Too Good To Be True?

[This sermon was prepared for delivery during worship with the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio earlier today.]

Luke 24:36b-48
Many of you have no doubt seen the video of Susan Boyle from her audition on the English version of American Idol, a show on which Simon Cowell also appears called Britain’s Got Talent. Boyle is an unemployed forty-seven year old woman from Scotland whose only previous gigs were singing solos at her local church. When she came onstage, audience members rolled their eyes in disbelief at her presumption. “If she was good enough to sing on national television,” they seemed to be saying, “why did it take her forty-seven years to get here?” And when Boyle told Cowell that she wanted to be as big as Elaine Paige, the reigning queen of British musical theater, some in the audience laughed derisively.

Then, Boyle opened her mouth to sing. Out came a voice suited for musicals. As cameras panned audience and judges, there were dropped jaws and wide eyes, some of the eyes even tearing up. It all seemed too good to be true.

I thought of that video of Susan Boyle as I read this week’s Gospel account of Jesus’ encounter with some of His disciples on the first Easter. Why is it that the disciples found it so hard to accept that Jesus had risen from the dead when He was standing right in front of them? It seemed too good to be true!

But even after Jesus had proven that He was Who He seemed to be by showing them His hands and feet and eating broiled fish, the disciples still had a tough challenge before them. It’s one thing to believe that Jesus rose from the dead. Even the devil believes that, probably with greater firmness and certainty than you or I do. But it is quite another thing to entrust your life—your past sins, your present life, and your future—into Jesus’ hands.

“OK,” you can imagine the disciples saying to themselves after Jesus had proven that He was no ghost, His once-dead and wounded body come back to life, “that’s all very well for You, Jesus. But I still have to deal with the Romans. I still have to pay my bills, take care of my kids, look after my aging parents, watch my kids grow up, leave home, and struggle to establish their own lives while I grieve the loss of their childhood. What does your resurrection have to do with any of that?”

There’s really no difference between those first century disciples who saw the risen Jesus and those of us who have never seen the Lord. We’re still called to do something impossible if we try to do it on our own: To not only believe the facts about Jesus, but also to trust Jesus Himself, to believe that even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, that Christ is with us and holds eternity up His sleeve for us. Like them, we’re called to bet everything on Christ.

That’s why what Jesus says beginning at verse 44 in our Gospel lesson is important. I can picture Him wiping the broiled fish residue from His mouth and settling in for a talk. I’m indebted to Pastor John Jewell for his helpful summary of the last five verses of today’s lesson.

First, Jesus gave them the meaning of His resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection is more than an impressive trick or a personal triumph. Our lesson says, “…He opened their minds to understand the scriptures.” He goes through all of Old Testament history from the laws of Moses, to the writings of the prophets, and then to the psalms to show them that His death and resurrection had been part of God’s plan to save humanity from sin and death since Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden. Jesus’ death and resurrection were for us.

When you trust that God has given you eternity, it changes your present. The other day, I read about a guy who’s a big sports nut, but because most of the games he likes to watch happen at times when he has to be out of town, he can’t watch them live. So, he records the games. Then, when he has a little time, he checks the ends of the recordings to see how the games have turned out. If he sees that his favorite teams have won, he pulls out some snacks and watches the recordings from their beginnings. If they lose, he dumps the recordings. Some people tell him, “That must be awful!” But he says, “No, it’s great. When I know how the game is going to turn out, no matter how bad things look, I still know we’re going to win.”

That’s the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection for those who trust in Him. No matter how bad things get, irrespective of the triumphs and tragedies that come our way, we know how things will end. Jesus wins and with Him, all of us who trust in Him win life with God for all eternity.

But Jesus understands that trust like that doesn’t come easily to us. That’s why the way Luke talks about this in our Gospel lesson is so important. Luke says that Jesus “opened [the disciples’] minds.” Some days, the best you and I can do is to want to believe in Jesus’ Word of promise. If we’re open to that Word—open to the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit, God will help us remember His faithfulness and renew our strength in faith. So, to build our faith, Jesus in our Gospel lesson, gives the meaning of the resurrection.

Next, to build our faith, Jesus gives us the message. He says, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead…and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in His Name to all nations…”

The message is that Jesus’ death wasn’t a tragedy. The tragedy happened long before when humanity fell into sin and plunged the universe into chaos by turning from God. The cross was part of the plan of God that God Himself would restore and renew us and His creation by bearing humanity’s sins on a cross. On the cross, Jesus fought for your eternal destiny, just as God intended.

The message also is that Jesus’ resurrection opens up the same destiny for us. All who belong to Christ will be raised again, our once decayed bodies brought to life again, visible and identifiable to God and to others. (I have to say that this bothers me a little. It means that I’m going to be stuck with this mug for all eternity. But not looking like Brad Pitt is a small price to pay for having eternity with God!)

So, to build up our faith, Jesus gives us the meaning of His resurrection and the message of His resurrection. He also gives us the mission of His resurrection. At the very end of today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus says, “You are witnesses to these things.”

Those words apply to us no less than they did to the first disciples to whom Jesus spoke these words. You are witnesses. You have seen meaning and the message of Jesus’ resurrection up close and personal in the life of this church. You’ve seen how people who had no hope or whose zest for life was waning, have been uplifted by the Good News of our resurrected Jesus shared here at Saint Matthew, by the prayers of His people, and by the ministries of this Church.

Just this past week, two different people who we’ve been long praying for approached me to say, “Thanks for your prayers. Life is going better now.” Another person recently told me, “I was feeling really down. But I know that God is helping me.” And just the other day, Ann was talking with a person from our community who learned that her husband was pastor of Saint Matthew. She mentioned a person she knew from our congregation and commented what a person of integrity and kindness he is.

You are witnesses for Christ. By trustingly depending on the risen Jesus each day, you fulfill Christ’s mission for us. You convey the meaning of His resurrection for everyday life. You help people see the message about a Savior Who stands by us in all circumstances.

To a brutal, competitive world where selfishness, greed, violence, and hopelessness seem so often to prevail, the good news of Jesus’ resurrection and its significance for our lives seem too good to be true. But to those who dare to open their minds to God’s Word and the Spirit’s guidance, Jesus’ resurrection changes everything. Whenever your faith wanes, as it can be in the face of life’s daily demands and challenges, remember Christ’s resurrection. Remember its meaning, message, and mission and God will give you faith, strength, and hope that never gives out. Amen