Jesus, Plain and Simple

Jesus, Plain and Simple

(Matthew 28:1-10) J G White

10:30 am, Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014, Windsor UBC

Christ is risen.  He is risen indeed!  This could be all that needs to be said.  It is as simple as that.  Jesus - human and God - is executed, and then is alive again.  Hallelujah!  How have you met Jesus alive?

So many days of our year we seem to have complex problems to solve, disagreements to resolve, or personal sins to absolve.  But at the heart of our Faith, and our church community, is a personal God, Jesus.  A God to celebrate!

A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, “Why do you have that palm branch, dad?” “You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honour him, so we got Palm Branches today.” The little boy replied, “Aw Shucks The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up” (sermon central)  

We celebrate today Jesus who shows up.  Though His appearances are often subtle and subversive.  How has Christ appeared to you in your life?

Today brings us all to Jesus, to point to Him, to enjoy Him, and marvel at Him, to put our confidence in Him, to lift Him up above other things that might seem important.  

Jesus once said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (John 12:32) He was referring to his execution by being hung on a cross of wood, a common death penalty at the time.  But today we find Him up and alive!  

This day is simply all about Jesus.  Jesus, plain and simple.  Even when He gets up and is alive again, He is no show-off.

Stop and notice the extraordinary things that happened, things that would get people’s attention.  We hard one record of the resurrection, in Matthew 28. A sudden earthquake.  An angel from heaven rolling the stone away from the tomb.  The angel appearing like lightening, clothing bright white, as snow.  The guards at the tomb took off in fear at all this.  

So, Jesus coming out of the tomb would surely be a blast of glorious, incredible, wondrous, mighty, overwhelming…

Uh, no.  He is simply there, not even attracting attention.  Not glowing, not awe-inspiring.  Not even being recognised at first by some who knew him, as the Gospel of John would tell us.  Jesus Christ is simply present, alive, with them.  

Can some of you speak of moments and ways Jesus has appeared to you?

Jesus, executed and come back to life, is the One who is enough.  His story… continuing now, is the one thing needed.  He is greater than any great things that vie for attention, and any problems that arise.  

Christ is greater than the angels. Those angels who opened the tomb, or any other impressive spiritual creatures.  Hebrews chapter 1 speaks at length about this.

Christ is greater than bunnies & chocolates & easter dinners.

Christ is greater than the pagan origins of “easter” or “christmas,” and any other troubles with our religion.

Christ is greater than the passover and the Jewish sacrificial system out of which He lived His life.

Christ is greater even than the sacrificial atonement theories of Christianity.  He is our ransom, our substitute, he pays our debt, he wins a victory… all of this, and more.

Christ is greater than the problems in our thinking, such as why there is such suffering in the world, how creation came to be, and what God is or is not.  

Christ is greater than the best churches we’ve got, with the best vision statements, leaders, preachers and teachers, ministries, and music.  And Christ Jesus is better than the worst of Churches and Christian history.

You know one of my own favourite themes about Jesus and what He offers.  He is available, the Kingdom has come near.  This is one of the best ways to put it.  God and the good life is available to people - no matter what is happening in their lives.  Amid all the personal problems and disasters, and all the successes and happy moments, the best thing going is Jesus.

Father Michael Walsh at the Good Friday service here:

Jesus Christ died for me personally so that I might have life forever.  But unless I experience this salvation as a personal gift to me, my response to Jesus will always be less than wholehearted.  In order for Jesus to give me life, I must be open to that life and live my life for Him.  Jesus wants to give me life and salvation is a gift.  But it is a gift that must be received and Jesus is always waiting to open our hearts so that we will receive the gift of salvation.

Remember, as you look around the pews, here or any pews, each other person you see is on some journey with God.  From delightful obedience to desperate struggle, we are a variety.  Remember to look for God in the life of the other person.  The person you idolize, the one you appreciate, the one who doesn’t attract your attention, the one you dislike, the one you’d rather never ever meet up with.  Remember, there is a personal experience of the Lord that other one has had, and you can meet the Lord there too.  

So one way to respond to the events of what we call Good Friday and Easter is to look for Christ in others.   Another thing to do is to take the joy and glory of Easter Day and enjoy it 52 times a year - every Sunday an Easter.  It was exciting this morning to gather at the Blockhouse with believers from all around here, and have joyful fellowship at breakfast.  But on every ‘ordinary’ Sunday, shall we anticipate a special time with our living Saviour?  Yes!

A third thing to do is seek His Lordship over every project in our lives.  We plan a vacation... with Christ.  We raise our children: with the Master’s guidance.  We seek a medical doctor’s care: with the Great Physician at our side.  We befriend a neighbour: in the name of our Saviour and Friend, Jesus.  

Christ as the centre, around whom everything revolves.  Lift Jesus Higher, says one gospel song.  For Jesus once said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." (John 12:32)

Author and evangelism professor, Leonard Sweet, says: “We lift Him up and He does the drawing…  It’s not ‘come to church,’ it’s ‘come to Christ’.”  Sweet finds, in his American context, that Christ is often missing from the churches, and he is missing Christ.  That breaks his heart.  

Jesus Christ is alive.  So our gospel, the good news, is alive today.  What is the Gospel?

There is a Kingdom, of sorts, that is God’s.  It has come near, it is available, people can enter this kind of life that is with God and from God.  The opportunity to turn around and receive it is here.  Jesus speaks of this, Jesus lives it, He is it, He provides it.

We people can be saved from evil, sin, wrong, pain, injustice, even death.  The reality of Jesus Christ is the way.  

We can be saved for good works - to do well and make a difference in this life.  Good things for us to do that are prepared for us to do by our Lord.  

We can be saved for eternity with God and God’s people, and God’s new creation.  

And the Gospel is rooted, simply, in the story of Jesus: crucified and risen.  That’s how it happens.  What He does.  

For weeks we spoke these Bible words to each other here:

Let us keep looking to Jesus. He is the author of faith. He also makes it perfect. He paid no attention to the shame of the cross. He suffered there because of the joy he was looking forward to. Then he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2 NIRV)

The joy He looked forward to is here.  Is now.  Is Him.

Let me end with a short, almost poetic, biography, that is known and loved by some, and is now almost 90 years old.  A Baptist preacher in California, James Allan Francis (1864-1928) came up with it in 1926. (The Real Jesus and Other Sermons)

Let us turn now to the story. A child is born in an obscure village. He is brought up in another obscure village. He works in a carpenter shop until he is thirty, and then for three brief years is an itinerant preacher, proclaiming a message and living a life. He never writes a book. He never holds an office. He never raises an army. He never has a family of his own. He never owns a home. He never goes to college. He never travels two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He gathers a little group of friends about him and teaches them his way of life. While still a young man the tide of popular feeling turns against him. One denies him; another betrays him. He is turned over to his enemies. He goes through the mockery of a trial; he is nailed to a cross between two thieves, and when dead is laid in a borrowed grave by the kindness of a friend. 

Those are the facts of his human life. He rises from the dead. Today we look back across nineteen hundred years and ask, What kind of trail has he left across the centuries? When we try to sum up his influence, all the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned are absolutely picayune in their influence on mankind compared with that of this one solitary life...