Have you ever noticed that in a horror movie, the people in it always make the wrong decision about what to do? They decide that they’re going to go into a dark house by themselves, or not wait for back up, or who knows. Don’t you just want to yell at the people in the movie—“No! Don’t go in there!” or “Turn around!” One of my favorite commercials ever is for a car insurance company, maybe you’ve seen it. In it, four young adults [Slide 2] are apparently running from someone really scary, and they face some choices—should they a) [Slide 3 – Spooky house] hide in the attic, b) hide in the basement, c) [Slide 4 – car] escape in the running car, or d) [Slide 5 – Chain saw wall] hide behind a bunch of chainsaws hanging up. They decide to hide behind the hanging chainsaws. The narrator says, “If you’re in a horror movie, you make poor decisions—it’s what you do.” The movie pans to the serial killer, [Slide 6 – Serial killer rolling eyes] who rolls his eyes about how stupid the young adults are being. The thought is, if you want to make a good decision, switch to that insurance company. The last line you hear is the young adults saying, “Let’s head to the cemetery.” If you’re in a horror movie, heading to the cemetery seems like a bad idea, don’t you think? [Slide 7 – Title slide] For Mary, Mary (James’ mom) and Salome, they felt like they were in a horror movie. On Friday, they had watched as the Romans wrongfully convicted and executed the innocent Jesus by crucifying him, watched as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took Jesus down from the Cross, and paid attention to the tomb where they laid him. Part of the horror was that they all thought Jesus was the Messiah, that He was going to be King, and that they would see the world start to go right—but everything had gone so wrong. How could people do that to this kind, compassionate man of God, who healed the sick with a touch, and taught about God’s love? A horror movie! And now, these women were headed to the cemetery. At least they waited for daylight!
Since Easter is the exact opposite of a horror movie, perhaps we should lay to rest some of the “horror movie” ideas about Jesus’ resurrection.
1. Jesus, the Zombie Lord is not a thing.[Slide 8 – Not reanimated] A zombie is a reanimateddead person. The soul is gone, but the dead is moving again. Jesus was resurrected, not reanimated. Hebrews, Jews and Christians believe that our body and soul are inextricably bound—the person can’t exist without both. So resurrection means you rise from the grave, body and soul together. Jesus is not a zombie, but real, flesh-blood-and-soul alive and kicking evil’s backside all over the place.
2. Jesus wasn’t really dead.[Slide 9 – Jesus really did die.] Sometimes you will hear people float the idea that the Romans messed up and Jesus wasn’t really dead when they took him down from the Cross and put him in the tomb. In this scenario, Jesus just got up and walked away. Those folks probably hadn’t witnessed a Roman crucifixion. The Romans knew exactly how to crucify people. It took five Roman soldiers, and they each had a specific job. They were brutally efficient, professional killers, who set up crucifixion assembly lines, once lining the road from the Galilee to Jerusalem with 2000 people. The Romans never missed. Jesus was dead.
3. That Jesus the human died, but Jesus the Son of God didn’t die.These folks argued that when Jesus came back to talk with His disciples, he was a ghost. [Slide 10 – Jesus is not a ghost] But thenwe look at the way people experienced Jesus after the resurrection, Jesus could eat, he could hold things, and he could touch people. So, nope, not a ghost. Jesus really died and was really resurrected.
How did the resurrection happen? If Jesus was dead, how did He get to be alive again? How do we know it happened?
We may never really know how it happened, though CS Lewis, in his book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, takes a crack at it: that there is a deep law of love woven into the fabric of the universe, there before Satan came along, there before Satan’s fall from heaven. Satan didn’t understand this law. Satan only understood that someone had to pay the price for each of us and the wrong that we have done. So Satan was thrilled to have a chance to take out the Son of God! If Satan had known this deeper law, Lewis writes, [Slide 11 – CS Lewis quote] “[Satan] would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the [Law] would crack, and Death itself would start working backward.” So the way Jesus died—innocent though he was—and the way Jesus experienced the totality of abandonment by God—“My God! My God! Why have You forsaken me?”—has everything to do with why God raised Him from the grave. Instead of death having the last word, because of Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection, God has the last word, [Slide 12 – Last word] and the last word is love. Love is more important than power or profit. Love is more important than comfort or privilege. Politics and violence all fade in significance before the grace and love of God. It’s grace that Jesus died before we were ready and before we were good. It’s love that Jesus even now holds out His hand to each of us, longing for us to know Him better.
The women going to the tomb felt like they were caught up in a horror movie, and sometimes so do we, don’t we? We look at the horrific images of what the Russians are doing to Ukrainian citizens, hear about the guy who shot up the NY subway, or think about the millions people who have died because of a run-away virus in the last 3 years. Or we could think about the racism, sexism, the climate crisis, or the way the world’s top 10% owns 75% of the world’s wealth, or how our politics are so toxic and divisive. Everything is going to heck in a hand-basket, and to top it all off, we are just one misguided missile, drone, or plane away from World War 3. But something changed [Slide 12 – Women] for those women that day. They left the tomb trembling with astonishment, filled with fear. Wouldn’t you? Death is one of those things no one comes back from. When you’re dead, you’re dead…but now Jesus isn’t? What does thatmean? Something changed for those women that day. The news they carried about Jesus being resurrected did in fact change the lives of Jesus’ friends. On Friday and Saturday, Jesus’ followers were cowering in their locked rooms, certain they were the next to go on trial and be executed. Starting Sunday night, after they hear the reports and see and touch Jesus, they are bold in sharing the Good News they had found—Jesus wasn’t dead and that meant all bets were off! New life was not just possible, but a sure thing. Something changed for those women, and something can change in us too. [Slide 14 – Change in us] The promise of resurrection wasn’t just for Jesus, because Jesus said it could apply to us too. That yes, we will all die, but when Jesus comes again, those who lived with Jesus—for Jesus—would be resurrected. That’s the hope of Easter—not just that Jesus rose from the grave, but that someday, we could too. Something can change in us too, as we realize that the horror movie of the world isn’t the last word, and some day it will end, and a new day begin. Something can change in us too, and our lives can be defined not by the horror movie of the world, but by the Easter story, our lives defined by the sacrifice, grace and love that Easter shows will win. Something can change in us too, by the grace of God, and a Jesus who is not dead… [Slide 15 – He is risen!] He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!