You may have noticed that on the news, every other item mentions climate change . The flowers are out in January climate change. The Penguins are no longer - climate change. There are storms in the Caribbean climate change. Most importantly, crops are affected in the drier parts of the world - climate change. It s become what they call the big issue of our age, something we all have to get our heads around The facts are leading us to get our minds around what the almost President of the US Al Gore called an inconvenient truth the truth that our planet getting warmer because we are sending out unprecedented amounts of CO2 into our atmosphere. The truth that we in the wealthier, most polluting countries cannot simply continue living this way, and expect the human species to survive
But not everyone believes that climate change is happening. Some think it is a rather convenient conspiracy theory for some people who make their living out of scaring the rest of us! Who saw the programme The big climate change swindle the other month? A group of people basically saying, as my uncle does, It s just the weather, stupid! It always changes anyway
There are some things, aren t there, which are so overwhelmingly important that they change the whole way we live. There s a lot at stake in whether this claim is true it affects the way our world will be run, and the kinds of lives we can expect to live in the future So I wanted to get hold of evidence to check what was true. Do I cancel that flight, or do I start buying again those apples flown over especially for me from New Zealand? Give me evidence!
Why am I talking about climate change on Easter day? Well, if Easter is true, it s actually the bigger story, the bigger issue, a truth which has to change everything, even the way we look at our planet and of course it s an even bigger story than climate change. If it is true that Jesus of Nazareth, full of God s Spirit, was crucified and most importantly did rise from the dead, with a new body, then everything is different. Nothing can ever be the same again. The way we live has to change
But is Easter day the big resurrection swindle , or is it actually an, or THE inconvenient truth? If you suspect it may be a swindle, where s the evidence, you may be asking?!. But if you are thinking, perhaps, I know it s true, that s no big issue for me, thanks very much , I want to ask you, how convenient have you made it? Have you allowed it to strike you how big and amazing the news of resurrection, life from the dead, really is. Have you allowed it to change the way you live? Let s listen afresh this morning and be a little shocked
Firstly, was the resurrection a great big swindle? Certainly, that s what some of the authorities at the time wanted to say. Mark s Gospel records that the authorities circulated the story that the body had been stolen And it s that which people have wanted to say since even the other week a famous Hollywood Director was claiming he had found evidence of the tomb of Jesus . The funny thing is, the gospel accounts are not embarrassed to say that very few people believed this message at first. As Luke says, it was only the women closest to Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, were the first witnesses. Mary Magdalene is often called the apostle to the apostles because she was the one who first told the other followers of Jesus that she had seen him. As you may know, at that time, a woman s testimony could not be used in a court. It s an odd way to start a conspiracy, isn t it? Why would the gospel writers choose to make women the witnesses, if this were a conspiracy? As Peter puts it, He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen--by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead . There was nothing to hide in that.
But not wishing to be unfair to Peter, I can t help noticing that he doesn t repeat here the fact that those first witnesses were women! His audience would be scandalised enough already! You see, the world had to take on a double scandal on that first Easter morning the fact that Jesus had risen and that God had chosen to reveal it to women! The question is, why would God choose to make women the witnesses if this is the central truth of the universe? Perhaps God was trying to make a point! If there has been a conspiracy since then, it s what I would call the great big male conspiracy , denying women the right to be witnesses of Jesus alive, starting then and even continuing today.
I could go on giving evidence, and here s a book written by the current Bishop of Durham on the subject, but can I suggest that the real problem is not the evidence, it s more how we feel about it. This is not convenient- it s not how many of us want to see things. For many at that time even, the resurrection of Jesus was a very inconvenient truth for the leaders of that day who had him crucified, for instance, and perhaps even for the disciples... Instead of a quiet return to fishing, Peter and his fellows are thrown into a titanic battle with authorities on all sides and it s worth asking why they did this if they had not seen Jesus alive. But because he knew Jesus was alive, Peter had to wake up to some fundamental truths, and even then, it took a while for them to sink in.
Two truths spring to mind from the passage in Acts:
But Peter goes on:
The inconvenient truth is there is a God who calls us to account, and no one can simply assume their good deeds will outweigh their bad. We all need forgiveness, acceptance and Easter s inconvenient truth is that forgiveness comes at the cost of the cross. The resurrection is not the reversal of a defeat, as if Jesus lost at Calvary but won in the garden of resurrection. No, the resurrection is the announcement of the victory, telling us all that our separation from God and the death which comes from it, were dealt with on the cross! The resurrection tells us that God s final victory over all that ruins his creation comes through the cross. It tells us that despite our best efforts to kill God, the weakness of God is stronger than man s strength! It tells us that there is no other route to God and the life God offers but through the cross.
