God’s grace, peace
and mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled Insurance and is based on
our Gospel (John 20:1-18). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist
wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of
the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to
hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our
hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity.
Amen.
First, there is an
ancient custom of Easter laughter, because laughter means joy. I was going to
tell you this story that I originally thought I would include in my Good Friday
sermon, but I didn’t want to break that somber mood. Some time ago, I was
called to a local nursing home to pray with a dying man. The nurse told me on
the phone that the family requested my presence. When I arrived at the nursing
home, I presented myself to the nurse and asked for the man’s room number. She
obliged. I then asked where the family was. The nurse informed me that they
were not here. They went home, but asked that I visit their uncle.
No one had private
rooms at this nursing home. Everyone shared a room with one or three other men
or women. There was one other person in the room when I arrived. He was
watching TV. The privacy curtain was drawn, but I sensed that the man must have
been hard of hearing because the volume was loud. Really loud. Like the people
across the block could hear it loud.
I began to pray
with the dying man. … Now, you remember on Good Friday, I asked what last words
you want to hear before you cross from here to eternity. … My words may have
been the last he heard, but I’m not so sure because over my voice blared the
familiar theme and the introduction for “Leave it to Beaver.” At that very
moment I thought, “I wonder if this will be what this man hears for all
eternity.” Enough levity for one sermon.
Last Fall, before
I turned 65, Insurance Broker Frank Namath visited me to show what Medicare
Supplement plans are available. After he presented several plans, I asked him,
“What about that plan your brother offers on TV?” He replied quickly, “You
don’t want that.”
We spend a lot of
money on insurance for our property, vehicles, health and lives. On average,
Americans spend between 15-23% of their income on insurance. One policy that I
purchased and will use is funeral insurance. As one funeral director told me,
“This is one insurance policy that I guarantee you will use.” It’s true. We may
never make a claim for damage to our homes or automobiles. We may sparingly use
health insurance when we’re young, but all of us will die. On that happy note,
I’ll move on.
Insurance is an
arrangement by which a company or government agency provides a guarantee of
compensation for specified loss, damage, illness or death in return for payment
of a premium. The origin of the word comes from two Latin words: in
meaning in or into; and securus meaning free from care, untroubled and
safe.
There is one
insurance policy that is guaranteed, and if you’re in, you will be free from
care, untroubled and safe. It’s the Eternal Life Insurance Policy. No retired quarterbacks
or under-employed actors are selling this because it’s free, and it’s backed by
Jesus the Risen Lord. Search through the Gospels, and you will find numerous
promises by Jesus for eternal life, especially in John.
This
is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
you have sent.[1]
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch
them out of my hand.[2]
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.[3]
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will
raise him up on the last day.[4]
Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will
keep it for eternal life.[5]
You must admit
that those promises are quite bold. Jesus personally guaranteed eternal life before
He delivered it. Such confidence makes Joe Namath’s Superbowl guarantee look
shaky. When someone offers a guarantee not only do they put it in writing and
offer a signed contract, they also provide personal testimony by satisfied
customers. Let’s look at the personal testimonies provided in our Gospel today.
The first is from John and the other from Mary Magdalene.
Our passage tells
us that on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early,
while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the
tomb. She did not go into the tomb. She did not get close enough to peek. She
ran to Peter and the Beloved Disciple, John, and reported that some people took
the Lord out of the tomb, and no one knew where his body was. At this, both
Peter and John ran to the tomb. (There is good reason for all the running in
this passage.) Peter entered first, but the Gospel tells us that John went in,
saw and believed. The Gospel does not say that they understood. It does not say
that they went out and started evangelizing. The Gospel says that they went
home. More importantly, it says that John believed.
The Beloved
Disciple believed that Jesus rose from the dead before he saw Him. He believed
before he recalled the prophetical Scriptures. He believed because he saw the
linen burial cloths lying on the ground and the face cloth which covered Jesus’
face and head folded up in a place by itself. Most people would say that evidence
is as thin as linen. Can you imagine believing Jesus rose from the dead without
seeing Him yourself? Would you buy into Everlasting Life based solely on the
fact that there were linen cloths left on the ground in two separate piles?
