Four Laughters

There is the laughter of bitterness of those who have been hurt and disappointed when their prayers haven't been answered in the way in which they had expected.

God has not jumped through their hoops.

There is the laughter of those who have heard the story, or at least part of the story, and are not impressed.

A nailed-down Jesus just doesn't seem like much of a powerful ruler.

He seems like a pretentious fool whose claims are utterly discredited by death.

Laughter III:

There is still another kind of laughter that I hear.

It is the laughter of God as he vindicates the hope of our Lord Jesus.

It is the laughter of resurrection in spite of the expectations of an angry world.

It is the laughter of God's life that conquers death.

Jesus' claim to authority in the way in which he taught is not in itself an adequate basis for the Christian faith.

Just being a good teacher is not enough.

The crucifixion dashed all of the hopes which his announcement of the kingdom of God had raised.

A new event was needed to confirm Jesus' claim that he could stand and speak for God.

Since Jesus had spoken and acted as though he had inside knowledge of God's will for the world,

the Jewish leaders were right in calling his words blasphemy...unless his claims were made good by God.

The portion we hear in today's Gospel is a sample of this outrage.

How dare he say “Today you will be with me in Paradise” unless God would make it so.?

Jesus would not keep that kind of a promise during his earthly lifetime.

But when he is raised from the death, that is a different situation.

The resurrection is God's laughter in saying “Yes, of course, Jesus speaks and acts for me.

Not only in the past, but also in the future.”

Resurrection is the act by which the cause of Jesus can continue in our future.

It would have been one kind of wonder if

the offer of resurrection had been made just to the thief on the cross outside Jerusalem,

but what a joy-filled wonder it is that the offer is made also to us who live in Williamsport today.

Resurrection is the act by which God announces his intention to be God for us.

Let's try on the idea another way:

Resurrection is how God identifies himself to us!

Of all of the possible candidates for God, it is the Cross and resurrection of Jesus to which we can point and say, “There is God, active in our sight.”

In ancient time, the emperors named Caesar claimed themselves to be gods.

There are any number of political leaders these days who want to claim ultimate or almost ultimate authority for themselves.

In ancient times each city or region had its local gods, and that was fine.

All one needed to do was to acknowledge Caesar, and then have any other auxiliary gods in whatever scope or number that one wished.

And these days folks want to invest various spiritual procedures or persons or objects with an authority that infringes on God.

we can explore that another time.

But for today on this Festival of Christ the King, let's be clear:

the martyrs of ancient times and martyrs still today are not killed because they are not nice people.

They are persecuted, beaten, exiled, tortured, and murdered because they hear the absolutely exclusive claim that Jesus is Lord.

They hear it with joy.

They hear it as God's laughter over all of the competing powers.

And they are willing suffer and die for that confession : Jesus is Lord, and no one or no-thing else.

It is God's laughter that we acknowledge today.

We thought that we knew all that God could or would do.

Satan thought he had him all figured out; he thought that he could predict what Jesus could or would do.

But God will not be bound by our expectations or the schemes of Satan.

He does something completely new in Jesus; resurrection.

Again, let's be clear.

What we are talking about is not a resuscitation as Jesus did with Lazarus and others.

Those persons were returned to the same regular human life they had been living earlier, and they faced death again.

Resurrection which is promised to us, is vastly different from resuscitation.

Resurrection means a completely new creation, to be made over entirely, but still recognizable to us and to others who know.

How? We haven't any idea. Wait and see!

Why resurrection? It is God's way of saying to himself and to us who he is-- the one who raises Jesus from the dead as the sample of new life for us.

Laughter IV:

And that means that there is yet a fourth kind of laughter today,

which is our laughter that springs from our joy of hearing God's laughter.

Sin, death, and Satan think that they have us completely boxed in.

They think that no matter how hard we try to avoid it, that death will in the end win every time.

But we are able to laugh even now, because of that one new thing which God has done which confounds all of the devil's plans:

The one new thing, the new creation in the resurrection of Christ , in which we live by the promise and covenant of Holy Baptism.

We laugh with God's laughter, and live a different life therefore.

By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead. [1Peter 1:3]

There is much more of value to ponder here, but we can only go this far now.

Just far enough to know that the solemn words to the thief on the cross are not idle boasting or bravado in the face of death.

They are words that are shown to be true.

They are words fit for a festival.

They are words that prompt joy, some boisterousness, and maybe even laughter from us!

So I'll never offer a perfunctory Christ is risen to which you might give a half-heated response.

It needs always to be a vigorous call and response: Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

And it carries over into the great hymn that we will sing next.

Get ready! It is going to be sprightly!

There was a unique translation done a hundred years ago of Luther's Easter hymn .

I don't think the translation ever made it into use in a hymnal, but it does have the right mood.

Listen to George McDonald's version of the second stanza as you watch the text in your hymnal:

That was a right wondrous strife

When Death in Life's grip wallowed.

Off victorious came Life,

Death he has quite upswallowed.

The Scripture has published that --

How one death the other ate

Thus Death has become a laughter. Alleluia!

Laughters Four:

I. Derisive laughter surrounding Jesus

II. Jeering laughter yet today.

III. God's laughter in overwhelming death and every enemy

IV. Our joyful laughter in hearing God's laughter.

And the word from Easter is our best laugh every day.

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.