He Is Risen

He Is Risen

WCC Easter Sunday 9 April 2023

Reading: John 20: 1-18

The accuracy and reliability of the New Testament resurrection accounts have come under severe attack in modern times, and during the 19^th and 20^th centuries in particular. Two books stand out as providing a serious rebuttal of the negative criticisms. The first is the book “Who Moved the Stone,” written by Frank Morison in 1930. Frank Morison was a pseudonym for Albert Henry Ross, a printer and advertiser, who as a sceptic set out to write a short account exposing the resurrection story as a myth, a fabrication. He ended up convincing himself, and countless others who have read his book, that the resurrection did indeed take place as described in the New Testament, the greatest event in human history. The second is the book “Easter Enigma” by John Wenham. John Wenham was an Anglican minister and scholar. I came across his work in Oxford when starting a course on New Testament Greek, as the recommended text was “The Elements of New Testament Greek,” which was written by John Wenham. Now John was a committed Christian when he started investigating the New Testament resurrection accounts, but nevertheless was somewhat sceptical about their reliability. He said in his introduction to “Easter Enigma,”

“I was by no means committed to the view that the [gospel] accounts were correct in every detail. Indeed I was impressed in my early studies of the resurrection stories by the seemingly intractable nature of the discrepancies.”

He then went on to say,

“Reading all I could and studying the Greek text carefully, I gradually found many of the pieces of the jigsaw coming together. It now seems to me that these resurrection stories exhibit in a remarkable way the well-known characteristics of accurate and independent reporting, for superficially they show great disharmony, but on close examination the details gradually fall into place … The God who revealed Himself in Jesus Christ saw to it that the church had a trustworthy record of that tremendous happening.”

I recommend these books to you, particularly if you are troubled by seeming inconsistencies in the New Testament accounts, or if you have been significantly influenced by sceptical views regarding the authenticity of the resurrection of Jesus. The latest edition of “Who Moved the Stone” is available online for less than £10. “Easter Enigma” is out of print, but relatively cheap second hand versions are available online if you search carefully.

These stories, these accounts of the resurrection of Jesus in the New Testament, I believe are the most important accounts in the whole of Scripture. There are other passages that will inspire us and guide us, other stories that will grip our emotions and teach us valuable lessons. But you see, no matter how much store I put on the Scriptures: the stories of the deliverances God gave to the Children of Israel, or the accounts of David and Gideon and Daniel, and the other saints of old, or the radical teachings of Jesus, which if followed by every person in the world would eradicate warfare and poverty and much illness at a stroke; no matter how meaningful all of these are to us, if the resurrection accounts are not true then they are all completely meaningless and count for nothing. Why do I say this? Because the apostle Paul said this, although more intelligently and succinctly than me.

“If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. … And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Cor 15: 14-20)

If Christ has not been raised we are of all people most to be pitied. More to be pitied than those who follow all other ideologies or religions. More to be pitied than those who vainly follow false hopes, aspirations and philosophies. More to be pitied than those who do not believe there is a God. More to be pitied than communists or anarchists or those who pursue violent ends to achieve their goals. More to be pitied than thieves and murderers, abusers and predators. Why? Why can’t Christianity just be a philosophy and way of life in which we just encourage one another to be nice to others?

And Paul gives the answer – if Christ has not been raised you are still in your sins. You see, the first essential message of the Bible and of the Christian faith is this: all of humanity suffers spiritually from a terminal disease, the most terrible, destructive, soul-destroying condition called sin, a word which simply means missing the mark, falling short of the target. The Bible makes this plain throughout from the first book to the last. But we don’t need the Bible to tell us, do we? We only have to turn on the television news, or read a newspaper. Sometimes the depths of depravity and evil revealed on our screens sickens us to the core and inclines us to turn off the device and try to persuade ourselves that it’s all part of another world that we don’t belong to. But you see, we do belong to it, and we are a part of it. James says,

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.” (James 4: 1-2)

