Making Sense of an Easter Funeral

It’s Easter Sunday.  He is Risen.  He is Risen Indeed!  Today I’ll lead three packed worship gatherings at 8:45, 10:00, and 11:15 then celebrate the life of little seven year old Laura Winstanley at her funeral at 2:00PM this afternoon.  What a day it will be.  The people of God will come together and they will shine.  They will worship. They will care. They will cry. They will grieve, smile, hug, sing, laugh, and cry some more.  They will be resilient.  They will cling to faith and seek to understand the tyranny of death, sickness, disease, and that irreconcilably lonely place that comes when someone you love deeply passes away. 

 In the midst of everything they will be drawn closer to God.  

Yeah . . .  God is good like that. He has always worked through the love, care, and faith of his people.

Today we will love well, and we will celebrate the one who loved us so well. 

Today we will proclaim that Christ is risen from the dead with the churches of the ages and all across the globe.  Today, we will not back down from the mystery of death.  It is our destiny as well.  God’s people have never backed down from struggle, tragedy, or death.  In fact, they have thrived right in the middle of incredible pain.  Why?  Because He lives and He is our hope!

We will follow those who have gone before us.  The early ancient church lived in a time of great struggle.  It thrived, and grew, and gained influence.  Early Christians were quickly a persecuted minority that the Roman government feared.  Think Nero, lions, burning, beheadings, dungeons, jail, and torture.  These early believers had no buildings, no trained leaders, no New Testament, no devotion guides, no podcasts, and no rockin’ Jesus music.

What did they have?

Even in those circumstances they had an undeniable presence.  Their faith was authentic and everyone knew them because of their good deeds and compassionate hearts. Had it not been that way they surely would have been just a footnote in history instead of the greatest force for good the world has ever known.  (. . . and yes, beyond the mistakes and tragedies of individuals and sub-groups of human beings I’ll stand by that statement as a general observation for the last 2000 years.) Their secret: They lived to do something FOR others instead of to take something FROM them.  They didn’t live to win arguments or establish political systems.  The lived to authentically help those around them.  The lived to love others like Jesus loved them. 

The Roman Culture they lived in had a bunch of different gods. These gods were whimsical, emotional, and untrustworthy. People were play things to them in the midst of their own cosmic struggles, romances, and desires. The Roman people followed their gods.  Might made right.  People were throw away object to get something from.  Life was not sacred.  Gladiators fought to the death for the purpose on entertaining the masses.  Slaves were bought, sold, and traded by Roman citizens. Women did not have rights. Female babies were discarded just because the family needed a boy.

Into this selfish, chaotic, uncompassionate world Jesus and his followers injected a value that is still changing the world today . . .  All people are made in the image of God. All people are sacred. All people deserve honor, respect, and love.

Into that world they lived in such a way that they adopted the thrown away children, raised the rights of women to new standards, taught slaves how to live with dignity, and survived persecution.

One Roman Emperor said this about them:

“[Their faith] has been specially advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers, and through their care for the burial of the dead. It is a scandal that there is not a single Jew who is a beggar, and that the [Christian] Galileans care not only for their own poor but for ours as well; while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them.

– Emperor Julian about 360 A.D.

Jesus led them this way:

35 “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. 36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.”  Luke 6:35a, 36 (NLT)                 

There it is.  Jesus the crucified one who rose from the dead sharing radical teaching that drove political and religious leaders to take his life. The early church thrived because it lived out the words of Jesus . . . his risen presence pulsing within them. They clung to faith no matter the circumstances, not with petty blind loyalty, but with an integrity that was undeniable. Today, Christian people everywhere are challenged to do the same.  Today, the people of The Orchard will do the same.  We will cling to Jesus.  We will do good without expecting to be repaid.  We will be compassionate.  We will love our enemies if they come around.  We will stare death in the face and declare that we know a better option.  We will place our hope in Jesus.  We will trust in his love. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP8isf9PVz4&feature=related

He is risen.  He is risen indeed.  And with him little Laura rises as well!