Our Footprints on the Moon

Our Footprints on the Moon--April 10, 2018

"But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death." [1 Corinthians 15:20-26]

It's like walking on the moon.

Or, more accurately, it's like Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.  You recall, certainly, those famous and historic words of Armstrong's from July 20, 1969, as he and Buzz Aldrin put their feet on the dingy gray dust of Earth's natural satellite: this moment was both "one small step" for an individual climbing down a ladder, and yet this was also "one giant leap" for all of humanity.  And of course, it was just that: this was the first time our species had touched down on another world with our own feet... and yet it happened through one person's actual, tangible, boot-covered feet.  Simultaneously, Neil Armstrong's actions were his own... and in a very real sense, they were all of ours.  They were the promise, you could say, that there would be more footsteps on the moon, more humans in space visiting more worlds, more missions going boldly where, as a certain TV show put it, "no one has gone before."

And indeed, that is just what has begun to unfold, even if it has been a while since any of our kind have visited the moon in person, and even if it will be a good long while before any of us venture any further to Mars, or Europa, or beyond.  There were, in fact, more boots on the moon, and more members of humankind who ventured out into its dusty craters.  Armstrong had it exactly right.

At the time, of course, nobody for a second doubted that Neil Armstrong's footprints on the Sea of Tranquility were "just" his, as if he were there simply as an individual tourist.  Everybody knew as they watched that Armstrong was going there, in a sense, for all of us. Certainly Americans watched with pride as they saw one of their own nation stepping down from the ladder. And at the same time, people all over the globe saw Armstrong, not simply as an American astronaut, but as a human being--one of what we all are.  In a very real sense, Neil Armstrong's footprints on the moon transcended all the boundaries of nationality, language, culture, and politics (remembering that when he walked on the moon, there was still a Cold War of Western democratic capitalism versus Soviet-style authoritarian communism raging back on this planet).  Armstrong himself described that step, not just as a step for "all Americans," but for, in his word, "mankind."  By his own description, this was bigger than one country, one ideology, or one group.  It was for all of us, even if some down on Earth watching the footage on their TV screens would have considered an American their enemy. Whether the Soviets, for example, liked it or not, Neil Armstrong's walking on the moon was for all of us, and it was a promise that more feet would follow his in this strange new country where you could see the Earth rising off the horizon in the distance.  In a sense, to see the treads left by Neil Armstrong's boots there in the lunar dirt is to see our own footprints on the moon.

The resurrection of Jesus, according to the New Testament, is rather like that.  Easter is never seen as simply "just" good news for Jesus.  The resurrection of Christ means our resurrection as well.  Jesus goes into the far country of death, into the void like an astronaut navigating the inky blackness of space, and Jesus reaches the solid ground of resurrection life, not just as an individual traveler on his own, but as the vanguard for all of humanity.  He is, to borrow Paul's image (which is itself a riffing on the agricultural images of the Old Testament), a "firstfruits" of the dead--the one whose presence is a sign, a promise, a foretaste, assuring that there is more to come.  Christ's resurrection is the pulling of a thread in the very fabric of death, and once it has been tugged on, the whole shroud will unravel.  In a sense, you could say, in Christ's resurrection, all of our lives have been caught up as well.  To see Jesus' nail-marked footprints walking out of the tomb is to see our own resurrected steps as well.

That is what Paul seems to be getting at when he insists that "as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ."  God's intention in raising Jesus from the dead was never just to give Jesus a pat on the back and a fatherly "Attaboy, Son..." but to break death's power over all of us, so that even though Jesus was the first one raised to life from death, he would not be the only one resurrected.  The point of the Apollo program wasn't just to get one astronaut to the Moon and then stop, but to open up the way for humanity to step out into the final frontier.  And the resurrection of Christ is the same, according the New Testament: it was never just about getting one crucified rabbi out of his borrowed grave, but about opening up the way for all humanity to cross the darkness and step into resurrected life.  

So what?  Well, for starters, when I find myself worrying in the sleepless nights about what waits for me in death, I no longer have to look at myself for answers.  I don't look to myself, to my accomplishments, to my list of "good" actions (or how it compares to my list of "bad" actions), to my church attendance, offering totals, or prayer life.  I don't even have to look at how strong or deep my faith is--it's no about me, but it has always been about Jesus.  

And second, all of this talk means that I never, ever, get to write anybody else off in this life.  I never get to say (or even think) that So-and-so is too wicked or mean-spirited or different or sinful or anything else for me not to treat with grace and hope... because they, too, are caught up in Jesus' resurrection.  He died... for them.  He was raised... for them.  As sure as I want to claim that Jesus died for me and rose again for me, I have to also grant, too, that Jesus did it for the people I least like, the people I least respect, the people I fear the most, and the people I scorn and detest and look down on, too.  Neil Armstrong brought all of humanity to the moon with him, even the citizens of countries in competition with the United States--that's what made his steps "one giant leap for mankind," in his words.  And Jesus gathers up all of humanity, whether I like it or not, in his death and resurrection.

And last, this means that I no longer get to see other people as the "real" enemy.  The ultimate enemy, Paul says, is not "those people," but rather death itself.  After all, while it may well have been the competition sparked by the "Space Race" and the Cold War that pushed the Apollo missions to put someone on the moon, the real challenge was the quest to cross the dark chasm of space itself.  Jesus' resurrection was not intended to pit us against one another and declare a winner--it was the crossing of the dark chasm of death itself.

All of this places the resurrection of Jesus into a much bigger frame than we usually want to put it into.  It's not just good news for Jesus, and it's not even just a ticket to the afterlife for me or my team.  It is about the redemption of humanity, and the gathering up of all of us, across our many divides, our pet hatreds, and our deep-rooted fears, into one.

Those footprints on the moon--they are Neil's, and they are all of ours, because our common humanity has been brought across the eternal night of space there.  And because there is no air or wind on the moon, there those bootprints will stay.  And just the same, the footprints of Christ that lead out of the tomb carry all of our humanity with him into resurrection life, too.

Lord Jesus, grant us to see all that you have done, and all that you have gathered to yourself in your resurrection.  Let us share in your risen life.