One of my favorite pieces of sacred music is the Eastern Orthodox Easter liturgy. It begins with a
single, powerful bass voice, And continues with a men’s chorus that basically knocks you back on
your heels. As the first light of dawn begins to light the church, these words are sung: Let God
Arise! Let His enemies be scattered! Let those who hate Him flee from before His face. Christ is
risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the grave, bestowing life!
These first words trumpet the astonishing truth that Christians have received and celebrated
through the centuries. A tomb outside Jerusalem held the broken and lifeless body of Jesus Christ,
wrapped in a bloodstained linen shroud, and burial spices dampened with the tears of His followers,
who were devastated at the dead end of a dream too good to be true.
But now, the tomb is empty! The end of the dream too good to be true has become the beginning of
a dream come true. The cave that was darkened by the blackness of despair has been illuminated
in the blinding light of the resurrection. Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Last Sunday we followed Peter as he witnessed firsthand the avalanche of events that took place in
Holy Week. We watched with him as throngs of people with palms lined the path into Jerusalem and
shouted with joyful expectation for this One who would be their liberator. We listened with Peter as
he heard Jesus bluntly and passionately condemn the corruption of the Jewish officials in Jerusalem,
and obscurely predict His own death and resurrection. We felt the hot, righteous fury of the Messiah
as He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and cried out against the desecration of God’s
Temple. We shared with the disciples at the meal in which Jesus declared of the Passover bread,
“This is My body,” and declared of the Passover wine, “This is My blood of the new covenant,
poured out for many.” We stumbled with Peter through history’s darkest night. With him we
slumbered fitfully in the hour of Jesus’ deep anguish of spirit. We felt in our own hearts the shame
of denial when accusing fingers and shrill voices linked Peter with his condemned Master. Then we
fled with him to the shadows as Jesus was taken away to be lashed, tormented and crucified. When
we left Peter he was sobbing in utter desolation in the empty room which, only hours earlier, had
held the warmth of the Lord’s Supper.
We promised last Sunday that this isn’t the end of the story, however. That something presently
happened which transformed Peter from a conflicted, impulsive man controlled by his own fears, into
one of the great people of history. Tonight we celebrate what that “something” is—the Resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
The account of the resurrection in St. Matthew’s Gospel begins at dawn with Mary Magdalene and
the other Mary going to Jesus’ tomb. St. Mark tells us that the “other Mary” is the mother of James
and Salome, and that they’re on their way to anoint Jesus’ body with spices. As the warm glow of
the rising sun bathes the spring landscape, they arrive at the site of the tomb. There, an angel,
outshining the dawn, is sitting on the stone that had formerly sealed the tomb. He says the blessed
words that messengers from heaven so often said in the scriptures: “Do not be afraid!”
Then (and I have to imagine an uncontainable sparkle in his eyes) he says, “I know that you’re
looking for Jesus who was crucified. He’s not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see
the place where He lay.” Several deafening heartbeats later, the women look at each other. Can
you imagine what must be going on in their minds? “Reeling” and “racing” are totally inadequate
words to describe their minds trying to process this scene. Here they’d braced themselves to see
once more the shrouded, broken body of their Master and friend, to do honor to His memory by
anointing that body one last time. And now, this heavenly being in a blinding robe tells them that
Jesus has been raised, and shows them the empty tomb as evidence.
The next verse brings us back to Peter and the rest of the disciples. The angel says to the two Mary’
s, “Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead.’ Even now He’s on His way
to Galilee. There you will see him.” The angel undoubtedly knows what condition the disciples are
in. They’re heartbroken and defeated. The great dream is shattered, and they’re left utterly without
hope. Clearly they had not, to that point, understood or accepted Jesus’ teaching that He would die
and rise again. Luke’s Gospel tells us that, when the women return and tell them what had
happened, their words are nonsense to them. Mark tells us that when the disciples hear the women’
s report, they flatly refuse to believe it. Clearly these men are not literally expecting Jesus’
Resurrection. So the angel says to the women, “Hurry and tell them what you’ve seen!”
Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Through the ages many have tried to explain away the
Resurrection. There’ve been a number of theories suggested to do this. There’s the swoon
theory. The one that Jesus just kind of passed out on the Cross, and later revived. Then there’s
the stolen body theory. This is the one that Matthew says was circulated by the Jewish authorities to
discredit the resurrection. Here it was claimed that the disciples stole Jesus’ body from the tomb,
and presumably hid it. Others have suggested that some poor substitute was crucified, and Jesus
was spirited away to live out His life elsewhere. All of these theories have thoroughly fatal flaws in
logic. Time doesn’t permit this evening to examine each of these in detail. Many books have done
this much more comprehensively than can be done in a brief homily.
