Sermon from April 16, 2006
N.T. Wright has described crucifixion in bare-knuckled, political terms. "Crucifixion was a powerful symbol throughout the Roman world. It was not just a means of liquidating undesirables; it did so with the maximum degradation and humiliation. It said, loud and clear: we are in charge here; you are our property; we can do what we like with you." (Jesus and the Victory of God, 543).

That is how Jesus died. So, it was at least confusing, when frightened women came back to the disciples and said: "He has risen. He is not here." Immediate investigations confirmed the second part of their announcement: the tomb where others had buried Jesus now stood empty. Then, over a period of forty days, Jesus confirmed the first part of the women's announcement. He showed himself to His apostles and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive – Acts 1:3.

We have no diaries that report conversations among the apostles, as they tried to absorb what it meant for a dead man to come back to life, permanently, indestructibly. The New Testament does tell us that the men who had denied and abandoned Jesus at His trial stood in the center of Jerusalem a few weeks later, defied the authorities, and declared that God had raised Him from the dead to die no more.

People who change like that deserve a hearing. What they said in the center of Jerusalem offers the best explanation of what had changed them from craven men in hiding to public figures of courage. Let's listen to what they said in Acts 2-5.

The Apostolic Message
The apostles publicly laid responsibility for Jesus' death on those who deserved it. Look at Acts 2:22, the first three words: "men of Israel." They were the culprits. Look at the end of verse 23: "you, with the help of wicked men (Gentiles), put him (Jesus) to death by nailing him to the cross."

"Men of Israel" may seem to general. In Acts 4:8 Peter got specific. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people." They were the culprits. Look at verse 11: "He is 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.'"

Finally, look at Acts 5:21. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin – the full assembly of the elders of Israel – and sent to jail for the apostles. Verse 30 reports Peter's testimony before the Sanhedring that day in court. "The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead – whom you had killed by haning him on a tree."

That last statement highlights the central point the apostles made in their preaching: God had raised the Jesus they had killed from the dead. Go back to Acts 4:10: "Then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed."

Acts 3:15: "You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this."

Acts 2:32: "This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses." Acts 2:24: "God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him."

Now, the resurrection of Jesus was no mere resuscitation to life as it had been lived before. Let me show you what I mean.

The Gospels tell us of three people whom Jesus brought back from death: the daughter of the synagogue ruler in Mark 5, a widow's son in Luke 7, and Lazarus in John 11. The raising of Lazarus is the most famous. He had been dead, wrapped in strips of burial cloth, and buried for four days. The odor of rotting flesh had begun. Jesus spoke from outside his burial cave and called him back from death.

It was a stunning act of power. But don't you feel a little sorry for Lazarus? I mean, he had to die all over again. That was not the case with Jesus. Hebrews 7:16 describes Jesus after resurrection as possessing an indestructible life.

That raises a question: If a person dies and comes back to life and cannot die again, what does that person do? The answer takes us to Peter's preaching. Peter tells us where our Easter joy comes from and takes us deeper into the mystery of our faith.

At the Right Hand of God
Let's go back to Acts 5:31. Peter said: "God exalted him (Jesus) to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel." The important words here are: God exalted him to his own right hand. This recalls a line in the Apostles' Creed that we confess but seldom think about.

"The third day, he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father Almighty." Let's think about that together. Let's put it at the heart of this Easter celebration.

First, we need to perform an act of sympathetic imagination. Let's listen to statements from the Old Testament books of Exodus and the Psalms. They speak about the Lord's right hand, and they can teach us something of what that expression means.

The first statement comes from the Song of Moses in Exodus 15:6. "Your right hand, O LORD, was majestic in power. Your right hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy." Moses and the children of Israel sang this to celebrate their exodus from Egypt. Referring to the Lord's right hand was their way of expressing God's power that delivered them from Pharaoh's armies and brought them to safety.

The second statement comes from Psalm 98:1 and extends the meaning slightly.

Sing to the LORD a new song,
     for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
     have worked salvation for him.

When the Bible talks about God's right hand, it is biblical shorthand for the power of God, which He exercises in order to save His people from danger. So, to sit at God's right hand is to occupy a position of authority that has the power of God behind it.

The third statement, Psalm 110, shows us where this line of thinking is leading us. Psalm 110 is the Old Testament passage most frequently referenced in the New Testament. Verse one is the most frequently quoted verse.

The LORD says to my Lord:
     "Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
     a footstool for your feet."

The fourth statement, 1 Peter 3:22, picks up this idea of sovereignty over enemies and extends its meaning. Peter wrote that Jesus had gone into heaven and is at God's right hand – with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

The Bible says that God exalted Jesus to his own right hand. The Church confesses: "He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father Almighty." It is our way of saying that God raised Jesus from the dead to an indestructible life and to a position of supreme authority over all the earth. We believe that authority is gradualy being asserted over all the earth and will some day banish every enemy, including death.

