What Is the Meaning of the Resurrection?
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
April 17, 2022
Good morning, Friends, and Happy Easter! I bring greetings from Fairfield Friends Meeting where I preached last week on Palm Sunday. They are a wonderful gathering of Quakers in Camby, Indiana. I also had an uplifting report from Phil Gulley after meeting for worship last week. Thank you for your hospitality and welcoming spirit. I pray Phil spoke to your condition.
Our scripture reading for this Easter morning is Luke 24:1-12 from the New Revised Standard Version:
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.
Today, I want to briefly return to just after Jesus’ crucifixion on what we call Good Friday. I sense the same followers of Jesus in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday began wrestling with some difficult choices after the events of Good Friday – actually, I believe they were probably wrestling with a few queries (I like to think of them as good Quakers). I can imagine them pondering deeply the following:
· Could they forgive Jesus for not being the “Superman Savior” who would drive the Romans out of their land?
· Could they forgive God for allowing their beloved Rabbi to be murdered?
· Could they begin to understand God as Love instead of as an omnipotent Ruler of the Cosmos?
· Would they scatter and skulk and whine about the horrible things that happened that week?
· Or would they get up, dust themselves off, gather together, forgive without forgetting, remember the divine Love that flowed from Jesus, and redouble their commitment to living it out as a community?
Folks, at Easter, we celebrate something much more significant than a supernatural miracle. We celebrate the decision of Jesus’ followers to be what early Quakers referred to as “the living body of Christ” or the Church – to stick together in the community of compassion in which we gather this and every Sunday. That’s what it means for us Quakers to say Christ lives within us and in our midst.
But to understand this significance, we must venture away from the typical American Christian understanding of this day being seen only through physical lenses.
The reality is that the resurrection of Jesus is about way more than an event that happened 2000+ years ago to Jesus’ corpse.
If you take a moment to read further on after the resurrection story in scripture, you read a series of reports that describe Jesus appearing in ways that transcend the physical.
In John 20:19 Jesus appears to the disciples in a locked room by passing through walls.
In Luke 24:13-35 Jesus appears as a stranger to two of his disciples who do not even recognize him for several hours, and when they do, he vanishes.
In John 20:14 Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene who does not recognize him and thinks he is the gardener.
And even beyond the Gospels, Jesus appears to Paul in a vision a few years after the crucifixion. And according to Paul, there were many of these visions and encounters.
The reality is that what happens after Jesus dies transcends our normal physical understanding.
Actually, these reports are more like what I hear from people in my office, or for that matter they are more like those that I have experienced, myself. They are very personal, but almost unexplainable. Jesus comes in a cryptic manner, maybe through nature, or a book, or even through another person.
So instead of focusing on some spectacular event or even trying to piece together the probability of a physical resurrection, maybe today, we need to take a different approach.
I would like to recommend with the help of theologian Marcus Borg that instead of trying to figure out “what happened” we should be asking a different query,
“What is the meaning of the resurrection in the New Testament?”
What did it mean for his followers in the first century to say that God raised Jesus from the dead?
This approach helps us all, no matter our beliefs about the resurrection, to get on the same page. Whether you believe Jesus physically rose, or you are skeptical, or you completely don’t believe in Jesus’ resurrection, this approach offers us a starting point that may be much more helpful.
Marcus Borg points out that if we start with the Gospels and the overall New Testament, we will find two primary meanings of the resurrection – 1) Jesus lives, and 2) Jesus is Lord. But this might not be how we were always taught or have believed.
It is clear, even in our Quaker history, that Jesus is not just a figure from the past, but Jesus continues to be experienced as an abiding reality still today. We, Quakers, speak of the “Presence in the Midst,” “Christ the Inner Light,” and yes, many Quakers have had nudges and visions from what we call, “Christ our Present Teacher.”
It was my mentor and doctoral supervisor, Colin Saxton who said about Friends,
“Christ is real to us, present in our midst, and at our best it has profound implications for us, not only in our personal life but as we live in community. It is what makes us unique or distinct in the way we worship…allowing the Spirit to lead and guide us to do things that we might not expect.”
Many Christians – even non-Christians have had visions, mystical encounters, and personal moments of unexplained experiences with Christ. Most of these encounters transcend the physical but point to the fact that Jesus still lives on.
Also, for many Jesus is not just a continuing presence, but also, what we may call a “divine reality.” Borg points out in scripture that they use the term “Lord” which means “one with God” to describe Jesus. They did this so the post-Easter Jesus would be distinguished from just anyone who had died at the time.
Throughout my 27 years as a pastor, I have had many people share with me vivid experiences they have had with a deceased loved one or spouse. These experiences always have them wondering if the person is still alive in some way, but it does not have them concluding that the person was Lord or God. They may be angelic, a spirit, or god-like in nature, but most do not see their loved ones as divine in the way Jesus was seen.
To say Jesus is Lord has even greater meaning for us today. It means that the Lords of Jesus Day – the empire that put him to death, as well, the empires of our world, are NOT supreme. Just like Rome was not supreme in Jesus’ day, neither is Russia or even America today.
Jesus’ example of love, non-violence, and counter-cultural approach is the supreme example for us. His ways were of God – they were Divine.
So, Easter is about much more than a spectacular miracle, or surviving death, it is about proclaiming that God and God’s ways were revealed in the person of Jesus.
Thus, this is the example for those of us who believe as Friends say “That there is that of God within everyone” or the “Light of Christ” resides within me.
This means that you and I are carrying on the life and ministry of the resurrected Christ within us. Jesus lives on through each and every one of us.
Trying to figure out the empty tomb today can be a real distraction or reduce the meaning of Easter to simply an event in the past – making it irrelevant, trivial, or simply a debate.
Marcus Borg suggests that we take another look at the Easter story, but this time as a parable or metaphor. If we do, it may allow us to expand our understanding, because parables and metaphors are always about meaning. When Jesus wanted to help us understand the meaning of something he shared a parable, so it makes sense.
The story of the empty tomb has a much deeper meaning when we look at it this way – it means that death could not hold Jesus, it could not stop what he had begun.
Even the empire of his day tried to seal and guard the tomb, but Jesus continued to be known and his ways continued to be lived out.
Those two disciples on the road to Emmaus were experiencing a stranger until they broke the bread.
Thomas who longed to have his own personal experience with the risen Christ allowed all of us who have not had that same experience to believe while having legitimate questions and doubt.
Yet, each time Jesus’ charge was the same to those he encountered – you are to “feed my sheep” – you are to “follow me” – you are to be me to your world.
As I said at the opening of this message, at Easter, we celebrate something much more significant than a supernatural miracle. We celebrate the decision of Jesus’ followers to be what early Quakers referred to as “the living body of Christ” or the Church – to stick together in the community of compassion in which we gather this and every Sunday.
The Risen and Present Christ is still meeting us, charging us to feed his sheep and follow him and work to live the counter-cultural life of compassion that he lived in the face of the empires of this world.
As we recognize that Christ Light within us, and the Christ presence in our midst may we be people who bring true resurrection and hope to our ailing world.
Now as we enter a sacred time of waiting worship, let us take a moment to ponder the following query:
After all that I have been through these past couple of years, how might I dust myself off, gather again together, forgive without forgetting, remembering the divine Love that flowed from Jesus, and redouble my commitment to living out the resurrection life of Jesus in my community?