Crowning the Champion

Crowning the Champion--April 3, 2018

[Simon Peter said to the crowds on Pentecost:] "You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know--this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.... Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah." [Acts 2:22-24, 36]

Villanova beat Michigan in men's basketball tonight as I write.  And despite the rough start to the game for the Wildcats, in the end, it was a strong and solid win for Villanova, defeating the Wolverines by double digits as they had done throughout the NCAA tournament.  That much you can get from any news outlet in the country as the sports headline of the day.

Now, if I asked you the follow-up question, "What does it mean that Villanova beat Michigan in this particular game on this particular night?" you could answer in several ways.  You could say, for example, "Now we'll get back to regular TV programming since the tournament is over--this victory means that there will now be life after March Madness!"  And while it is technically true that the end of the game means that television schedules will resume now that the tournament is over, that seems to be burying the lead.  The real significance of the fact that the Villanova Wildcats beat the Michigan Wolverines is that this game was the championship for men's college basketball, which means that Villanova is again the reigning champion.  They didn't just win an individual basketball game tonight--they won the whole shootin' match. They are THE Champions over all the rest. Their victory wasn't just over one team, but really now they are the champions over all sixty-four teams that started the tournament.  Of course it means that your TV schedules will go back to normal, you could say, but that somehow seems to be a secondary point here.

The resurrection of Jesus is like that.  When the first followers of Jesus thought about what it actually meant that Jesus was (and is) alive again, they didn't just see it as his own personal good news. For the New Testament church, the resurrection meant that Jesus is Lord--that Jesus in fact, and, say, not Rome, was really in charge.  The resurrection wasn't simply a nice second chance at life for a rabbi from Nazareth.  And neither did they just see it as a way of "proving" there was life after death--that was almost a moot point to Peter.  The thing that stood out to Peter there on Pentecost was that Jesus' resurrection confirms that he is in fact the anointed Lord of creation and Chosen savior God had promised to set all things right in creation.  

This is important for us to consider because sometimes we stop short of that.  We hear the resurrection story on Easter Sunday (if we are paying attention in the first place, in between adjusting our Easter outfits and snacking on jelly beans), and we often only get as far as saying, "This story means that there is life after death.  Good news--heaven is real!"  And that's all well and good for as far as it goes, but that's a little like saying, "Villanova beat Michigan--good, my TV schedule will go back to normal now that the tournament is done." It is a true fact, but seems to miss the bigger significance. Yes, there is programming after the tournament, but that's a rather small potatoes conclusion.  The resurrection is really about who is victorious and vindicated--whether the powers of the day, or Jesus.

See, the early church and New Testament writers usually didn't use the resurrection of Jesus as "proof" of an afterlife--either their hearers believed already that there was life after death, or they didn't, and a story about an empty tomb didn't seem to sway people who were already skeptical.  But rather, the thing the early church centered in on was that if Jesus was alive again, it meant that he really did know what he was talking about all along!  If the God Jesus called "Abba" raised Jesus from the dead, it was a sign of God's endorsement, so to speak, of Jesus and his way of life, his way of reigning, his way of being in the world.  If God raised Jesus, it was God's way of vindicating Jesus and affirming that he really is Lord over all the other powers of the world, even the same Romans and Judeans who had sought his death.

The resurrection is God's way of saying "Yes! Yes! A thousand times, yes!" to Jesus' way of loving people... to his way of crossing boundaries, to his holy troublemaking, to his perspective (and practice) of loving enemies... his way of lifting up the overlooked and forgotten... his way of refusing to return evil for evil... his way of offering up his life for his people rather than protecting his own interests or defending his own life.  The resurrection is God's way of saying, "Yes!  You got it!" to the whole way of seeing and living in the world that Jesus taught and lived.  It is God's way of saying that the universe is under new management--Jesus' management--and that Jesus will be running things his way now.  He is victorious over death, and over the powers, and over everything that sets itself up again Jesus, and Jesus is victorious over them by dying for them.  The resurrection is God's way of saying that Jesus' way--and not Rome's way--is victorious, even though the victory of Jesus looks like defeat in Rome's eyes.  

If you had asked Peter there that day after he preached if he believed there was life after death, he would give you a funny look and then say, "Of course--but I already believed that.  The resurrection of Jesus says more--it says that Jesus really is the Lord of the universe... that his way really is the reigning power in all creation, all the evidence to the contrary notwithstanding."  The resurrection, you could say, was "the good news of regime change," to borrow a phrase of Walter Brueggemann's--the assurance that this enemy-loving, self-denying crucified rabbi really is the rightful ruler of the universe, and not Caesar (who called himself "Lord") or Pilate or the religious leaders in the temple, or the Invisible Hand of the Market, or death or fear or anybody else.  Rome and its bullies might have thought they ruled, but the empty tomb stands as God's endorsement of Jesus.

So when we reflect on a day like today about what Easter means for any of us, we will have to say more than just, "It means there is such a thing as life after death." The resurrection is God's message that Jesus' way really is God's way, and that Jesus' teachings were not simply warm and fuzzy inspirational suggestions, but directives from the rightful Ruler of creation.  We don't get to say, "Jesus rose from the dead to show me that there is life after death, but I don't really think that I need to actually take his teachings seriously."  Acknowledging the resurrection means acknowledging that Jesus is right about how we are meant to live in the world with one another.  Celebrating Easter necessarily means a change of allegiance of Jesus and his way of ruling the universe.  It has always been about more than just winning one game--Easter means that Jesus is the victor over it all.

So if the outcome of one basketball game can mean more than just a change of TV schedules or a single victory, then the resurrection of Jesus can mean more than just the abstract thought of an afterlife.  It means Jesus has won the championship and there are no other powers strong enough to defeat him as defending champion.  It means that the way of Jesus really is God's way.

Now that's a victory really worth making a fuss over.

Lord Jesus, let us consider honestly what it means to call you Lord, and make us to pledge our allegiance to you and your way.