He is not here -- FPC sermon excerpt
If you want to win a Peeps contest, stay away from the empty tomb.
What’s a “Peeps contest,” you ask? If you opened The Washington Post this morning, you know what I am talking about.
Peeps are fluffy chicks and bunnies, made of marshmallow. They appear in the candy section of the grocery store each spring before Easter. Every year, The Post has a Peeps contest, inviting readers to create a diorama of a famous scene from history, pop culture, or current events, using Peeps chicks and bunnies as characters. The winners are announced on Easter Sunday.
Last year, there were over 1,100 gooey submissions:
- There was a scene of a line of Peeps standing on the wings of a US Airways plane in the Hudson River.
- There were Peeps attending the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
- There were Peeps winning gold medals at the Olympics.
- There was a scene from the movie Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Peep Street. Get it, “Peep Street”?
- There were Peeps standing in line to get into the hot DC bakery, Georgetown Cupcake. It was, of course, called Peeptown Cupcake.
- There was a display of Steve Jobs of Apple presenting the new iPeep Nano.
- And there was a monster movie called Peepzilla!, created by the Krupka family of Fairfax. They ingeniously combined multiple Peeps into a giant monster. Go Fairfax!
So why would I recommend that you not use the empty tomb as your Peeps contest entry?
Because there is nothing there. The Easter diorama is an empty box.
The Gospel of Luke tells the story of the resurrection in a way that leaves Jesus completely out of the picture. On the first day of the week, at early dawn, a group of women come to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared to anoint the body of Jesus for final burial.
The door to the diorama is wide open, with the stone rolled away from the tomb, and when they go inside they discover that the body is missing. They are perplexed, and suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stand beside them — shocking and terrifying them.
But the mystery men try to bring them up to speed, saying, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen” (Luke 24:5).
He is not here. That’s a surprising message, isn’t it? It’s not really very satisfying, in and of itself. Think of making an appointment with a doctor or a lawyer, and after rushing to be at the office on time, you are told by the receptionist, “He is not here.” Imagine going to the White House, expecting to see the President, and when you get there, the Secret Service says, “He is not here.”
How much more satisfying it would be for Jesus to be standing inside the empty tomb, in all of his resurrected glory, announcing, “Here I am. I have been raised!”
But Easter reminds us that the resurrection is more about Jesus than it is about us. “Remember how he told you,” say the mystery men, “while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again” (vv. 6-7). Jesus knew that he must be handed over and crucified, before being raised from the dead. This was his mission, his destiny, his role in God’s plan.
What’s a “Peeps contest,” you ask? If you opened The Washington Post this morning, you know what I am talking about.
Peeps are fluffy chicks and bunnies, made of marshmallow. They appear in the candy section of the grocery store each spring before Easter. Every year, The Post has a Peeps contest, inviting readers to create a diorama of a famous scene from history, pop culture, or current events, using Peeps chicks and bunnies as characters. The winners are announced on Easter Sunday.
Last year, there were over 1,100 gooey submissions:
- There was a scene of a line of Peeps standing on the wings of a US Airways plane in the Hudson River.
- There were Peeps attending the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
- There were Peeps winning gold medals at the Olympics.
- There was a scene from the movie Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Peep Street. Get it, “Peep Street”?
- There were Peeps standing in line to get into the hot DC bakery, Georgetown Cupcake. It was, of course, called Peeptown Cupcake.
- There was a display of Steve Jobs of Apple presenting the new iPeep Nano.
- And there was a monster movie called Peepzilla!, created by the Krupka family of Fairfax. They ingeniously combined multiple Peeps into a giant monster. Go Fairfax!
So why would I recommend that you not use the empty tomb as your Peeps contest entry?
Because there is nothing there. The Easter diorama is an empty box.
The Gospel of Luke tells the story of the resurrection in a way that leaves Jesus completely out of the picture. On the first day of the week, at early dawn, a group of women come to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared to anoint the body of Jesus for final burial.
The door to the diorama is wide open, with the stone rolled away from the tomb, and when they go inside they discover that the body is missing. They are perplexed, and suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stand beside them — shocking and terrifying them.
But the mystery men try to bring them up to speed, saying, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen” (Luke 24:5).
He is not here. That’s a surprising message, isn’t it? It’s not really very satisfying, in and of itself. Think of making an appointment with a doctor or a lawyer, and after rushing to be at the office on time, you are told by the receptionist, “He is not here.” Imagine going to the White House, expecting to see the President, and when you get there, the Secret Service says, “He is not here.”
How much more satisfying it would be for Jesus to be standing inside the empty tomb, in all of his resurrected glory, announcing, “Here I am. I have been raised!”
But Easter reminds us that the resurrection is more about Jesus than it is about us. “Remember how he told you,” say the mystery men, “while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again” (vv. 6-7). Jesus knew that he must be handed over and crucified, before being raised from the dead. This was his mission, his destiny, his role in God’s plan.
posted by Henry Brinton | 12:53 PM
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