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The Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany, 8 February 2004
Jeremiah 17:5-10, I Corinthians 15:12-20, Luke 6:17-26
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, West Valley City, UT

The Rev. W. Lee Shaw

The claims of our faith are strong and at times hard. If you think you have gotten into an easy religion with Christianity, you may want to think again. The greatest, strongest and most unique claim we make is that of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We do not claim the resuscitation of someone who only appeared to be dead, or a stolen body perpetrated as a hoax. We claim the bodily resurrection, a new creation of a man once dead. Our whole story, our whole foundation rests squarely on the Easter proclamation: “Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!”

In this particular epistle selection, Paul makes a rather, in my opinion, jumbled defense in the negative of the resurrection. For me this is not some of his better writing or logic. Nonetheless, he is emphatic, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.”

It is interesting that all four Gospels assume the resurrection. None of them explain it. Or describe it. Or even discuss it in detail. The Gospels assume the resurrection as do the witnesses who saw the risen Lord. We have a description, at times rather graphic, of Jesus' arrest and brutal beating and torture, his trial, and his final execution between two felons. We also have the expressive descriptions of his appearances after the resurrection: To a grieving and surprised Mary Magdalene. To two friends walking to Emmaus. To the ten disciples hiding behind locked doors. To the moving appearance the following week to Thomas. To “brunch on the beach with the boys” when he later appears to the disciples and even provides a meal.

But we do not have a description, an explanation, a step-by-step chronology of the resurrection itself. Only Jesus knows how it happened and what it was like. And we have absolutely no written record by Jesus. Nothing.

As Paul does note, without the resurrection, we really have nothing to commend our faith. It is to the resurrection that the Gospel record testifies, the tradition of the church witnesses to, and ongoing life of the church is expressed in each of you. For we live in the resurrection of Christ even now.

The resurrection means for us new birth, new life, a new way of seeing and being in the world. But as I said earlier, it is not necessarily the easiest way of being in the world, in but not of the world. To see this you but have to read and take seriously the Gospel reading today, Luke's version of the beatitudes from his “Sermon on the Level Place.”

Jesus has just selected his 12 disciples/apostles. They come down off the mountain and he begins to teach them. The blessed ones sound good, especially if you are in need or hurting or grieving. But how did you feel about the “woe to you” ones? If you are rich? And you all are fantastically rich by the world's standards. If you are full? When was the last time you were really, really hungry? If you are joyful? What of all those who mourn? How about those compliments you love to hear? “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”

From the beginning, Jesus tells us that life in the reign of God will be different because of our new perspective and priorities. He invites us to be fully in the world, the good and joyful as well as the hard and painful, to feel our connectedness with all others and all creation.

As familiar and beautiful as the beatitudes are, they are hard. This is a hard teaching of Jesus when we take it seriously. C. K. Chesterton noted: “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult, and left untried.”

With the promise of the resurrection, Jesus also challenges us to let go of our preconceived ideas and notions and to follow him. He invites us to the edge of our comfort zone and then to let go.

Our proclamation of the resurrection is not without cost. Yes, the grace of God is a free gift. The response to that gift is costly—it costs us our life of easy expectations and weak commitment. Jesus gave his life for us. He invites us to do the same for him—to give our lives, our selves to his service as we serve others in his name. He invites us to come to the edge of our comfort zone to join him in the ministry of building up the reign of God.

I like best the way a French author phrased it:

   "Come to the edge.
   No, we will fall.
   Come to the edge.
   No we will fall.
   They came to the edge.
   He pushed them,
   And they flew." 

-(Guillaune Apollianaire)

Come to the edge.