In 1976 the news story of the year was the death of China’s leader Mao Zedong. In the Montreal, Olympics that year fourteen year old and 86 pound Nadia Comaneci of Romania scored seven perfect 10’s. Then there was a major uprising in Soweto, South Africa, when police fired on a peaceful march of some 10,000 black school children.
1976 was also the year one of the all-time Cinderella stories in the movie world unfolded. Sylvester Stallone had written a semi-biographical screen play in three and a half days. Then a hack director shot it in 28 days for less than a million dollars. But it ended up winning three Oscars including Best Picture!
Four sequels may have distracted some from the greatness and dignity of the original Rocky. That’s Rocky as in Rocky Balboa, a nobody fighter who lives in a roach infested apartment and barely makes enough money to support himself.
Three Sundays ago I told you that the movies people love feature a good story line that’s built on a conflict of some sort. The conflict in this boxing film is obvious. The world champion Apollo Creed decides he wants to put on a Fourth of July exhibition. So he’ll let a ranked amateur get in the ring with him just for the show. Looking at a list of locals, he picks one nicknamed “The Italian Stallion”. “That’s perfect” says Creed because, “An Italian found America.” If he boxes an Italian-American on the Fourth of July he figures it will be symbolic and will also make him look good as the champion.
Rocky, of course, doesn’t know it’s just for show and he starts to train hard. He’s pushed by his feisty trainer played by Burgess Meredith. You no doubt remember the famous scene where Rocky, during his training, runs up the long flight of outside steps while the music plays “Gonna Fly Now.” It’s become one of filmmaking’s magic moments.
Two Sundays back I said that the movies we love reveal character development. The audience wants to identify with the main character. The film can’t be just all action. One reviewer writes about Rocky that we don’t just look at this guy, we look INTO him. In your memory you can watch innocent Rocky start to come alive not only as a boxer but as a person with his own dreams. That, of course, opens up the romantic relationship with Adrian (played by Talia Shire), an incredibly shy woman who works at a nearby pet store. Another reviewer comments, “It’s the story of a simple guy who gets a chance to do something amazing and he gives it all he’s got.” And who hasn’t gone through that at one time or another?
Last Sunday I pointed out that the movies people love often present us with bigger-than-life heroes. Need I say more? The advertising slogan for this movie was “His whole life was a ‘million-to-one-shot!’” And movie goers everywhere cheered this cinema hero.
Let me add one more element this Sunday to what marks movies people love. They resolve satisfactorily. The audience watches intently to see how a given conflict will end. They may not like the resolution, but they’ll be even more frustrated if there is no resolution.
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This is the last Sunday I’ll encourage you to see the new movie The Gospel of John. Many from our congregation have already gone—some several times. So I’m not the only person enthusiastic about it. Ask around. You’ll see! But do go. For showing dates and locations go to www.gospelofjohnthefilm.com.
This film is not like so many that have been made about the life of Jesus. It doesn’t end with the cross. It’s hard to imagine someone who truly is the Son of God and all that implies, being put to a horrible death and his story just ending there.
If Calvary was the climax, why did John record Jesus saying to his disciples in chapter 16
20I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22So with you. Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.
Why include the prayer of our Lord in John 17 where Jesus says to his father
I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
Why detail in chapter 19 how the events related to the cross fulfilled the Old Testament prophetic scriptures if the enemy won the day? Just leave out, “These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken,’ and, as another scripture says, ‘They will look on the one they have pierced.’” Because what difference does it make?
After his body is taken down from the cross why report in chapter 19 verse 41, “At the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden.” Gardens are places of living things. They’re happy places, beautiful places. Don’t set us up if life has been ultimately defeated by death.
The truth is, John can hardly wait to move his reader along. He knows that his Lord’s greatest miracle is yet to happen. Cut out John chapters 20 and 21 and it’s like a referee foolishly stopping the flight of the century right before the champion makes his dramatic comeback. But this flight can’t be stopped!
Why do Christians love John’s gospel—and this new movie that follows what the apostle wrote word-for-word? The answer is that it resolves satisfactorily!
