The End in the Middle

In her column several weeks ago, she noted that her dear daughters have the habit of jumping to the end of a book and reading it before going to the beginning and working through the story.

And not only that, but then the girls have to blab all about what they have read.

Mindy is exasperated, because she thinks that one should deal with each part of the book in its proper order, and uncover the end at the end.

Many of us like things to be orderly.

After all, we can only live each day as it comes along.

We can only cope with life one bit at a time.

But we are gathered here this morning because Christians have a different way of regarding these things.

Taylor and Sadie's way of reading is actually what we as Christians are doing!

We celebrate today the key things about the end of creation here, now, in the midst of things.

Because we hear this day about resurrection, there is a different kind of life to be lived.

We're hearing about the end of the story here in the middle of things,

and that end of the story

changes what we do,

it changes how we worship,

it changes the ways in which we operate.

Hints of the end, spoken now,

are here in the middle of life, and what a difference it makes.

Because this is true,

because Jesus lives,

there are things that we no longer say, such as:

-- “Party on, because there is no tomorrow”

--”It is bad now, and will get worse, and so what.”

--”Why should I care about anybody or anything other than my own wants and comforts?”

We won't say any of those things again,

because of what the resurrection of Jesus has shown us,

because the resurrection is the revealing of the end of the story here in the middle of life.

--Now we know that death is not the end, but that Jesus has turned it into the gate to eternal life.

--Things may be difficult for us now, and may indeed be yet more difficult in the future, but God may yet have ways to use them for his good purposes!

--Life is measured by more than what I want, instead, life is marked by how we use what God has entrusted to our care in ways that honor God and help the neighbor.

What a profoundly different way of life this becomes!

There is always a problem because we cannot maintain the intensity of thought and feeling that we develop in the course of the cycle of Holy Week, and especially with the rush of emotions and sensitivities that come with the Great Vigil of Easter.

Such a week, such a night!

We can't do that day after day.

Should we feel guilty about it?

We can take note of an important detail in Mark's resurrection account: The young man, messenger of God, says to the three women: “Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee, there you will see him, just as he told you.”

Away from Jerusalem, back to Galilee, from whence they had come,

back to the familiar places, the ordinary places, not the hubbub of the capital and Temple,

they are to go

back to things ordinary,

back to daily life and work,

back to fishing and all the rest.

After the shock of he arrest, trial, abandonment, crucifixion, death and burial, what else could they do?

No more following Jesus around the countryside,

no more listening and wondering what he would say or do next.

Time to get back to regular stuff.

Boring, ordinary, regular stuff.

But here is the surprise:

Jesus will meet the disciples, and will meet us, even in the ordinary places of our lives.

He promises to come not just at the dramatic high points like the Great Vigil of Easter, but also...

--in bedtime prayers with the children,

--in a loving kiss with spouse,

--in the week by week assembly here for worship...prayer, praise and thanksgiving.

--in the face of the person who needs physical help or encouragement from us.

The resurrected Lord Jesus transforms all of the ordinary encounters into windows from the future that illuminate the present.

--the bedtime prayers that are the anticipation of face to face communication with the Lord Jesus in the full company of heaven.

--the loving kiss of spouse that is the sample of the tenderness and persistence of the Lord Jesus for his bride the church.

--each time we gather at the rail for Holy Communion, we do so as an outpost of the heavenly banquet,

the way things will be.

We are such broken people in so many ways!

It may be due to grief or sorrows, relationships gone awry, unemployment or underemployment, illnesses, and so much more.

But when we reach out to one another with the particular skills and gifts that God has awakened in each of us,

we do so with the understanding that it is Jesus himself who is speaking to us in those situations,

asking us to follow,

to care,

to do,

to serve as signs of the in-breaking kingdom of God...

wherein all of these things will be happening fully, completely, spontaneously, and wonderfully.

Jesus, appears to us at the intersection of his Word and our opportunities,

coming to us here,

giving us here a profoundly important peek at the future,

giving it here in the middle of things.

And because of that we say with joy:

Christ is risen. HE IS RISEN INDEED. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.