Readings: Isaiah 25:6-9 , Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 , I Corinthians 15:1-11, Mark 16:1-8
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, March 31, 2024
Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da; Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da; BATMAN!
Bang. Woosh. kapow!
"Holy Empty Tombs, Batman, What's Going on here?"
"It's called Easter, Robin, An annual Celebration of the Resurrection"
"Quick, To the BatMobile!"
Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da; BATMAN!
Bang. Woosh. kapow!
I used to think Batman was so cool. Not the more recent Batman Movies, where he's all broody and serious and twisted, but the old television Batman and Robin series, where the lines were corny, the fight scenes punctuated with 'Bangs, Wooshes and Kapows' and where the Baddies, like the Penguin, the Riddler, and the Joker, had even cheesier lines to say than the Caped Crusader and the Boy Blunder.
As a kid it didn't take much to play Batman. You're imaginary friend could be Robin. Mums dressing gown could be the cape. A brown paper bag with a couple of eye holes cut in it made a great mask. Put on your sister’s high heel boots and your underwear over your pants - and “Bang. Woosh. Kapow”, you were off to save the inhabitants of Gotham city from certain doom. Who needs games consoles and 3DTV when you've got a brown paper bag, a few old clothes, and a vivid imagination?
Easter Sunday. The Resurrection Was it all just the disciples’ vivid imaginations? Did Jesus become their imaginary friend on a mission to save the world? Is what we are doing here simply a childish response to our unfulfilled dreams? Where is the reality in all of this?
To help us answer that I'd like us to think about the documents that witness to the Resurrection, the gospels and writings of the New Testament. The Four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, tell the story of Jesus from four different perspectives.
Matthew is keen to relate the links between the Old Testament and the Coming of Jesus and appears to have a Jewish audience in mind. Luke explains a great deal more and gives us a second volume in the Book of Acts that describes the growth of the early church. Mark is like the Readers Digest - the Condensed version. John gives the expanded version with all its cosmic implications.
Picture this if you can. The Four Gospels as four sides to a mountain. On the top of the mountain is the Cross of Christ. They start out from different viewpoints. A lot of the time they share a common view, but sometimes from their differing perspective they tell us things the others have missed.
But as they reach the top of the mountain, as they approach the Cross, their viewpoints become extremely similar... each of them relating the crucifixion account with less variations. One tells us what the criminals say, but the other seems to have missed it. One picks up on some of Jesus' last words, another focuses on what the crowd are saying. It's what you would expect from the perspective of four reporters standing around the cross.
But after they speak of the Cross and the Burial - something happens. It's almost as if this mountain they have built has turned out to be a Volcano. On Easter Sunday, Resurrection Day, the whole thing erupts. “Bang. Woosh. kapow!” The blinding light of unexpected revelation.
This eruption sends such bright sparks of light, that not only the gospel writers had trouble seeing clearly, but sprinkles fragments and recollections of the awesome event throughout the rest of the New Testament.
In each of the Gospels the accounts of the Resurrection read like the memories of those who struggled to comprehend the awesome reality of what they witnessed; people blinded by the light. One says, "Remember it was Mary, went down to the tomb"; the other, "No... I remember there was some other women, there!"; One says, "They met a young man". Another corrects... "It wasn't just a man... he was an angel!"
One has Mary being confronted by Jesus, another of Peter being the first to see the folded grave clothes. And it is as though they are saying... the details aren't important... just believe us. This really happened. We were there. But it's hard to explain. And it was so unbelievable that all we can truly tell is that it was awesome!
As the Bible unfolds more recollections are given. One remembers a meal of fish down by the sea. Another an encounter with two men on the Emmaus Road. One speaks of a time when there were 500 of them on a mountain and Jesus came and taught them.
This was no comic book hero. This "Bang. Woosh. kapow!" of Resurrection was beyond their imagination. The message that unites them is that the Jesus whom they had seen tortured, crucified, dead and buried, was alive. They ate with Him. They talked with Him. They touched Him and He touched them. And now, the reality of His resurrection love inspired them to live and die for Him. Eternity had invaded their lives, and nothing could ever be the same again.
The latest of all the apostles, Paul writes "If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is in vain” (1Corinthians 15:14). " If the Resurrection holds no more validity than a Super Hero in a Comic Book then we better leave right now, shut the doors behind us, and never return. But the message that he proclaims, the message that is being proclaimed from thousands of pulpits and being embraced by millions of people throughout the world at this very moment, proclaimed as it has been in confidence and power for over 2000 years, the "Bang. Woosh. kapow!" message, is this, "Christ is Risen... He is Risen Indeed!"
One thing I love about the resurrection stories in Scripture is that they are not all the same. Every person experiences the living love of Jesus in a different way. The women in Mark have one sort of experience, Peter has another. The disciples down by the beach in John's gospel experience it one way. Paul, at a much later date, on the road to Damascus, experiences the resurrected Jesus in yet another way.
It's not a one off, one-way, isolated experience. Everybody understands it differently. And there's room for all those different stories and understandings and people. In today's church it is no different. From the most liberal to the most conservative of theologians and preachers, everybody has a theory as to what happened on that first Easter morning. And there is room for them all.
What seems to be the unifying factor is the idea that whatever happened 'back then' can be a powerful force that can impact the way we live our lives today. That somehow whatever and whoever God maybe, what happened to Jesus in that tomb on the first Easter morning changes everything.
Truly it is a 'Bang, Woosh, kapow” moment. The challenge the scripture lays before us is plain. Have we allowed the "Bang. Woosh. kapow!" message of the Resurrection to erupt within our own hearts? The Resurrection is not simply a doctrine in a book or a belief we give assent to with our minds, but a living experience.... or to turn those words around... an experience that can live in us and change the way we see the whole of our lives.
On Easter Day we can ask God to “Bang. Woosh. kapow!" us in the Holy Spirit. Easter Day is a day to invite Jesus to come afresh into our life and live in our heart. To ask God to make resurrection a part of our life today.
This is the day of Salvation. This is the day of resurrection. This is the day that the Lord has made!
And we shall rejoice and be glad in it. Ask God to make Resurrection love, a living part of every day you have left to live on this planet. Ask God to fill your life with the Holy Spirit. Surrender your will to God’s will.
There's a moment in an old Batman episode where the caped crusader is seeking to save the day by shooting down the enemy. His young accomplice Robin turns to him and says, 'That's an impossible shot, Batman”. And Batman responds, “That's a negative attitude, Robin”.
Today is not a day for negativity but a day to embrace the positive joy proclaimed by the message of resurrection. Today is a day for believing. Today is a day to allow the living love of Jesus Christ, the love that defies death and blazes forth from an empty tomb, to transform our lives in such a way as nothing remains the same. And Scripture pictures Jesus as inviting us to experience His love with words like these:-
“Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find.”
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
To God’s name be the Glory.
"Bang. Woosh. Kapow!"
AMEN
The Reverend Adrian J Pratt B.D.
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