"I Have
Seen the Lord"
a condensed version of the
sermon delivered by Rev. Kirk Moore on Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008 at Union Congregational Church, United Church of
Christ, in Somonauk, Illinois.
PODCAST of "I Have Seen the Lord"
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It’s easier to comprehend things in our lives when we look back at them. All too often we miss what’s going on when it is going on.
When I look back at my life experience, I can see how I’ve been shaped by the good and the bad. I can see how the mistakes I’ve made have taught me and how sometimes the successes have slowed me down. I can look at the bigger picture looking back and say "God has been getting it done and guiding me through."
During my life experience, however, I’ve been mostly clueless to the bigger picture. I’ve only been able to see what’s going on at the moment and what significance it has in the big picture is something I completely miss.
This week we get to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection as described in our Bible reading from John 20:1-18. We have the good fortune to be able to celebrate the event as we look at back.
The tomb was empty and Jesus’ followers panicked. They were in hiding. Mary went the tomb – not knowing what to do and only having the energy to sit and weep. Why did she go there? We can speculate that she wanted to somehow be in Jesus’ presence. She didn’t know what to do and wasn’t thinking about any kind of danger from the authorities. She just needed to be there. And while she was there weeping, she was in the presence of Jesus and for at least a moment she missed it.
She is not the only one who missed it, thought I do think she is the one who ‘got it’ the most quickly. Peter and John – who apparently still had to be competitive with each other when they were running to the tomb, (The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.) missed the whole scene.
But we get it, don’t we? We look at the end of today’s passage and think, "I get it – I understand. I have seen the Lord!"
Or do we?
Sometimes we get it. Sometimes we get to a point of peace and understanding. In our celebration we remember that Christ has died – Christ is risen – Christ will come again.
But looking forward, I wonder what we’re missing? After all, we have a great history of missing the point when it comes to the mystery of God.
Why do we miss it so much? Why isn’t Jesus easier to ‘get?’
Are we too wrapped up in our own agendas? Are we so focused on following the rules that we miss the point?
I’m sure we’ve all been there. We can’t feel like it’s a time of worship because it’s too loud. We can’t understand the underlying message because we’re so offended by the words. We get annoyed because we lose focus if someone talks out of turn or sings off key. We think the music’s too fast or too slow or we don’t like the song. We can’t follow the sermon because the preacher has obviously lost it.
That sounds a little like a rant. My point is – sometimes we miss the point when we find other things to help it get all cloudy.
But I don’t think that’s the only, or even the primary reason why we miss the point.
Over the next few weeks of Easter, we’ll have a chance to read about and learn about people missed out on seeing Jesus until they were ready for it. This week I think that Mary didn’t realize that Jesus was standing there with her until she was ready for it.
Ready for it? Doesn’t God get to do what God does whether we ready or not?
Of course – I believe it. I also believe that we can miss what’s important for a long time until we’re ready to really grasp it.
I’m in dangerous waters here when I talk about missing what’s important until we’re ready to really grasp it.
"What’s this young punk talking about? Does he think that he gets it? What makes him think that he’s ready to grasp what’s important before he’s had a chance to really experience life?"
Look -- I miss the point all the time. I think I ‘get it’ when it comes to understanding that Jesus calls us to live the two most important commandments of loving God and loving each other. I think I miss the point when I try to figure out everything about what that means. When I look back I see where God kept getting it done -- sometimes through what I’ve been up to and more often in spite of what I’ve been up to.
The earliest followers of Jesus missed the point . . . often – and then sometimes they got it. We miss the point . . . often, and because we can look back at the experiences of Jesus’ earliest followers, we have a chance to ‘get it’ – if only a little bit. And as we’re ready to grasp it, God gives us a little more understanding.
We’re gonna leave this Easter celebration jubilantly today – with "Jesus is risen!" in our minds. We’re going to celebrate with family or friends or a nap and we’ll remember the living cross and the music and preaching and the fellowship and everything about this morning’s worship service. We’ll walk out of here with at least a little bit of "I get it!" today.
I wonder what happens tomorrow? Are we going to go right back to missing it? Should we just stay home so that we don’t mess up? If we spend so much of our lives missing the point and then when we do get it there’s so much more for God to reveal to us, how can we know we’re doing it right?
I don’t know how we can know for sure that we’re doing it right. But I do believe that we can open ourselves to what God has to show us. We can open ourselves to God’s guidance. We can trust that as we look back, we’ll see that we were given understanding and that God has been guiding us. I think we’ll be able to be able to say, as Mary did after grasping her encounter with the risen Jesus, "I have seen the Lord."
Here’s a prayer we can say to remind us to be open to what God is doing:
- God guide me today
- Through situations I don’t understand
- To places that may make me scared
- I’m trusting that you are leading me
- Help me to be ready for what you’re doing.
Amen.
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