Crossroads
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
Two water towers have always served as landmarks for travelers heading for their homes near Wauconda, IL but especially at the holidays. More than 40 years ago, John Kuester, then village police chief, suggested mounting lit large twin crosses on the towers to mark the season. Adopted by the village, the display of crosses along with Christmas lights became a tradition. But in 1989, Robert Sherman, spokesman for American Atheists, Inc., heard about the crosses. Since Wauconda’s crosses were on government property, Sherman saw an alleged violation of church and state. He delivered an ultimatum: remove the crosses from the water towers or meet in court. Several town hall meetings followed but ultimately the decision was forced by economics. Realizing a similar case had lost in court, the residents of Wauconda opted not to burden themselves with 100’s of 1000’s of dollars in court costs. But then a group of residents had the final say. Rosemary Buschick and her husband Chuck, went to the back room of their shop across from the Town Hall and constructed a window-sized cross with lights to display the next day. Will Shumaker, whose home appliance store is also on Main Street, also put up a cross. Within weeks, crosses were appearing on houses everywhere--attached to antennas, stuck in yards, beaming from trees, shining in windows." Two crosses had been replaced by 100’s.
The cross. It always brings us to a crossroad. A crossroad is where you have to decide to go one way or the other. As difficult as it might have been, a choice has to be made and whatever commitment you make today determines your life tomorrow. In Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken, the last line says, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” We all face crossroads but the most important crossroad you’ll ever have in your life is the decision that the resurrection was true. At that point, you don’t just believe it’s true, you commit all of you, everything you have, to this Jesus path. That can come with great sacrifices. Dale Pilgrim tells of when he was 19, he was in a relationship to a woman named Patty who meant a lot to him. He had been accepted to enter training to become a Salvation Army officer. But a week from leaving for St. John's Newfoundland, he wasn't packed, either physically or spiritually. One night when he came home in the late hours past midnight, he was surprised to see his parents sitting in the family room waiting for him. His Dad challenged him as he stood in the middle of the room to decide -- the relationship with 'Patty' or the road to serving Jesus through the Salvation Army. As they went off to bed, his dad turned and said, “Decide before you turn in!” There he sat, alone and in the dark, at a crossroads. And then he writes, “That night I decided to end the relationship with Patty. The next day, with broken heart and on my knees, my mom and dad flanked me in prayer on either side, and I surrendered to God.”
Whether you are a believer or someone for whom the jury is still out on the resurrection, the cross always brings us to a crossroad. The decision we make will not only make all the difference in this life but also in the life to come. Now if the resurrection is true, then all of us are going to be held accountable for the decision we make. This crossroads decision is not a onetime thing. There are two aspects to this decision. The first is to believe in the resurrection and the second is to live in the power of the resurrection and that means taking up your cross. You can’t live in the resurrection if you don’t first believe in it. And for many, that’s the biggest stumbling block of all. It’s a hard thing to believe because it violates everything we know and have experienced in life and death. How many people have you known who have died and were brought back to life? Miracles like that just don’t happen. Do any of you struggle with that? To believe in the resurrection is almost completely illogical. It violates all the laws of medicine and science.
To make a decision about the resurrection, it’s important to look at all of the facts, information and history about the resurrection. The resurrection is either fact or fiction. It is either history or a hoax. And if it didn’t happen, folks, I got better things to do than work weekends and holidays and risk my life in Haiti. The first evidence of historical fact is the empty tomb. No one has ever been able to produce the body or bones of Jesus Christ. That’s what sets us apart. No world religion claims the resurrection of their leader but one, and that’s Christianity. Here’s what is so amazing. 2600 years later, Mohammed’s body is still there. Every Muslim admits it. Don’t you think the enemies of the new Christian movement would have presented the body if they could to defeat everything the disciples were proclaiming and doing? They couldn’t because he was resurrected.
Second are more than 500 witnesses. Our Scripture today, is a part of a letter written by the apostle Paul to the church of Corinth, somewhere between 53 and 57 A.D., meaning it was written less than 30 years after the resurrection. The letter was widely circulated in Jerusalem, where the resurrection took place. In it Paul reports that more than 500 brothers and sisters witnessed the resurrected Christ, “most of whom are still alive although some have died.” There are no other religions in the world that claim they’ve had an experience of meeting their religious leader after his death, except one, Christianity. Any individual can lie and say, “Jesus appeared to me.” But have you ever seen 20 people try to collaborate on the same lie? Try it with 500, most of who are still alive decades after the resurrection of Jesus.
Third are the personal encounters over the last 2,000 years that people from every culture and ethnic background have had with the resurrected Christ. It’s unique. With no other religious leader or faith do we see this. This is the incontrovertible evidence of the resurrection. Now if the resurrection is a historical fact, if it really happened, then we have to make a decision about the resurrection to believe it or not. And every one of us is going to be held accountable for what we decide. This is the most important decision you ever make.
