RESURRECTION’S RE-CREATION
John 20:1-9; 19-23
Big Idea: Resurrection changes how the church understands life and purpose.
NOTE: This service concluded with baptisms.
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
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19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
INTRO
Christ has risen! {He has risen indeed}
And the resurrection changes … {EVERYTHING!}
I just love reading the resurrection stories in the Gospels. Every time I do my faith is reaffirmed and I glean new insights.
Last year I began to discover some interesting elements to the resurrection story that I am that still, one year later, “unpacking.” John’s resurrection account is particularly intriguing to me. He seems to be doing something very interesting in these narratives. It centers on his use of the days of the week. As you probably know, he chronicles the Sunday through Sunday of Palm Sunday to Easter; in fact, chapter 12 onward focuses on the final week of Jesus’ life. I see some connections between this history-changing week and the creation story of Genesis. I think it becomes more obvious as we approach Friday.
Allow me to try & explain.
FRIDAY:
In Genesis, after five full days of creation, God declares His work finished (Genesis 2:1-2) and rests on Saturday. Saturday is declared as “Sabbath;” day of rest. It is to assumed that life and work begin anew for his creation (us) on Sunday – the first day of the week.
In 33 A.D., Jesus, God in flesh, experiences five full days of activity that, also work towards a crescendo. This crescendo plays out in the crucifixion – where God’s Son says “it is finished.” This means, among other things, that the work of atonement and the mission of Jesus have found fulfillment, accomplishment, completion. “Finished” was what you wrote on a bill when it had been settled: ‘Paid’ in full!
Just as God the creator completed his work on the sixth day, Jesus completes the work of redeeming the world on day six of John’s Gospel account. With his shameful, chaotic, horrible death he has gone to the very bottom, to the darkest and deepest place of ruin, and has planted there a sign that says “Rescued.”
Day 6 … Friday … Good Friday is the point at which God comes into our chaos, to be there with us in the middle of it and to bring us his new creation.
SATURDAY:
Genesis’ creation story tells us of God’s rest on day seven without any detail of any kind. We are not told what happens on day seven by John either; all we are told is that Jesus is in the grave. The day looms with heaviness stillness and silence … but the pain remains. In the Gospel record, Holy Saturday brings sorrow, stillness, and an absence of activity. It is known in many Christian circles are “Silent Saturday.”
Holy Saturday is a Sabbath of sorts from the completion of redemption’s task. It serves as a pause for us to ponder the implication of God’s act and death.
A poem has been written that describes the mission of “Silent Saturday”:
On the seventh day God rested in the darkness of the tomb
Having finished on the sixth day all his work of joy and doom.
Now the word had fallen silent, and the water had run dry
The bread had been broken, and the light had left the sky
The flock had lost its shepherd, and the seed was sadly sown
The courtiers had betrayed their king, and nailed him to his throne.
O Sabbath rest by Calvary, o calm of tomb below
Where the grave-clothes and the spices cradle him we did not know!
Rest you well, beloved Jesus: Caesar’s Lord and Israel’s king
In the brooding of the Spirit, in the darkness of the spring.
(By N.T. Wright)
SUNDAY:
Sunday is a flurry of activity isn’t it? It starts early and goes late into the day. It begins with discoveries and mission. And as each character learns their new part in the mission it grows and grows until we come to “The Great Commission” of 20:21; “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
I) THE RESURRECTION BRINGS NEW CREATION!
My suggestion is that, just as the first creation story assumes week two sees God’s creation busy about His work, so in on Resurrection Sunday we see those who are new and renewed in Christ busy about His work.
• Friday … the work is finished.
• Saturday … a Sabbath of waiting.
• Sunday comes. A new day … a new week where those affected by the new creation begin their tasks of serving and glorifying their “Creator.”.
I think there is even a similarity in the work to be done. I think the commission of God’s creatures in Genesis 1:28 is intended to show how man’s task of “being fruitful, multiplying, etc is a reflection of God’s image; so the “New Creation’s” task is a reflection of Jesus. Again, 20:21 helps us “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
Sunday, Easter Sunday, is not the end but the beginning. Often Easter seems like the end of the story but it is actually the beginning not the end!
On Easter we celebrate the first day of God’s new creation. Because, you see, that’s what it’s all about. The gospels don’t really reach a conclusion. They point to something more that’s still to come.
We misunderstand Easter if we think it is a day of the year. No – Easter is about a new life that has a clear starting point and moves forward to fulfillment in eternity.
The resurrection changes everything!
