I Kings 17:17-24
Psalm 30
Gal. L:11-24
Luke 7:11-17
Pentecost 2
Proper 5C
HE 2A 10:00
DOING SOMETHING ABOUT DEATH
Credit: Pulpit Resource 2007,2010
Previous: Rev. from 89,07 "Life in face of adversity"
**********
Warm summer weather is one of the times we think of cooling foods to eat, and perhaps we may eat quite a few slices of watermelon. This sermon starts from watermelons and their seeds. Have you ever thought of what a watermelon seed can do? It has the power of drawing from the ground and through itself something like 200,000 times its own weight. It takes this material and out of it colors an outside surface beyond the imitation of art, and then forms inside it a white rind, and inside that again, the red heart, thickly inlaid with black seeds, each one of which is in turn capable of drawing through itself 200,000 times its own weight.
The marvel of life - its beauty and complexity - this is one of the most frequent reasons offered for believing in God. But more than just life, but life in the face of adversity: seeds will take root and grow in unlikely places - sometimes after having laid dormant for years or even centuries, like the seeds of wheat found in the Egyptian pyramids, seeds that still will germinate.
All three of our Bible readings today speak of life in the face of adversity. The Old Testament reading has the prophet Elijah restoring life to the dead only son of a widow - life in the face of what was surely a terrible event to have to go through. To be a widow in those days meant that the widow had no means of support.
A similar incident in the Gospel of Luke has Jesus restoring a widow's only son's life in the village of Nain. And again, the people's response is to see this as a sign of God's presence - life in the face of adversity.
Paul, in the Epistle reading testifies to his own resurrection from being a persecutor of Christians to new life in Christ; and he attributes that new life to God: "The gospel which was preached by me is not man's gospel" (1:11), and "they glorified God because of me" (1:24).
Each of these three - the Old Testament child, the widow's son in Nain, and St. Paul, could be see as evidence of a God of Life, who reveals divine life through human life. While Jews believe that God sent the Law, and Muslims believe that God sent the holy Book, the Quran, Christians believe that God sent His Son, a living Person. And Jesus, through His own life, revealed something of God's life.
But the Scriptures record a majestic God whose power is always known in terms of compassion and love for people. This is true in both Old and new Testaments. It was to slaves in Egypt that God came in compassion, to lead them out of slavery into freedom. Today's Scriptures tell us of a God Who leads us out of death into life, on several different levels.
And let us not forget that Christian faith began in a cemetery, in the face of death. In full view of the grave, Jesus faced and endured the worst of what it meant to be God"deep in the flesh"(Luther). Death was not overcome by a declaration. It was overcome by dying. Death had to be faced and not fled from. And because Jesus faced every kind of death and was raised victorious from the grave, He is able to bring new life into and out of every kind of death that we face.
All of our stories end at the cemetery, in the great defeat that we name as death. And yet, now that Jesus Christ is raised, now that the Holy Spirit has come, there is hope that our story is not over till God says it is over. There is hope for a future, not because of our efforts to extend our lives, but because Jesus is Lord of life.
Death is countered by the One Who in His Resurrection defeated death and was raised to new life. Resurrection doesn't just happen on Easter. Resurrection happens whenever Jesus shows up on the scene.
So, we who are dying are not defeated by death, because we know death has been defeated I cannot explain this; I can simply proclaim it. Jesus has decisively done something about death: Christ has risen!
You heard that proclamation on Easter. Now I say it with a new twist: Christ has risen for you!
How is God working within your life, and the life of this planet, to bring life from death? Have you ruled God out as impotent and powerless, because you cannot easily see His workings? As you travel and visit new places, and enjoy the beauties of God's earth this summer, think for a spell on God's loving power... He is all around us, bringing life out of death. And He is doing it in your life and the lives of those you love and pray for, if you will let Him. And He can do it in as great abundance as that little watermelon seed does, with which we began out thoughts.