Written belief [Easter Sunrise]

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 25:6-9

• 1 Corinthians 15:1-25

• St. John 20:1-18

 

Grace, mercy, and peace [are yours] from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. (1 Tim 1)
 
The Lord speaks, saying:

“Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

 
The world does not understand Easter and so we drop eggs from helicopters and take turns hanging on a cross. For the pastor, Easter is both easy to preach for and hard. Easy because God simply lays all His cards on the table for us, but hard because every waking moment since time began, God has been working towards this day for us. Too much for one sermon.
 
So, I will also lay all my Easter Sunrise cards on the table right away for us to contemplate this morning.
The Bible was written after all the events in it took place. Which means we are not getting a live play-by-play, we are getting a post-resurrection reflection.
 
The perfect example of this is the Pentateuch, or the Five Books of Moses, commonly called Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Genesis is year Zero. Moses is not born until just shy of 4000 years or so after that. that’s right. Let it sink in.
 
How we usually explain this, is that when the Lord descends upon Mount Sinai, in Exodus 19, and eats and drinks with Moses, Jesus dictates to Moses the whole book of Genesis. In this supernatural way, we receive that first book of the Bible.
 
But this only works for that one book. Every other book was written after the fact and most everyone takes that fact and runs with it, creating the doctrine of “the Bible was written by men and therefore is full of errors.”
 
Let’s look at another example. In St. John’s Gospel which we heard this morning, chapter twenty reads like the narration of a movie. Notice how the author is able to be here, there, and everywhere. He was there with St. Mary at the tomb. He knew that St. Peter St John were hanging out together. 
 
He knew about the race between the two and who won it. He knew everything and yet where was he when all this was happening? 
 
Other parts of St. John’s Gospel are similar. Chapter 2:22, Jesus says, “When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.”
 
This is an afterthought. A reflection that came after the fact. 
 
What does this mean? First off, this means, that we are not simply reading a biography about Jesus and the other people of the Bible. We are not discovering the “real” Jesus in the time period and culture He was brought up in, as if we could peer into the true Jesus of history and not just what some people wrote about Him.
 
Second, we are also not reading a diary, hearing a podcast, or watching a vlog. These events took place in time, but we do not read about them in real time. We know over a million people of Israel walked through the Red Sea without getting wet. But who would even think of writing anything down in that moment? Pharaoh’s armies behind, surrounded by water, and the Lord’s pillar of cloud in front. Not a high priority to be sure.
 
Third, this means that something else is going on here. If accuracy is not the point, if timeliness is not the point, and if current events are not the point, then what is? 
 
Belief. Belief is the point. Jesus says in St. John 20:31, “these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” We do not read the Bible as a textbook, hoping to find the perfect instruction before we die. We do not hear Scripture as a self-help book, seeking that perfect way of life. We do not listen to God’s Word for a secret code to unravel all knowledge of perfection in this life.
 
We hear what God wants us to hear in order that we may believe. There are no errors in that, because the Holy Spirit gave to His chosen writers the thoughts they expressed and the words that they wrote.
 
2 Peter 1:21 says, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
 
1 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
 
And 1 Corinthians 2:13 tells us how the Apostles taught: “And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.”
 
So Jesus wants us to hear and He chooses men to preach and teach, even to write that we may indeed hear and fulfill His Word. Now, I already said that timing isn’t important for Scripture, but I do want to know what context was all this writing happening in? What was going on when all this reflecting about the past and writing into Scripture was happening?
 
Well, what do the Apostles say they were doing after all this took place?
 
Acts 2:42, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
 
This means that what you hear in every word of Scripture is a reflection upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ which is being delivered in Church. A sermon! What you hear in God’s Word is the teaching of the Apostles, Prophets, and Psalmists immediately before fellowship, communion, and prayers, as Acts 2 said.
 
When Jesus speaks of “His Word”, we expect it to show up. We ask, “What word?” 
He replies, “This Word” and points to Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms and the Apostles. 
 
But that is not all. We are not ink and paper and neither is He. The Word was made flesh. He dwelt among us and spoke for Himself. We don’t get to make up what He says or thinks, but receive what He says and thinks.
 
Likewise, flesh and blood have lives to live. Jesus lived His life, fulfilling and perfecting His promise to save His people from their sins. He then gives us His life, that we might live with Him in our churchly life and in our regular day to day life.
 
Too often we make the mistake of thinking that what we read and hear is a play-by-play diary, from the Bible. When we think this way, we begin just searching the Scriptures for ourselves and an uplifting message.
 
We miss, entirely, Jesus Himself. But Jesus does not miss us. He continues to offer His sacrifice to us in Word and Sacrament. What we read and hear leads us to the Church of Christ, who He has purchased, cleansed, and does preserve in His righteousness, to the end of the age.
 
Thus, Easter is as easy to understand as Word and Sacrament, but as hard to understand as God made man.
 
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!!