Peter went to the tomb. He had to see for himself. He “ran” to the tomb, the scripture says. What was he looking for? Was he looking for hope? Was he looking for a reason to believe?

When he got there, he saw things just as the women described them. Thank God these women did not keep silent; otherwise Peter never would have come!

The tomb was empty, except for the linen cloths. Peter didn’t quite understand what he was seeing, but he was amazed. 

And in that amazement, Peter took a step back up the staircase of faith, and began believing once again; believing that the dream, the vision, the hope of a kingdom of God, might just still be a very real possibility.

Over the coming days, Jesus would reveal himself to all of his closest followers. They would see with their own eyes—and in some cases, touch him with their own hands—and know that he really, truly, was alive, that life had conquered death, which means that the kingdom of God, the kingdom where life is lived in all its fullness, was more than a dream. It was real.

It is real.

We may live in a world bent on death, a world that denies life—especially life in all its fullness—but the kingdom proclaimed by Christ is not dead. 

And in that kingdom, God is working to bring life out of death, to bring people into a life of abundance, a life of fullness, a life of wholeness.

God is working through the ministry of First Christian Church, and other communities of faith here in BloNo and around the world, to make life in all its fullness a reality for all the people of the world. 

We’re feeding the hungry. We’re healing the sick. We’re fighting for justice. Just as Jesus did.

And we won’t stop, and we won’t give up, because we believe in the resurrection, we believe what those women said about the empty tomb, and we believe in the kingdom of God, and we know who holds the future.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter. I hope and pray that you experience life in all its fullness, today and everyday. 

The God who created you wants only the best for you. Our God is a God of compassion, mercy, and grace. There is no condemnation for those who seek God’s kingdom. God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be made whole through him.

You are loved by God. And nothing will separate you from God’s love. Not even death can separate you from God’s love. Because God is stronger than death. God conquered death, and God’s love will be with you forever.

So don’t think that anything you’ve ever done could stop God from loving you. Are you stronger than death? Not even death can stop God’s love, so certainly, nothing you do or have done could ever stop God from loving you.

The world may try to make you forget this. The world may try to convince you that death has won, that hate has won, that fear has won. The world may try to convince you that there is no hope for tomorrow.

But Christ’s resurrection assures us that that is not the case. Love will prevail. And we are blessed with life in all its fullness, now, and forever.

Known By Love (Luke 24:13-35)

The risen Jesus appeared to these two disciples, and he traveled with them on the road between Jerusalem and Emmaus. It was a journey of about seven miles, a journey that would take several hours.

But they did not recognize him.

Which leads me to wonder: Why?

Why didn’t they recognize him? 

These two weren’t part of the inner group of twelve disciples, but they were disciples nevertheless, followers of Jesus, perhaps among the 70 Jesus sent out to proclaim good news and bring healing to people in various places.

They undoubtedly listened to many of his teachings, experiencing his presence, his guidance, his wisdom.

Why didn’t they recognize him?

The risen Jesus who appeared to them was, in fact, the Jesus they had known. He was present in bodily form, not just some spiritual presence. He even ate food in their presence, and his body, we know, still had the marks of the crucifixion.

So I also imagine that Jesus had all the other bodily and personality features that made him him. I imagine he still spoke with that Galilean accent, for example, pronouncing certain words a little differently than the folks who lived closer to Jerusalem did. He still had all the unique mannerisms and said things the way he always said them..

So why didn’t they recognize him?

It’s not like he was wearing a disguise. It’s not like he did his hair differently, or was wearing makeup…

Many, many years ago, when I was just starting out with ministry, I was asked to do a funeral for a family I didn’t know well. I met with family members, including the daughter of the person who died, who seemed to be the one leading things from the family’s end. 

When we met a week or two before the funeral, she dressed casually, wearing jeans or sweats, little or no makeup, and her graying hair had been hastily brushed to be presentable. We met at least once, maybe twice, to plan the service.

The day of the funeral: I didn’t recognize her. She had had her hair done, she wore makeup, and she had her fancy clothes on. Since I didn’t know her all that well, to me she looked like a totally different person.

Do you know how bad it is for the pastor to not recognize the daughter of the person you’re doing the funeral for, after having several meetings with her in recent days?

Fortunately it only took me a moment to realize who she was, and while I may have seemed a little off when I greeted her that day, I don’t think she realized my mistake. At least, I hope not. 