Desires that battle within us. Striving to get what we want. None of us can claim to be free of this human condition. And if you prefer to forget the times when you yourself have fallen short, let your imagination dwell on the devoted parent with a toddler that you might encounter any fine day in the park just now. I don’t mean a neglectful parent, or worse still an abusive parent. I mean a loving, devoted, caring parent who has given themselves 100% to caring for that child, providing for their every need, loving them intensely, teaching them what they need to know to cope with life’s eventualities. Watch them for long enough and you will see that parent giving the toddler a loving instruction and the toddler ignoring them, pretending not to hear. Watch a little longer and you will see the toddler doing just the opposite of what they’ve been told to do. Watch a little longer and you may see that parent rushing to grab the toddler to protect them from danger, perhaps from deep water or busy traffic.

Come on, you say, that’s just a normal part of growing up, that’s life! And that is exactly the point the Bible makes. Sin is a normal part of growing up for each one of us. And just as malignant cells cause parts of our bodies to malfunction and break down and if untreated lead eventually to death, so the malignancy of sin causes our spirits, our essential beings, to wither and decay. The Bible is clear about the inevitable outcome: “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezek 18:20).

When discussing such things with Nicodemus, one of the leading religious authorities of his day, Jesus said these startling words, “I tell you, Nicodemus, unless someone experiences re-birth they will never know the blessings of God’s wonderful kingdom of peace and joy” (John 3:3 paraphrase). Now Nicodemus didn’t understand what Jesus meant, but perhaps he should have, for in the Old Testament God had spoken through the prophet Ezekiel about the need for heart transplants, another analogy like the re-birth that Jesus spoke of.

“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 11:19)

Perhaps a good analogy today would be a bone marrow transplant. I understand that sometimes a person suffering from leukaemia or lymphoma can be given a new lease of life by means of such a procedure, whereby the original malignant cells in the bone marrow are killed off and new healthy cells are then transplanted into them to restore proper function. And this is a picture of what God will do for those who come to him to deal with the malignancy of sin. The old malignant spiritual cells are caused to die; new healthy spiritual cells provided by Christ himself are transplanted within us, and as they grow they enable us to live as the people God designed us to be, living in harmony and fellowship with God and with others, and one day to be ushered into the kingdom God has prepared for all those who know him and love him.

And maybe this helps us understand why the apostle Paul said Christians are of all people most to be pitied if Christ did not in fact rise from the dead, because if he did not rise then we are still held fast by the malignancy of sin. There is no transplanting of a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone if Christ did not rise; no experience of a new birth by the power of the Holy Spirit; no spiritual bone marrow transplant to replace what is malignant within us with the life of Christ. For if Christ was not raised then he is still dead and buried somewhere in Jerusalem, his bones crumbling to dust, and there is no new life to instil within all who come to him for grace.

If Jesus was not raised then his promise to go and prepare a place for us (Jn 14:3) will never come to pass. If Jesus was not raised then his promise to be with us always (Matt 28:20) was just a futile aspiration. If Jesus was not raised then nobody met with the disciples and told them to wait in Jerusalem until they were clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit (Lu 24:49) – it was just a story invented by the disciples, maybe arising from wishful thinking caused by grief. If Christ was not raised then the apostle Paul’s teaching that the life of Jesus shines through our mortal bodies, as light shining within jars of clay (2 Cor 4: 7-11) was just empty talk, the worst of all scams.

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead” that passage from 1 Corinthians 15 finishes triumphantly.

Christ is risen – he is risen indeed.

Christ is risen – he is risen indeed!

CHRIST IS RISEN – HE IS RISEN INDEED!!

Now I am going to dwell on this point for a little longer, because I believe it is perhaps the most important message for us to consider in these days. For some listening it may be the most important message you will hear in your lifetime. I don’t mean my words – I mean this message that the Bible gives us. In actual fact I don’t want you to go away with my words in your mind. I want you to go away thinking about someone else’s words, or to be more accurate one single word!

