Living With The Resurrection

John 20:19-31

Resurrection. Now, there’s a word you don’t use in conversation everyday. We may sing about it in church. We may proclaim it from our pulpits. But do we really buy into the notion that someone could actually be raised from the dead? Karl Barth, one of our more well-known theologians, said that people come to church, especially around Easter, with one question on their minds: is it true?[1] Today’s Christian will talk a lot about following the example of Jesus. We’ll talk about morality, ethics, and doing good for others. These aspects of faith are admired by all … even other religions. But if the issue of Jesus’ resurrection is raised to us, many of us will say rather quickly, “Oh yeah, I believe in the resurrection,” but then we’ll just as quickly try to steer the conversation away to other aspects of faith. The resurrection is … well, out there.

We’re not alone in being shy about the resurrection. Even the disciples and followers found resurrection a bit tough to swallow. When Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus then asked her, “Do you believe this?” and Martha said somewhat evasively, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah…”[2] Reading Martha’s response makes me suspect that like us, she carefully side-stepped the idea of resurrection on purpose. If Martha side-stepped the issue, Thomas, the disciple from our text today, blasts it right out into the open. “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”[3] It seems that Thomas thought resurrection was out there too.

Many vilify Thomas for doubting, yet many of us … maybe most of us … know him as our spiritual kin. He’s like our relative that no one talks about. You know the one – the cousin who’s been in prison, the aunt that has a drinking problem, or the brother who never has amounted to much. We avoid talking about them, yet we can’t escape the fact we’re related. That’s Thomas for us. In a spiritual sense, we may not like to admit our doubts about resurrection, yet his questions and hesitancies are our own. Do you think I’m off base? Just look at the news lately.

Like many people, I have been following the Terri Schiavo case in the news. You may know her story. On February 25, 1990, she suffered a cardiac event. Lack of oxygen to her brain caused extensive damage. Since then, she’s been in what’s known as a “persistent vegetative state.”[4] Her husband, Michael, wanted the feeding tube removed so she could die. Her parents, the Schindlers, have fought unsuccessfully to keep the feeding tube in place. Congress has been involved. The judicial system has issued ruling after ruling. Pro-life groups, disability groups, liberal feminist groups, conservative right-wing groups, and a host of medical professionals have weighed in with their opinions.[5] You probably have your own feelings about the case. I have read many of the arguments on both sides. Some make more sense to me than others. But there’s one prevailing thought that I keep coming back to: Would all this really matter so much to us if we truely believed in the resurrection?

Supporters of Michael Schiavo say that our high-tech medicines and technologies have produced a comatose class of the living dead.[6] If it weren’t for our ability and technology, Terri Schiavo would have probably died on the day of her cardiac event. It’s not a case of “playing God,” we’re simply letting the natural rhythms of human life take their unfortunate course.

In a sense, we ourselves have created predicaments like this. To many, there’s little theological weight to the argument that we’re “playing God” by taking Terri Schiavo off life support. People should just be allowed to die when injuries and sicknesses go so far. Then, these incapacitated people can enjoy new life through the resurrection! That’s easy for Christians to say when we’re talking about those who put their faith in trust in Jesus as their savior. But what about the rest? And is this possibly just an escape clause for Christians who aren’t connected to the situation? If we were the Schindler family, perhaps we’d be doing the same thing they are – fighting with every option they can think of to keep their daughter alive? Terri Shaivo’s parents know this woman as their daughter. She’s the beautiful little girl to whom they can’t say goodbye. Who’s to say whether she might improve one day?

Since we’re in the Easter season, not too far removed from Good Friday, do you think if Jesus had been crucified in our day, would Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had Jesus airlifted to the nearest emergency room where the best medical teams in the world could have stuck a few IV’s in his veins, put him on life support, and then explored all options before decisions about “unplugging” him had to be made? Would that have happened?

And so the passions on both sides of the Terri Schiavo case rage on. Since I don’t know the Schiavo’s or the Schindler’s – the two most-affected families – I have the luxury of speculating about all this from a different perspective: Would a completely unabashed resurrection mindset change the way the people most affected look at Terri Schiavo’s life?

What if Michael Schiavo and Terri’s parents knew without any doubts whatsoever that one day in eternity they would see her again … whole, complete, and not suffering? Would that change the dynamics and intensity of this debate? That’s not an answer that any of us have. I don’t know even those most affected would have an answer.

But I do know this. Jesus taught a resurrection mindset. He lived a resurrection life. He suffered, died, and was raised on the third day. And ever since then, folks like Thomas … our brother … and maybe you and I today have wrestled with what resurrection means for us eternally and now. John ends this section by writing, “…these are written so that you may come to believe…”[7] And maybe belief in resurrection today is best put by novelist Doris Betts who writes, “…faith is not synonymous with certainty…[but rather] is the decision to keep your eyes open.”[8]

I pray for Terri Schiavo and all those affected by her illness. I pray that she knows Christ and that she will soon know resurrection. But I also pray for all of us today that we will know resurrection now. Perhaps if we keep our eyes, our hearts, our minds, and our lives open, we will know personally what Thomas said when he proclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”[9]

Amen

[1] Bob Dunham, from University Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill, NC, referenced this Barth quote in his sermon, “Doubt, Faith and Easter.”

[4] There’s a summary of Schiavo’s life and situation written by Arian Campo-Flores in, “Legacy of Terri Schiavo,” Newsweek, April 4, 2005, pp. 22-28.

[5] John W. Kennedy, “Headlines: Near the End,” Christianity Today, April 2005, Volume 49, Number 4.

[6] Timothy Merrill, from Homiletics Journal, wrote an article entitled, “Terri Schiavo’s Resurrection,” that prompted some interesting thoughts about Schiavo’s situation. I’ve incorporated some of Merrill’s thoughts into this sermon.

[8] This quotation is cited by Kathleen Norris in her book, Amazing Grace (New York: Riverhead Books, 1998), pp. 169-170.