MCC Podcasts
Easter - This Story Is Everyone's Story
on this fine Easter morning. This is what I think is kind of weird. Like here we're in church and we're singing songs and talking about a martyr who died over 2,000 years ago. And we're like, you have this martyr, he arose from the dead and he's special. But you think about it, just for a minute, you step back, you go to, you know, where you go to lunch afterwards and you said to the person who's serving lunch to worship this martyr who we say rose from the dead. You're like, man, that is kind of weird. That is kind of strange. And I think if we're honest, it raises some questions. And the thing is with the Christian faith, with Jesus himself, is he raises a ton of questions. And for whatever reason, for good or bad, I think we felt we have to lock those questions down. We have to lock them away and to not deal with them. And if we're, if we have too many questions we don't want to deal with, we're doubters, we're skeptics. If we have too many questions but we don't want to deal with them, then we are, you know, we're good faithful people. But I'm wondering this morning if we could actually just stop and go, if you find yourself with questions, what would that be okay if we just, if we just said it's okay to have questions? The Easter story begins with Mary and Martha and Joanna going to the empty tomb, going, what is this all about? Peter wondering, what does all this mean? That every single person that came close to Jesus had fundamental questions, Jesus challenged their actual worldview. That no one could come close to Jesus and then just walk away and do something the same that they always did. They had to be confronted with a choice. All of the Pharisees, when they met with Jesus, they were wondering, who is this man? How does he teach with such authority? They could not get it. They wondered so much so that it threatened their own livelihood and they had to find a way to stop it. The disciples wondered, who is this man that even the wind and the waves would obey him? Who is this man that even the demons would obey him? The disciples who put their faith in him, they still wondered, who is this man? The Romans at the end of Jesus' life, even Pilate said, what is truth? Just in the very presence of Jesus, we are confronted with questions of what in the world does this person mean? And obviously Jesus had something to offer. Even if he was a total crazy person, the fact that over a billion people are gathered this morning to worship him raises questions that I think should be addressed. My concern is, I think that many of us are many of our neighbors. We never get to those questions because we have kind of roadblocks or smoke screens. Gandhi said it best and is really convicting statement. He says, I like your Christ. How cool? A Hindu goes, that Jesus, there's something intriguing about him. I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. For your Christians are nothing like your Christ. That is a brutal rebuke. And in fact, when you think about it, if you went and asked any of your neighbors, what is it about Christians? How would you define Christians? What would be some of the ways that they would describe Christians as? Judgmental, self-righteous, hypocritical, wait, loving, gracious, generous, right? No way, judgmental, self-righteous, hypocritical. And because of that, they don't get to experience who Jesus is. And I just feel like this morning, I want to just push back a little bit. Because I get that I'm judgmental and self-righteous and hypocritical. And I get, if you interacted with me at different parts of my Christian journey, you'd be like, what? You're a Christian? I get that if I cut you off on the way to church, you're like, what? You're a Christian? I get if I didn't tip well because my math was off that day, you're like, what? But the truth is, what I've come to realize is every single human being on the planet is hypocritical, is judgmental, is self-righteous. And we work so hard in our context to not stereotype, to not dehumanize people and make people the worst, their worst moment to define them in all things. But yet, the world has done that to us. People have done that to us. The Christians get to be defined by their worst moments. And I just ask, if you're questioning, to just take one step back and go, that crazy aunt, your fundamentalist mom, your school teacher, whoever it was in your life, all Christians are that awful person at their awful moment. If you could just get past that and realize that you're just as judgmental, you're just as hypocritical, you're just as self-righteous, you are in good company with us. But if you could push back through that, just for a minute, to take one step closer to Jesus, I am convinced that your questions would rock your world, that your questions would shake you to the core, that you would want to know what is up with this person. Even if you ended up fundamentally disagreeing, your questions would impact you and change you. I'm so impressed by the church, and I know the church has had a sword history, but did you know that when gathered people, gathered, broken people like myself, come together, the church has been part of some amazing things. It's the church that started orphanages. It's the church that started hospitals. It's the church that was around for the abolition of slavery. They were the point of the spear on that. It was the church that was the front end of the civil rights movement. It was the church that right now is on the front