Resurrection of Our Lord C

Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26; Luke 24:1-12

It’s probably fitting that the first reaction of the eleven disciples to the news of the Resurrection was that they dismissed it as an ‘idle tale.’

It’s a story that just doesn’t make sense.

If the question on the minds of both the first witnesses of Jesus and modern day people is, “is this for real?” …

… then the answer provided by the execution of Jesus on the Cross seems to be, “no.” This is not for real.

By all earthly accounts, Jesus and his message were defeated by the Cross. It all came to an end there and was buried in a tomb. In 1 Cor, the apostle Paul writes, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1Corinthians 15.19 NRSV)

On a Sunday morning 2000 or so years ago, on the third day of the Crucifixion, there was a group of disciples who felt pretty pitiful.

I’m sure you can imagine the trauma they were enduring after what happened to their leader. The emotions they were dealing with. The hopes they had that were crushed by the violence and hatred of not just the “powers that be”, but also their own fellow believers, and even by one of their own: one of the Twelve disciples.

Many of us know something about dashed hopes; crushed dreams; great ideas that turn into idle tales. You don’t have to go very far in life to be lied to. To be disappointed. To put your trust in something that turns out not to be trustworthy.

Even for faithful followers of Jesus today, there is a certain amount of doubt and skepticism that we live with, just like the first disciples lived with — it’s the nature of the world we live in. A world where death and deceit are always just around the corner.

A world where great things always appear too good to be true. Where stories of real love and goodness in the face of death sound like idle tales. Where real world things like debt and terrorism and genocide have the same force as a crucifixion — not just the death of a person, but the death of hope. The death of a dream.

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And into the midst of our pity and disappointment come a group of women who say that they’ve been to the tomb, been to the place of death; and death was not there.

Of course their story sounds like nonsense, like an idle tale. It’s too good to be true. It’s not realistic. It’s not the world we’ve come to know. We have been conditioned to dismiss it, just as the disciples dismissed it…

…except, when Peter — Peter, who had been through more ups and downs with Jesus that he would care to admit — when Peter heard the news: he ran. Towards the tomb. Towards the place of death. It may have sounded like an idle tale, but it was just the kind of thing that Jesus had promised. It was just the kind of too-good-to-be-true hope that Jesus had nurtured in him.

When Peter discovered with his own eyes that the tomb was empty, that the story was true, he must have remembered what the women had just recounted to him: the voices of strangers who said, “why do you look for the living among the dead? Jesus is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”

Peter knew then, that against all odds, despite the violence of Good Friday, despite the betrayal of the religious leaders and Judas, despite his own denials and failures as a disciple, that the unrealistic promises of God were real.

Peter was given a faith that has brought life to disciples ever since.

• to followers of Jesus who have had little political power, little wealth, little real world security but were sustained by a hope that wasn’t just an idle tale.
• to generations of believers who have buried their loved ones knowing that death does not mean an end to their love.
• to people like you and me who struggle to live a Gospel-centered life in the midst of the real world.

This morning we hear and sing and tell a story that is perhaps the only one that isn’t too good to be true:

That the love of Jesus that could not be contained by the tomb invites each and every one of us into the hope that all will be made alive in Christ.

That the hope in life given by God is not an idle tale, but a way of living that doesn’t give in to a fear of dying. A way of living that pursues dreams that appear hopeless. Love that appears unrealistic.

A way of living that allows us to share goodness with our neighbors without fear of running out. That gives us faith to give without concern for getting.

The Resurrection may sound like an idle tale, but the life it calls us into is anything but. It is God’s dream come true for each of us…for all the world.

Believing in this idle tale gives us a faith bold enough to live and love in a world that still has debt, doubt, and anger. It gives us a radical courage to stand against violence and hatred in the way that Jesus did.

And even when the evil in the world crucifies our lives and our dreams, God raises them up — raises us up — to live without pity but hope.