See, a lot of people have an Easter tradition rather than an Easter faith and there is a difference between the two. An Easter tradition is where you come to Easter services, put on your white hats and gloves, buy some Easter bunny candy, have an Easter egg hunt and then have a crawfish boil or go out to brunch with the family. But Easter faith is something radically different. That’s when you’ve made a commitment to walk the way of the cross. A lot of people have an Easter tradition. That’s when they believe in God and profess Jesus, they may even come to worship regularly but they continue on whatever road they have been on, living the life they have always lived and never taking on the life of Christ. Their life is no different than everybody else’s in the world. This is why survey after survey finds that the unchurched and non-believers can see no difference between the life they live and the lives Christians lead. A lot of people have an Easter tradition, but fewer still have an Easter faith.
If the resurrection is true, we have to turn that Easter tradition into an Easter faith. We all still walk in the same paradox of the man in the crowd who asked Jesus to heal his son when he said, “I believe, help my unbelief.” So many times people say to me, “Pastor, if Jesus would just show himself to me one more time, I would put everything on the line. I’d take off on this Jesus road, no question. Jesus just show yourself to me one more time.” Have any of you asked that of God? The problem is that God does not work that way. Mark 8:11-12 says, “The Pharisees came and…..asked him (Jesus) for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” And so what Jesus is challenging us to do is to continue to trust him on this journey of faith living between the paradox of “I believe” and “our unbelief.” The crossroads of the cross is not only calling you to believe in the resurrection but to begin living in the power of the resurrection.
Klaus Merhl tells the story of a family that tragically lost three of their four children to a deadly, virulent disease just two weeks before Easter. One child was left – a four year old boy. On Easter morning the parents and the remaining child went to church. The mother taught her Sunday School class about the resurrection of Jesus and the father read the Easter story as he led the opening Sunday School devotion. People who knew about their great loss wondered how they could do it. One family of the church was in the car on their way home after church when their 16 year old asked his father, "Dad, that couple must believe everything about the Easter Story, don’t they?" "Of course they believe it," said the father, "all Christians do!" The young man then said, "But not like they do!"
We are called not only to believe in the resurrection but to live in the power of the resurrection. Lloyd Ogilvie says, “The most powerful historical proof of the resurrection is the ‘resurrected’ disciples. Dull, defeated people became fearless, adventuresome leaders. Cowards became courageous; the timid became bold." And the same is true today. The lives we lead are the most powerful evidence of the resurrection. Jesus calls us to pick up our cross, deny ourselves and become a servant of all. This is not only the test of our belief but our faith in the resurrection as Truth. Jesus appeared to Peter after the resurrection and asked, “Do you love me?” three times. Each time Peter answered, “Lord, you know I love you.” Then Jesus says to Peter, “Feed my lambs. Take care of my sheep and feed my sheep.” Now I want you to get this. Following Jesus is not just about attending worship. You get no points for showing up here on Easter. It’s about committing ourselves to his mission in changing the world. You are never closer to experiencing the resurrected Christ in your life than when you’re serving other people. We never truly believe in the resurrection and experience the power of the resurrection until we are serving others in Jesus name. If all you ever do is go to religious meetings and Bible studies (as essential as those are), you will continue to believe in Jesus but not live for Jesus.
For Jesus said, “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?” Jesus responded, “In as much as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you’ve done it unto me.” Jesus didn’t call his people to meetings, he called his people to mission. We are to be his hands and feet in serving the least and the last to change lives and to change the world.
Bishop Dan Solomon who served as our Bishop for 8 years used to go into churches and ask, “Who’s been a member of the church for 30 years? For 40 years? For 50 years” How many of attend worship every Sunday? How many of you are a member of the United Methodist Men? How many of you are a member of the United Methodist Women? How many of you have taken Disciple Bible study? So how many of you would consider yourself a committed follower of the resurrected Christ? They would raise their hands. Then he would ask, “How many of you went on a mission trip in the last year? And no one would raise their hands. Then he would say, You may think you are a committed follower of Jesus but you’re just a peripheral Christian, out on the edge and far from Jesus. Because until you are on mission for Jesus, you are not really following Jesus.
It’s about the cross and resurrection brothers and sisters. And when you’re confronted with that, you’re at a crossroads. Are you going to believe in the resurrection? And are you going to begin to live in the resurrection? The decision is yours. Dr. Joseph Haroutunian, professor at McCormick Theological Seminary, came to America from Armenia. One day a well-meaning friend said to him, "Your name is difficult to pronounce and spell--it could hurt your professional career. Why don’t you change your name to Harwood or Harwell or something like that?" Dr. Haroutunian asked, "What do those names mean?" His friend said, "Well, nothing. They’re just easier to remember." Dr. Haroutunian said, "In Armenia, when my grandfather was baptized, they named him Hartounian which means ’Resurrection.’ I am Joseph Haroutunian and I will be a son of Resurrection all my days." What about you? Are ready to stop just believing in the resurrection and starting living in the power of the resurrection and live like Jesus and be on mission to minister to the least, the last and the lost for the sake of the Gospel and Jesus Christ who died for us but then was resurrected? Amen and Amen.
