An Unshakeable Foundation—Psa.118: 1-2, 14-24; John 20: 1-18
A wise philosopher from amongst the pews imparted some valuable wisdom to me once during a visit. He said, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” Now, I have pondered on that for quite a bit of time. I even diagrammed the sentence to help me out understanding it: the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. Here is how my brain has comprehended that: what is most important is to keep the thing most central to our faith at the forefront of all of our lives and all of our life. Now, he told me that main thing was the grace of Jesus, and here is where we part ways a bit.
Grace is very important. We must all have grace in this life, just as Jesus has shown us grace in our oopsies and ought-ohs. But grace sometimes leaves us just shy of what is truly needed. As hard as it can be to understand, I want to encourage you to believe that the main thing, which we must the main thing, is the hope found in resurrection. Without the risen Christ, none of the rest of this Gospel story makes any sense at all. There is a very mysterious, unknowable, and truly comprehension-defying character to believing in the resurrection of Jesus. But here is where faith must bridge the gap and remind us that sometimes the mystery is just as important as the practical.
One of the first hopes that we talk about in resurrection is the hope to see loved ones again. Now, there are some folks in all of our families, I’m sure, who seeing them in heaven would be more like a haunt than a hope. Or a “haint” as we call them in Appalachia. But for many of us, the pain of loss is soothed by the thought that we will see the ones we miss here when we get to the hereafter. Over 3 billion people in the world believe in resurrection, and that excludes those believing in reincarnation. Even those without faith believe in some form of resurrection otherwise, no one would believe in starting over from life going wrong.
Growing up in a very fundamentalist church, we talked, sang about, and heard sermons often on heaven and being ready for heaven. We would sometimes sing a rowdy version of “Hallelujah, We Shall Rise!” As folks gain age and wisdom, it is this faith in receiving a reward and seeing old friends and loved ones that makes a life of faith make sense. We hold on to passages where Jesus said to the thief on the cross, “Today, you will be with me in paradise,” or tells the hearers that they will see the Son of Man in glory. It reminds us that the struggles we face on Earth are not the final word in the story of humankind. That is truly powerful.
In a world where bombs are more important than food, power is more important than washing feet, and most of humanity is seen as expendable for greed and exploitation, we must hold on to the hope that God has prepared a place of rest and peace for us. We talk a lot about how to follow Jesus, but we must remember that following Jesus is not just something to do. We follow because of hope. We follow a risen Savior, whose love and grace is more powerful than anything we face.
But beyond the hope of seeing departed loved ones, resurrection brings hope that life can change. A friend sent me a devotion about Peter the other day. When all of the crucifixion took place, Peter was timid, hiding, in denial. But soon he was preaching good news to those who needed it with all his might. No longer was he the unhinged one that always jumped too fast into everything. He was faithful leader of God’s mission. In Ancient Egyptian and Greek mythology, they had the phoenix, which symbolized rebirth, renewal, and resurrection.
One of the reasons we try to be supportive of our AA here at First Christian and the Rescue Mission is because we believe in the power of starting over. Resurrection is theological, but in many ways, it is also simply a daily part of life. An addict can seek a resurrection from a life of struggle. An unhoused person can find hope in help and love to start over and begin anew. Someone coming out of a traumatic and toxic relationship feels like they have been resurrected from the misery they were in. The question for us is this: do we, as God’s faithful, believe and work in the hope of resurrection? Glenn Cunningham was badly burned in an accidental fire when he was 8 years old. The doctors advised that he would never walk again.
He had an incredible determination and a strong faith that God would give him the strength. Two years after the accident he began to walk again. From 1919 to 1936 he worked tirelessly on regaining strength and ability believing that God would be with him. In 1936 he placed silver in the Olympics in the 1,500 meter race, and set a record for running a mile in just over 4 minutes. Do we believe in the power of resurrection in our lives, just like Glenn Cunningham believed it in his life? This is the foundation of our faith, that out of any trial or tragedy, God can give us the strength to find our way again, to be resurrected from the trials in life.
Finally, we must have hope in the power of God’s love. The Psalm for today reminds us that God’s faithful love endures forever. It was Jesus’s love for us that brought him to the cross and led him out of the tomb. Resurrection works because it is supported by love. I’m working on a particularly difficult case in my law job right now. It was a person with significant disabilities who was adopted in the hopes of finding a family that would love her and care for her. Instead, she found the opposite: no love, no kindness. All they offered her was cruelty for her tragically short life.
But faith tells me, and I have to believe, that even if humanity failed her, God loved her. Even as we recall the abject cruelty of Good Friday, we must remember that the end result was love and hope for us. When we look around the world we see a tremendous amount of hate and animosity. A friend of mine posted something on social media which said, “If you believe Jesus teaches you to hate someone, you need to read the Gospel again.” Jesus brought the hope of resurrection to all—that is rebirth in this life from our trials and troubles, and resurrection hope when our life here is done. That is the foundation of our faith—this idea that whatever happens in this world is not the final answer because God’s love has overcome the troubles and trials and shortcomings which are inevitable in human life. Hope, renewal, and love mark the reality of Jesus’s work, not death, suffering, and the tomb.
The foundation on which we build is important. For us as followers of Jesus, that foundation is the hope found in resurrection. A friend of mine was renting a house several years ago. It was a newer house built on a hill. But he soon noticed something. The walls had large cracks in them. When a ball hit the floor, it rolled quickly to one side. Plumbing issues developed. Bows and buckles began appearing in the hardwood flooring along with bumps in the carpet.
The landlord and my friend called in an expert. He pulled up the flooring and found that the concrete slab on which the house was built was crumbling. In some instances, it had 2-foot-wide cracks in it. The builder had used bad and inadequate concrete, and they had never installed rebar at all to support it. There was nothing to be done. The house had to be torn down and a new foundation laid. My friends, be sure that you are building on a strong foundation of faith. At Easter we celebrate hope hereafter, hope to overcome in this life, and hope in the love that sustains us through.
As we journey in life, remember that in every Good Friday, an Easter is waiting. In every trial and tragedy, there is hope if we have an unshakeable foundation. That requires us to keep our sights set on what is most important—our faith in God. So, this Easter, remember the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
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