With the recent developments in the Teri Schiavo case in Florida, one thing that has certainly happened was the issue of the debate about both “the right to die” and “the right to life” has entered a new arena. It has also begun both public and private debate from ethical, moral, constitutional, legal, political and religious perspectives. I’m not planning on entering that debate this morning, but I’m glad that the issue of “the right to life” has come to the forefront of discussions and its timing of Holy Week could not be more perfect. This morning, I want to talk about the symbol of the “empty tomb”, which gives each us “the right to life.”
The symbol of the empty tomb is perhaps one of the most powerful Christian symbols that we have. The cross perhaps is our most common symbol, which represents so well the very symbol of a Savior who gave up his life for us. But the powerful symbol of an empty grave represents to the world the victory over the grave, and that the battle for our right to life, has not only been fought, but WON! It is the symbol of “Victory”. No doubt it is what Paul wrote about in 1 Cor 15:54-57 “So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. “O death where is your sting? O Hades where is your victory.” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” That is the “right to life”.
To understand the word “victory” we look back at the word “nikos” (nee’-kos) (#3534), it is the same word from which the brand name Nike is derived and speaks of triumph or a conquest that has been won. No wonder Michael Jordan did so well wearing Nike’s. Christ then has given us this “nikos”, this victory, “the right to life”; He has given us a victory over death. Last week a friend, and a man who has served as a pastor, told me of a story where in his first church they reached out to some families in the community and soon some children from one family began attending church. Someone in the church, soon pulled him aside and informed him that “those children” were not welcome at the church. The family, you see, was considered to be “white trash”. Of course, this pastor friend knew that “the right to life” was won for all regardless of race, color, or income status. The Scripture tells us “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. (Mat 5:3)
The Pastor went on to tell that he continued to minister to this family, eventually performed the wedding ceremony for one of the daughters, and just recently officiated at the wedding of her son, some twenty years later, his parents still married, and they raised him in the church. You see “the right to life” in the kingdom of heaven isn’t something that we can indiscriminately dispense, the victory that Christ offered in the empty tomb is available to all who will choose it.
Now there is a key, “the right to life”; the “right to eternal life”; the right to claim the power of the empty tomb was won for each of us by Jesus, but applied to our individual lives in the minute that we choose to believe and claim Jesus as Lord. It’s the power of God, the power of the blood, that has such divine mystery that even almost 2,000 years later can still grant us forgiveness in the minute we “believe in our heart and confess with our lips that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that God has raised him from the dead”. (Rom 10). Even we are told in this passage that as Mary proclaimed the news of the empty tomb to the disciples they simply thought “her words seemed like idle tales, and they did not believe them”. The truth be known, story of the empty tomb, has no power over your life, and remains an idle tale, unless you believe.
Last Sunday we ended the worship service with a little more somberness, moving from the celebration of the triumphal entry, to the reflection of the passion of Good Friday, even stripping the alter, and leaving in silence that represents the desolation of the Good Friday cross. Little Jake picked up on it and asked his mother “Mommy, why was church so sad today?” Continuing on he noted that they even took the cross, and they took the Bible. “That isn’t right” Jake noted. And it isn’t right Jake. It moved us to the somberness of Good Friday, but we must then move on to the celebration of the empty tomb. The same power of the empty tomb; the same power that raised Jesus from the grave is available to us today!
We are not eradicating the image of the cross from our minds. Rather, I think these two images work in tandem to remind us of the “right to life” that Jesus has given us: (1) “At Easter, English theologian Herbert McCabe (d. 2001) warns us that, "we should indeed feel that the cross has been turned into joy. Yet we have to beware of thinking that the cross has been replaced by joy."
Easter isn’t a cancellation of the cross. It doesn’t, in any important sense, celebrate anything different from the cross. It’s the meaning of the cross. Of course, there were two events: a crucifixion and, later, a rising from the dead. But these two events are part of a single story with a single meaning. The resurrections is as inseparable from the crucifixion as the punch line from the rest of the story. Easter is how to look at the cross. It’s how faith looks at the cross.
When "seen in faith," McCabe concludes, "the cross is the best picture of the resurrection." And when we see this picture we are reminded that Jesus bought for us “the right to life.” Not earthly life. No guarantee about that. But for certain, Life eternal with God in Heaven.
Now ehere is the reality for Terri Schiavo, or for us: It will not matter if Terri dies, or if she lives, if she has claimed for herself the Lord Jesus Christ and his promise about "the right to life". For in the moment that she dies, or when she dies, then absent from the body she will be drawn into the presence of the Lord in the power of the resurrection, and true life will be hers.
(2) "Eugene LaVerdiere tells a wonderful story about a first grade class that was putting on an Easter pageant. The production was to be performed numerous times throughout the school, concluding with the presentation before the pastor and parents.
One little boy was asked to play the huge stone that seals the tomb.
During each performance, during the appropriate time, he would roll across the stage. After a number of performances, his concerned teacher asked if he would like to be something else for one of the performances -- a soldier perhaps or even Joseph of Arimathea.
"Nope," said the boy. He liked being the rock.
When it was all over, the teacher asked, ’Why did you enjoy so much playing a rock?’
"I loved the moment,’ he said, ’when I rolled across and let Jesus out of the tomb." -- What stone keep you out of Easter life? What stone keeps you from entering the tomb, dying with Christ so that you can rise to new life? Jesus has given us the right to life! Thanks be to God, He has risen, He has risen indeed.
(1) www.preachingplus.com, Dr. Len Sweet, quote of: -- Herbert McCabe, God, Christ and Us; edited and introduced by Brian Davies (New York: Continuum, 2003), 89-90.
(2) www.preachingplus.com, Dr. Len Sweet, from James A. Wallace, Imaginal Preaching (New York: Paulist Press, 1995), 71.
