We normally think of time as being linear, like a line. I am standing at this point on the line and I can’t go backward, and I can only move forward one step at a time. I might want to jump ahead three steps, or go back 2 but that is not possible. But during Holy Week and Easter, time is different. It is like a big pool of water and all the various points in time swish together and become one. Jesus life, death and resurrection didn’t just occur way back 2000 years ago, but is happening now, and we are a part of it.
We are reminded throughout Holy Week and Easter that we are a part of a bigger story. As we gathered together over the last week and as we gather together this morning, we become a part of the entire sacred story that stretches all the way back to creation and reaches all the way forward to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and to our lives today.
So what is this story that we have this morning become a part of? Well, essentially, it is the story of God’s search for us. It is the story of God’s promises to humankind. The promise of peace to Noah, the promise of a land and a nation to Abraham and Sarah, the promise of the law to Moses, the promise of a son to Mary, the promise to all of us of an intimate relationship with God. A promise that has survived floods and famines, wars and tumults, the rising and falling of empires, and the prosperity of our present day. And to this day, the promise still holds, “I shall be your God and you shall be my people.” It is the story of God’s never ceasing pursuit of us even when we avoid, deny, and abandon him.
So what is this story that we have this morning become a part of? Well, essentially, it is the story of God’s search for us. It is the story of God’s promises to humankind. The promise of peace to Noah, the promise of a land and a nation to Abraham and Sarah, the promise of the law to Moses, the promise of a son to Mary, the promise to all of us of an intimate relationship with God. A promise that has survived floods and famines, wars and tumults, the rising and falling of empires, and the prosperity of our present day. And to this day, the promise still holds, “I shall be your God and you shall be my people.” It is the story of God’s never ceasing pursuit of us even when we avoid, deny, and abandon him.
The story begins in a garden with one man and one woman, a tree, an apple, a snake and of course, God. God creates a wonderful world full of good things. He creates a man and a woman and tells them that they are free in all things except one. There is a tree in the middle of the garden from which they are not to eat. The man and the woman have everything they want, but they want that one thing that has been kept from them, so they turn from God, they eat the fruit. God casts them out of the garden into the world where they know pain and suffering for the very first time. But God doesn’t leave them. He continues to be a part of their lives. Yet humankind continues to do no good, breaking what God has made, until finely God runs out of pity.
In the 6th chapter of Genesis God says, “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created. . . for I am sorry that I have made them.” In 5 short chapters we have gone from “God saw everything that he made, and indeed it was very good,” to “I am sorry that I ever made them.” That just may be the most sobering sentence in the entire Bible. But, there was one person who found favor in the sight of the God, Noah, and God decides to spare him. And not only does God spare Noah, but when the rain has stopped and the floods have passed, God makes a new promise to Noah. God promises Noah that he will never hurt people like this again. God will no longer wound because he was wounded. He will bind himself to his creation in peace, even though he knows it will wound him, even though he knows his heart will be broken again and again. And throughout time, throughout the story, God remembers his promise. God blesses Abraham and Sarah with a son and with descendants that become a great nation, Israel.
He leads the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. When the Israelites struggle to remain faithful and obedient to God in the face of rival gods and tempting beliefs, God sends them prophets, who speak God’s word to them and call them back to the covenant and a greater commitment to love and justice. When the message of the prophets goes unheeded and the nation of Israel falls, sending the people into exile, God does not forget them or his promise to them. In the midst of this national tragedy, God sends them more prophets who speak words of hope and speak of the faithfulness of God. Hundreds of years after the last of the prophets, God continues to reach out to his children.
And then Jesus is born in Bethlehem. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God’s promise to humankind is fulfilled in a new and amazing way. Many, through Jesus’ life, come to know the power of God’s presence. Many, through Jesus’ death, come to experience the power of God’s love. Many, in Jesus’ resurrection, come to discover the power of God’s transformation Many come to share in the disciples’ confession of faith: in Jesus Christ there is eternal life. God became flesh and blood in order to bring divine love to life, so there could be no further doubt about God’s faithfulness to his promises. “Here,” God said with the gift of a son, “You don’t have to come to me where I am anymore. I will come all the way to you where you are through this beloved child.”
And this morning, this morning in which Jesus passed over from death to life, the story continues. It continues in us. It continues as our story and God’s story become one. On this morning, heaven and earth are joined, and we are reconciled to God. We are bound to the earth, but God invites us to be citizens of heaven. We may have wandered far astray, but God through the risen Jesus has moved to meet us wherever we are.
Take my hands! God says to us. Christ is risen! We are delivered from the power of death; we are restored to grace and holiness of life. This morning we rise again with Jesus to new life and find our true place in Christ’s living body. May the new covenant sealed in Christ’s blood through us bring healing and reconciliation to this wounded world.
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Take my hands! God says to us. Christ is risen! We are delivered from the power of death; we are restored to grace and holiness of life. This morning we rise again with Jesus to new life and find our true place in Christ’s living body. May the new covenant sealed in Christ’s blood through us bring healing and reconciliation to this wounded world.
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!