“We Live in a Broken World”

“We Live in a Broken World”

Easter 7 (NL2) John B. Valentine
1 Corinthians 15:12-20; 51-58 May 24, 2020

“WE LIVE IN A BROKEN WORLD”

I take as the starting point for this morning’s sermon a theological premise ... a simple statement:

“We live in a broken world.”

An assertion that this world in which we live is seriously ... irredeemably ... messed up.

Now ... believe it or not ...

If I’d made that statement twenty-five years ago from the pulpit ... I would have gotten some serious push back.

In fact ... I DID once make that statement in the context of a sermon ... back in the day when I was still a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ pastor ... and I DID get some pretty serious push-back.

You see ... there was this woman in the first congregation in which I served who took me to task for making a statement like that in the context of a sermon.

And it came to pass one Sunday ... on the way out the door after worship ...

Back in the days when we could shake hands and greet one another ...

Back in the days when we could gather for communal worship without fear that we might be infecting one another ...

But rather than greeting me with a benign “Nice sermon, pastor” ... she lit into me for being a Negative Nancy!

“How can you possibly believe that, Pastor John?? This world looks just fine to me!

• We’ve got these amazing technologies coming on line.
• We’ve got opportunities for betterment like the world has never seen before.
• I see so much beauty among people ... and in creation.
• This world looks just fine to me!”

But somehow ... I suspect that perspective ... that “The world looks just fine to me” ... doesn’t apply to too very many of us these days ... does it?

+ + + + +

I mean ... imagine I were to hand you an 8 ½" by 11" piece of paper ... like this one ... and ask you to fold it in half ... lengthwise ... so that you have a piece of paper with two columns.

Now ...

• On one side here ... let’s say “the left side” ... let’s put the word “GOOD” ... in big bold capital letters ...

• And on the other side ... the right side ... we’ll put the word “BAD”.

So far so good? (Haha!)

• One piece of paper ...
• Folded down the middle ...
• One column “Good” ...
• The other column “Bad”.

Now ... in this column ... the “good” column ...

I want you to imagine writing down all the good things of your life ... the things you’d count as blessings. All the ‘life-giving’ stuff in our lives.

What might go on there?

• The birth of a child ...
• A memorable vacation ...
• A pastime you really enjoy ...
• Good health ...
• Green hills and growing things ...
• “Prosperity” ...
• “Opportunity” ...
• Stuff like that.

And then ... in the other column ... the “bad” column ... what might go there?

• Security fears ...
• Chronic pain ...
• Cancer ...
• A global pandemic ...
• Worries about your job ...
• Worries about your kids ...
• Worries about your parents ...
• Climate change ...
• Human trafficking ...
• Racism ...
• Natural disasters ... like that cyclone in India earlier this week ...
• Unnatural disasters ... like that plane crash in Pakistan earlier this week ...
• And ... somewhere there ... in big letters ... the word “death”.

Just out of curiosity ... which do you think would be the easier side to fill in?

Somehow I suspect that ... in some days gone by ... a majority might have said “The good side” ...

But ... right now ... to many of us ... it feels like “The bad side” is winning hands-down.

+ + + + +

Now granted ... each of our lists of the good stuff and the bad stuff are unique to us ...

But imagine ... for just a moment ... that you could simply take all the bad stuff in the right hand column ... the “bad” column ... and make it vanish into thin air. Such that your life would consist solely of the blessings on the left side of the paper. What might you call your world then?

• “Paradise”?
• “Heaven”?

On the other hand ... what if the “good” column were erased and your life consisted solely of the awful stuff on the right? What might you call your world then?

• “A living nightmare”?
• “Purgatory”?
• “Hell”?

Now ... obviously ... life as we know it is NOT exclusively either this side or that side! It’s not one or the other ... it’s probably some of both.

It’s kind of like how Luther described the human condition as our being “both saint and sinner” ... simul iustus et peccator ... at one and the same time ...

Fully good and fully bad at one and the same time.

It’s what we call “the real world” ... or “life as we know it” ... or maybe just “life”.

+ + + + +

You know ... in that Bible lesson that Herb read for us remotely a little bit ago ... that bit from 1st Corinthians 15 ....

Where Saint Paul is talking about resurrection ...and particularly about what the significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is for people like the people he is writing to ... and the significance of the resurrection for people like us ...

I couldn’t help but think that his words belie a question that preachers ... and pastors ... and apostles ... of every age get hit with all the time: “Can you tell me more about this ‘resurrection’ thing?”

You see ... “resurrection” is ... or at least can be ... a confusing thing:

• Resurrection is NOT simply “resuscitation”.

Jesus didn’t just come back to life like his friend Lazarus did ... and then live a bit longer and then pass away again.

• Neither is it just another label for “reincarnation”.

No ... that would imply that souls ... spirits ... are immortal ... and just co-opt different earthly organisms for little bits of time.

• Neither is resurrection a way of saying that we simply shed our earthly bodies and spirit away to a heavenly realm.

No ... when we say “resurrection” ... we somehow declare that all of us ... the whole of us ... every bit of us ... is transformed by the amazing grace and goodness of God ...

Our bodies ... our ‘souls’ ... our ‘spirits’ ... our ‘minds’ ... our strength ... our weakness ... our flesh and blood ... that ALL of us ... THE WHOLE OF US ... undergoes transformation ... and is remade in the love and the likeness of God.

Now I don’t know what that looks like ... not exactly.

But I take comfort in the fact that even the eyewitnesses to the resurrection had a hard time describing what it was they’d seen with their own eyes and touched with their own hands!

I mean ... they talked about:

• A body that wasn’t quite a body ...
• And a spirit that was more than just a spirit ...

• About someone appearing in the midst of a locked room ...
• And then vanishing as soon as he is recognized ...

Now ... honestly ... I can’t wrap my head around that.

But just because it is unimaginable to me doesn’t mean that it is unimaginable to the One who created all things.

+ + + + +

But then ... right at the end of this chapter 15 ... Paul speaks those familiar words that so many of us have heard while standing at the grave of a loved one ...

And ... as he does ... I can’t help but imagine that Paul busts out his own two-column ... left-side / right-side ... take on the good stuff and bad stuff of life. (Even if he couldn't find an 8 ½ by 11" piece of paper on which to do it.)

Listen, I will tell you a mystery! (Fold the paper.)

We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet ... for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (Fold the paper back again.)

For this perishable body must put on imperishability ... (Fold the paper back again.)

And this mortal body must put on immortality. (Fold the paper back again.)

And when this perishable body puts on imperishability ...

And this mortal body puts on immortality ...

Then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory."(Tear the paper down the middle.)

Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. (Crumple the paper.)

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Throw the crumpled paper over your shoulder.)

+ + + + +

Are they still running that game show on television wherein they would ask a contestant a question and then ask “Is that your final answer?”

What was the name of that show? “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”???

Maybe the point of this morning’s lesson is simply this ...

That the ‘final answer’ ... God’s Final Answer ... to the biggest mystery of life ... is that death will be no more ... and mourning and crying and pain will be no more ... for the first things ... the fallen things ... have passed away ...

And we ourselves will be transformed by the amazing love and grace of God.

This sermon was preached by Pastor John Valentine on the weekend of May 24, 2020.  The text upon which it is based is 1 Corinthians 15:51-58:

Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. And when this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.