Alive But Dead

Raised but Dead

Easter Day

Collect: Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee that, as by thy special grace preceding us, thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen

Epistle: Colossians 3:1-4 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (BCP, p.187)

Sometimes we get surprised because what happens is not what we expected. Friday morning the man who is going to connect the rectory plumbing to the county’s sewer connection caught me in my pajamas when he knocked on the door at 8:30. He said, “I hope I didn’t wake you up,” and I said, “Oh no I’ve been up a long time. I often do some work before I get dressed.” I’m afraid he left thinking, “Sure he’s been up several hours working. Those preachers work only one day a week.” I forgot the man was coming. I wasn’t expecting him, so I got surprised.

I am surprised by the Prayer Book’s choice for the Epistle for Easter. I would expect a reading from the great resurrection chapter - chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. Rather the Prayer Book give us St. Paul’s  letter to the Colossians, chapter 3, verses 1-4.

There are three noteworthy about this reading. One is that, when St. Paul speaks of Christ’s Resurrection, he takes only a glance at the Resurrection before focusing on Christ’s place in heaven after his Ascension. Another is that  the Apostle’s main concern with resurrection is not Christ’s resurrection but ours. The third is that his concern about our resurrection is not with our future bodily resurrection but our present spiritual resurrection.

1. St. Paul tells us about Jesus.

He assumes the bodily resurrection of Christ. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was an absolutely essential part of the Apostolic preaching. Only two of the Gospel writers tell us about the birth of Jesus, but all four record his resurrection. We read this morning St. John’s account: how Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John discovered the empty tomb. In 1 Corinthians 15 St. Paul summarizes Gospel by which we are saved:

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures… (1 Corinthians 15:3,4).

He goes on to say that if the Resurrection of Christ didn’t happen the whole Christian house of faith falls down:

...if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied (1 Cor. 15:17-19).

Make no mistake about it. Christianity is a religion that cannot stand if there was no bodily resurrection of Jesus. I once read a theologian who said that if the dead bones of Jesus Christ were found Easter weekend, she would still go to church on Easter. Not I. No resurrection, no Christianity. But St. Paul, having described the consequences if Christ was not raised, goes on to say, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead…” (1 Cor. 15:20).

Assuming the resurrection, Paul goes on to tell us where Christ is now. He is above, seated at the right hand of God. He is above because 40 days after his resurrection he ascended to heaven. St Luke describes the event: “As they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” Then, as they were gazing up into the heavens, two angels, taking the form of men, said, “Why are you gazing up to heaven?” Their message was, “He is gone for now. Your fellowship with him on earth is over until he comes again at the end of this age.” In heaven Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, the place of honor and power. As the victorious Messiah, who has won the battle against sin and Satan, he has been vindicated by the resurrection, and now, ascended to heaven, he has all authority in heaven and earth. He will reign till all his enemies, even the last enemy, death itself, are conquered.

• Jesus is the risen Savior.
• Jesus is the ascended Messiah.
• Jesus is the reigning King.

2. St Paul tells us about ourselves.

We are already dead, already raised, and already with Christ in heaven.

At first that may startle us. How can we be dead, if we know we are still living? How can we be raised to immortal life, if our bodies are still mortal? How can we be in heaven, if we are still here on earth?

To understand we need to know that St. Paul picks up on Jesus’s teaching, “I am the vine; you are the branches. St Paul says Christians are united or joined to Christ. You are united to Christ in his life, death, resurrection, ascension, and life in heaven.  In chapter 2 Paul explains that we were buried and raised with Christ in baptism and by faith, so that we are no longer dead in our sins, but are alive in Christ (Col. 2:12,13).

Paul tells us there is an old world order dominated by the devil and  demons, and there is a new world order brought into existence by Christ through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, and life in heaven. Left to ourselves by nature we are part of the old world order and dead in our sins. But we are now in Christ. With Christ we are dead to that old world order. With Christ we are raised to live in the new world order he brought into existence. All our sins forgiven and we have begun to live a new kind of life. With Christ we ascended to heaven and the new world order he created. We begin life in that new world order now, but it is fully revealed now only in the life of Christ in heaven. If you want to know who you are in Christ now, and what you will be in Christ we he comes again, look at the risen and ascended Christ and his glorious life in heaven. That is your true life and destiny. When Christ comes again you will be raised with him to glory.

Being united with Christ by baptism and faith is something like getting married. You give or receive an engagement ring that commits you to marriage. That is your baptism. You love and want to unite your life to the life of another person. That is your faith. You go through a formal ceremony in which you and the other person confirm your commitment to one another. That is your confirmation.

• In Christ you are dead to the world controlled by demons.
• In Christ you are raised from spiritual death.
• In Christ you have ascended to new life in heaven.
• In Christ you have begun to experience that new life now. When Christ comes again you will share fully in the glorious life he now lives in heaven.

3. St. Paul tells what to do.

Assuming we have been raised with Christ, we should seek the life that is above and set our affections on things above, not on things on the earth.

The first time I went to Ukraine to teach I was very homesick. I was glad I could serve there, and I taught the course I had been asked to teach, but my mind and heart kept going to Pittsburgh. Why? Because that was where Susan was. And my real life was not in Ukraine. My life in Ukraine was temporary. My real life was in Pittsburgh with my wife and sons, my church, and my home.

That is the way it should be with us and Christ. He is our life. Our permanent existence will be in the new heavens and the new earth that exist in Christ and which he will create for us when he comes again. This life is good. Sin in this world is bad, but the things of this life are good when we use them rightly. But this is a transitory life where we experience trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, and many other adversities. That is why we should lift up our hearts to Christ and the life he has in heaven now and will make ours fully when he returns.

Do you know where you come closest to heaven in this world? It is not when you’re with family around the table for a holiday meal. It’s not on the top of a mountain you’ve climbed. It’s not in a beautifully manicured garden. It is here in worship of God’s people. That is why it is such a serious thing to be absent from worship. We cannot seek the things above and set our affections on things above unless we set our hearts and minds on worship.

Now in  Holy Communion we give ourselves, body and soul, to the Lord and pray that we may be filled with grace heavenly benediction and be made one body with Christ, that he may dwell in us and we in him.