These disciples hadn’t just met Jesus once or twice. They were disciples. What was it that kept these two disciples from recognizing him? 

The scripture says that they were “prevented” from recognizing him… Prevented by what? By the Spirit? By their own grief? It doesn’t say.

And yet, they showed great hospitality to this man who they thought was just some stranger. They invited him to be their traveling companion, something that gave him a measure of protection, since travelers making their way alone were much more susceptible to bandits and robbers.

They told him all about Jesus, not realizing, of course, that they were telling him about him. It’s both funny, and tragic.

It’s kind of like what happens to professional skateboarder Tony Hawk; people come up to him all the time and say things like, “You look just like Tony Hawk,” not realizing that he actually is Tony Hawk.

And Tony Hawk entertains his social media followers by sharing these experiences.

One time, Tony Hawk was going through airport security, and he handed the TSA agent his ID, and the agent looked at it and said, “Tony Hawk—like that skateboarder! I wonder what he’s up to these days.”

Another time, a TSA agent saw Tony Hawk approach, and said: “You look like someone famous. I’m going to figure it out before I check your ID.”

Tony Hawk said, “OK.”

Then the TSA agent said: “Oh, you look like that cyclist Armstrong!”

Another TSA agent said, “That ain’t Armstrong.”

Tony Hawk said, “he’s right.”

Then the first TSA agent said, “Oh, you look like that skateboarder.” The agent checked Tony’s ID, saw the name “Anthony Hawk,” then said: “Same last name, too! Crazy!”

And, one time, a kid at a skatepark came up to him and said: “Are you Tony Hawk?”

He said, “I am.”

The kid said, “No, you’re not!”

Tony said, “OK.”

The kid said, “But are you, for real?”

Tony said, “I am, for real.”

The kid said: “I thought you’d look younger.”

And Tony Hawk said, “Yeah, me, too.”

Is that it was like for Jesus, walking along the road to Emmaus, listening to these two disciples tell him all about him? 

These two disciples said to Jesus, “Haven’t you heard what happened, how they crucified Jesus of Nazareth?”

And Jesus responded, “No. Tell me.” 

Was Jesus just playing with them?

So they do; they tell Jesus all about what happened to Jesus, and then Jesus says something like, “Well, you’ve got all the facts right, but you’re missing one thing. There’s one thing you still haven’t figured out…I’m not going to tell you what it is, but it’s right in front of you…”

And I guess it’s true that a lot of us today have all the facts right about Christianity, or at least think we do…or, if we are humble enough to admit that maybe we don’t have all the facts right, we work as hard as we can to get all the facts right.

But so many Christians today are still missing one thing; one thing that’s right in front of them. They’ve memorized the Bible, they go to church, they tithe, they pray, but they haven’t taken the time to really know the people around them, to practice loving people the way Jesus says we should. They haven’t yet learned to see Jesus in those around them.

Jesus is present in the people around us. Jesus is particularly present in the least of these. But we haven’t yet learned to recognize him when he appears.

Jesus once described a door on which were written all the laws and commandments, but the two hinges on which they all hang, he said, were the command to love God, and the command to love one’s neighbor. You may know all the facts, you may have all those commands and laws memorized, but if you don’t have love, none of it matters, and you won’t see Jesus.

Is that what kept these two disciples from recognizing Jesus? They saw him and told him everything they knew…they just spewed out all this information…but hadn’t really shown him any love… not yet, anyway.

But when they got to their destination, and they saw that he was about to continue on, even though it was night, they invited him to stay with them.

In other words, they showed him love.

And when they ate, they invited Jesus to say the blessing, honoring him as their guest; and in that moment, when he offered the blessing and broke the bread, they SAW JESUS for the first time that day.

They saw Jesus when they stopped trying to explain everything, and simply offered love and hospitality.

A song we like to sing is “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love,” and it’s true: people see Christ in us when we act with love. 

But it’s also true that we see Jesus in others when we act with love. We see Jesus in the world when we act with love. 

Do you want to see Jesus? Do you want to see the risen Christ, alive, in our world today?

Learn how to love.

It is possible to do all the right things for all the wrong reasons. One can go to church, read the Bible, give money, serve as a leader… but fail to show love. And if we fail to show love, then we fail to see Jesus.

