Chan Willis – C.P.C.

                                                                                                                                                                April 4, 2010

“ ‘Nonsense’ ”

Luke 24:1-12; Isaiah 25:6-9

            Before I begin today’s message, let me first issue a ‘disclaimer.’  If it is even less coherent than usual, it’s not really my fault… You see, for the last several days we have had the pleasure of having our 2 y.o. grandson Anders, along with his ‘significantly’ pregnant Mom and her good friend Emily staying at our house.  Now, I’m not going to say that it was a ‘bit’ distracting at our house, but if you look at the word “active” in the dictionary, it lists “2 y.o. boy” as a definition.  Not that it’s all him, though.  For some reason, his cousins, 3 y.o. Evie and nearly 2 y.o. Gabby, wanted to spend even MORE time over at our house.  So, let’s just say that ‘concentration’ was a bit more challenging this week/end around the Willis household!

            But don’t get me wrong… I love spending time w/ by grandchildren.  In my book, there is no mystery why they are called ‘grand’!  Their joyful faces, the giggles, the ‘pitter-patter’ of little feet… like the saying goes, if I’d known how great grandchildren were, I’d have had them first!  No offense, kids…

            One of the more interesting aspects of having these young ones around is their language development.  To hear all of the creative ways that they pronounce words in their ever expanding vocabulary.  While Evie is getting a good bit easier to understand, the other two provide quite a challenge in figuring out just what they are saying.  Poor Anders and Gabby.  Ol’ Pops will ask them to repeat the same word over and over, as I try to understand just what word they are trying to say.  And they know exactly what they mean!  It’s just me that doesn’t get it!

      And finally, one of their wise parents (who have no doubt struggled with the same understanding) will ‘enlighten’ me.  Then, what seemed to be just so much ‘nonsense’ makes perfectly good sense!  And I will no doubt praise them for articulating what I, in my own old limited ability, just couldn’t understand.

            Now, in my mind there is some similarity in lack of understanding between my situation with the grandkids and those disciples who heard from Mary and others about what they found at the tomb of Jesus.  Not that the women’s words themselves were so unintelligible.  (Tho, I’ll bet that those ladies were pretty flustered, and that in their highly excited state their speech may well have been pretty ‘rushed’, and harder to understand!)

            But, just like I have a hard time understanding what Gabby or Anders is trying to tell me, those disciples just weren’t getting what the women were trying to tell them.  “What do you mean, the stone was rolled away, and tomb was empty?  You say you saw two men who ‘gleamed like lightning?’  REALLY!?  And they told that you that Jesus wasn’t there because ‘He is risen’?  Nonsense!” 

            Now, before we take up our sanctimonious, devout Christian perspective and decry to these disciples, ‘Oh ye of little faith,’ let us remember what they had witnessed.  They had seen the friend and brother Jesus Christ… that very human, compassionate servant who had tenderly washed their feet just a few days earlier… beaten, scourged, made to carry his own cross of execution through the city, had his hands and feet nailed to that cross with what would amount to our railroad spikes, have his side pierced with a spear, and then slowly, agonizingly bleed to death over a few hours time. 

    They saw His limp, lifeless body removed from that wooden instrument of torture, and carried to its rocky resting place.  And these women come and say that this brutally murdered man is NOT dead?  That He has ‘risen from death to life’? We can hear those disciples proclaim, ‘I hear the words you’re saying, but I can’t understand them.  What you are saying is Nonsense!’

            There are plenty of folks today, in our own age and time, who would respond in much the same way.  They have heard about this supposed resurrected Son of God…  from us who believe in this risen Christ, the One who conquered death.  You are here today, in this very room, because you DO believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.  This is not to say that everyone in this room is living your everyday life as a believer… but I am convicted that by virtue of your presence here on this Resurrection Sunday, there is in you all a deep and abiding trust that “whosoever believes in (Jesus Christ) will not perish but have everlasting life.”  At least, I PRAY SO!  And yet, if you were to repeat this belief of yours to any number of people you know, they could very well say… like those doubting disciples… ‘I hear the words you’re saying, but I can’t understand them.  What you are saying is nonsense.’

            Of course, Peter did not simply dismiss as ‘nonsense’ what the women were saying… like some of our friends can.  He ran to the tomb, and saw what they had said was true.  Yes, Peter would leave that tomb “wondering to himself what had happened”… but it wouldn’t take long before he knew.  He and many others would be able to see Jesus after His resurrection from the dead.  From Mary, to Thomas, to the two on the road to Emmaus, to those who were present for his ascension into heaven, there were many eye-witnesses to the truth of why all this talk of a risen Christ was NOT ‘nonsense’… that indeed, Jesus IS alive!

            It is this aspect of the Christian faith that makes it unlike any other.  Jesus is the only founder of any world religion who had miracles reported of Him in reliable sources within a few decades.  But most important, He confirmed His message of hope by rising from the dead.  Because of Jesus Christ, the prophetic words of Isaiah are fulfilled:  “He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all people…he will swallow up death forever.  The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces…let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”  In the words of that classic hymn of the church, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; because He lives, all fear is gone.”  The resurrected Christ gives us all the ‘blessed assurance’ that this world… and everything in it that truly does NOT make ‘sense’ … and the earthly grave that awaits us all, is NOT the end.  Because Jesus is risen, we who believe in Him shall also rise!  [pause]

In his book Crazy Love, Francis Chan tells of a friend of his, Stan Gerlach, who was a successful businessman well-known in the community.  Mr. Gerlach was giving a eulogy at a memorial service, and closed his words with some gospel truth.  He told the mourners that “You never know when God is going to take your life.  At that moment, there is nothing you can do about it.  Are you ready?”  Mr. Gerlach then returned to his seat, where he sat down, fell over, and died.  Right there, in front of those shocked mourners.  His wife and sons tried to resuscitate him, but as he had said, there was nothing they could do.

Pastor Francis got to their house just as the wife and sons arrived.  After embracing the man’s widow, one of the sons came up to him and said “Did you hear the story?  Did you hear?  I’m so proud of my Dad.  He died doing what he loved doing most.  He was telling people about Jesus.”  And at the service for Mr. Gerlach… which would have certainly been what we call it in our tradition:  “A Service of Witness to the Resurrection”… Francis Chan read from Matthew 10:32-33:  “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.  But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”

For too many people, this day of rejoicing for us has little meaning.  They don’t understand.  It is just so much ‘foolishness’… just so much ‘nonsense.’  What Christians have to say is just like the words of a 2 year old.  They don’t have time to listen to something they can’t understand.  But we need to be the voice of interpretation, of reason, of hope, of LIFE.  Like Mr. Gerlach, we need to help others come to grips with the question, “Are you ready?”  For NONE of us knows when our earthly lives will come to an end.   Are YOU ‘acknowledging Christ before men?’  Are you, in the words of Scripture, “prepared to give the reason for the hope that is within you”?

Like a parent who helps others to see the wisdom of their child, may we point to the Father’s love, expressed in the wisdom, and example, of His Son.  For a man to show his strength in weakness, as Jesus did… may seem like nonsense.  For a man to give up his life so that others might live, as Jesus did… may seem like foolishness. Let us bear in mind, though, the words of Paul in 1 Cor. 1:18…  “For to those who are perishing the message of the cross is foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  Christ’s wisdom… the world’s foolishness. Let us always remember those first believers who experienced the power of God at an empty tomb and were told ‘nonsense’…