Pastor Dan Mangler's Sunday Sermon

Is it Really True?

EASTER SUNDAY - Mark 16: 1-8

April 16, 2006

Is it Really True?

It is an indisputable fact that more Christians world-wide will be in church today than any other Sunday over the last year. Not even the attendance totals of Christmas will compare. Easter is the queen of all Christian festivals, and her followers flock to experience her joy.

Has it ever occurred to you to ask why? Why are more people in church on Easter Sunday than any other Sunday of the year? Is it the music? In many Lutheran churches there is as much or more music on Reformation Sunday. Is it that Spring has sprung and the weather is pleasant? It's even nicer for Pentecost, a festival which has profound personal significance to individual believers as they celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit. Is it the secular hype of Easter, with Easter bunnies and baskets, orchids for the ladies, and long weekends for family gatherings? If it were secular-hype, Christmas attendance would have it all over Easter. So why is Easter #1 on the worship charts?

Karl Barth, considered by many to be the greatest theologian of the 20th century, was once asked, "Why do people come to church?" Barth answered, "People come to church asking the question: 'Is it true?'"

And I suspect that is particularly true on Easter Sunday. "Is it really true? I have heard that there is a loving God who created this universe and who presides over it, who knows when even the tiniest sparrow falls from the sky. I have heard that because he so loved the world that he sent his own Son that whoever believes in him might not perish but have eternal life. I have heard that, to that end, that Son of God subjected himself to horrors of crucifixion and, three days later, was raised from the grave, and because he was raised from the dead, I can be too. But is it all true? Can I really trust my life and the lives of those I love to His care? Is it true? Can I count on it?" Because of the nature of Easter, its extravagant claims and its personal promise, we come in both fear and hope with that one question: "Is it really true?".

Monumental claims always call for confirmation. Whether the news be great or terrible, the first response is disbelief followed by a mad scramble to verify or expose as false what has been said. When people were told that the Challenger had exploded and killed its seven astronauts, they responded in shocked disbelief, "Oh, no! That can't be!", and then rushed to their television sets to see for themselves. When the news began to spread that commercial airliners had crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City, people responded in disbelief until they went home and saw the pictures for themselves on TV. When it was reported in 1980 that the 52 hostages held in Iran were to be released, the news was greeted with skepticism and words conveying the sentiment, "I'll believe that when I see them back on American soil." It doesn't seem to matter whether the news is good or bad, longed for or dreaded. If it is something we are told, we first doubt it, and then seek to either confirm or deny it. Our foremost concern is; "Is it true?"

It is that understanding of our human natures that helps me understand that last verse of our Gospel reading this morning. You will remember that, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices to Jesus' tomb so that they might anoint his body. Upon entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, "Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you."

Did they receive this news gladly? Did they rush to the disciples with the best possible news that could ever be told No, not according to the Gospel of Mark. Here it reads; "And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid."

Mark doesn't say that the women didn't believe the white-robed man in the tomb, but their actions and verses that follow suggest it. They fled. They trembled. They said nothing to anyone. They were afraid.

But in fact, what we see in verse 8 and following is the first, disbelief and then verification that seem to accompany all monumental news that is first heard and then only later verified. Listen as I read verses that continue where this morning’s reading ends:

Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went out and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

The women hear, but don't believe. Then Jesus appears to Mary, and she believes and goes to tell the disciples. But they would not believe. Jesus then appears to two as they were walking in the country. They believe and go to tell the rest, but they still don't believe. And finally Jesus appears to the eleven, and they believe.

It isn't that the women and the disciples did not want to believe. There could not have been any greater news that this. But in their hearts they asked, "Is it true? Is it really true?" And the answer would not come because someone told them about Jesus. The answer would come when they met the risen Lord Jesus appeared to Mary, and she believed. Jesus appeared to the disciples walking in the country, and they believed. Jesus appeared to the eleven, and they, too, finally believed.

I believe that is one reason, whether it be recognized or not, that more people come to church on Easter Sunday than any other day in the year. They have heard it said that Jesus died on the cross for their sins and has risen from the grave that they, too, can have victory over the grave. They have heard it, but in their hearts they ask, "Can it be true? Is it true? Is it really true?" So today they come, you come, in the hope that they/you will meet Jesus and there by have disbelief transformed into faith, fear changed to courage, and trembling turned into boundless joy.

When we come asking, "Is it really true?", we don't come to hear someone tell us about the risen Lord, rather we come to meet the risen Lord. It is not to hear a lecture about an historical figure that we are drawn through those church doors, but rather to experience that divine presence. While the witness of others concerning the resurrection of Jesus stirs in our hearts the deep longings that this might be true, it is the encounter with the living Lord that changes that deep longing into galvanized faith. To those who gather on this morning with the questions, "Is it true?" "Is it really true?" "Is it still true?" Jesus comes and says, quite plainly, "Yes, it is true; it is all true."

We meet Jesus in the faith of those who are also here gathered. Jesus said, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." We bring all our doubts and fears into a gathered people of God where we meet faith and joy. There is a sixties song by Three Dog Night that begins, "One is the loneliest number that I ever knew."

But the faith journey need not be lonely. You are invited to bring your doubts and fears into a gathered people of God who exude faith and joy. And in that company who gather in the name of Jesus, you do come into his divine presence.

You encounter-the risen Lord in Holy Scripture as it is proclaimed today. There is a mystical relationship between Jesus and the Bible. Both are called the Word of God - Jesus, the living Word, and the Bible the written word. But as they both are the Word of God, having one is to have the other. To hear the words of Holy Scripture is to encounter also the risen Lord.

This morning you also meet Jesus in the bread and wine of Holy Communion. Jesus says, "Take, eat, this is my body. Take, drink, this is my blood. Do this to remember me." In the eating and drinking of the bread and wine infused with the very presence of the risen Lord, we remember Him. To "remember him" means "to recall into the present, to make alive now." No Easter is complete without Holy Communion if we come hoping or expecting to experience the risen Lord.

Is it true? Is it really true that there is a loving God who created this universe and who presides over it, who knows when even the tiniest sparrow falls from the sky? Is it true that because he so loved the world that he sent his own Son that whoever believes in him might not perish but have eternal life? Is it true, that to that end, the Son of God subjected himself to the horrors of death on a cross, and three days later, was raised from the grave, and because he was raised, so shall we? Is all of that true? Can we really trust our lives and the lives of those we love to that news?

The answer this morning is "Yes". Jesus, himself, comes into our midst this morning in the faith of those here gathered, in the word of Holy Scripture, and in the bread and wind of the Sacrament of the Altar, and says, "Yes, it is all true." Amen.

May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.