"The Hinge Of History"

John 20:1-18

By: Ken Sauer, Pastor of East Ridge United Methodist Church, Chattanooga, TN

“The Hinge of History”

In my parents house there is a map of the history of the world, and it’s a BIG map.

It wasn’t created by a specifically Christian publishing house; I believe it was put out by National Geographic, and fairly recently.

Anyhow, on this map, the history of the world, or the history of civilization is divided up into two categories…

…and the dividing line or the hinge of this map is the birth, life, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What are we to make of this?

A few years after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, there were several thousand Christians living under Nero in the Roman Empire.

And it is reported that Christians were regularly “crucified or set on fire so that when darkness came they burned like torches in the night.”

Three hundred years later, there were 34 million Christians or 56.5% of the total population.

Christianity is now the world’s largest faith!!!

What are we to make of all this?

Christianity began in obscurity.

The first missionaries were commoners, whose message appeared to be nonsense to the sophisticated.

With some exceptions, Christianity’s chief appeal was to the outcaste and the marginal elements of society…

…people like Mary Magdalene and a small band of uneducated fishermen and hated tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers…

These were people with no political clout, little money—outcastes, who from the beginning, were violently persecuted.

Again, I ask, what are we to make of this?

As the sun set on the Friday of the execution, Jesus appeared to be a failure.

His promises about the Kingdom of God were little more than provocative but powerless rhetoric.

No matter what Jesus had said about sacrifice and Resurrection during His lifetime…

…well, His disciples obviously did not understand it, and did not expect Jesus to rise again.

On the night He was arrested even Simon Peter crumbled to dust as he denied even knowing his Lord three times.

And after the Resurrection, “On the evening of that first day of the week,” the disciples were huddled together, “with doors locked for fear of the Jews.”

What are we to make of this?…

…well, certainly, without the Resurrection, it is virtually impossible to imagine that the Jesus movement would have continued!!!

Where would they have gotten the power or the nerve?

And yet, here we are, over 2,000 years later, brothers and sisters in Christ…

…declaring with faith and boldness: “Christ, our Savior is Risen from the dead!”…

… “Hallelujah! Jesus lives!”

Many, if not most of us here this morning, base our entire lives on this fact!!!

It is the reason we do not fear death.

It is the reason that so many of us have put our whole trust…our whole lives into the hands of Jesus.

It is the reason that so many of our lives have been changed so radically and continue to change, as we deny ourselves each day, take up our cross and follow Christ!

It is the reason that billions of people around the world are able to face this terribly difficult life with courage, hope, faithfulness, and thanksgiving!!!

It is one of the main reasons that we have so many hospitals, so many schools of higher education, and of course…a church on just about every corner!!!

It was Christ’s Resurrection that made the Christian Church.

It was Christ’s Resurrection that transformed a huddle of dispirited and frightened people into that valiant band who were willing to risk anything for the sake of Christ!

It was Christ’s Resurrection that brought into being and set in motion this mighty Gospel which has been proclaimed to nearly the entire world and has changed the face of humanity!

And the Words of the New Testament itself leap for joy first of all, most of all, and last of all over the empty grave!!!

I mean, we wouldn’t even celebrate Christ’s birth if there weren’t the Resurrection!!!

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is most certainly the hinge on which the doorway of history swings.

It is also the hinge on which the doorway of so many lives swing!

What hinge does the doorway of our life swing on?

What gives you hope and meaning?

What makes this nearly unbearable life, worth the living?

It’s worth noticing that the first person to see the Risen Christ was Mary Magdalene.

For Mary, maybe more than anyone else, Jesus Christ was the hinge of her life.

Jesus had changed her world something fierce!!!

It’s more than likely that Jesus was the first person to ever treat her like a human being—a person of sacred worth…

…someone as worthwhile as any one else.

Someone worth loving.

And so Mary loved Jesus right back.