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Whether they win or lose, most boxers take a real beating in the ring. Regardless of Mohammed Ali’s claim that his face remained beautiful, this is hardly a sport that leaves its participant’s unmarked.
In time, however, fighters recover. They forget how terribly sore they were after their last bout. Usually they’re in need of money (even if they’ve made millions like Mike Tyson), so they start getting ready to take on the next opponent. Unless, of course, they die of their wounds.
It happens. Sometimes boxers are not only knocked out, they take such a beating and are hit so hard they actually are killed. Yes, this is rare! It’s the reason a referee steps in and stops a fight if it looks like someone is in danger of being seriously injured.
Dead fighters make it into the papers the next day, but the truth is they’re rather quickly forgotten. In all the Rocky films Balboa always looks like he’s going to die. But if that happened the sequels would have to stop. So it’s not something a home viewer needs to worry about if all five Rocky films are checked out for a weekend of entertainment. Dead boxers don’t make comebacks! Even if they’re great-white-hope Italian cinema champions! Once you’re dead, it’s all over.
That’s true of political leaders as well. Mao Zedong, the brains and the backbone of China’s communist revolution, became something akin to an emperor. His words were treated almost as though they were scripture by 800 million subjects. His face hung in just about every Chinese home. But by age 82 he was a sick old man, tired of the fight, and he just quietly slipped away. People flocked by the hundreds of thousands to Tianamen Square in Beijing to mourn his passing. His corpse was preserved in a see-through crystal sarcophagus. But in spite of all this attention he stayed dead. The only ones fighting now were those anxious to take on Mao’s mantle. This included his widow who was leader of the infamous Gang of Four. Her sworn enemy, Deng Xiaoping, eventually won out. But powerful and feared Mao was gone for good. Again, when you’re dead it’s all over as far as this world is concerned.
Ministers around the world come to know this truth early on in our profession. In the average congregation funerals take place on a regular basis. Whether they’re family gatherings or the coming together of the churches in a community, these occasions are often both bitter and sweet. There can be no question but what death is an enemy. This is especially true if it’s a child’s funeral. How tragic when numbers of children were shot—by policemen no less—in Soweto, South Africa. But these can also be occasions when the importance of faith in God is understood and a divine love kind of draws everyone together.
Over the years, I have found that it doesn’t make any difference whether the person was a saint or a scoundrel, a child or a senior adult, man or woman, red, yellow, black or white—all of them stay dead! That’s a finality that has to be accepted. When the lid is closed on the coffin you don’t expect to see that person again at the bank or marching in a parade, eating a couple tables over at the restaurant or setting in the pew across the aisle at church. Those kind of encounters are done.
It’s been that way since the world began. It’s going to be that way regarding you, and it will be that way for me when my days are through. No one’s ever questioned what happens because it isn’t going to change. So you can’t blame Mary for how she acts in John chapter 20. She was one of the brave women who stood near Christ’s cross. I don’t know if she watched like John did when the Roman soldier thrust the spear into Jesus’ side to make sure he was dead. But she was certainly convinced there was no life in him when he was taken down from the cross. Chapter 20 verse 1
1“Early on the first day of the week while it was still dark, Mary of Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance”
That was strange!
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!”
She’s not thinking “He’s risen from the dead.” Instead Mary’s upset because she believes someone has opened the tomb, removed the lifeless body, and taken it somewhere. Peter and John run to the tomb. Now verse 10:
10“Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying.”
She’s obviously distraught, just like anyone would be having witnessed a man who’s loved and who did no wrong, unjustly killed and treated brutally on top of that.
“As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.”
This was probably a further shock to her system.
13They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
That was an easy question to answer.
13“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Again, the furthest thing from her mind was that her dead loved one could come alive again. She was resigned to what had happened. The encounters she had with Jesus—like the great joy she experienced listening to him teach, or laughing together about the good things that were happening, or eating with the group and learning so much from every conversation—these were all over. She understood that. It’s just that everything had happened so fast and the last few days had become an emotional overload. Verse 16:
16Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
17Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Her experience was almost too good to be true. Talk about a satisfying resolution to a story that had up until now ended horribly. But was it really happening? The next verse:
19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews,
Here was another emotion they were experiencing—fear. Add that to the grief . . . and shame . . . and confusion.