end of the sex trafficking and slave trade industry that's being trying to stop. It's the church on the front end of that. And me by myself, I cannot do that. I'm too self-righteous and self-absorbed. But together as gathered Christians come together, really amazing stuff is happening. And my challenge for you, my gentle nudge, is if you find yourself questioning, if you're like, "What is up here? You were dragged here to church today." My gentle nudge is if you would be willing to take one step closer to Jesus, to ask those questions, to not be scared of them. Jesus himself says, "Come to me. Seek. Ask. Knock. For when you seek, you will find, and when you ask, you will receive, and when you knock, the door will be open to you." So if you are questioning this morning, you are in good company. You are exactly where you need to be, because you are in the part of this story, the Easter story, that belongs to all of us. And as that story, that Easter story continues, where those were left wondering, "What does this mean? What could this possibly mean?" And how we also carry those sorts of questions with us today. There's another part of the story that goes on, and it's that story that I read to you or paraphrase to you earlier in our worship gathering about. Those two guys, we don't even know who, actually we don't even know if they're two guys now that I say that. We know one is a guy, Cleopus is named, and then we don't know who the other one was, but they were walking along this road. And what happened on that road was really distinctive that I don't want us to miss. Let me look at the first couple verses again as Luke records it in verse 24, Luke 24, verse 13. Now the same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about everything that had happened. So they had seven miles to walk, and they were talking and discussing and going over. In fact, Luke uses three different Greek words that mean talking and discussing and going back and forth. They had a lot to say, they had a lot of questions. And as they were walking along, it says this, and I don't want you to miss it. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus Himself came up and walked with them. Isn't that good? As they're in that place in the story of questioning and are wondering what's up and discussing and reflecting, Jesus Himself comes and walks along with them. Now what was Jesus doing? I think this is a picture for all of us, and this is what it is. What was Jesus doing? He walks our road with us and helps us discover who He is. That's what He does. He walks our road with us and helps us to discover who He is, and that this good news is true. That's what He does. He comes alongside on their journey in the midst of their questions, in the midst of understanding only part of it. And He reveals Himself and helps them discover who He is. This story is everyone's story because we may like the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Be meeting Jesus on our journey and having Him help us discover Him and discover what's true. Everybody's story who has ever believed is a story of Jesus coming along and walking the road with us. That's what He's done in our stories. That was my story. I'm 13 years old, and Jesus invited me to a youth group. It wasn't Jesus. It was Karen and Amy. They invited me to a youth group, but they were in the form of Jesus, and He was cute. (Laughter) And 14! On my road, in my place in my little world in Oakland, California in 1974, the God of the universe knew my story and came up alongside me on the road and helped me discover who He was. And it didn't stop there. I only got half the message that night at youth group because I was out trying to kiss Karen. That's why I went. (Laughter) But then I came back, and a few months later my parents separated and then were divorced. And Jesus came alongside me in that road and walked with me and helped me discover who He is and that this is true. And then in high school and all the craziness and then in college and all that. And we ask everyone who was ever believed has walked the journey of asking and reflecting on the questions. And Jesus has showed up and helped reflect on what is the deal with life and who am I really, and most importantly, who is God? And what's the story of salvation? And Jesus comes along and reveals Himself to us. If you look at what Jesus did on this journey, the first thing He does is He walks up into these guys and He comes up alongside them and He goes, "Hey, what are you talking about?" He starts with where they are and what they already understand. He comes alongside them in their journey. They didn't recognize them right away and they're like, "What do you mean? Are you new to this area? You haven't heard what's happened?" He goes, "No, tell me what's happened. Tell me how you see it." And they said, "This is what's happened. This is Jesus and we think He was a prophet and He was from God and He did all these amazing things." And then the leaders crucified Him and they tell the story as they understand it. But then they say, "But we were hoping that He was going to be the one." And then some of us went to His tomb and His body is gone. They didn't have a full understanding. But Jesus started with what they saw with their question and their reflecting. And He basically said, "How do you see what's going on here? Friends, when we walk through that journey of our divorces or our cute 14-year-old girls or our crises of life, Jesus is helping us." Say, "How do you see what's going on right