Tell me a story. “Once upon a time, there was a great King.” Why do we all love stories? I think deep down we all want the story to be true. There is nothing like a true story. Truth is better and often stranger than fiction.
All of us are basing our lives on a story. It may be true, and it may be false, but we all are basing our lives on a story. Some people call this a worldview. How we look at ourselves, how we look at others, how we look at the world, how we look at God.
There are so many different stories and beliefs out there in the world today. The more stories you hear, the more you realize there are almost as many stories as there are people who believe them.
Many people today see the story of Jesus as just another story. An old wives tale. A superstition - an illusion - an unverified claim - unfounded belief. A nice story but - it doesn’t really change anything. It may help you feel better, but it can’t help you with your problems, it can’t stop death. The philosopher Jack Sparrow - dead men tell no tales.
All too often people treat the Christian story as if it were an idle tale, and treat Jesus like an old relic, someone from a long time ago that we honor and respect, but not someone we follow and speak with and listen to each day. We tuck him away into an old bible on a dusty shelf in a back room, bring him out a couple times a year, christmas and maybe easter, and maybe election day if we need some extra help to get our favorite politician elected. But then it’s back on the shelf - where he’s safe and out of the way - a nice folksy figure that ranks somewhere between Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
For the disciples, it went far deeper, it was way more personal. This was their rabbi, teacher, master, and friend. They had been through everything with him the last 3 years, teaching, healing, parables, miracles. And in the past week, they had gone from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, from the excitement of the palm parade on Sunday to the agony of his arrest and death and burial on Friday. They had been through the ringer - the worst two days of their lives. And now to hear that Jesus had risen - it was just too much - the pain was too bitter, the loss was too great. It seemed too good to be true - to them it was an idle tale.
But thanks be to God, they were dead wrong, because Jesus wasn’t dead, he was alive! He was risen and living, loving and forgiving. He had indeed risen from the dead - just as he had said. They were about to go from fear to faith - from False Evidence Appearing Real - to Forsaking All I Trust Him.
They would indeed see and trust and believe, but it took a little while, because in a very real sense, a whole new world was opening up to them, a new creation was taking place right before their very eyes. Nothing would ever be the same again - as the old car commercial put it - this changes everything.
Dead men tell no tales - that is - unless Jesus is around. And if he is, then dead men are raised up and they tell stories and write letters and author books and plant churches and preach the gospel and plant churches and love their neighbors and on and on and on it goes - as its been going for the last 2000 years.
Jesus is alive and well - living and active in his word, in the means of grace, in the Sacraments, in the waters of Baptism, in the elements of the Lord’s Supper, and with his people the church. He is Yahweh - the great I Am. He is Immanuel - God with us and God for us.
The story of Jesus - the story of Easter is not an idle tale - because it’s not an idol tale! It’s the story of the one true God who loved his fallen creatures so much that he would do anything to get them back - even go so far as to give up his one and only son.
Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, Paul writes in Romans that nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Cor. 15, 1 John 1, 2 Peter 1
"If Christianity is false it is of no importance, but if it is true it is of infinite importance. The only thing it can't be is moderately important." - CS Lewis
There are so many stories and beliefs out there in the world today. The more stories you hear, the more you realize that there are almost as many stories as there are people who believe them.
But there is another story - a greater story - a great and grand Story that forms and informs all the rest. The story of a God who loved the world he created so much that he came down himself to redeem it. A God who promises to someday set things straight and make things right, to make everything sad come untrue. To bring about what he originally intended for his creation - something good and true and beautiful and eternal.
In the meantime, God gives his church a story that helps to make sense of this life. It gives meaning, purpose, and significance to all. It builds faith, grants forgiveness, and spreads peace, hope, and joy. It takes place every Sunday throughout the church year as we hear his word, as we speak to him in prayer and sing his praises in song, as we follow the liturgy and the lectionary, and in so doing follow our Lord from here at Bethany to the New Jerusalem someday.
This Divine Drama is ancient and historical and traditional, but it’s not just something that you read about in a book or follow along in a bulletin. The Journey with Jesus is a present reality - an adventure that you get to be part of. Not just another event you view as a spectator, but one you are able to participate in and experience for yourself. There’s nothing fake or phony about it. It’s true and genuine and authentic - it’s the real thing. Just like our Risen Savior, Redeemer, and Lord - the One who takes our once upon a time and turns it into a happily ever after. Christ Is Risen!
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