Text: 1 Corinthians 15:1-28
The people in my first church in West Virginia told stories of a local woman named Rita. Rita lived with a mental illness. I’m not sure one should say she suffered from mental illness because, from the stories they told of her, Rita seemed quite content. It was everyone else who “suffered” Rita’s extravagance of character, particularly the minister who was my predecessor. You see, it was not that long ago that they left the doors of the church there unlocked so that people might come in whenever they wanted to sit and pray. Rev. Newkirk was frequently surprised by Rita being in the church, smoking, and playing the piano. It was also not unusual for Rita to show up on Sunday morning in the middle of the service. They say she would stand quietly in the back of the church and listen. This was not a problem until she felt that a smoke would help her listen. So she would light up and listen. Apparently she was unaware that smoking was one of the two things one must abstain from doing in church because they make people stare. The other is making out.
The people in my first church in West Virginia told stories of a local woman named Rita. Rita lived with a mental illness. I’m not sure one should say she suffered from mental illness because, from the stories they told of her, Rita seemed quite content. It was everyone else who “suffered” Rita’s extravagance of character, particularly the minister who was my predecessor. You see, it was not that long ago that they left the doors of the church there unlocked so that people might come in whenever they wanted to sit and pray. Rev. Newkirk was frequently surprised by Rita being in the church, smoking, and playing the piano. It was also not unusual for Rita to show up on Sunday morning in the middle of the service. They say she would stand quietly in the back of the church and listen. This was not a problem until she felt that a smoke would help her listen. So she would light up and listen. Apparently she was unaware that smoking was one of the two things one must abstain from doing in church because they make people stare. The other is making out.
The
most profound Rita story I heard was the Sunday morning she came
looking for Jesus. Rita showed up late as usual. Something came
over her which inspired her to start walking down the centre aisle.
As she went she would tap someone on the shoulder and ask, “Is
Jesus here?” After receiving a rather helpless glance she would
move on to another and again ask, “Is Jesus here?” Now I’m not
one to say that this was the devil tormenting this church by
routinely sending a “crazy” lady to interrupt their worship
services. Rather, I think that Rita might have been more like Jesus
in disguise. After all, Jesus did say something to the effect of
“What you do unto the least of these, you do unto me.” Indeed,
the way a church welcomes the mentally ill is one indicator of
whether or not Jesus is actually in a church for to welcome them is
to welcome Christ. Rita was never run out of that church. The
answer given her that day was “Yes, he is. Come sit down.”
The
question Rita asked is the age old question that children sooner or
later ask “Where is Jesus?” If he has risen from the dead and is
alive then he must be somewhere. So, where is Jesus? Now that, my
friends is a difficult one to answer and do it justice. We can’t
just simply say he’s with God the Father in heaven which he is
because that would make him absent from us now which he is not. If
we say he is here with us now, and he is, then we must say in what
manner because indeed where is he? Is he everywhere present or just
present with us. Most people avoid these questions on Easter morning
and just say God raised Jesus from the dead and the same will happen
to us; after all isn’t that what egg-laying bunnies and green grass
are all about?
So where is Jesus? Well, God the
Father by the power of the Holy Spirit really raised Jesus from the
dead publicly manifesting that this Jesus of Nazareth, a crucified
Messiah claimant is indeed the Son of God. Jesus is alive. He
wasn’t simply resuscitated. He has bodily been through death and
bodily come out the other side which means he isn’t just some
spiritual presence or energy permeating the universe. He has been
bodily raised from the dead. Indeed, God did not create this
creation, bless it, and call it good just to destroy it. Nor did God
create humanity in his image with a body, bless us, and call us very
good only to destroy our bodies with death so that we could exist out
there somewhere as nodes of eternal energy which we mistakenly call
spirit or soul. Jesus has an immortal and imperishable body in which
by the power of the Holy Spirit he has ascended to be with the
Father. Jesus is the first fruit of a New Creation that is coming at
the end of this age for resurrection is the end of us all.
Jesus Christ is the first human of a
new humanity just like Adam was the first human of humanity as we
know it, humanity that has fallen. In, through and as Jesus Christ
in the communioning power of the Holy Spirit God the Father has and
is reconciling humanity to himself, indeed the whole Creation making
all things new. The theologian Karl Barth said that what the Trinity
has done in Jesus Christ is create a new humanity who lives in a
faithfulness to the Trinity that corresponds to the Trinity’s
faithfulness to us; a new humanity that lives in peace with the
Trinity and one another as a witness to the Trinity’s glory. We
all share the body and nature of Adam, the first human who sinned and
brought death to all. Jesus is the second Adam by whose love and
fidelity reconciliation, grace, and life - the new human nature -
have come to all (Rom. 5:6-21). More over, the Trinity is making us
to be the body of Christ that will correspond to his resurrected and
glorified body.
Yet I digress, and have not answered
the question “Where is Jesus?” Well, since God the Son became
human as Jesus who lived, died, was resurrected and is now ascended
to the Father (that is where Jesus’ physical body is located); and
since the Trinity has poured out his self, the Holy Spirit, upon
humanity through us the church on the day of Pentecost and who in the
midst of humanity is calling and unioning people together in Christ
to be the body of Christ, the Church in this world; taking those two
saving and transformative events into account we can say that the new
humanity of Jesus Christ is pervading the old everywhere. Everywhere
is where Jesus is. So, he is bodily present before God the Father
and his humanity through the work of God the Holy Spirit is
everywhere pervading the old. Therefore, if we want to see Jesus who
is with the Father we need just look into the face of everyone you
meet, you will see Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected as the Holy
Spirit reveals him.
Therefore, everything we do to one
another we do unto Jesus Christ. Thus, it is best we love one
another for why crucify him again. It is best we work to aid the
suffering and those who are dying world over because they are
powerless to change their situations for why persist in letting Jesus
be crucified again. This requires we die to self and to our selfish
motives and be raised to new life in him. His new humanity at work
in us now looks like self-emptying love, like intentional economic
downward mob. It is not materialistic and consumeristic. It does
not seek its own interests, but looks to the needs and interests of
others. It builds up. It hopes. It loves. The new humanity is
rooted in a life-giving relationship with God the Father through
Jesus the Son in the Holy Spirit, which requires we meet our
resurrected Lord and Saviour. This encounter and the cruciform life
that ensues is faith. Our power is in the weakness of a cross-formed
life – cruciformity.
The Apostle Paul, the first great
persecutor of the church, upon meeting the resurrected Lord became
the first great missionary of the church. Though he was struck blind
his eyes were opened in faith to see the kingdom of God breaking in
all over the world and everywhere he went indeed it broke out around
him. Though it may not be the dramatic and traumatic experience that
Paul had upon encountering Jesus, at some point our eyes must be
opened in faith that we might trust and obey as disciples of Jesus
Christ. At some point the Holy Spirit will open our eyes to see
Jesus whether it be in the faces of everyone we meet or as it was for
Paul we meet him as he is in glory.
When the Holy Spirit opens us up to
meet Jesus, he also brings us together with others into a fellowship
where we learn who Jesus Christ is, his personality, as we learn to
love one another as he has loved us. As we together become more and
more like Jesus by living out our baptism and gathering around his
table to share in his meal, as we together pray and devour the Holy
Scriptures, as we rest in the Sabbath rest of worship, the Holy
Spirit will open our eyes to see where Jesus is at work in this world
so that we may go and be his body and be the sign of the new humanity
that will come about on the day of resurrection. Hopefully, when
someone like Rita is sent to us and asks, “Is Jesus here?” we too
shall answer, “Yes, he is! Come and sit down.” Amen.
