What Does It Mean?

"WHAT DOES IT MEAN?"

a message by Rev. Dr. Bruce Havens

Coral Isles Church, U.C.C.

April 20, 2025

Luke 24:1-12 NRSV

1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

Christ is risen!  Christ is risen indeed!  But what does that mean?  They all knew he was dead. They all believed that.  It was only later that some enemies tried to spread the fake news that he didn’t really die.  The stories of his death are the first part of the center of the whole thing.  And the whole thing – his death, and our claim that he is risen – are the center of our faith.  But what does that mean?

Don’t feel bad if you don’t have an instant answer.  The Scripture reading tells us the disciples were perplexed, terrified, and amazed.  The ones closest to Jesus at the time of his crucifixion weren’t sure what it meant. So this morning I want to try to give my answer.  Now, I have the advantage that this isn’t the first moment I heard of this event, by any means.  I have wrestled with what Christ’s resurrection means pretty much all my life, so I don’t mind sharing what I think it means.

We can argue about “resurrection” all we want.  We can argue the science of it, the metaphysics of it, the theological meaning of it.  We can believe it or not believe it.  But what does all that mean?  For me it comes down to this:  What does it mean to your life?  What does it mean for my life?  Until we answer that question ourselves, for our lives, the default answer is “it means nothing.”  And for me that is the saddest answer of all.

Because whatever you may believe, I believe the resurrection has always been as much about this life as the next.  I have always believed that resurrection means following the way of Jesus now.  For me that has always been based in the most basic elements of faith: hope, love, and justice [what the Bible often calls “righteousness.”]  I always start with hope.  Hope was what Jesus brought to people in his life.  I especially appreciate the stories of him bringing hope to the people others thought of as hopeless or worthless.  He brought hope to the woman of a different religion whose daughter had died.  He brought hope to Zaccheus who was hated for being a tax collector.  Jesus welcomed him and went to his home to have dinner with him.  He brought hope to Mary and Martha when he raised their brother Lazarus from death.  Everywhere he went he brought hope.  I want to live the resurrection of hope now, because we are living in times when many are losing hope because of the headlines and problems of today.  I believe in the power of resurrection to give hope.  That’s what resurrection means to me.

And of course, faith in Jesus, to me, has always means loving others.  The resurrection means nothing can defeat God’s love.  Not evil rulers or hateful religious people or anything else in all creation can defeat God’s love.  I want to live striving to love as Jesus loved.  When the rich man came to Jesus and asked about eternal life it says Jesus asked him about the commandments: love God, and love neighbor as yourself.  When the man asked who qualified as neighbor Jesus told the story of a foreigner who helped an Israelite who had been beaten and robbed.  The Israelite’s own people ignored him, but the foreigner not only helped him he paid for his medical care.  He told the man, go and be like the one you have been taught to hate, but who acted out of love for a fellow human being.

I don’t have to repeat every story in the Gospels to remind you that Jesus taught a radical, life-changing way of loving.  He modeled it in his own actions.  Even his decision to let the oppressive governing authorities execute him was a defining moment of love.  He suffered and died in faith that God’s love was more powerful than those who hated, persecuted, and killed others.  He put his total trust in the power of God’s love to triumph over the power of evil that put him on that cross.  Doing so was not a sign of weakness, not a sign of capitulation.  It was the planting of a seed that rose up and flourished and became a movement that offered a way to change the world.

So I also believe that living the resurrection now means working to stand against the powers of evil.  I want to believe in the active love of nonviolent resistance to injustice and evil.  I want to act on that by the things I do and the love I live by.  I would rather identify with Ghandi and the Rev. Martin Luther King, jr., than those who use power to harm others.  I want to trust the power of love like those who gave their lives to changing oppression to liberation than give in to the false Christianity of nationalism, or the oppressive values of Project 2025.  I want to do that with love, not hatred, for those who believe in those falsehoods.  I want to do it with compassion for those whose eyes are blinded and hearts have been hardened by hating others or I am no better than them.  I wan to stand with Paul who said, “Love never fails!”

When it comes down to it, resurrection, to me, means figuring out every day how to live resurrection.  I don’t do it to earn a place in heaven after life here.  I don’t do it to be forgiven by God for my sins, I don’t know a God who is waiting to punish me for all my failures. I know a God waiting to welcome me into new life and the perfect, ultimate love that will finally transform me.  And I believe every day is an opportunity to be a little more transformed.  I believe in a God whose love is so powerful it will transform everyone who enters into its presence now or in the hereafter.  I believe we can be transformed by that love now, but it takes some work.  True faith is knowing we fail, yet are loved. True faith is knowing we can enter into the perfect love of God now – and be transformed.

Now, let me confess the obvious.  In my case it is taking a life long time.  I’m not transformed fully yet.  I still hate.  I still fail.  I still hurt others.  I still sin.  But I believe the resurrection means I am forgiven, I am loved, and I will be transformed.  And I believe you will be too.  I believe in a God whose transforming love is the ultimate power in this or any other universe.  I believe in resurrection now, and later, before and after, here and there, and everywhere, because I believe in a God whose love reigns!

Yes, I believe God reigns.  And I will believe until my last day and my last breath in a God of love.  And I will keep believing God’s love reigns more powerfully than any dictators in this world, any haters, any cause of injustice or pain.  My God reigns, so I keep working!  God’s love reigns, so I’ll keep loving!  Love never fails.  That’s what the resurrection means now, and for eternity because Christ is risen!  Christ is risen indeed! AMEN.