A Wider Assurance

A Wider Assurance--April 24, 2018

[Paul said to the crowd in Athens:] "...While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” [Acts 17:30-31]

The Christian faith hangs on the resurrection, but maybe not only in the ways we are used to.  As Paul tells it, the resurrection of Jesus is the "assurance" that grounds our faith's story.  In other words, Paul would say to us, the reason there is a Christian faith at all is that Jesus is alive again.  Without Jesus being raised from the dead, we might as well all go home or pick from one of the other choices in the buffet of religions out there.

Okay, so far, so good.  Jesus' resurrection is the lynchpin of our faith, the keystone that holds everything else in place--that sounds pretty much like standard Christian theology.  But just what is it that Jesus' resurrection assures us of?  Paul talks about the resurrection as though it is a guarantee of something wider and bigger, but what is that "something"?  We might expect it to be something like this:  "Jesus was raised from the dead, and therefore I know that I will go to heaven when I die."  That is quite often how we use the resurrection.  And that's not incorrect; elsewhere the New Testament does make that kind of move--that Jesus' resurrection is a confirmation that we, too, will be raised to new and unending life beyond the grip of death.  But what's interesting to me is that this is not the move Paul makes here.  He sees the resurrection of Jesus as an assurance of something more, something bigger than just a "me-and-Jesus" thing or a "I-get-to-go-to-heaven-when-I-die" thing.  Paul talks about the resurrection as the assurance that God will put the world right again.  The world is to be governed in righteousness, which is Greek is the same word as justice; and in fact, it will be governed by the same one who was raised from the dead.  It will be governed by the risen and living Jesus, who teaches us what righteousness--that is, justice--really looks like. 

And Jesus gives us some surprising pictures in his life and ministry and teachings of what "righteousness"/"justice" is:  it looks like laborers who get paid all the same amount ("what is right," according to the parable in Matthew 20); it look like a blessing on the poor in spirit, the grieving, the meek, and the peacemakers; it looks like food for the hungry, clothing for the naked, and compassion and visitation for the sick and imprisoned (in the parable about "the least of these" in Matthew 25, note that the ones who do these things are judged to be "righteous"); and Jesus even says that it looks more like the tax collectors and prostitutes who turned their allegiance to Jesus when they heard him rather than the professional holy people of the day.  Jesus, in other words, gives us a picture of "righteousness" throughout his life, and this seems to be a vision of the way he will govern and judge the world at that appointed day.  And Paul says to us, you know it's true because Jesus is alive again.  This is all part of what the resurrection means. It is not just a stamp on my ticket to heaven for those lucky or smart enough to get in while the getting was good.  The resurrection confirms that Jesus' understanding of what it means to be "righteous" or to do "justice" is in fact God's understanding of righteousness and justice.  The resurrection is a sign that Rome's rule is not permanent, and that the powers of the day will not last, no matter how much they bluster. The resurrection confirms Jesus' agenda as well as his authority.

That is a much bigger picture than we might be used to. We are used to pulling out the resurrection of Jesus and dusting it off once a year on Easter Sunday, or at All Saints' Day, or at a funeral.  We are used to saying that the resurrection of Jesus is my personal proof that there is life after death.  And while it means at least that much, Paul calls us to see so much more that is a part of God's vision.  God's raising of Jesus is also our assurance that God will not let the world remain broken.  The resurrection is our keystone for a whole new way of life that no longer has to live as though death is the biggest thing in town.  The resurrection is the key for us no longer letting scarcity and fear dictate my life--so I no longer need to hoard for myself at the expense of my neighbor, and so I no longer need to seek to kill my enemy (before he kills me!) out of crippling fear.  If the power of death really has been broken, then we do not have to live as though it is still the cock of the walk here and now, either.  The resurrection of Jesus grounds not only our hope of heaven, but our way on earth, too, as God's strange people. 

I wonder how that would change the ways we invite people to know about Jesus.  We might not try and sell our religion to people as a ticket to heaven as much as we might speak his call to a new allegiance and a new movement in life.  We might not just say, "Believe in Jesus now, and you'll get all kinds of neat bonuses after death," but instead, "Be a part of Jesus' community now, and you'll get a taste of what his rule over all creation will be like when he rules the world in his own merciful kind of justice." or "Being a disciple of Jesus lets us recognize that he has the authority to mean it when he tells us our sins are forgiven."  The resurrection is our assurance as Christians--but it turns out to assure a much bigger web of things than we might have first recognized.  Christ is risen--he is risen indeed.

Risen and Living Lord, just when we think we have you figured out and understand what your life means for us, you open up our vision to see more than we had bargained for.  Your life and your way, though, are always more than we had bargained for, since they are such precious and free gifts.  So open up our vision again, as wide as you dare to, and then open our mouths to share the Good News of your reign with all today.