One for All and All for One
Acts 10:34-43 & Colossians 3:1-4
Easter 2008
Several years ago, a Christian research and study group posed a series of questions to random people on the street. One of the questions asked was “What is Easter?” The answers ranged from “Easter is Jesus’ birthday” to “Easter is the day Jesus died on the cross” to “Easter is the celebration of the coming of spring”.
Increasingly, Easter, like Christmas, is celebrated by the general population as a cultural holiday, but not necessarily as a religious HOLY day. Many children and adults know Easter to be the day of chocolate bunnies and egg hunts, a time for new clothes, a time for classic movies to run on TV, and a time for family get-togethers. For too many people Easter has become a secular celebration with the religious and true meaning of day lost to the worldly powers of commercialism.
So today, I invite you for the next several minutes to join with me in reflecting upon the importance of this day to our faith and to the history and future of the world. Without the miracle of Easter, there would be no Christian faith. Without the miracle of the empty tomb and the resurrection of the Savior - Jesus of Nazareth would be just another prophet, just another teacher, just another “man of God” but not God the man.
So, “What is Easter?” Easter is the foundation of our faith. Easter is the fulfillment of Christ’s promises. Easter is the most important day in all of history! Easter is the witness of life defeating the power of death. Easter is our reason to hope and have faith in the promises of Christ Jesus our Lord. Easter is the celebration of life for all the world.
In Alexander Dumas’ novel The Three Musketeers, Athos, Porthos and Aramis live by the motto “One for all and all for one.” Since the publishing of the novel, this motto has been picked up by many other organizations and is also the unofficial motto of Switzerland. The reason “all for one and one for all” is so appealing to many groups is that in seven words, a mutual commitment is communicated. As members of the group pledge this motto they are pledging support to individual members and also to the whole group and vice versa.
By using this motto of mutual commitment as today’s sermon title, I want us to consider the Easter relationship between Christ, the One, who died for all of us, and our shared responsibility as the children of God to live as people wholly devoted to Christ – all of us living for the glory of Him.
Let us first consider the “One for all” part of our Easter relationship. What does it mean for Christ to have died for all of us?
Perhaps one of the oldest debates of our faith is “who is in and who is out.” Even while Christ was still alive, the disciples would argue among themselves about who were the heirs to the promises and teachings of Christ. Most of the time the disciples saw Christ as the Redeemer of the Chosen people – the Jews; therefore, they would be disturbed when Jesus stopped to speak with Samaritans, or used foreigners as the righteous examples in his teachings. This idea of exclusivity followed the disciples even after Christ’s death and resurrection. Immediately preceding our reading today from Acts 10, a non-Jew, a commander in the foreign army, named Cornelius (who is described in the scriptures as devout and God-fearing, even though he is not a Jew) sees a vision of an angel of God. In this vision he is told to send for Simon Peter. The next day, Peter (who lives by strict Jewish dietary laws) has a vision where he is encouraged to eat even “unclean” animals – as the voice of the Lord says, Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. (10:15) While Peter wonders about this vision, Cornelius’ men come to him. And Peter is convinced to travel with them to Cornelius’ house and hears Cornelius’ tell of his faith and the vision of God…
Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts [people – men, women and children] from every nation who fear him and do what is right.’ If this is not a clear communication of “One for All”, then I don’t know what is!! God does not show favoritism. Christ’s death and resurrection was not just for a few – it was for the redemption of the world! Peter goes on to say in today’s reading from Acts: “All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Everyone who believes. Everyone who does what is right. Everyone – regardless of race, age, gender, ethnicity – everyone can be the heir of Christ’s gift of redemption.
This concept is communicated in other places in the scriptures, also. One of my favorite passages of scripture is from the third chapter of Paul’s letter to the Galatians: You are all [children] of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
One Christ died for all! One Christ, now and forever. One Christ who was, who is and who will come again! Easter is the outpouring of God’s grace upon the world. Easter is the enactment of John 3:16 – for God so loved the world – the WHOLE world. Not just the Jews. Not just those few who remained faithful to Christ at the time of his death. Not just the common people nor the temple leaders. Christ is the ONE for ALL of us.
Through his death and resurrection, the powers of sin and death were defeated – not just for some, but for all! Christ died and rose for each of us here this morning, regardless of who we are or what we’ve done. Regardless of our individual sins, Christ’s victory through the cross is our victory. Christ’s resurrection on that first Easter morning is our sure and certain hope that on the day of Christ’s return we will also be resurrected with him.
And yet, within the Christian community, there is STILL much debate about who is “in” and who is “out”. Perhaps we all need a conversion like Peter’s. A conversion that reminds us to “not call anything impure that God has made clean.” A conversion that can catapult us into a ministry of unity to bring Christ’s gospel message to the world.
Which leads us to the second half of today’s sermon title: Christ is the One for all, now we must be all for One.
Easter should be the day above all others that we lay aside our differences of worship styles and theologies and band together as the family of God with a message to proclaim to the world. As Paul writes to the Colossians: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
The message of the empty tomb is so powerful, that we need to proclaim it! We need to share this good news with all people. The church universal needs to work together to create an environment of welcome and acceptance where all people, regardless of their sins can come and find the grace of Christ. For that is what Easter is all about – God’s grace for all people. And yet there is something in each of us that wants to become a guard or a gatekeeper. There is a sinfulness in each of us that wants to keep the Christian faith as an exclusive club for people who think, look and act “like me”. But that is NOT the message of the tomb. Christ died for all. Christ was raised for all.
And we are to proclaim the message to all.
The women in Matthew’s account of the first Easter morning hurried away from the tomb, AFRAID and yet filled with JOY, and ran to tell his disciples. Afraid and yet filled with joy. It was the joy of the message they were about to share that overcame the fear of what they had witnessed. Do you have enough joy in the message you have to share about Christ that you can overcome the fear of sharing it? Is your joy so complete that you do not fear the threat of people who are different from you in thought and deed? Are you so filled with the joy of the resurrection that you can lay aside selfish ambitions and unite with the family of God to proclaim to the WHOLE WORLD that Christ died, but is alive?
Sharing the joy of the resurrection with the whole world for the glory of Christ can be a scary idea. Inviting everyone into the family of God may fill us with fear. Acknowledging that God’s grace is sufficient for your sins and is likewise sufficient for the sins of others can challenge our thinking and our judgmental attitudes. The thought of the kaleidoscope of people gathered at the table of God might anger us – just as Christ’s ministry to outcasts often angered the disciples.
But the truth remains: Christ was born as the hope for the whole world. Christ lived as a human knowing the hurts and joys, pains and sorrows of a man for the benefit of the world. Christ stretched out his arms and died upon the cross carrying with him the sins of all humanity. And this day, this Easter morning, Christ rose, conquering the power of death that all may live and have life.
Jesus the Christ - One Lord, One Messiah – born, lived, died and lives again. This is the joyful good news of the Christian faith. Through his resurrection is the promise of life for all eternity, the assurance of mercy and grace for the whole world, and the sure and certain hope of redemption for all who believe.
All believers are heirs of this promise and called to be joyful witnesses throughout the world.
One for all, and all for One. Now and forever more. Amen.