At the local carnival stall last year, I got into a conversation with someone who, in response to one of the items we were displaying, said to me (paraphrase), Why can t you come up with a universal message, something which gets all people of faith or no faith together? I tried to explain; we don t have to come up with a new universal message there is a universal message, and it s not my message, although we often make it look as if it is. It s a message that like Peter, I have been commanded to speak about God does not show favouritism but accepts people from every nation who fear him and do what is right. Jesus is the one God appointed as judge, and the one through whom we receive forgiveness .
But what we as Christians do need to do, is to repent before the judge of the ways we make this universal message convenient just for people like us! In fact, often people resist this message not just because it s an inconvenient truth , but because those of us who believe have made it too convenient for ourselves.
I have just read a very moving autobiography of a man named Hugh Montifiore called, On being a Jewish Christian. He was a bishop in Birmingham and in this Diocese. He died in 2005, and his books were given to Southwark clergy, so it s actually one of his own signed copies I have here from the Diocesan library! He grew up in a secure Jewish home, where finding out about Jesus just didn t seem a live option for a Jewish boy For good reason, and in his book he tells the shocking story of Christian anti-Semitism down the ages
And yet he also tells another story - the story of his own calling to follow Christ as Messiah of Israel. I just want to read you a short extract from his book which tells us how he became a Christian. Quotation:
He speaks of a figure in white told him to follow him! Wow, how strangelt reminiscent of the appearance of the resurrected Jesus at the first Easter! Of course, not many have this kind of experience, but some do. Indeed, if we only listened, we might hear of similar stories coming out of places like Iran today, about men and particularly women having visions of Jesus Inconvenient stories for some, embarrassing even for some Western Christians, but hey, it s happening
But without doubt, believing that Jesus is alive is more than just having visions of him There has been no blinding vision for me though I would love to receive one. But I, a vicar s son, from a loving Christian home, I have believed in the resurrection almost all my life, on the basis of evidence and latterly, of personal experience. But have I lived the resurrection? Lastly, let me tell you briefly about two moments in my life.
About 10 years ago I gave a talk about the resurrection on a camp for young people. I tried to prove it happened with the very snappy titles: Jesus really died. Jesus really rose. I think I did a good job, and I knew it! I still very much believe those things, but then, at that moment, was I living the resurrection? I m not sure perhaps my faith was too much in my own capacity to explain, to leave enough room for the power of the resurrection. But 4 years ago, I was on placement in the centre of Bradford over Easter It was a time of great weakness for me. I had always struggled with the prospect of ordination Vicar s children often do! - but I thought I d do it my own way. Now, through an unexplained illness, a sense of weakness, even of depression, I could not do it my own way. I was being stripped of all the strengths I thought I brought to this role.
As I reflected on how I had gone about this, I began to see that I had invested a lot of my own ambition and desire to be a success, to have influence on others, to be a good speaker, to be liked, to be popular, into my ministry. But there I was, preaching an Easter sermon in a church of predominantly white elderly working-class Northerners in the middle of a Kashmiri-Pakistani community which was 80% Muslim. For the record, I am actually more familiar with Kashmiri-Pakistanis than I am with white working-class northerners!
In a deep personal struggle, I could barely find the words, and the vicar had to help me to come up with the sermon. If you like we had got to Easter Sunday, and I was still with Jesus in the tomb on the Saturday! Unsurprisingly, it wasn t a particularly good sermon, and I have forgotten much of it, but I do remember being wonderfully held by members of the congregation who could see through my ambition and loved me. I was both humbled and lifted up that s exactly what the Easter story is about.
You see, the most amazing thing about resurrection is not just that it happened, but that it happens, and it will happen ultimately. It happens now, when we are lifted up despite our circumstances. If you are feeling crucified this morning, or like you re in the tomb, praise God, for he is able to raise you up now as a foretaste, and eternally when Jesus returns. And if you are feeling ecstatic this morning, praise God but remember that that resurrection life comes through death, death to all that gets in the way of God. And it s not just a one-off death when we receive Jesus, but a daily death. And this is not convenient for anyone not for the apostles Peter, Mary Magdalene, or Paul, not for me, not for Christine, not for you.
But it s amazing news, because God want us to live, to truly live. Are you living the resurrection life this Easter?
Does Easter tell us not to worry because Jesus the judge will sort it all out on his return? That would be convenient for us, wouldn t it? But it s not so. Easter tells us that because matter matters to God, the material world matters to us! Because Jesus rose in a body, we have a hope for the world beyond the fear of disaster, but we also have a big job to do, to care for the creation that God too wants to bring through death to life. If I ever seem to go on too much about the environment, let me tell you this, the biggest truth is resurrection.
So let s live the resurrection life, now and forever. Amen.