March 27, 2016 (The Resurrection of our Lord – Easter Day) – Luke 24:1-12; Isaiah 65:17-25
Luke 24:1-12; Isaiah 65:17-25
The Influence of Planet Nine
The Resurrection of our Lord – March 27, 2016
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
If, like me, you have just gotten over the removal of Pluto from the solar system –
and I hate to bring up a painful subject; the ushers will provide tissues if necessary –
like I say, if you have just gotten over the removal of Pluto,
it looks like there is now another new thing you will have to learn in light of new evidence.
In January, astronomers announced the existence of the latest member of our Solar System,
Planet Nine.
The poor planet has no official name yet.
It has also been called George, Jehoshaphat, and . . . Phattie.
I’ll stick to Planet Nine.
Now I hope they stick to calling it Planet Nine because then at least it still begins with a
P like Pluto and I will not have to relearn the mnemonic I learned in school for the
names of the planets in the solar system:
My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies.
Which is much better, let’s face it, than what it has been for the last few years which is
My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine, which sounds unfortunately like
she has just given us a lashing for exceeding our ration of grog.
In any case, we have all had to revise what we think in light of new evidence.
Which is exactly what happens to the women at the tomb this morning.
They think they known what to expect.
They have seen it all.
They have seen the crucifixion, they have seen the death,
they have seen the body taken away and put in the tomb.
They have come in the dark pre-dawn light with spices and ointments to do something
they have surely done many times before: clean and prepare a dead body for burial.
Only everything is different this time.
The stone has been rolled away and the tomb is empty.
And instead of a dead body they see two men in flashy white duds.
Maybe one is called George and maybe the other is called Phattie. I don’t know.
Luke doesn’t say. It’s not important. I just like saying “Phattie.”
And George and Phattie say “Why are you looking for the living among the dead!
He is not here! He is risen!”
George and Phattie have rocked the women’s world!
The women now have to revise what they think about everything!
Because if there is one thing they know about the resurrection, it is this: resurrection
resurrection begins God’s reign of new life, and hope and peace and justice
and harmony and health and well-being for all people.
Resurrection begins what Isaiah describes:
heaven and earth are renovated and renewed by God.
When weeping will be no more and mourning and crying and pain will be no more.
When life will be abundant and death will be no more.
When terrorists will not bomb and all will live in safety for
there will be no more need for terror.
When relationships will be healed and creation will be marked with joy and
an absence of sorrow and no violence, even among animals.
And so the women go to announce this very good news to the apostles. . . .
. . . and the apostles have a hard time with it.
They too have seen the crucifixion, they too have seen the death,
they too saw the body taken away.
But they have not seen the empty tomb and they have not heard the dudes with the flashy duds.
They are just far enough away to have a hard time with it.
Like the apostles we too are removed from what the woman experienced.
Only we are much further removed.
Planet Nine is supposedly 50 billion miles away from the sun.
Sometimes it feels like the resurrection is about that far away from us.
Like the apostles we have seen death, we have grieved, we have seen injustice.
We sorrow and we despair.
And the resurrection and all its hope for a better more meaningful more joy-filled
equitable world seems about as far away as Planet Nine.
Only here’s the thing.
No one has actually ever seen Planet Nine!
Seriously!
Not even the guys who “discovered” it.
Rather, they are sure it exists because nothing else accounts for the way that
objects in the outer solar system move.
“It must be there,” says one of the astronomers,
“because nothing else could exert such influence.”
The influence of the resurrection and the news of the women begins right away.
It is not a huge influence, but the experience of the women influences Peter to
examine the claim for himself.
He goes to the empty tomb and he, in turn, shares the good news with others.
And it changes him.
The resurrection and the new world of hope it opens up changes Peter.
What else could turn cowardly Peter into a messenger of the new day that is dawning?
What else could transform violent Saul into Paul the agent of inclusion and grace?
What else could turn ordinary men and women into saints and martyrs and
prophets and advocates?
What else could turn a collection of ordinary people into the amazing entity of
First Lutheran Church, where thousands of meals are served, hundreds are fed,
and the vulnerable are cared for?
What else could give us sitting here this morning a window into a whole new world?
What else could actualize the vision of Isaiah?
You have seen death. You experience crucifixion every day. You have seen bodies laid in tombs.
You have felt the death of hope and you have seen the crucifixion of decency and
you have witnessed human respect and kindness laid away in the dark tomb.
Yet Jesus and his new world keeps coming.
The resurrection and its influence will not remain in the tomb.
Day after day I see the influence of the resurrection.
Day after day I see people putting their Christian faith in action.
I see it when you gather together as the people of God Sunday after Sunday to
care and support one another.
I see it when you come week after week to support our Food Banks and our Community Meals.
I see it when you give generously to our common ministries like our Youth Ministry and
our Kids Club free drop in ministry and our refugee ministry because you know –
you know – that Jesus was raised bodily from the tomb and a resurrection that
occurs only in our minds has no right to call us to action with our bodies.
I see the influence of the resurrection in your homes in the way you
conduct yourselves with family.
I see the influence of the resurrection in your workplaces in the way you
conduct yourselves with colleagues and those you serve.
I see the influence of the resurrection in your communities in the way you
care for your neighbours and friends.
What else could exert such an influence?
There may be a time for despair, friends.
But today is not that day.
There may be times for hopelessness.
But today is not that day.
There may be times for fear.
But today is not that day.
The night is long and daylight sometimes seems far away.
But today is not that day.
Today we gather in the light of the resurrection sun.
Today the immediacy of the resurrection will be felt at this table as
the risen one gathers us and feeds us invites us to feed one another as friends and
neighbours who care for one another.
Today the immediacy of the resurrection will be felt as we are sent by the resurrected one to
our homes and workplaces and communities so that the influence of the resurrection
might be felt.
Today we are filled with hope! Hope for our lives! Hope for our world!
Today with Phattie and George we proclaim, “He is not here! He is risen!”
Today with the women at the tomb we proclaim “He is not here! He is risen!”
And so, together with them, with Peter and Paul and all the witnesses of the resurrection,
with the saints and martyrs of every age, together let us shout “Amen!”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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