In Christ All Will Be Made Alive

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas

March 31, 2013; Easter Sunday, Year C

Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

(1 Corinthians 15:19-26)  If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

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I want to start with the text that jumped out at me from our Easter Sunday readings.  It’s from the Epistle, from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, where he says, “for as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”  (1 Corinthians 15:22)

It’s a pretty simple argument.  Just as surely as Adam’s disobedience brought death to the whole human race, even more surely does Christ’s obedience bring life to the whole human race.  God’s victory is total.  All will be saved.  Nothing will be lost.  That is God’s intention and promise, and that is a sound, biblically based teaching.

To me, that’s the most believable, intuitive thing I can imagine.  I know from my own experience of God presence that God’s love is infinite.  God’s love is so wonderfully vast and overwhelming that it dwarfs everything else – not only my measly sins and failures, but also the worst of human evils – things like torturing to death a perfectly good man like Jesus.  I’ve felt and sensed a portion of that infinite love, and I am convinced that God’s victory will be total.  God will lose nothing that God has made.

But I often talk to people who haven’t been as fortunate as I have.  Through their family or their church they have experienced a god who is menacing and threatening.  A god who they say will save only a few who accept a particular formula of belief, or a few who live a particularly clean life.  All others will be condemned to everlasting damnation.

I visited with a friend this week who grew up with messages that could only provoke the fear of Jesus in him.  “Jesus is watching you.  He sees you, even when you’re alone.  He knows how bad you are.  You’ll provoke his wrath.  You’d better straighten up, or Jesus will get you.”

How unlike the Jesus we see in the Gospels, who embraces the sinner, who opens God’s forgiveness to all; who loves and heals the most fallen.

In John’s gospel Jesus says, “I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.” (John 12:47)  And he goes on to say that God “the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.”  That’s great news.  God passes the judgment job to Jesus, and Jesus chooses to save, not to judge. 

Paul makes the same argument in Romans, in a passage that is twisted by some to imply a meaning that is opposite to Paul’s intention.  Paul insists that since all people have sinned, we’re all in the same basket – religious and non-religious alike – nobody has a position of privilege.  Therefore, we are all “justified freely by God’s grace.” (Romans 3:23-31)  It’s a free gift for everyone. 

God’s love is not dependent upon our loveableness.  God’s love is freely given and ubiquitous. 

We humans do have two freedoms.  We are free to accept or to reject the love of God – that’s our spiritual freedom.  And we are free to do what is right or to do what is wrong – that’s our moral freedom.

But these are greatly restricted freedoms.

We – and here I’m talking about the church – often do such a terrible job of representing the love of God that many people do not experience the infinite love of God.  And the best that good people can do in that situation is to reject the distorted notions of God they’ve been taught.

And we – and here I am talking out our cultural norms and conditioning – often pass along such deep prejudices, fears and self-centered world-views, that our children grow up with stunted moral capacities and cannot see the goodness in the world around us.

There are consequences, terrible consequences to our destructive behaviors.  Judgment is what happens when we are exposed to the full reality of God. 

For a very evil person there may be very little that can survive the purging love of God.  When those who crucified Jesus came face to face with infinite love, then they knew what they had done – and that is judgment. 

But whatever there is of love in them, and I believe there is some expression of love in every human being, that love is taken into God’s heart forever.

For it is God’s divine purpose, as Colossians says, “to reconcile to the divine self, all things whether things on earth or things in heaven.” (1:20)  All things will be reconciled.  “In Christ, all will be made alive.”  Even those who crucified Love incarnate, Jesus of Nazareth, will be reconciled.  Even those of us who continue to crucify Love incarnate will be reconciled, for God honors Jesus’ prayer from the cross, “Father, forgive them.  They do not know what they are doing.”  (Luke 23:34) 

So do not be afraid.  Every time the resurrected Jesus appears, he says, “Fear not.”  For God is love.  We see that through Jesus, the human face of God.  Jesus lived his entire life energized by love and compassion.  Love and compassion. 

Jesus shows us how to be human.  How to be humane.  The scripture invites us to live the good life – shows us what that is through Jesus.  It’s not easy, but it is good. 

Here’s some of the advice we are given:  “Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.  Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”  (Luke 6:35-36)

“Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.  The commandments… are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Romans 13:8-10)

God has infinite ways to express God’s divine Word and Wisdom.  For us Christians, God teaches us through Jesus.  For my friend Geshe-la, God reveals the Buddha of compassion.  For my friend Hameed, it is surrender to the will of Allah.  For my humanist friend Art, it is the wonder of our place in a fascinating universe.  We all come back to the same basic thing:  Love.  Love and compassion.

We Christians are bold enough to declare that in Jesus, God who is love, becomes one with all humanity, sharing our life and our death, suffering our evil and our hate, and returning only love.  We say that in Christ, God conquers all, including evil and death.  Therefore, as in Adam all die, so in Christ will all be made alive.” 

Alleluia!