here? That's Him coming alongside and helping us discover Him." And then, of course, as they shared what it was, that they understood it, the next thing He does is that He comes alongside and clarifies and corrects what they hadn't yet understood and what they didn't know or maybe even what they had wrong. He says in the text, "I can't believe how dumb you guys are." He didn't say that exactly, but it's pretty close. But I'm thinking He said it with a smile and I'm thinking He said, "Listen, having to not understand that this is what had to happen, and they started to discover, "Oh, right!" "Oh, right, we heard what Jesus said. Oh, right, we saw what the Scriptures have said." And then it says, "Jesus opened the Scriptures to them. Later they reflected. They go, "When He started talking and He opened the Scriptures and He started saying how it was going to go and what needed to happen." They said, "Oh, how are hearts burned within us? Something's happening. We're discovering that this is truth and that this is right and that this is what I believe." Jesus came alongside and corrected them and got them clear and clear. That's what He does. He comes on our road and helps us discover Him and what's true. And then, of course, when they invite Him to their house at the end of this passage, which you should do when you walk along the road with somebody at that culture. Jesus said, "No, that's okay. Give the polite you're supposed to refuse once or twice, depending on the culture." They go, "No, we really want you to be here. Okay, I'll stay." Jesus comes into their house and then He sits and He eats with them. And He drinks with them. In everyday life, in everyday eating and drinking, in every, with the toddler running around the house, all that stuff, Jesus came alongside them in their life. And it says that when He was in their home, eating and drinking, their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. They believed in Him. They saw that He was now alive. They saw that this good news was true, like they got it. Because Jesus came along inside their house. This wasn't communion. This wasn't a church service. It looks and sounds like it to us. And that's kind of what our metaphor is. When we take communion, we break bread and we say to Jesus, "You'd open our eyes. We want to recognize you in our world. We want to see you in our lives, in our stories." This is just everyday life, friends. Jesus came along in our everyday lives and opens our eyes so that we see that He is who He is and that this is true. Everyone, whoever has believed has gone on this journey of discovery. And by the end, these guys were like, "You're it? You've raised from the dead? You're it's true. You are the one who was set us free." And they ran back to Jerusalem. Probably the middle of the night, seven miles, got their Nike's, went on a run. And they went back to the other 11 and they burst through the door. And when they came through the door, the other 11 had been there. And they had heard another report from Peter who had seen the risen Lord. And they said, when these two guys came in the room, they said, "Hey, it's true. He's risen." And they go, "I know." And they were hiding each other. Jesus had been faithful to walk on the road and let them discover that it is true. This story is everyone's story. And so you may find yourself like the disciples on the road to Emmaus discovering who Jesus is and that this good news is true. Do you continue to discover him as he leads us, as we celebrate this Easter? Yeah, so this story is everyone's story, but it's not an easy story for everyone to receive. I mean, we enter this story that's everyone's story at different places with different responses, right? Questions? And wouldn't it be absurd for God to talk about resurrection? Literal, bodily resurrection from the dead, an historical event, not a mythical story that we need to make sense of life, an actual measurable event. Wouldn't it be crazy for him to present something like that and expect us not to have questions about that, especially post-enlightenment? We've got questions all over the place about that. But it's our story even if we're taking advantage of the freedom to doubt and the freedom to ask. Christ is excited to see us asking, questioning. And it's our story when we're in the process of discovering. When we're on the road and our eyes are being opened and every experience is starting to be started to be interpreted through the eyes of Christ and through the presence of Christ. We're discovering who he really is and starting to make sense. And we get to the point where we think, "Oh, I believe this. I think I believe this. I believe the teaching of Jesus. I even believe that he was resurrected from the dead. I believe there's a different future for me." It's everyone's story, whether we're questioning or discovering. Aya was given a baton. This is the very baton I was given, the day that I was installed as pastor at Marin Covenant Church. I was thinking of this baton this week because this baton and resurrection have something in common. Imagine with me, would you, going into a symphony? And the orchestra is not on the stage yet. You got there nice and early. And the musicians begin to trickle in. The string section comes in, they start to tune up a little bit, and then an oboe is over here making some funny oboe noises. And the bass is over here and the percussion are tuning the kettle drums. You know how that sounds, right? By the time they're all finding their seats, grabbing their