Tuesdays are for Easter Ramblings…

I am not sure if there is a theological term for it, but most pastors I know experience what I call an Easter hangover. Yesterday I could hardly function. I took two naps. But that is a beautiful feeling, having left everything you are on in a moment of celebration and worship. Every week should feel like that, just totally spent from worshiping and celebrating Christ our Risen Lord! Well now I am at least a bit more rested and determined not to float through this week. So on with some ramblings….

Does Easter Really Need a Sermon?

Getting a chance to preach on Easter Sunday for the second year in a row I was struck by a truth that preachers for centuries I am sure have noted: Easter doesn’t really need a sermon. How can you punctuate the resurrection? What can you really add to the story of Jesus walking out of the tomb? What witty stories can I add to a moment whose immensity defies description? Easter doesn’t need a sermon, it simply requires full throttled celebration and worship.

Yet, I did preach to help people see the immensity of an empty tomb and its ramifications for all of our lives. I am not sure I did anything to add to an event that goes beyond our ability to understand it, but I certainly tried. In many ways that is simply what preaching is, trying to add our words and thoughts to Gods. It is as ridiculous as it sounds, but it sure is an invigorating challenge.

Easter is Weird

The more I think about it, I can not think of anything more terrifying than coming down the stairs the night before Easter and finding a giant rabbit in my house trying to leave candy

How did we start with an empty tomb (ridiculous in its own way) and end up with a giant rabbit that brings treats to kids? Has anyone written the authoritative history of the Easter bunny yet?

There is an entire cottage industry that makes plastic eggs and spring-esque decorations for people to put up on a day when we celebrate the triumph of God’s grace over evil, forever. Shouldn’t we have symbols of God’s power, symbols of love, and images of prisoners set free instead of a pastel colors and eggs?

Why do so many people come to church on Easter who wouldn’t otherwise find themselves in worship on a Sunday morning? I understand it is a big day and historically a day of celebration that crowds have flocked to, but it is kind of like showing up for a cast party when you weren’t in a play, or coming to a funeral when you never met the person, or going to a victory parade for a team you don’t support. I am glad so many do, but I am not sure if they even know why they come on Easter. An average Sunday in June would probably make more sense for just checking out what is going on.

The Cross and Orthodoxy

Within the emerging church conversation and the realm of New Calvinism, there is much focus on the work Jesus did on the cross. Tony Jones offered his reflections on it the other day and threw a little more gasoline on the fire that is burning around the specific issue of atonement. What exactly happened on the cross?

For many, especially within the reformed tradition, and particularly widespread throughout evangelicalism, the atonement is best described by the Penal Substitution Theory of Atonement. This theory is based on a theology that sees Jesus as the sacrificial lamb who died in the place of our sins. His life satisfied the debt of sin that God demanded and God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus on the cross rather than on us at judgment. There is great value and merit to understanding the cross in this way and it does seem to fit much of what Paul’s writings and Hebrews point to as the work of Christ.

Another great theory in the church is Christus Victor which looks to the cross as the moment of Christ’s victory over evil. This is the moment when Christ freed us from slavery to sin and death. This takes the cross and makes it not just a moment of sacrifice to satisfy a debt but a moment when God triumphs over evil completely.

The question that many continue to as is this, “Is there more that happened on the cross?” Is Jesus death understandable in any other light? If so, what other theories are worthwhile. I have been deeply moved by a theory of atonement I first encountered from Miroslav Volf. It is called the Participatory Subistutionary Theory. This theory acknowledges not just Jesus’ death to sin and death for our sins, but our calling to participate with him in this death to sin. Building of imagery from Paul about being baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, this theory places not just Jesus, but all of us who are made one with Christ, on that cross. We are not a sufficient sacrifce for any sin, but we are enabled to die to sin by our participation with Christ, our oneness with Jesus in his sacrifice.

There are, I am sure, other great metaphors and understandings of the atonement waiting to be articulated. My hope is that we can continue to be mesmerized by the cross and the death of our Lord for our sakes. There are a multitude of lifetimes to be lived wondering about the beauty of the cross. May we use our Easter lives to embrace our Risen Lord and explore the depths of his love for us.