Doubting Resurrection - A Sermon for 3rd Sunday of Easter April 14 2024

GOSPEL: Luke 24:36b-48

The holy gospel according to Luke.

Glory to you, O Lord.

In this account of an appearance after his resurrection, Jesus opens the minds of the disciples to understand him as Messiah. Jesus convinces them that he has been raised and sends them on a mission to proclaim the message of repentance and forgiveness.

36bJesus himself stood among [the disciples] and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43and he took it and ate in their presence.

 44Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things.”

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

When is the last time you witnessed a heresy trial?

I've never seen one.

I’ve been called a heretic before,

and I take the compliment,

but I haven’t faced any consequences.

Our culture doesn’t worry too much

about heresy any more.

We no longer burn heretics at the stake:

thanks be to God.

It is even rare that a heretic

is excommunicated from the church.

And with so many different Christian denominations,

one denomination’s heresy

is another denomination’s statement of faith.

If you don’t agree with one denomination’s beliefs,

then you can probably find another denomination

that you do agree with.

What is more and more culturally acceptable,

however, is to simply leave the church

when you don’t agree with its beliefs.

Heresy is a thing of the past.

It seems to me that more and more people

simply find what the church believes

to be unbelievable:

nothing more than ancient myth.

This shouldn’t be a surprise.

Christian institutions have historically used their faith

to appropriate war,

slavery,

imperial conquest,

oppression of women,

mistreatment of LGBTQ2SIA+ people,

it is natural for people to take the leap of understanding

that the rest of the church’s beliefs

must be merely misguided myth as well.

This time of year,

I hear plenty of conversation about proving

the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Year by year, I hear more and more doubting

that Jesus rose.

More and more,

I hear that the resurrection of Jesus is simply

unbelievable.

This is okay.

If I’m honest with myself,

I have my doubts too.

I’m sure many of you too have your doubts

when it comes to the things of God.

That’s one reason we come to church

or study theology

or consider alternate viewpoints

or read and respond to the comments section.

We want certainty,

especially when it comes to the things of God.

The opposite of faith is not doubt.

The opposite of faith is certainty.

I don't need faith that I am wearing shoes.

I can feel them,

I can see them.

I can smell them,

though I really don’t want to….

But I don’t need faith that I have shoes on my feet,

I know with certainty that there are shoes on my feet.

You do not need to believe in

that which you are already certain of.

When it comes to the things of God,

we are not given the gift of certainty.

We are given the gift of faith

that believes in God and God’s work

even with remnants of doubt.

When it comes to us and our journey of faith,

if belief or faith is the right foot,

then doubt is the left foot.

They always walk together.

Sometimes we walk limp;

leaning a little heavier on one foot

as opposed to the other.

Don’t be too hard on yourself

when you doubt the things of God.

You have doubts.

That’s okay.

Have faith, also.

In a time of doubt,

in a time of increased skepticism of the church

and even the Christian faith,

there are some things that we can be certain of.

I’d like to take this opportunity to offer you

some certainty.

Jesus lived.

There is no legitimate questioning of this.

There is an abundance of reliable writing about Jesus,

both religious and secular.

You don’t need to believe that Jesus lived.

You can be certain of it.

Second, the bible is reliable.

There are many reliable ancient manuscripts

from the New Testament,

as old as the second century.

What we read today is an English

translation and interpretation

that relies heavily upon the most reliable

ancient sources,

which are copies of the original texts.

There is further witness to the biblical text

in the writings of the earliest Christians.

Evidence for the accuracy of the biblical text

is greater than the evidence of accuracy

of any other ancient authors.

The New Testament is reliable because

it was written by people who witnessed Jesus.

The Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke;

stories about Jesus,

and the letters of Paul,

and the stories of the apostles in Acts

were written, at the latest,

3 decades after Jesus’ death.

But all written by witnesses,

each witness with their own details of recollection.

You don’t need to believe in the bible.

You can trust that its historical witness

of Jesus of Nazareth is accurate.

Now for the big question;

did Jesus actually rise from the dead?

In a word, yes.

Skeptics are sceptical of the resurrection,

and I get it.

I wonder about it,

and doubt it myself sometimes.

The gospels tell us that witnesses found the tomb empty.

Why was the tomb empty?

well, there are 4 logical possibilities.

First option, the Romans stole the body.

This is very unlikely

as the Romans wanted to keep the peace

and squash this Jesus movement.

Second option, the Jewish authorities stole the body.

Again, this is very unlikely

because the Jewish authorities would want

no possible indication

that Jesus rose from the dead.

Third option, the disciples stole the body.

This, on the surface might seem plausible,

but many of them were killed

because of their witness of the resurrected

Jesus Christ.

This leaves us the fourth logical,

yet unbelievable option:

The tomb is empty

because Jesus actually rose from the dead.

Undeniably, many people made the claim

that they encountered the risen Jesus.

Mary Magdalene and the other women

were the first to see the risen Christ.

They told the disciples that they had seen the Lord,

and the disciples wrote it off as an idle tale.

So they went to see the empty tomb for themselves.

Then the risen Jesus came to disciples.

Then to Thomas, the doubter.

The risen Jesus appeared on the road to Emmaus.

The risen Jesus appeared to the apostle Paul,

and to more than 500 others.

Still, some say it is an elaborate hoax.

Merely misguided myth.

Yet Christian, agnostic and atheist historians agree

that there is, however

no denying that many people believed

to have encountered the risen Christ.

Many of these witnesses were then martyred - killed -

for proclaiming that Jesus of Nazareth,

killed on a Roman cross,

was raised from the dead.

Would you die for some kind of elaborate conspiracy? 

Would you die for a lie?

Would you die for a merely misguided myth?

I wouldn’t.

Here’s what I’m getting at:

you do not need to be able

to academically prove the resurrection.

Resurrection isn’t about proof,

it is about faith.

You cannot prove the resurrection,

But you can trust the witnesses of the resurrection.

Along with your doubts,

you can believe that Christ is risen.

I confess to you that I have my doubts.

I just preached resurrection apologetics 101,

and still, I have my doubts.

But I do believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Help me, Lord, with my unbelief.

I believe in the resurrection because so many witnessed it

and so many were willing to die

just to witness to its truth.

I believe because I am surrounded by a church,

a family in Christ,

that has faith for me when I do not.

I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ

because I see resurrection happening still today.

I believe because I still witness the Jesus movement:

I have seen people’s lives turned around

by God’s grace.

I have seen people given second chances

in ways they never could have earned.

I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ

because I’ve witnessed God showing up

in the most unlikely of places.

Most of all,

I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ

because I’ve seen God show up in me.

I am a witness of the resurrection. 

So are you.

So with confidence of faith,

may we believe and declare:

Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!

Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!

Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!