I’m not criticizing these two disciples. On the contrary, I think it’s wonderful that they welcomed Jesus in, invited him to stay with them, and even honored him by inviting him to bless their meal.

Their whole time with him, they were learning to love him (and not just talk about him), and that is why they were finally able to see him and recognize him.

I’d like to think it was a moment of love that allowed me to recognize the daughter of the person I was doing a funeral for. It may have been a moment late, but in the midst of all my preoccupation with making sure everything was set for the service that was about to take place, I was able to set that aside for a moment and allow the love of Christ to work through me.

That is, honestly, something I’m still working on, which makes me wonder how long it would have taken me to recognize Jesus if I was one of those two disciples walking on that Emmaus road.

Would I have been so caught up in figuring things out, figuring out what had happened, and figuring out what comes next, that I would have failed to notice that it was Jesus right there beside me?

How often do I get so caught up in church work and worship planning and sermon writing and all the other church work I do, that I miss out on the opportunity to show love?

How often do I get so caught up on figuring out the lesson plans that are left for me when I substitute teach, that I miss out on the opportunity to show kindness to my students?

How often do we get caught up in our worries, our plans, our preparations, our rules, our traditions, that we miss out on the opportunity to show love?

Because all that really matters, is love.

The greatest commandment is to love.

They’ll know we are Christians by our love.

We’ll know Christ is in our midst, by our love.

When we think that showing love or acts of kindness are of lesser importance than figuring everything out or having all the facts right, then we will be prevented from seeing Jesus.

But when we love, and when we demonstrate love through acts of kindness, then our eyes will be opened, and we will recognize the risen Christ, in our very midst.

No Such Thing as Too Much (Luke 24:1-12)

 It is a holy thing to mourn; to weep; to lament. 

We have a tendency, in our society, to move too quickly past mourning, to wave-off weeping, and to limit lamentation. And thus we deprive ourselves of the healing lamentation can bring.

It was not that way in ancient societies. Our spiritual ancestors knew the wisdom of partaking in private and public practices of lamentation.

When Jeremiah beheld the fall of Jerusalem, he called for the mourning-women, women whose role it was to lead the community in lament. He said: “let them quickly raise a dirge over us, so that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids flow with water. [Let them] teach your daughters a dirge, and each to her neighbor a lament” [Jeremiah 9: 18,20].

On the day Jesus was crucified, after his body was taken down from the cross, a group of women watched as his body was placed in the tomb. These women saw it as their task to lead the community in mourning and in lament, and part of that task included taking care of the body.

Luke’s gospel describes this as a rather large group of women. Luke says it included “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women” who were followers of Jesus. 

In the egalitarian community that made up Jesus’ followers, they may have been considered disciples, on equal footing with the male disciples. After all, as Paul wrote, in the kingdom of God there is neither male nor female, but all are one in Christ Jesus; a radical idea for the time, but one which Jesus’s followers appear to have practiced.

And these women, like the other disciples, had been drawn to Jesus, because he dared to present an alternative vision for the world, something he called “the kingdom of God,” where the hungry are fed, the naked are clothed, and the poor are blessed; where the meek inherit the earth, and where those who mourn find comfort.

They thought - they had dared to believe - that this vision of God’s kingdom could become a reality, just as Jesus said.

But Rome crucified Jesus. And it seemed that the dream of a kingdom of God coming to earth died with him.

He loved his disciples. His love was overflowing. These women didn’t know anyone whose love was as great as his.

It was important that they do their part in honoring Jesus by caring for his body, and leading the community in lament.

Unfortunately, their work of caring for the body - anointing the body - would have to wait. The Sabbath was about to begin, and they could not do their work on the Sabbath. 

So after they watched Jesus’s body get placed in the tomb - after they saw the giant, heavy stone placed over the entrance to the tomb - they left.

They began preparing spices and ointments for the body, but then, as the sun set and the sabbath began, they put their work on hold, until the sabbath was over.

After the Sabbath - on Sunday morning, early - while it was still dark - the women made their way to the tomb. 

It’s interesting how darkness plays a major role, both at Jesus’ birth, and at his death.

Tradition holds that Jesus was born at night, that shepherds received the news of his birth while they watched their flocks at night, and that magi traveled at night to bring their gifts to the newborn king, following a star that guided them.

Now, at night, in darkness, these women bring their gifts… just as the magi did.