Some people may not, but based on what he saw, the Beloved Disciple became the
first believer.
Then, there is the
second testimony from Mary Magdelene. Mary, as we heard, returned to the tomb,
where there were two angels. They weren’t there when Peter and John entered,
but when she looked into the tomb, they spoke to her. She answered their
question, telling them why she was weeping, but having a conversation with two
angels, was not enough to convince Mary that Jesus rose from the dead. For
John, burial cloths suffice. For Mary, speaking with two angels didn’t do it.
Then there’s that
conversation with the unrecognized Jesus. Like the angels, he too asked her
reason for weeping and seeking. She answered this gardener’s question, but
still no inkling who he was. No indication of belief. Up to now, she hasn’t
offered any convincing testimony. But wait for it.
As soon as she
heard her name, she knew. She heard. She saw. She believed. Remember, the Good
Shepherd “calls his own sheep by name … they know his voice.”[6] Now, this scene of the
angels and Jesus doubly emphasized the fact that the body of Jesus had not been
taken, as unbelievers asserted. Filled with joy,[7] Mary reached out to Jesus,
but he told her not to touch him. That might be surprising, but note that his
return is his exaltation to his place with the Father. He said that when he is
lifted up from the earth to the Father that he would draw all people to
himself.[8]
Jesus is telling
Mary, and John is telling us, not to think that Jesus returned to life and then
ascended into heaven sometime later. Rather, John sees Jesus’ crucifixion,
resurrection, exaltation and return to heavenly glory as a single event. When
asked by one of his disciples how he was going to show himself to his followers
and not to the world, Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, he will keep
my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home
with him.”[9]
In other words, Jesus showed himself to Mary and the other disciples in terms
of love and the indwelling presence of the Father and Son with them. Those who
accepted and welcomed Jesus became children of God.[10]
Like the Beloved
Disciple, Mary Magdalene loved Jesus, and as she executed the task the Risen
Lord gave her, the first words out of her mouth and the last words we hear from
her are, “I have seen the Lord.”[11]
I have seen the
Lord. You either believe her or you don’t. I’m buying in. As Pittsburgh Dad
might say, “Honey, sign me up one of them Eternal Life Insurance Policies.
This Mary Magdalene is more convincing than Billy Mays ever was.” Friends,
Easter Sunday and the Easter Season reminds us that Jesus promised and
delivered Eternal Life to anyone who accepts and welcomes Him. That would
include who Jesus was and is, as well as what He taught during His life and
through the Spirit-inspired teaching of His initial followers.
As we get into
some of the teachings of Paul and Peter, John and James, even Jude and whoever
wrote Hebrews, we may have some reservation. Some Christians do. Some revise
and rewrite Biblical teachings.
That said, do you
still want to buy into an Eternal Life Insurance Policy? If not, what happens
if I do not buy into Jesus’ Eternal Life Insurance Policy? What if I choose not
to accept and welcome Jesus? What if I choose another Gospel, another way or my
way? Well, everyone is free to do so. Will, who came to me seeking Baptism, and
John, seeking to reaffirm his faith through Confirmation, have done so freely
and without cost.
Accepting and
welcome Jesus, receiving God’s grace is free. As Ron Hietsch likes to say, “You
have a prepaid ticket.” Jesus paid the cost for the forgiveness of your sins
and guaranteed you Everlasting Life.
My friends, this
is the best time to read the Resurrection and post-Resurrection narratives in
the Four Gospels. I ask you this week not only to read them, but study them as
you would a contract. Marvel in them as you did your spouse before you
committed to that loving relationship. Pay particular attention to the words
towards the end of John that remind us that all this is, “written so that
you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing
you may have life in his name. … This is the disciple who testifies to these
things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.”[12] His testimony is true.
Seeing is believing, and believing is seeing. “Blessed are those who have
not seen and have believed.”[13] I pray that as you leave
here today that the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keeps your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus the Risen Lord. Amen. Alleluia!
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