instruments, finding their seats and tuning, it's just this great big mess of noises, but it sounds sort of beautiful. You know all those different sounds you get. And then out from the side walks the conductor. The conductor takes the baton and does this. And with those simple taps of this baton on the stand, all of the tuning stops. And it turns into a very pregnant silence. There's anticipation. And then the baton is raised. And where the music hall was filled with random noises before, now something different is going to happen. And when that baton falls, beautiful music, fuzzy cheeks kind of music, harmonious music is played. Resurrection is like that. Resurrection's story is everyone's story. It's all of our story. Those of us who are questioning, it's our story. Because when Jesus doesn't see enough questioning, frankly, he causes it to happen. It's a story of those who are discovering when he's walking the roads of life with us. It's also the story of those who understand what happened, what baton actually fell, the day resurrection happened. The historical downbeat of the resurrection. That was a day when what God longs for on earth was started, was launched. It was a downbeat that changed history, it was a downbeat that spoke against oppression, it was a downbeat that began to talk about life. But it was also a downbeat that said all of you who have been questioning and discovering and walking on the roads with me, I am now sending you to live out, to contribute to the dream I have for the world. It was a downbeat that launched us, it was a downbeat that was a great commissioning for all of those who follow Christ to love a broken and hurting world the same way Jesus loved us. Listen to this text from the book of Acts. When he had everybody gathered together, after six weeks of training, Jesus says to them, resurrection and then six weeks of talking and walking and helping people discover. They gathered around him and they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time finally going to restore the kingdom of Israel?" And he said to them, "It's not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." That's a commissioning. This story is everyone's story, those who are asking questions and never stop asking questions, by the way. Those who are discovering and being discovered by Christ never stop discovering. But also it's for those who have heard this great commission, who have got something going on in their hearts. It's, "I believe in resurrection. I believe everything Jesus taught. I'm convinced this is it." It's for those, this story, who have this great swelling heart inside them, who are feeling things like, "If I don't do something, if I don't respond to everything I see with everything that I know, I think my heart's going to explode." It's the story of those folks too. And you know just listening to Jesus, that he's up to something when he's doing all this teaching in the book of Acts. He stated it also in Matthew, it's recorded a little differently, same message. "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you, and I'm going to be with you always. Same charge, same commission, different words." In John he records it this way. Jesus says to them when he comes in through the walls and one of those encounters with his followers, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you." There is this great sending that we sense from Jesus. And he gives them all of that. You know that he's up to something because he's giving orders to those he had chosen. He's been teaching them about the Kingdom of God and how everything is going to change because of resurrection. All of history has been leading to this point. It's all been like musicians finding their instruments, coming into their rows and starting to tune their instruments. And then there's this big historical "yes, let's go" when the baton called the resurrection falls. You know he's up to something. He's commanded them to wait in Jerusalem until they receive power. And that begs the question, "Power for what?" And then he gives the answer to that question. He says, "I want all of you leftovers that nobody thought we could succeed with. All of you who know your hypocrites, all of you who need to walk those roads and occasionally have blindness, I'm going to change the whole stinking world through you." And then they must have said something like, "Well then we need the power because we're not going to be able to do anything about it." He says, "Go to Jerusalem and hang out. Power's coming. You know he's up to something." And then he does all of that. And while they're still pondering what he has said, he's lifted up. And he's taken up into the clouds. And the higher Jesus gets, the lower their jaws drop as they're gazing up into the clouds. And they're wondering, "Okay, what do we do now? We need to do something." We were questioning. We were discovering the apostles would say. And now we believe, and we've been sent. We know we need to do something now, but what? And that's the point we're trying to make this morning, isn't it? This resurrection story is not just owned by the people who actually saw it happen, or the people who caused it to happen. This is everyone's story. Those who are doubting and questioning, those who are discovering and being discovered, those who are convinced and feeling like they must respond somehow to love in the name of Jesus, a world that so desperately needs to be loved in the name of Jesus. It's a story that belongs to all of us. [BLANK_AUDIO]