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The Resurrection of Our Lord Primary Text: Mark 16:1-18 April 16, 2006 He is Risen! He is risen indeed!! Alleluia!!! Every once in a while something will happen in each one of our lives that will cause us to re-evaluate our priorities and our beliefs. Recently, I had such an event occur and suddenly the things that were important to me a month ago (things on my daily schedule and even important things like preparing a sermon for a big occasion like this Easter Sunday)—suddenly these things aren’t quite as important to me…as they were a month ago. It was already three weeks ago now, on Sunday, March 26th, 2006, when my telephone rang at 5 o’clock in the morning. It was my dad’s voice on the line and it was obvious that he was upset—something was wrong. “Josh,” he said, “I’m at the hospital with your mother…she can’t move her left side. She’s having a stroke…” My dad and I prayed together on the phone. The brain-scan given in the Emergency Room showed no bleeding, which indicated to the doctor that a blood-clot had entered her brain. My mom was paralyzed on her left side: she was unable to move her arm or leg and her speech was garbled and…she was getting worse. The Doctor in the ER said that people don’t regain what they loose from this type of stroke. My mom is 62 years old with, God-willing, a long life ahead of her. Reluctantly and fearfully, the ER doc said there was one thing they could still try…but it would be extremely dangerous. Apparently, there is a new medicine today which is given as an injection—a “clot-buster” which prevents any clotting agents in the blood from working. This means that while it could aid her recovery from the stroke, it also could immediately kill her. That is, if she were to have an ulcer or a bruise anywhere on her body, she would simply bleed to death and there would be nothing anyone could do. The doctor and the hospital had apparently not had good results with this medicine in the past. My mom described to me how she and my father had discussed their alternatives the best they could, they prayed the Lord’s Prayer together, and with tears streaming down my father’s face, the nurse injected this medicine into my mom’s arm. She said it was amazing. Within 30 seconds, “Oh, I can move my hand,” and then wiggling her toes, “Now I can move my leg.” Amazing. Needing to give support to my family and needing to receive their support, I flew down to Texas to be with them. I am happy to report to all of you, that today my mom is completely healed. I arrived in time to see her being discharged from the hospital and to hear another doctor said to my parents, “Well, you can say that this medicine saved your life…or you can say it was God.” Wow! What an amazing thing! The ER doctor apparently called my mom in the hospital just to check, “Is this the same woman who was in the ER yesterday—the one who could hardly talk!?” He was relieved. Thus far, many of you have already heard this part of the story, but now you should hear the rest of the story. If you thought this was a good one, wait until you here what happened just a few days ago: As it turns out, my mom went to see a neural surgeon, and according to this specialist at the same hospital…it couldn’t have happened. None of it. According to this doctor, after giving my mom another brain scan and more tests, based on the scientific understanding of the day, my mom never had her stroke at all. It is…an impossibility. He told my mom she must have had “AN ANXIETY ATTACK!” Now, here I am looking at this whole thing from thousands of miles away, wondering what to think. I know my parents, and I know this was no anxiety attack. The more and more improbable (or “impossible”) it sounds to an expert, the more and more convinced I am that the people involved—my mother and father, the Doctor in the Emergency Room, the entire ER Staff—they all experienced a miracle! Please, don’t get me wrong. I’m not one to go around touting miracles, but…for my mom’s part I am reminded of the story from the 9th Chapter of John. After being healed by Jesus, the once-blind man is questioned repeatedly by skeptical Pharisees… A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” said the Pharisees. “We know this man (Jesus) is a sinner.” He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” (John 9:24-25) As for my mom, “One thing I know. She was half-paralyzed. Now She’s not!”
Yesterday I was watching a little TV (I gave it up for Lent, but I didn't quite make it). Anyway, I was watching this show on the Jesus Seminar. For those of you who don’t know about the Jesus Seminar, they are a group of scholars, theologians, and historians who dissect the four gospels trying to decide what actually happened to Jesus Christ; what, based on probability, actually occurred in fact. They contrast this “probable history” to what can be taken merely as truth in a “spiritual sense.” Anyway, I was interest to hear Bart Ehrman (one Jesus Scholar who I enjoy reading myself) talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He said that to the Jesus Seminar, “the resurrection is problematic.” That is, using probabilities, the resurrection “probably” never happened. His point being that you can’t say something that is a scientific impossibility “probably” happened. He went on to say that that is why we call the resurrection a miracle. This got me thinking…Based on the same criteria of probability…I have some concerns. What is the probability that anything would happen: Life on our planet, you being who you are, me being who I am? The more I think about it, the more I have a hard time believing any of this. The whole thing is “problematic” to me. Let’s face it; we live in a highly unlikely world altogether…A miracle world!
My mom said she thought the neural surgeon was very smart, and that he knew what he was talking about…Yet he hadn’t been there in the Emergency Room and (how did she say it?) she was a little put off by his inability or unwillingness to believe what she (and the ER Doctor) knew to be true. She said she thought his knowledge got in his way. It made him arrogant. It strikes me that possibly this is a sin (just like the Pharisees and this neural surgeon) that we all struggle with. I will be the first to raise my hand when it comes to not being able or willing to see the hand of God as it works right before my eyes (read Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24) I, for one, like to control things myself—by explaining them. Today, brothers and sisters, is Resurrection Sunday—the day marking another miraculous event that changed, not just one life, but the whole world. According to the Book of Acts (Acts 10:34-43) these events were passed down by those who were there—people who actually experienced the resurrected Jesus. And today I must admit that, through no fault or credit of my own, I believe! I believe today, more than ever, that Jesus (called the Christ or the Messiah) was raised by God from the dead. He is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!!!) What does this mean? It means that Jesus was right! We do live in a miracle world and Jesus showed that, no matter the cost (even the cost of dying on the cross) what is really important is the relationship to the miracle-maker and not to any other thing. Today you heard the original ending to Mark’s Gospel. It ends abruptly with the women leaving in fear from the empty tomb with angelic instructions to go back to Galilee. Back to Galilee—back to the beginning of the story. “Go back to Galilee.” Back to where you came from. Look back to the beginning of the story, to find the power of the resurrection. He’s not here. To find the maker of miracles, one must first look back into his or her story with eyes willing to see him. And in the future, it means keeping ourselves anchored in our relationship with God as Jesus Christ did. Don’t change because people want you to be something other than who you are. Seek out God. Seek out truth. And above all, leave the possibility for God open in your life. So that when he opens the gate, you can fearlessly walk the path that is miraculously open before you!
He is risen! (He is risen indeed!
Alleluia!!!) Joshua W. Magyar, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
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