Instead, let’s just look again at Peter. For he represents what many see as very compelling
evidence for the resurrection. That evidence lies in the otherwise inexplicable behavior of the
disciples. After the Crucifixion Peter is a broken man. But then, from Peter’s despairing state we
witness a complete transformation that can only be accounted for by his being convinced beyond
the shadow of a doubt that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Peter (along with the other
disciples) will have repeated interactions with the risen Christ over the coming weeks. I’d like you to
consider a little sampling of some of the things he says and writes afterward.
Shortly after the Day of Pentecost Peter, the conflicted fisherman, the one who so many times got it,
then didn’t get it, stands up in front of a crowd in Jerusalem and says these words: "Men of Israel,
listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and
signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over
to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to
death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of
death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”
A little later he proclaims, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses to this fact.” In
the face of persecution and rage, he makes this same proclamation at least six more times in Acts
alone, as he preaches the gospel in various places. He and the other disciples perform miraculous
healings in Jesus’ name. Peter even raises one female disciple from the dead. He opens his letter
to the Christians in Asia Minor with these words: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in
heaven for you.”
Are you starting to get the picture? Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times in the face of
danger, afterward openly proclaims the news of the resurrection far and wide, until he eventually
pays with his own life under the infamous Roman emperor, Nero. In fact, eleven of the twelve
disciples are believed to have been martyred because of their belief in Jesus and His resurrection
from the dead.
My friends, here’s the point. There are many causes for which people are willing to die—some good
and some bad. But one thing that absolutely defies any logic, experience, or common sense, is the
idea that nearly all of Jesus’ immediate followers would die for something they knew to be a lie. This
simply doesn’t happen. The only plausible explanation for the complete transformation of Peter and
the rest of the disciples, for their offering their very lives for Jesus and the Gospel, and for the
explosion of the Christian faith onto the world scene, is that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.
And if Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, this changes absolutely everything. For death has been
defeated. Not in some hazy, wistful dream of an afterlife dreamed by people through the millennia,
but by a genuine, observed event in history. And Jesus himself said that all who believe in Him
would themselves one day be resurrected to everlasting life. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives
me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away… For my Father's will is that
everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at
the last day."
This is no less true now than it was when these words were written. In every generation since the
Resurrection, and in every generation until Christ returns to take us to our eternal home, those who
look to the Son of God and believe in him share in the promise of the One who has never broken a
promise. And this evening the entire mystical body of Christ in heaven and on earth shares in
proclaiming the four words of hope that sustain us until that wonderful day: Alleluia, Christ is risen!
single, powerful bass voice, And continues with a men’s chorus that basically knocks you back on
your heels. As the first light of dawn begins to light the church, these words are sung: Let God
Arise! Let His enemies be scattered! Let those who hate Him flee from before His face. Christ is
risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the grave, bestowing life!
These first words trumpet the astonishing truth that Christians have received and celebrated
through the centuries. A tomb outside Jerusalem held the broken and lifeless body of Jesus Christ,
wrapped in a bloodstained linen shroud, and burial spices dampened with the tears of His followers,
who were devastated at the dead end of a dream too good to be true.
But now, the tomb is empty! The end of the dream too good to be true has become the beginning of
a dream come true. The cave that was darkened by the blackness of despair has been illuminated
in the blinding light of the resurrection. Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Last Sunday we followed Peter as he witnessed firsthand the avalanche of events that took place in
Holy Week. We watched with him as throngs of people with palms lined the path into Jerusalem and
shouted with joyful expectation for this One who would be their liberator. We listened with Peter as
he heard Jesus bluntly and passionately condemn the corruption of the Jewish officials in Jerusalem,
and obscurely predict His own death and resurrection. We felt the hot, righteous fury of the Messiah
as He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and cried out against the desecration of God’s
Temple. We shared with the disciples at the meal in which Jesus declared of the Passover bread,
“This is My body,” and declared of the Passover wine, “This is My blood of the new covenant,
poured out for many.” We stumbled with Peter through history’s darkest night. With him we
slumbered fitfully in the hour of Jesus’ deep anguish of spirit. We felt in our own hearts the shame
of denial when accusing fingers and shrill voices linked Peter with his condemned Master. Then we
fled with him to the shadows as Jesus was taken away to be lashed, tormented and crucified. When
we left Peter he was sobbing in utter desolation in the empty room which, only hours earlier, had
held the warmth of the Lord’s Supper.
We promised last Sunday that this isn’t the end of the story, however. That something presently
happened which transformed Peter from a conflicted, impulsive man controlled by his own fears, into
one of the great people of history. Tonight we celebrate what that “something” is—the Resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
The account of the resurrection in St. Matthew’s Gospel begins at dawn with Mary Magdalene and
the other Mary going to Jesus’ tomb. St. Mark tells us that the “other Mary” is the mother of James
and Salome, and that they’re on their way to anoint Jesus’ body with spices. As the warm glow of
the rising sun bathes the spring landscape, they arrive at the site of the tomb. There, an angel,
outshining the dawn, is sitting on the stone that had formerly sealed the tomb. He says the blessed
words that messengers from heaven so often said in the scriptures: “Do not be afraid!”
