04/16/2017
https://www.facebook.com/bishopdantesmithblog/posts/749084738591562:0
The celebration of Easter reminds us that the Gospel of the Resurrection is Good News, announcing when the forces of death declare “the end” and Jesus victoriously responds, “to be continued!” We may live in a “Good Friday World,” but we walk by an “Easter faith.”
The forces of death, the pain of grief, and confusion about what God is doing in the midst of senseless suffering darken the landscape of many African American communities. The forces of death seem to have the last word when black youth are victims of violence. Like many African American pastors, I have presided over too many funerals of teenagers whose lives where aborted by gunfire, not on some foreign battlefield, but on the “home turf” of their own community!
Then, in addition to teen violence, there is domestic violence as an “elephant in the living room” of the African American community. It has resulted in the forces of death claiming the lives of many whose silent screams were heard too late. Families are devastated, children are emotionally confused and broken, and friends are consumed by guilt and regret when the worst happens and a victim of domestic violence is murdered.
On top of all the aforementioned, the “prison industrial complex” consumes the lives and aborts the potential of many African Americans, especially our young men. The forces of death manifested in injustice have robbed these men of time and life. The African American Church in the face of these Good Friday realities announces resurrection good news. But how can this really be? Are we just faking it? Are we just telling people want they want to hear? Are we just doing wishful thinking and pouring sweet syrup on blood-drenched situations?
I recall reading an article in the Upper Room Daily Devotional on April 1, 2016 entitled “Easter Faith in a Good Friday World.” The article reminded us that in the face of Good Friday’s contradictions, we bear a resurrection faith. Resurrection faith empowers us to move through the darkness trusting that God will have the last word regardless of how loudly the forces of death scream to be heard.
Recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter 11 and verse 25 is a resurrection announcement to a distraught and grief stricken sister, who is in the midst of her own “Good Friday” experience of pain and contradictions. Martha and Mary had sent word to Jesus that their brother, Lazarus, was gravely ill. Jesus does not rush to the bedside of this one he “loves.” Instead, Jesus says that death will not have the last word on Lazarus’ circumstance, but that the glory of God would be on display and that God’s Son would be glorified through it. When Jesus finally makes his way to Bethany, he is greeted by the heartbroken sister, Martha. She tells Jesus, “if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Death has painfully closed a loving chapter on the relationship she shared with her brother. Death has removed her hope that an alternative possibility for Lazarus exists. Jesus had shown up too late and, now, Lazarus and his sisters are incarcerated by the impossible. They are suffering in their own “Good Friday” tomb. The outcome of this excruciating experience would have been different if only Jesus had shown up on time, Martha maintains.
Jesus responds with a revelation of who he is and a declaration that death can’t defeat. “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.” This revelation and declaration provide the basis for us being an “Easter People in this Good Friday World.”
In this Good Friday world of painful contradictions, Easter reveals the person and power of Jesus in the midst of the worst the forces of death can muster. Jesus reveals himself as “the resurrection and the life” to a sorrowing sister whose candle of hope had been blown out by the chilly winds of death. Our “Easter faith” celebrates the fact that God operates best and unveils God’s self in a “Good Friday world.”
In other passages and places, Jesus had revealed himself as the “Light of the World,” “Living Water,” “Bread of Life,” etc. However, in this sorrowful situation, Jesus reveals that he is the One who gives power to “stand up again,” which is the meaning of resurrection. There is an “again” after death has done its’ worst work. Our Easter Faith looks forward to a revelation of Jesus in painful predicaments where it seems as if death has had the last word.
Consider that in March of 2000, Illinois State Senator Barack Obama, made his first run for Congress — and lost. Obama sought to unseat Rep. Bobby Rush, who by then had served four terms in Congress, in a Democratic primary. There were many who declared that he was politically dead. But, January 20, 2009, he raised his hand to receive the oath of office as the President of the United States.
Consider Serena Williams who was injured for most of the 2007 and 2008 tennis seasons. She dropped in world ranking to number 200. Many experts wrote her off and said she would never be champion again. At the end of the 2009 season, she again reined as the #1 Women’s Tennis player in the world.
Jesus concludes this statement in verse 25 by saying that, “Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.” Our Easter faith is not denied or defeated by death (ironically, death still comes to those who possess this Easter faith). But, after the word “die,” there is a comma and then the concluding words, “will live.”
Easter faith recognizes that Good Friday may say “period,” but God will replace the “period” with a “comma.” Grammatically, a period means a sentence is over, finished, stopped, ended, done. However, a comma allows for a pause, because there’s more to come. Jesus gives Martha an eschatological hope that invades and overrules her existential painful predicament. Craig Keener keenly asserts, “Christology realizes eschatology so that Jesus brings resurrection life into the present era.” This passage is not a traditional Easter Sunday scripture, but the experience of Mary, Martha and Lazarus remind us that our Easter Faith is operative year round, and that resurrection is a central theme for those who preach to people whose lives are filled with cemetery experiences. Our Easter faith somehow believes that beyond what looks like “the end,” is a resurrection sequel.
This passage does not conclude until Jesus goes to the grave of Lazarus who has been dead for four days and after the stone at the grave has been removed, he calls Lazarus by name and Lazarus is given the power to stand and live again. The one who had been given up on is back! Death does not have the last word. Death provides transportation for us to experience the resurrection, revelation and power of Jesus. Our Easter faith refuses to give up on Friday, because Sunday is coming!
Today it should be noted that Easter faith is seen in black preaching year round. It’s very rare to hear an “old school black Baptist preacher” preach a message without “going to Calvary.” I’ve heard many a sermon rescued by the preacher shouting, “HE DIED…BUT EARLY SUNDAY MORNING…” The congregation is stirred to praise and rejoicing. This happens in the “Black church” because African Americans live with so many reminders of the forces of death, we can’t wait until Easter to celebrate and be reminded of our resurrection hope.
I heard an old, old story,
How a Savior came from glory,
How He gave His life on Calvary
To save a wretch like me;
I heard about His groaning,
Of His precious blood's atoning,
Then I repented of my sins
And won the victory.
Chorus
O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.
I heard about His healing,
Of His cleansing pow'r revealing.
How He made the lame to walk again
And caused the blind to see;
And then I cried, "Dear Jesus,
Come and heal my broken spirit,"
And somehow Jesus came and bro't
To me the victory.
Chorus
O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.
I heard about a mansion
He has built for me in glory.
And I heard about the streets of gold
Beyond the crystal sea;
About the angels singing,
And the old redemption story,
And some sweet day I'll sing up there
The song of victory.
Chorus
O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.