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!” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side.
Amazing, now the men closest to Jesus would see him again. This is like 2 ½ days after Jesus was flogged, crucified, and buried. Now he’s standing among them showing his wounds, and . . .
The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
This wasn’t something they expected. They hadn’t understood there was to be this series of sequels. In their wildest dreams they never conceived of Christ pulling off such a smashing victory. No one, on his own, had ever defeated death in such stunning fashion!
You would think at that moment that everything came together for them, but it didn’t. Their new relationship to Christ, what they were called to do, how Christ’s kingship or kingdom was now to advance—these were still not clear in their minds.
In John 21 Peter and Thomas (who saw Christ the next time he appeared—in the verses we skipped), James and John, Andrew and two others, would you believe it, are up in Galilee and back in their fishing boats. They’ve returned to what they were doing before they left to follow Christ. Let me read:
1Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: 2Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3“I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
5He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
6He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
7Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. 9When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
10Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”
11Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
When you know the story, because you’ve heard it so many times, you can almost lose track of the miracle that’s happening. Not just the repeat miracle of the huge catch of fish, but the huge miracle change in the thinking of Christ’s disciples.
What transformed these nobodies into world changers? The answer is that through a series of appearances by Christ following his death, they were convinced that their leader, whom they respected and loved and believed in, had now defeated both death and sin. He was alive again and had assigned them the job of letting the world in on this incredible truth. His smashing victory over death and sin is eventually what convinces them to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
John’s message is encapsulated in a paragraph in chapter 20, verses 30 and 31.
30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
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This is the fourth Sunday I’ve preached from John’s gospel. I’ve been doing this because of the movie that’s playing in theaters in our area. Films have the ability to outshine what any given preacher can deliver from a pulpit. That’s why I’ve been encouraging you to see The Gospel of John.
But its message is the same one I’ve been sharing with you. A disadvantage of the theater is that people come to be entertained, to see a good story, and in my mind this is the best story ever. But no one is given opportunity to respond to John’s bottom line. Again he writes:
These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Church is different. This is God’s house. People don’t come here to be entertained, but to encounter the risen Christ. Believing in Jesus is different from you having to pay something or do something. Even seven perfect tens spiritually speaking wouldn’t get you into heaven. To receive life in his name is a matter of faith.
It’s you coming to the same conclusion the disciples did. Yes, Jesus came to this earth from heaven. He was God’s Son. His miracles gave evidence to this. Through word and deed he taught us how we should live. Unfortunately, we all fall miserably short of loving God like Jesus did and loving other people as he did. Not matching this standard is what sin is. In this regard, all of us have sinned. The payoff is death or separation from God—in this life and the next. But in an unbelievable act of love Jesus allowed himself to be separated from God and put to death in our place. So the price for our spiritual freedom has been paid. The best part is that his story doesn’t stop there. He rose from the dead. His smashing victory over sin and earth is what convinces us to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God! It’s what convinces you.
“By believing you may have life in his name” writes John. Believing is not just saying, “I think all that’s probably true!” Believing is like in prayer picturing yourself first at the cross saying, “Thank you Jesus for taking my sin on yourself. I don’t feel I deserve such love but I’m truly grateful.” And then prayerfully, again in your mind, going to the open tomb and maybe with tears now saying, like Mary, “Rabboni, teacher, you’re alive. How wonderful. Come into me by your spirit and make me a new person. Let me personally experience your miracle touch please. I believe you are The Christ, the Son of God.”
Then it’s Christ’s turn to act . . . to gently and with dignity make you his own by breathing his spirit into you.
People respond to this experience in different ways. Some lift their arms like Rocky Balboa climbing the stairs to the strains of “Gonna Fly Now!” Others weep like Mary who tearfully went to the tomb looking for Jesus’ lifeless body only to discover the wonderful truth that he was alive again.
How the experience touches you emotionally isn’t nearly as important as the fact that you know your new life in Christ has begun. And that can happen here in church this morning.