As soon as I say this, objections begin to come from many directions. For example, objectors might say, "Well, if Jesus is asserting His authority over all the earth, He is sure taking His good time about it. Two thousand years have passed, and life on earth has never been in greater peril than it is today. When is His alleged authority supposed to kick in?"

Other objectors might say, "The Church is supposed to be Jesus' special domain, the people who are in submission to His will in this world. That doesn't seem to be working too well either. Hutu and Tootsie Christians slaughter each other in Rwanda. Child molestation by clergy in the United States bedevils Protestant and Catholics. If His authority doesn't work any better than that among those allegedly in submission to Him, how is it supposed to work in the larger world that openly rejects Him?"

If it is any encouragement to you, objections like this have been raised since the beginnings of Christianity. In 2 Peter 3:3-4, the Apostle Peter said to a Christian congregation: you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." How might we respond to these objections?

The Coming of the King
Today, on every continent one third of the human family, uncoerced, celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We confess: "The third day, he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father Almighty." It is our way of saying that God raised Jesus from the dead to an indestructible life and to a position of supreme authority over all the earth. We believe that authority is gradually being asserted over all the earth and will some day banish every enemy, including death.

Many people object to this belief. Christians don't deny the objections. We feel their force. We may raise them ouselves at times. Nevertheless, that is what we believe. Are we nuts? Is there tangible evidence to vindicate our faith in the face of what can at times feel like overwhelming evidence to the contrary? I believe there is, and I would like to lay some of it before you to encourage you to hold on to your faith.

First, nuclear war has not decimated the nations. I don't for a minute minimize the difficult, extended negotiations between American and Soviet diplomats to prevent nuclear war. But we know how close the world came to nuclear war in October, 1962. If we knew the workings of nuclear diplomacy, I suspect we would hear stories of times, when the old bus wobbled and appeared headed for the nuclear ditch. Then, it wobbled back and moved on. I propose to you that behind the scenes, an authority greater than American and Soviet diplomacy – the risen Jesus – was at work to prevent nuclear war.

Second, for two centuries Western European philosphers have said Christianity was the white man's religion, and in any case religion was on the way out of existence. Forty years ago in this country, prominent theologians declared that God was dead, the Church was irrelevant, and preaching was an outmoded way of communication.

Today, a third of humanity, most of them people of color, celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. How did that happen? Might there really be something to this conviction that God raised Jesus from the dead to an indestructible life and to a position of supreme authority over all the earth; and that His authority is gradually being asserted over all the earth and will some day banish every enemy, including death?

Third, no one sponsored atheism more vigorously than Karl Marx and the ideology he spawned. Communism at its zenith governed a third of the world's population. So, how do we account for what is happening today in Communist China? David Aikman, former Beijing Bureau Chief for Time Magazine, wrote the following about China, the largest Communist nation on earth.

"China is in the process of becoming Christianized. That does not mean that all Chinese will become Christians, or even that a majority will. But at the present rate of growth in the number of Chinese Christians in the countryside, in the cities, and especially within China's social and cultural establishment, it is possible that Christians will constitute 20 to 30 percent of China's population within three decades. If that should happen, it is almost certain that a Christian view of the world will be the dominant worldview within China's political and cultural establishment, and possibly also within senior military circles," (Jesus in Beijing, 285).

I don't believe people today are any more evil than they ever were. But the instruments at our disposal for behaving badly magnify the evil frighteningly. But where sin's power to harm has increased, grace, God's sheer good-will toward the human family, has increased all the more (Romans 5:20).

God exalted Jesus to his own right hand, a position of supreme authority over the earth. Jesus is gradually asserting His authority. That is what the Church confesses, and the Church herself is the sign of His authority. Hundreds of thousands of churches like this one are like so many crocuses hearlding the coming of eternal springtime.

The Pastoral Center of Gravity
You can hear today's declaration of Christian faith and reject it. I hope you won't do that. You can hear this declaration of Christian faith and say, "Hmm, the guy made some interesting points." But what is at stake here is not whether you find me interesting. What is at stake is whether this message takes hold of you, heart and soul, and reshapes the way you look at life.

Jesus said you must be born again, or you can't see the kingdom of God. The declaration of Christian reality that you've heard today can waken that new life in you. In some of you the new life is already stirring. Don't ignore the stirrings of eternal life in you. Say to Christ as Doubting Thomas did of old: "My Lord and my God!"

Where else will you turn for the words of eternal life? What other authority can you count on to be patient and beneficent toward the human family? Amid the gathering danger and darkness of our world we need a power and a voice from beyond our world. Christ at the right hand of God is that power and that voice. The Church is the sign of His presence with us. Hold on to Christ. Hold on to Christ. Let us hold on to Christ together.