Two mornings ago I woke from sleep and was lying in bed in that comfortable, relaxed state in between sleeping and waking. And my mind was mulling over what I was going to say this morning. And suddenly, like a light being turned on, into my mind came something one of my grandsons had said; actually what he repeatedly says time and time again, whenever something electronic doesn’t work, or even when it’s not turned on.

One word: “batteries!”

When the battery-powered toy or book has stopped working properly he’ll hand it to you: “batteries.” When he wants to watch something on a hand-held device but the screen is blank he’ll hand it to you: “batteries.”

So I want to finish this morning with a simple parable inspired by the insightful word of two-year old Hayden Veldsman. I’ve made it a children’s story, because children’s stories are the ones we all like the most and they’re the easiest to understand.

Lettie the Lantern

Lettie the lantern was excited. Very soon there was going to be a great Festival of Light in the town where she lived. Lettie was looking forward to taking part in the festival, shining her light along with all the others, creating a wonderful and beautiful display for everyone to enjoy. She made sure she was spotlessly clean, all the dirt and dust wiped away, with her glass polished to a high gloss.

Just then young Hayden came in to say hello.

“Hi Lettie,” he said, “My goodness you look wonderfully clean and sparkly today. Why are you polishing your glass? What’s the big occasion?”

“It’s the Festival of Light very soon” said Lettie proudly; “And I’m going to shine along with hundreds of others to make a wonderful light display. I’m so looking forward to it.”

Hayden looked very closely at Lettie, and then said one word: “Batteries!”

“No, it’s all right,” said Lettie, “I don’t need to clean my batteries. They are inside, out of sight. Nobody will look at them. It’s just the outside that I need to look good.”

“Batteries,” said Hayden insistently, and then picked up Lettie and took her into another room where his dad was sitting.

Hayden handed Lettie to his dad. “Batteries,” he said.

His dad stopped what he was doing and looked carefully at Lettie. I do believe you’re right, Hayden. Lettie’s batteries seem to have completely stopped working. I think I need to replace them.”

So Hayden’s dad opened up Lettie’s case, and found all the batteries inside her had not only stopped working but had crumbled and decayed, making a terrible mess inside her.

“Goodness me, Hayden,” said his dad. “No wonder Lettie’s light wasn’t shining. She needs to be completely cleaned out inside, and brand new batteries to make her work as she should.”

So his dad cleaned out Lettie’s battery compartment, and then put new batteries inside her.

“Let’s see if that works,” he said.

He switched Lettie on, and immediately her light shone out clear and bright. Later that evening Lettie took her place along with all the other torches and lanterns in the Festival of Light. Hayden clapped and cheered, enchanted by the wonderful display.

“Thank you, Hayden,” said Lettie. “Without you I would never have got new batteries.”

Earlier I quoted from the letter of James. He said it is the desires within you that have become corrupt, and this causes all the evil actions performed by mankind. It is your will acting independently of God’s purpose that is the root of all that is sinful. It is significant that our society today elevates the will of the individual above everything else, and encourages us all to make what we want to be and what we want to do our number one priority. I say it is significant because Jesus, in the hours before his crucifixion, prayed to his Father, saying “not my will but Yours be done.” Elsewhere the Scripture says of him, “I have come to do Your will, my God” (Heb 10:7). And through his resurrection Jesus has provided the means by which that corrupt will within us can be replaced by one like his. If we ask him he will clean us out of all the malignancy and decay, and will put within us a new heart – new batteries. And the batteries he puts within are not like the old, for they are rechargeable. We can be recharged with power at any time, all the time, as we maintain our relationship with him. So the apostle Paul, writing to the church at Philippi, said

“It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.” (Phil 2:13).

And he does so by means of the same power with which he raised Christ from the dead. Regarding the wonderful effect to us of the power of Christ’s resurrection the Bible speaks of

“His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead” (Eph 1: 19-20).

May each one of us increasingly know that power of God working within us, cleaning us, renewing us, transforming us, and enabling us to fully fulfil the purpose for which he made us, to the praise of his glory.