Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:06 Welcome to that Makes Total Sense, a podcast dedicated to exploring God's generosity and justice. I'm Alexis bti, a Christian aiming to ask good questions and encouraging you to do the same. Every one of us is wired by God to live out generosity and justice, but the how sometimes eludes us that makes total sense is a way for us to get together, posture ourselves as learners, and challenge one another, to practice generosity and justice in a tangible way every day.
Speaker 1 00:00:43 It seems like each year, right around the time of the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, I find myself pondering how bizarre our faith actually is. Like what a strange religion <laugh> Christianity is at its essence. And I remember a time a few years ago when our family had spent the evening celebrating this season with friends, and then we got home and my husband and I, you know, settled in after putting the kids to bed. And we fixed our desserts and we poured some cups of sweet wine and we turned the TV on to watch the Charlton Heston Classic, the 10 Commandments, <laugh>. And I'm not sure if I've ever actually made it to the end of this almost four hour epic. Um, but it was our tradition for several years that we watched it every year around this time, around the time of Passover, Easter Resurrection Sunday.
Speaker 1 00:01:42 And, and there for several years I tried and I never quite made it all the way through. Um, but on this particular evening, the mood was kind of set and it just occurred to me and I just paused. And I remember turning to my husband and I asked him, rhetorically of course, if he realized just how bizarre what we were doing actually was. And I didn't mean like drinking wine and watching a movie at home. What I meant was that we were in a week where we were celebrating, we were celebrating the fact that some guy who lived 2000 years ago died <laugh>. And that we and a whole bunch of other people believe that he was raised from the dead, even though there's not actually any real proof of that. And that here we are thousands of miles separated from where this happened and thousands of years removed from this event.
Speaker 1 00:02:47 And we have actually built our entire lives around this. We have built our entire lives around not only following the the teachings of this guy, but insisting, like really believing to our cores that he loves us to the ends of the earth and we love him even though we've never seen him <laugh> or met him in real life. And I think if I think about it from this perspective, it sounds ludicrous, but this is our religious experience. This is Christianity, this is believing in Jesus. This is the building block or the stumbling block as the Apostle Paul says of our faith. Luke, the evangelist in his recording of the gospel, um, when he is describing the morning after the resurrection, he doesn't mince words about what was found and that was nothing <laugh>. There was a tomb where everyone expected a dead body to be and it had nothing in it.
Speaker 1 00:04:00 It was empty. And something like this had never happened before. And the women who went to prepare a body that wasn't there didn't know what to think about what they had not seen. And then when Peter found out about it, the scripture says he went home wondering what had just happened. From Luke 24, very early in the morning on the first day of the week, the women went to the tomb bringing the fragrance spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they didn't find the body of the Lord Jesus. Then the scripture says they didn't know what to make of this. Suddenly two men were standing beside them in gleaming bright clothing. The women were frightened and bowed their faces toward the ground. But the men said to them, why do you look for the living among the dead?
Speaker 1 00:04:59 He isn't here but has been raised. Remember what he told you while he was still in Galilee that the human one must be handed over to sinners, be crucified. And on the third day, rise again. Then they remembered his words, <laugh>. When they returned from the tomb, they reported all these things to the 11 and all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. Then the scripture says their words struck the apostles as nonsense and they didn't believe the women. But Peter ran to the tomb. When he Ben over to look inside, he saw only the linen cloth. Then he returned home wondering what had happened. And I guess what I'm trying to say is that even though I felt a little bit crazy that evening during our epic movie night, and even though I still do feel that way from time to time, I think I'm in good company <laugh>, and so are you.
Speaker 1 00:06:08 If you've ever felt that way, because this is hard. The resurrection is ultimately good news. Don't get me wrong. It is good news. It's the best news, but it's also hard news. I love the way Anna Carter Florence describes it when she's talking about the first post resurrection sermon, which is what I've just described in Luke and in the other places in the gospels, Anna Carter Florence describes how the women go to their friends and the the other disciples and the men, the people who she describes as the, the people who are in the best position to know what had just happened. And they don't believe them. They can't understand it. And she talks about how hard this is.
Speaker 1 00:07:03 She says, if the dead won't even stay dead, then what is there to count on? She continues to say, if the world is so upside down that dead stuff don't, won't even stay dead, then how am I gonna live? How are we gonna live? If dead stuff won't even stay dead? The women don't know what to make of it. Their words struck the apostles as nonsense. No one believed it at first, Peter, for crying out loud, the one with the first confession of who the Christ actually is, went home from the cemetery, wondering the scriptures say what had happened because the resurrection is bizarre.
Speaker 1 00:07:57 And at the same time, it's what our lives are committed to following in when we commit ourselves to Jesus, when we commit ourselves to Jesus, we commit ourselves not only to believing that dead stuff won't even stay dead, but in working to ensure that it doesn't, we're given new life. We recognize that creation doesn't stay dormant, that God is making all things new. And if we buy into all of this stuff that is so outlandish and upside down, we ask an answer the how are we gonna live? Question with this. We're gonna live as if dead stuff won't even stay dead. <laugh> things that seem hopeless. We live in the hope of the resurrection. Things that look dead. We live looking for life again in the resurrection. We recognize in in the ways that we can right now in our limited understanding that just like Jesus' own body, the life that is experienced after death won't necessarily look like what we expect, but we welcome it anyway. When the apostles and Thomas and the pair walking to a Emmaus and Paul, when they saw and welcomed the resurrected Jesus into their lives, he didn't look like what they expected him to look like, but they welcomed him anyway.
Speaker 1 00:09:38 And we do the same. We welcome Jesus and we welcome resurrection into our lives in whatever form Jesus chooses to bring it. When that happens, though we may not know what to make of it.
Speaker 2 00:09:58 <laugh>,
Speaker 1 00:10:00 It may seem like nonsense. We may not believe it when it's happening. We may find ourselves wandering back home wondering what's happening, but we're not alone. Every saint before us, I dare say, has had the same experience because welcoming, resurrected life is hard, especially when we've been trained to expect the dead. But still, we say he has risen. He has risen indeed. The links for all the resources mentioned in today's episode can be found in the show notes, music and podcast production by Seth Bueti. Be sure to give us a review on iTunes and subscribe at your favorite podcast listening app. You can also visit us at. That makes total sense.com.
