Easter—what is it actually about?

According to the Head of the Churches of Christ in Australia:

“Our greatest pitfall is that every one of us is born into sin…This inevitably imperils our future beyond death”.

At Easter, then, “we are afforded a choice, as to how we will live and where we will ultimately reside”.

Similarly, according to the National Director of Australian Baptist Ministries:

“You are the reason he became a man, suffered, and died on a cross…

This Easter, I invite you to explore what Jesus finished and how it can be the start of something that will change your life for ever”.

Somewhat more subtly, according to the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne:

“Death—personally and existentially—is not the end…Descent into conflict and hatred is not inevitable. Peace, healing, mercy, and forgiveness are possible and doable”.

And, according to the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, 

“In a world where we can feel as if we don’t count for anything, in God’s eyes we all count…The death of Jesus and his resurrection is an invitation for us to receive that as a personal gift”.

 

Me… me… me!

Some are more blatant about it…

and some are more subtle…

but, in the end, that’s what they’re all really saying, isn’t it?

The resurrection of Jesus—

the whole point of the Easter story—

is all about me.

It simply exists to pander to my needs and to placate my fears.

Now, I don’t wish to pick on these church leaders unduly because they’re not alone in that.

Down the ages, that’s what so many of us have heard.

That’s how the central and fundamental message of Christianity has been— 

and continues to be—

portrayed.

It’s all about an individual, personal relationship with Jesus.

It’s all about what makes me feel good…

what helps me to experience ‘abundant’ life.

It’s all about reassuring me that I am saved…

that I am going to heaven…

that I am destined for eternal life—

even if everyone else isn’t.

 

But, in the end, is that what Easter—

is that what the resurrection of Jesus—

is actually about?

 

According to the theologian, Benjamin Meyers…

the resurrection represents, fundamentally…

God’s commitment to the reconciliation of the world—

the whole world.

As such, he argues, it can never be “a private matter”…

nor can it be “primarily concerned with ‘spiritual’ salvation”.

Rather, resurrection “changes what is possible for all human lives”.

The resurrection—

the whole Easter event—

is not primarily, or even essentially, about me as an individual.

It’s about us as a community—

as a global community…

as a community that is the object of God’s love and the recipient of God’s grace.

The resurrection—

the whole Easter event—

is primarily communal and corporate.

According to the New Testament scholar—

Scott Spencer—

“For the early church depicted in Acts, the resurrection of Christ is less a creedal article of individual faith and hope than a creative force of community formation and fellowship”.

I think he’s dead right.

And I think that that’s precisely what we see in our reading this morning from the book of Acts.

According to the author of Acts…

the resurrection had a profound impact on the earliest followers of Jesus.

The author wants us to believe that they were transformed because of their experience of the risen Christ.

Those who had timidly denied him or cowardly deserted him—

those who had huddled together… 

because of their fear of the authorities who had put Jesus to death—

suddenly became bold and courageous.

Their whole way of life changed.

The author points out that their boldness was seen in their willingness to speak—

even in the face of threats and physical danger—

and to proclaim that new and abundant life was possible through Jesus Christ.

And yet, that’s not really the most surprising part of the transformation.

Rather, according to the author of Acts…

it’s the nature of their communal life that was most remarkable.

Their experience of the risen Christ shaped their communal life—

not just in their gathering together for worship…

for prayer…

for celebrating the Lord’s Supper…

and for studying the scriptures.

In many respects, none of that was particularly significant.

Rather more remarkable was the author’s claim that they performed many signs and wonders—

and that people were healed through their ministry.

Symbolically, he was claiming that they were continuing the ministry of Jesus.

But, even more remarkably—

and as counter-cultural then as it would be today—

he claims that there was not a needy person within the faith community…

because they shared what they had so that no one went without.

Their experience of the risen Christ produced an extraordinary transformation in their attitudes…

their attachments…

and their allegiances:

they treated as family those who were not-family;

they made Christ known in the way that they spoke and lived and acted—

becoming a channel of God’s healing, liberating love;

they dared to proclaim that God’s love was at work in the world through them;

they were willing to suffer for doing what was right…

standing up to the authorities and defying the powers-that-be…

when their policies hindered the liberating work of God in the world—

even though the authorities and powers-that-be expected religion to be quiet… 

and to maintain the status quo.

According to the author of Acts, the resurrection totally transformed the first Christians.

Or, to put it another way, their transformed communal life was a testimony to their experience of resurrection.

Therefore…

experiencing the presence of the risen Christ ought to be transformative.

It ought to energise his followers to continue the work that Jesus began:

fighting for justice…

healing the sick…

feeding the hungry…

providing for the needy…

making the broken whole…

lifting up the downtrodden…

welcoming the outcast…

speaking out for those unable to speak…

denouncing policies and practices that marginalise and dehumanise…

and being willing to put themselves on the line.

Those are the fruits—

or the characteristics—

of a community that has experienced resurrection.

 

According to the author of Acts…

resurrection is not a doctrine that needs to be proclaimed and defended.

Nor is it one that needs to be ascribed to or creedally affirmed.

It’s certainly not a personal commodity.

Nor is it primarily concerned with an individualised, spiritualised, post-mortem salvation.

Resurrection is an experience that is to be lived—

here and now—

and it is an experience to be lived communally and corporately.

Perhaps the theologian, Peter Rollins puts it best:

“I fully and completely admit that I deny the resurrection of Christ…

I deny the resurrection of Christ every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed, every day that I turn my back on the poor; I deny the resurrection of Christ when I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden and lend my support to an unjust and corrupt system”.

To believe in the resurrection of Christ—

to experience and to know the resurrected Christ—

means being a community shaped by the resurrection of Christ.

It means being a community that lives resurrection.

It means being a community that is Christ for the world…

and that invites the world into newness of life.