Have you ever given much thought to John 20:21-23? Listen to them again.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Could Jesus breathing on the disciples be an intended flash-back to the creation story? Do you remember reading Genesis 2:7? “The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
It’s happening again! Through His Spirit, God is reclaiming that which was dead and giving it new life. Jesus’ breath is illustrative of being “born again” by His Spirit. God breathes into human nostrils his own breath, and we become living stewards, looking after “the garden,” shaping God’s world as his obedient image-bearers. That’s exciting … that’s “Good News!!!!”
I have a responsive reading from 2 Corinthians 5 that I would like us to say together. In this passage Paul reflects on the power that the resurrection has to make us into new creations.
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Resurrection Brings New Creation
2 Corinthians 5:17-19
Leader: For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
People: And he died for all,
Leader: That those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
People: So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.
Leader: Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
People: If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Leader: All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ
People: And gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
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I) The Resurrection Brings New Creation
II) THE RESURRECTION BRINGS NEW BEGINNINGS
The resurrection not only promises to make you a new creation; it also promises to give you a new start … a New Beginning.
• The penalty of sin has be paid
• The power of sin has been broken
• The pain of sin has been healed
• The stain of sin has been washed away!
Our relationship with God has been restored. We have been reconciled (made friends again) with God. And it was done only in and through the new and finished work of Jesus Christ.
This new beginning affords us the opportunity to live – to really live! It changes how we respond to God, to his world, to ourselves, and to other people. It is only through resurrection living that we can indeed love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves.
I have a responsive reading from Romans 6 that I would like us to say together. In this passage Paul reflects on the power that the resurrection has to help us live differently.
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Responsive Reading – Victory through the Resurrection
Romans 6:1-13 {portions}
Leader: What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
People: By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Leader: Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
People: We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
Leader: If we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
People: For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
Leader: In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness
People: Rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life.
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I) The Resurrection Brings New Creation
II) The Resurrection Brings New Beginnings
WRAP-UP:
III) THE RESURRECTION BRINGS NEW OPPORTUNITIES
As you see now, the resurrection isn’t the end of the story; it’s the beginning! And that is why Easter is the start of the church’s mission.
My father-in-law has an old 1953 Chevy pickup that he has over the years restored to immaculate condition. When he bought the truck it was rusted, without an engine, painted gold of all colors, and it had been robbed of parts to put on other trucks.
After a few years this truck looked awesome! Inside and out. Under the hood and in the bed. You would have never known it was the same old rusty truck that he saw on the side of the road years earlier.
Similarly God’s salvation is a “restoration” project. He is restoring us to our “original intent.” God’s redemption is restoring that which is fallen; that which is broken by sin. God’s design is a “return to Eden” if you please. And part of that includes us being tasked with the tasks similar to what we were given on creation’s “first day of the week.”
Genesis 1:26-28 says, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image … So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
The resurrection gives us the opportunity, once again, to live on earth as God intended His people to live; in harmony, in service, in love, and in community.
Have you ever wondered about what Jesus said to His disciples while he was breathing on them (John 20:22-23)? He said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” I think he is reinforcing the new opportunities of service that come with resurrection.
N.T. Wright writes about the new opportunities the resurrection brings in his book “Jesus and the Victory of God.” He says (with some paraphrasing for context):
Our task, as … God-loving, Christ-shaped, Spirit-filled Christians, following Christ and shaping our world, is to announce redemption to the world that has discovered its fallenness, to announce healing to the world that has discovered its brokenness, to proclaim love and trust to the world that knows only exploitation, fear and suspicion.
As with Jesus’ kingdom-announcement, this task will involve retaining sins as well as forgiving them. It will involve declaring that those who persist in … destructive ways of going about their human tasks and goals are calling down destruction on themselves and their world.
But if we are to be kingdom-announcers, modeling the new way of being human, we are also to be cross-bearers. This is a strange and dark theme that is also our birthright as followers of Jesus. It is a matter of sharing and bearing the pain and puzzlement of the world so that the crucified love of God in Christ may be brought to bear healingly upon the world at exactly that point. Because Jesus bore the cross uniquely for us, we do not have to purchase forgiveness again; it’s been done. But because, as he himself said, following him involves taking up the cross, we should expect … to find the cross etched into the pattern of our life and work over and over again.
New creation – new beginnings – new opportunities.
As this becomes a reality in us as individuals and as a church it will show itself by its fruit; others will also experience new creation – new beginnings – new opportunities.
And one indication of that happening is our Easter Sunday baptisms.
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** This sermon’s central idea can be more fully explored in many of the writings of N.T. Wright.
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene, Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