Then (and I have to imagine an uncontainable sparkle in his eyes) he says, “I know that you’re
looking for Jesus who was crucified. He’s not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see
the place where He lay.” Several deafening heartbeats later, the women look at each other. Can
you imagine what must be going on in their minds? “Reeling” and “racing” are totally inadequate
words to describe their minds trying to process this scene. Here they’d braced themselves to see
once more the shrouded, broken body of their Master and friend, to do honor to His memory by
anointing that body one last time. And now, this heavenly being in a blinding robe tells them that
Jesus has been raised, and shows them the empty tomb as evidence.
The next verse brings us back to Peter and the rest of the disciples. The angel says to the two Mary’
s, “Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead.’ Even now He’s on His way
to Galilee. There you will see him.” The angel undoubtedly knows what condition the disciples are
in. They’re heartbroken and defeated. The great dream is shattered, and they’re left utterly without
hope. Clearly they had not, to that point, understood or accepted Jesus’ teaching that He would die
and rise again. Luke’s Gospel tells us that, when the women return and tell them what had
happened, their words are nonsense to them. Mark tells us that when the disciples hear the women’
s report, they flatly refuse to believe it. Clearly these men are not literally expecting Jesus’
Resurrection. So the angel says to the women, “Hurry and tell them what you’ve seen!”
Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Through the ages many have tried to explain away the
Resurrection. There’ve been a number of theories suggested to do this. There’s the swoon
theory. The one that Jesus just kind of passed out on the Cross, and later revived. Then there’s
the stolen body theory. This is the one that Matthew says was circulated by the Jewish authorities to
discredit the resurrection. Here it was claimed that the disciples stole Jesus’ body from the tomb,
and presumably hid it. Others have suggested that some poor substitute was crucified, and Jesus
was spirited away to live out His life elsewhere. All of these theories have thoroughly fatal flaws in
logic. Time doesn’t permit this evening to examine each of these in detail. Many books have done
this much more comprehensively than can be done in a brief homily.
Instead, let’s just look again at Peter. For he represents what many see as very compelling
evidence for the resurrection. That evidence lies in the otherwise inexplicable behavior of the
disciples. After the Crucifixion Peter is a broken man. But then, from Peter’s despairing state we
witness a complete transformation that can only be accounted for by his being convinced beyond
the shadow of a doubt that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Peter (along with the other
disciples) will have repeated interactions with the risen Christ over the coming weeks. I’d like you to
consider a little sampling of some of the things he says and writes afterward.
Shortly after the Day of Pentecost Peter, the conflicted fisherman, the one who so many times got it,
then didn’t get it, stands up in front of a crowd in Jerusalem and says these words: "Men of Israel,
listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and
signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over
to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to
death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of
death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”
A little later he proclaims, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses to this fact.” In
the face of persecution and rage, he makes this same proclamation at least six more times in Acts
alone, as he preaches the gospel in various places. He and the other disciples perform miraculous
healings in Jesus’ name. Peter even raises one female disciple from the dead. He opens his letter
to the Christians in Asia Minor with these words: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in
heaven for you.”
Are you starting to get the picture? Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times in the face of
danger, afterward openly proclaims the news of the resurrection far and wide, until he eventually
pays with his own life under the infamous Roman emperor, Nero. In fact, eleven of the twelve
disciples are believed to have been martyred because of their belief in Jesus and His resurrection
from the dead.
My friends, here’s the point. There are many causes for which people are willing to die—some good
and some bad. But one thing that absolutely defies any logic, experience, or common sense, is the
idea that nearly all of Jesus’ immediate followers would die for something they knew to be a lie. This
simply doesn’t happen. The only plausible explanation for the complete transformation of Peter and
the rest of the disciples, for their offering their very lives for Jesus and the Gospel, and for the
explosion of the Christian faith onto the world scene, is that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.
And if Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, this changes absolutely everything. For death has been
defeated. Not in some hazy, wistful dream of an afterlife dreamed by people through the millennia,
but by a genuine, observed event in history. And Jesus himself said that all who believe in Him
would themselves one day be resurrected to everlasting life. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives
me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away… For my Father's will is that
everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at
the last day."
This is no less true now than it was when these words were written. In every generation since the
Resurrection, and in every generation until Christ returns to take us to our eternal home, those who
look to the Son of God and believe in him share in the promise of the One who has never broken a
promise. And this evening the entire mystical body of Christ in heaven and on earth shares in
proclaiming the four words of hope that sustain us until that wonderful day: Alleluia, Christ is risen!
Through Peter's Eyes (Part 2)
Good Friday, 2009
Good Friday, 2009
April 10, 2009
Fr. Dan Tuton
Fr. Dan Tuton
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