Myrrh may very well have been one of the spices they brought, and they may also have brought some frankincense, echoing the gifts of the magi. I wonder if it’s even possible that the bottle of myrrh they brought was the same bottle of myrrh that the magi gave to Jesus’s mother. A valuable gift like that would have been kept safe until it was needed…

It was needed now. It should have already been used to anoint the body, but they had to wait until the Sabbath was over. 

They walked quickly, trying not to trip over rocks or other obstacles that they might not see in the early-morning darkness.

When they came near the tomb, they slowed down. Something looked different. Was it the darkness? Were their eyes playing tricks on them?

One of them let out a short gasp. Another whispered a bewildered, “Whhaaat?”

They had anticipated that their first challenge would be moving the stone so they could go into the tomb; but the stone had already been moved. 

Who did this?

They ran into the tomb. The one who gasped now screamed, and the one who whispered “what?” was now muttering, “no, no, no, no, NO!”

The body was not there!

Confusion and devastation washed over them. After everything that had happened, all they wanted to do now was give the body a proper anointing. This was part of the mourning process, a way to honor their loved one and help the community find healing. Could they not even do that? 

Suddenly, two men in dazzling clothes appeared, and stood beside the women. The women were terrified. Terrified of the sudden appearance of these men, but also terrified of so many things. 

With Jesus gone, all their fears from all the years that they had been holding back now broke through all their defenses. 

Maybe things would never get better. Maybe these men meant them harm. Maybe they didn’t even care if these men meant them harm, given that everything else they had dared hope for was now taken from them. Forever, it seemed.

It’s hard work, holding all our fears at bay. It’s hard work, pretending to be strong, when inside we feel like we’re falling apart. It’s hard work. So hard.

And at that exact moment when these women were ready to give up fighting, to finally let go of all they had hoped for, to just give in to the despair and the fear and the desperation, the men said to them: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen.”

The book of Ecclesiastes says that “for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…a time to be born and a time to die… a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance.”

The women thought they were in a time of weeping and mourning; turns out, they were in a time of laughing and dancing.

But to laugh, and especially to dance, they had to let go of their mourning. More literally, they had to let go of the oils and spices they carried with them to anoint the dead body. There was no dead body! And one can’t dance while holding onto large jars. One can’t rejoice while holding on too long to mourning.

They had to set the jars down, so they could dance.

And sometimes, we need to do the same. We’re carrying around the jars of mourning, the jars of death; but there is a time when we need to set those jars down, and dance.

And that time is today!

On this day, we know that all our mourning and all our weeping - though such things are good and helpful and necessary - will all give way to laughter and joy and dancing. 

On this day, we know that all hate will eventually give way to love.

On this day, we know that all death will give way to life.

And God’s gifts of life and love are overflowing. Just like the oil Mary used to anoint Jesus’ feet (our scripture reading from two weeks ago) - it was so much oil, running over his feet, pooling on the floor. 

Too much perfume & oil, some would say. An extravagant waste, some would say.

…Just like some would say that we talk too much about God’s love. Some would say we talk about love too much! And that we talk too much about how God’s love is unconditional, and how God’s love is overflowing, and how God’s love extends to each and every person, with no exception!

Do we talk about love too much? I don’t think so! I think there’s no such thing as too much talk about God’s love. In fact, I’m going to talk about it some more: God’s love extends to each and every person. NO exception!

And God’s love is more powerful than death! Romans 8 says that nothing, not even death, will ever separate any of us from God’s love. 

Do you think there is something in you that is keeping you separated from God’s love? Do you think there is something in your life that makes you unlovable? Has someone told you this, that there is something in you, or in your life, separating you from God’s love?

Nothing - not even death - can separate you from God’s love. Nothing - not even death - makes you unlovable. Because God’s love is more powerful than death, and therefore nothing will stop God from loving you. You are worthy of love. You couldn’t make God stop loving you if you tried!

So whatever fears you have about your future, or about whether or not you are loved, or about where you will spend eternity - it’s time to set those fears down like the women set down their jars of spices and ointment and perfume. You need to set down those fears, because now - today - is not the time for fear. Now is not the time for hiding... 

Now is the time for dancing. Now is the time for laughter. Now is the time for joy.

Because today is Easter Sunday. The day of resurrection. The day on which we are reminded that God’s love always prevails.