CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH
Rev. Fred Weimert Easter Sermon 4/12/09
"Receive and Deliver"
She was
standing
on the side walk
by the roundabout cross
walk
over by the
Barnes and Noble Bookstore…
about
two weeks ago.
An African American woman
probably in her 50’s or
60’s, maybe older...
She was
leaning on a walker.
I walked by
her
on
my way into Barnes and Noble,
I was going to check on a book
there,
as
I passed by her we exchanged greetings…
I went into the store…
and she continued standing by the
street
as
if waiting for someone…
or something.
But after I finished
going down the escalator
and purchasing my book…
and returning up and to the front
doors...
I discovered the same
lady, now reaching for the door handle,
So, I opened
the door for her and held it…
because
that door at Barnes and Noble
is
difficult to manage even without a walker.
As
she passed she said thank you…
and
then almost as an after thought
she
turned back to me and said:
Reverend,
You
preach a good sermon
for them on Easter Sunday.
I
smiled and said I would try…
and then I started to
wonder
what kind of
sermon she might think was a good one?
She
may have wanted me to go to the hoop…
and
I knew I wasn’t going there.
I
really hadn’t given Easter much thought
not
back then
two weeks ago…
It
had been too cold for me to think about Easter.
But what I really
wondered about in this encounter was
was how did
I know this woman…
or better,
how
did she know me.
Was
she a member at
or
maybe at
or
maybe I had seen her at the
But,
some how she knew me
and
she knew what I did…
Even
though I don’t wear a collar
or
a cross…
She
recognized me.
It was one of those
disquieting moments…
which are
happening to me
more
and more often…
because
I have been here so long…
or
maybe because my memory is getting so short.
It was one of those
moments
when the illusion we all have of
living secret lives…
is
shattered by the discovery
that
we are known…
recognized
for who and what we are…
by
those who we don’t recognize…
or
who we don’t recognize that we know.
My experience wasn’t the kind of
surprise
that Mary Magdalene had
in the garden…
Her
experience was mind blowing…
She
had seen the risen Jesus…
That
hadn’t happened before.
My experience
was just a little mind bending…
I
was recognized as being a Christian…
a
minister.
I wasn’t being challenged like Peter
was on Thursday night…
when he was in the court
of the high priest…
I had nothing to fear.
But it got me thinking
about what that woman
would have said
or
thought
If
I had been rude
or
brusque…
or
simply oblivious…
If
I had walked by her as if she didn’t exist.
What would
the woman
have thought of me…
or the Church I serve…
or the God I worship?
or the Jesus I claim as savior?
In the 15th
chapter of I Corinthians
Paul appears to be talking about the
resurrection.
Frequently
in funeral services I read portions of this passage
and I mention how the words must
have helped
that early Christian Community
deal with their concern
that
Christians were dying…
and
Jesus hadn’t come back, yet…
But if the
truth were told
these words…
like most of the words
in this first Corinthian letter
were about the fight going on in
this community…
The struggle between
several groups…
followers of
Paul,
Cephas
or Peter,
Apollos,
Chloe’s
people
even
those who simply claimed to follow
Christ.
These factions were fractious
each claimed primacy…
they fought over everything…
In
the 11th chapter they were fighting
over
the Lord’s Supper…
Social
status was affecting that sacred meal…
who
got what
or
how much to eat…
They
fought about spiritual gifts…
and
which was most significant…
that’s
what the 12th, 13th, and 14th chapters
were about.
And this passage at the beginning of
the 15th chapter
even though it appears
to be
about the resurrection…
is about the fight as
well…
Here Paul
uses some traditional words
For
I handed on to you as of first importance
what
I in turn had received:
He restates
an early Church formula
about the resurrection…
who
had seen the resurrected Christ…
Sadly the early Church
had left out the women of Easter
morning.
But
Paul was using this formula
to
remind these people of what really mattered…
what
was the central teaching of the Church.
The words the reading closes with
remind these Christians
to put their differences aside:
“Whether
then it was I or they,”
Who taught this to you…
“so
we proclaim
and
so you have come to believe.”
I
Corinthians 15: 1-11
Now I would remind you, brothers
and sisters,
of the good news that I proclaimed to you,
which
you in turn received,
in
which also you stand,
through
which also you are being saved,
if
you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—
unless
you have come to believe in vain.
For I handed on to you as of first
importance
what I in turn had received:
that
Christ died for our sins
in
accordance with the scriptures,
and
that he was buried,
and
that he was raised on the third day
in
accordance with the scriptures,
and
that he appeared to Cephas,
then
to the twelve.
Then
he appeared to more than five hundred
brothers
and sisters at one time,
most
of whom are still alive,
though
some have died.
Then
he appeared to James,
then to all the
apostles.
Last
of all,
as
to one untimely born,
he
appeared also to me.
For
I am the least of the apostles,
unfit
to be called an apostle,
because
I persecuted the
But
by the grace of God
I
am what I am,
and his grace toward
me has not been in vain.
On
the contrary,
I
worked harder than any of them—
though
it was not I,
but
the grace of God that is with me.
Whether
then it was I or they,
so
we proclaim
and
so you have come to believe.
Here ends the reading…
Paul was
concerned that the Christian community
In
was losing its moorings…
Their fight
was obscuring
the
central issues of faith…
which
he states for them right up front:
The good news…
proclaimed
to them….
which
they received…
in
which they stand…
through
which they are being saved
What
were these teachings:
(1)
that Christ died for our sins
in
accordance with the scriptures,
(2)
and that he was buried,
(3)
and that he was raised on the third day
in accordance with
the scriptures,
(4)
and that he appeared
That
was it…
That’s
what they needed to remember…
these
four things…
all which speak of the grace of God…
not our human activity.
Jesus’
death is the symbol of God’s delivering us from sin
Jesus’
resurrection is the symbol of God’s delivering us from death…
It is in these symbolic acts
that we remember God has delivered us,
and
will continue to do so…
It is in these symbols that we are
empowered to stand
in this world.
It is how we
stand…
and more importantly:
It is what
we stand for.
So it
mattered to Paul
How Christians in
their brothers and sisters in
Christ…
It mattered
how they lived their lives, in the larger world,
for
their lives gave testimony to
Him
who was the resurrection and the life.
It matters how I live my
life…
even how I
treat people on the street
who
I think I don’t know,
but
who may know me…
and may know who I claim to worship.
The
testimony of Christian community,
not
just in
back then…
but here in
has been deeply marred
by the behavior
of those who
claim to follow Christ.
Like
the recent story of a little girl in
possibly
murdered
by a Baptist Sunday School teacher…
prejudice
hatred
violence
abuse
greed…
In
leadership…
in
membership…
so
tarnish the name of Jesus…
that
many no longer want to affiliate with Church.
“They’re
all just hypocrites.”
Yet, the
treasure we hold in our faith
in the example of Jesus…
Is a reminder of God’s
gentle compassion for the world…
God’s
presence with those who suffer…
those
who are outsiders…
It is a powerful symbols of a God filled
not with
anger or jealousy,
But filled with love and
grace…
who gives
life without end…
and
forgiveness when we fail.
May we find
strength to stand in Jesus,
and in standing, in these difficult
days,
may we lift those around us
who feel their strength is gone…
or
that there is no place to stand any more.
Amen.