Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - Third Sunday in Lent - 03/04/18 - Sermon - “Jesus proclaimed his own resurrection" ("The Power of the Resurrection" Series: Part 1 of 5)

Sunday 03/04/18 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Jesus proclaimed his own resurrection”

(“The power of the Resurrection” Series – Part 1 of 5)

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 19

                                            

New Testament Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: John 2:13-22

          Friends, sisters and brothers in Christ, welcome again on this our Third Sunday in this season of Holy Lent. This season where we are called by God to prepare our hearts, our minds, our souls, and our bodies for the trial, crucifixion, death, and then resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.

          With this said, I am beginning a new sermon series this morning that will last for the next five weeks, ending on Easter Sunday. This sermon series is called “The power of the Resurrection,” as the belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ has always been central to the Christian faith.

In fact, the Apostle Paul was so emphatic about the power of Christ’s resurrection that he said in 1 Corinthians 15:12-19:

^“Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:12-19, NRSV).

          So according to the Apostle Paul, the Christian faith, the faith that we have shared for the last 2,000 years is an illusion, if Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead on that first Easter morning.

          While in this season of Lent we are preparing our hearts, our minds, our souls, and our bodies for the coming trial, death, and crucifixion of Christ, Lent leads to Easter. Easter is when Jesus is raised to new life, and thus our faith and our new life in him is cemented.

          What is resurrection though? What was the resurrection of Jesus Christ? How do we define the word resurrection? In defining the word resurrection, according to www.dictionary.com, the word resurrection means:

1. “the act of rising from the dead”.

2. “the rising of Christ after His death and burial”.

3. “the rising of the dead on Judgment Day”.

4. “the state of those risen from the dead”.

5. “a rising again, as from decay, disuse, etc.; revival” (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/resurrection?s=t).

          It would seem that word resurrection can be defined as rising from the dead, revival, or rising to new life.

As we are all projecting towards Easter Sunday then, what did the resurrection of Jesus Christ look like? By this I mean, did Jesus spiritually rise from the dead only? Did he not rise, but his followers had a spiritual epiphany of him being alive, without any actual resurrection? Did his followers steal his body and bury it, and then claim that he rose from the dead? Or did Jesus Christ literally and physically get up and walk out of the grave, talking with him his body, soul, and divinity?

          I believe that that on that first Easter morning that Jesus Christ physically got up, was alive again, and then physically walked out of the grave. When Jesus Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus came back to life, and physically walked out of his grave. In looking at the translations of Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, most often the translations of the word resurrection or its counterpart, were and are understood as being a literal bodily resurrection. Some folks however have different understanding of Christ’s resurrection.

          Beyond the nature of how Christ’s resurrection happened and or occurred, why should we believe that this event of resurrection happened at all on Easter morning? While there are many reasons to believe that Jesus rose from the dead on Easter, I have picked five of many reasons that I believe show that Jesus was resurrected. All of these ideas are gleaned from the scriptures and the faith of the first followers of Christ and the early Christian Church. Each week, each one of my sermons will be on one of these five reasons for the resurrection.

          The first reason that I want to present as a reason to believe that Christ was resurrected on Easter Sunday, is that Christ himself predicted his own resurrection in the gospels many times. Last Sunday, I discussed the crucifixion of Christ, and how Christ himself in the gospels predicted and proclaimed his own crucifixion. Christ in the gospels explained that he would be crucified and resurrected, and he explained why all of this would happen. He also said this well before he arrested, tried, and crucified. I mean, how could he have known such things so far in advance? This is why the title of my sermon this morning is called “Jesus proclaimed his own resurrection”. So you know my perspective on the resurrection of Christ, and this morning Jesus says that this is what will happen. This is what will come to pass.

In diving into our gospel of John reading for this morning, generally people preach on this reading around the main subject of this text. The main subject of this text is generally seen as Jesus cleansing the temple. This is the gospel narrative where Jesus displays righteous anger at the injustices that occurring at the temple in Jerusalem during the Jewish Passover. Every year at this time, it was customary for Jews from near and far to come to Jerusalem on the Passover, and in doing so, offer a money donation to God in the temple, in the currency of the Israelites. It was also customary to offer an animal sacrifice to God in the temple. Often weary travelers however, lacked Israelite currency and or an animal to sacrifice. These folks were then severely gouged by the money changers, and the folks selling animals to sacrifice to God at the Temple steps. Essentially, these people were being exploited and ripped off in order to fulfill their annual religious obligations. Once again, this is how the gospel of John reading begins for this morning:

“The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me” (Jn. 2:13-17, NRSV).

In this scene, Jesus again has righteous anger, passion, as he is defending the poor and exploited people of God, protecting the integrity of the house of worship that is the temple, and is showing the people looking on and listening how we are to regard God, the creator. This scene is also used frequently by people in my experience for a variety of things.

Perhaps we lost our cool, got angry, and flew off the handle about something, and then just said, “Well, you know Jesus flipped tables at the temple”. Or someone gets angry at a sports game and starts of fist fight, and as we are watching we just say, “Well, you know Jesus flipped tables at the temple”. Someone cuts us off in traffic and we get angry and frustrated. Then we say, “Well, you know Jesus flipped tables at the temple”. So you can see how people can use this story in just about every way and situation.

Now after this scene of Jesus’ righteous anger and passion, Jesus is then challenged on his credentials. Basically, the onlookers are saying, “and who are you to come here, do this, and say these things to us? As the gospel says once again of Jesus:

“The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken” (Jn. 2:18-22, NRSV).

So while this gospel of John lesson for this morning is usually focused on Jesus “cleansing the temple” and doing the chasing and flipping the tables, there is more.

After this happens Jesus says that the temple will be destroyed and that it will be raised up in three days. The listeners of this thought that Jesus meant that he would destroy the actual physical stone worshipping temple in Jerusalem and then rebuild it in three days. The gospel once again ends with speaking of Jesus, however:

“But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken”

(Jn. 2:21-23, NRSV).

So in this season of Lent, we are preparing ourselves for the trial, death, crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. We are promised on Easter Sunday though, as Jesus himself said this morning his resurrection. For this morning in the gospel of John, “Jesus proclaimed his own resurrection”.

As we continue to move through this Lent together, and as we prepare for all that will lead to Good Friday, let us remember “The power of the Resurrection” of Jesus Christ.

It is my hope and my prayer for you and for me as we move through this season of Lent that we have hope. I pray that we live hope, share hope, and practice hope. I pray that we have the hope that so many had and have in Jesus. I pray that we will have the hope of redemption, and that we have the hope of the resurrection. It has often been said that as Christians we are “resurrection people,” as we believe in what is possible with God.

May we on this day, during this Lent, and always, live out this coming hope of resurrection with our neighbors, and in community. Sure, we will all have our “Good Fridays” of life, our days of pain and suffering, and what seems like death, but in this season of Lent, let us have hope. Let us have hope in coming “power of the Resurrection”. For with God, life wins, love wins, mercy wins, hope wins, and resurrection wins. Amen.