Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after Easter: "Alive, not Undead"

Better late than never! I completely forgot to post this sermon from Sunday. Here you go! 

Sermon for Sunday, 3 April 2016

2nd Sunday of Easter

Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem

The Rev Carrie Ballenger Smith


***
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Last Saturday evening, when the sermon and other preparations for Easter Sunday were finally wrapped up, my husband and I grabbed a snack and sat down to watch a scary movie.

It was called “JeruZalem.”

With a Z.

It was set in – you guessed it – Jerusalem, and featured many shots of Damascus Gate and the Western Wall and the streets of this city we know and love.

Of course, the main characters also stayed in a “Jerusalem guest house” called “Fauzi Azar Inn”, which some of you may recognize as being located in Nazareth, not Jerusalem. And it was obvious to us that most of the movie was actually shot in that Old City, not this one.

It was really a terrible movie. 
Fauzi Azar Inn. It's in Nazareth -- I promise!
Photo by Robert Smith

And it wasn’t scary at all, in spite of the many creepy shots of Old City streets, ancient dark tunnels, and zombies!

“JeruZalem” the movie was full of zombies. Dead-eyed, hungry, merciless zombies. We couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that the one thing that brings the three religions and two peoples of Jerusalem together (at least in the movies) is a fear of the undead.
Admittedly, it was a strange thing to watch the night before the Feast of the Resurrection.

Or maybe it wasn’t.

Maybe it isn’t so strange, because actually those scenes of a Jerusalem populated by zombies are a perfect contrast to the Easter proclamation that came out of Jerusalem.
Fear of what lurks around the corner is very different from the fear the Marys felt when they could not find Jesus’ body.

Empty eyes of the undead are very different from the empty tomb.
For we do not proclaim Jesus revived, or Jesus resuscitated, or Jesus the “undead”.
We proclaim Jesus resurrected, Jesus alive, Jesus who through death has defeated death!

Alleluia, Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia!

It is not an undead Jesus who comes to greet the disciples in a locked room on Easter evening – and again one week later.

It is Jesus of Nazareth.
It is Jesus, born of Mary.
It is Jesus, teacher and healer.
It is Jesus the crucified and risen.

“When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.”

My grandfather Bill Nelson, fixing a family lawnmower
Are there people in your life you could identify by their hands alone? I remember very well the hands of my Grandpa Bill Nelson, whose job as owner of a small-town hardware store included cutting glass for windows and fixing lawnmowers and chainsaws. I remember sitting at the table with him, watching him make a cheese sandwich, and counting how many of his fingers were still whole fingers. The answer was: not many. His hands told the story of his life’s work. 

In the same way, Jesus’ body told the story of his life’s work. I suppose Jesus could have shown the disciples his feet – pierced by nails, and dusty from walking the roads of Galilee with them. He could have shown them his back, whipped by the soldiers. He could have shown his shoulders, strong from carrying the burden of a sinful world.
But he chose to show them his hands and his side, pierced by nails and by the sword.
Jesus was risen from the dead, and the proof was his body—a body that sat at the table with sinners,

A body with hands that heal,
A body that hung alongside criminals,
A body that bore the stripes by which we are healed,
a body who was standing in the room with them,
Speaking with them.
Breathing upon them.
Being with them. Emmanuel, God-with-us, even after the cross.

I just can’t get past the earthiness and the intimacy of this post-resurrection encounter with Jesus. So often, the Christianity of today feels very “other-worldly.”

Many Christians focus on reaching the after-life, and ignore the reality and sufferings in this one.
Others enjoy drawing distinctions between our beliefs and the beliefs of others:
We are the religion of peace, and “they” are not.
We possess the facts and the truth, and “they” do not – whoever “they” are at this moment in the political cycle.

Viewed in this way, Christianity seems to be something that exists “out there”, or in the thought world. A head trip. A prescribed system to be swallowed whole and defended at all cost.

And yet: Jesus did not walk through that locked door and hand the disciples a gospel tract.
He did not bring them volumes of systematic theology.
He did not begin an academic debate, or start a culture war, or make anyone promise his or her vote.
He simply stood among them. He spoke a word of peace. He showed them his hands and side. He breathed on them.

Dear sisters and brothers, children of the resurrection, we do not proclaim that Jesus’ ideas were raised from the dead.

We proclaim that Jesus’ BODY was raised from the dead.
The Good News of the resurrection is Good News of the body,
And for the body,
Every body.

Alleluia, Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia!

This is such a critical message for today, because like those disciples who were locked away in the room for fear of the people outside, often we also are locked up and afraid.

We are afraid of bodies.

Sadly, there is a long Christian history of being afraid of our own bodies – a wound to God’s good creation which sadly is not yet completely healed. 

But today, the fear that holds us tight, the fear causing so much hatred today, the fear which keeps us locked behind doors, the fear that keeps us from living the Good News of the resurrection, is the fear of other bodies.

This is Jerusalem after all, and while we are not afraid of zombie bodies, we are often afraid of bodies in riot gear and armed with machine guns.
We are afraid of bodies bearing knives.
We are afraid of bodies carrying bombs at airport security.  
We’re afraid of any body of a different religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, age, race, or size.

Maybe this is why we are so attracted to zombie movies. Zombies look like us, but are different. They were once like us, but now they have changed. Regardless, they are out for blood. They must not be trusted. They must not be touched. If you see one, run the other way as fast as you can. Kill them if you can!

This plot feels familiar. This plot even echoes the platforms of a few political candidates.

This plot allows us to fully embrace the fear inside us:
Lock the doors!
Be afraid: of what comes next.
Of what lurks around the corner.
Of the things we don’t know.
Be afraid of them.
Be afraid of death.

But my friends, this is Easter. This is Jerusalem (with an s, not a z). This is the city of resurrection, and Jesus has come to stand with us—in the flesh!
He is not dead – he is alive!
He is not undead – he is alive!
Jesus is the living God.
He is wholeness.
He is perfection.
He is love incarnate.
His bodily presence with us and among us, from the cradle to the cross,
On the road and at the table,
Outside the tomb,
And inside every one of our locked rooms,
Is a witness to the sacredness of all life, everywhere,
Of all bodies, everywhere.
He comes to bring us peace.
He comes to abolish fear.
He comes to fill us with the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of resurrection and life.

Because he is risen, body and all, we know that the resurrected life is not lived behind locked doors, or in our minds, or in theology books,
But is lived in our bodies, and with other bodies:

The resurrected life is:
Bodies running for freedom of movement on the streets of Bethlehem,
Bodies of mothers caring for babies,
Bodies of children going to school,
Bodies of friends caring for each other in times of need,
Bodies of enemies seeking peace and reconciliation,
Bodies of doubters, kneeling to pray anyway.

As the Father sent Jesus, so he now sends us – bodies and all – with all our imperfections, with all our failings, with all our doubts, to a world still clinging to zombie stories, to a world still hungry for the real Good News of the resurrection. He sends us out, that all may come to believe, and may have life in him.

As St. Teresa of Avila wrote:
“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”

Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia! 

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