A journalism teacher was teaching his class to write a lede – the first sentence or paragraph of a newspaper story. He wrote the words “Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How” on the blackboard. Then he dictated a set of facts to us that went something like this: “Kenneth L. Peters, the principal of Beverly Hills High School, announced today that the faculty of the high school will travel to Sacramento on Thursday for a colloquium on new teaching methods. Speaking there will be anthropologist Margaret Mead and Robert Maynard Hutchins, the president of the University of Chicago.”[1]
The students
were then to prepare their lede sentence for an article. Most of them wrote
something like, “Famous Anthropologist Margaret Mead and University of Chicago
President Robert Maynard Hutchins will address the faculty Thursday in
Sacramento.” Or, “The principal announced today that teachers will attend a
colloquium on new teaching methods on Thursday.”
The teacher
collected the ledes. He stood in front of the classroom as he silently read
them one by one. When he was finished, he dramatically tossed everything into
the garbage. He looked intently at the class and said: “The lede to the story
is ‘There will be no school Thursday.'”
The lede
tells you the most important fact about what follows. To the students reading
the school paper, the most important point was not where their teachers were
going, why they were going, or what they would learn. The most important point
was: “There will be no school on Thursday.”
When it
comes to the story of the Christian faith, today is the lede: Christ is risen!
St. Paul
writes in 1 Cor. 15 - I delivered to you as of first importance what I also
received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the
Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third
day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he
appeared …
That was the
message of the apostles and the early church. This was the message that led to the
martyrdom of all the apostles except one. This was the message that moved – and
still moves – governments to persecute the followers of Jesus.
You see, if
Jesus really is risen from the dead, there are implications for the whole order
of the world. Jesus’ death and resurrection change everything because His
resurrection is the sign that He is God’s chosen one, His Messiah, who was sent
to restore humanity from our fallen nature to walk in a new life – a life of
faith that is aligned with God’s will (which we call repentance).
Jesus’
resurrection uproots the powers of this world for all who believe in Him. He
realigns our allegiances away from the ways and the gods of this world toward the
life, mercy, love, and grace of the kingdom of heaven. The powers of this world
arrange themselves in perversion of those four values of the kingdom of heaven
– life, mercy, love, and grace. This is what evil does: it copies to mock, it
pretends to have the authority of God, but ends up being the opposite. And
there are four gods/goddesses that we might identify as the opposition powers
against the kingdom of heaven. They are: Santa Muerte (Death), Moloch (the god
of cruel power and domination), Eros (the god of passion and desire), and Mammon
(the god of earthly possession/money).
Santa Muerte
is relatively new on the scene. If you’ve heard of her, it is probably in
connection with Central American gang violence. Death, however, has always been
a horror and fascination for people. This is the first goddess our Lord Jesus overturned
by rising from the grave. We are used to thinking that death is normal. We grow
old; our bodies break down, we get sick, there are accidents, violence happens,
and people die. “It’s just the way the world works.” But it’s not what God
intended for us. We were created for everlasting life, and Jesus has restored
life to us. He says that those who believe in Him, even if they die, yet shall
they live. If anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation; the old is
gone, the new has come. Jesus’ resurrection breaks death’s grip on us. He is
the first-fruit from the dead, and we will follow him.
Overcoming
death is important because death is a powerful motivator for the world’s
connection to these other gods.
Moloch is
mentioned in the Bible, though you may have been introduced to this name by
Alan Ginsberg’s poem, “Howl.” Moloch is the god of cruel power. For you Tolkien
fans, he is Sauron, who pours his will and malice out to dominate. If death is
the way of this world, then life is cheap, and the main life you should protect
is your own, even if you must be cruel to do so. Jesus’ message is very
different: He is risen for the dead and shows us that life is a gift – precious
and sacred. The people around us are not competitors for life – your life is
secure and eternal because Jesus has risen! – they are neighbors who are to be
loved, not exploited. Jesus turns us from desire for power and self-protection
to love and mercy for others.
Speaking of
love, Eros makes a mockery of this value of God’s kingdom. The name Eros means
“desire.” And, oh, how the world confuses love and desire, and we have made sexual
desire into the greatest good one can pursue. We fall in and our of love.
Marriages last … until the couple is no longer “in love.” In the resurrection,
Jesus gives a different vision of love. His love begins with giving himself for
us. His sacrifice on the cross to pay for our sins is love. Indeed, leaving
heaven to become human, his patience teaching his disciples, the incredible patience
he shows with each of us when we fall short of being the people he wants us to
be, is all rooted in his love. If death has the final say, why wouldn’t we
pursue every pleasure and desire? But death is not the end. You have been given
life in the resurrection, and in that new life, “love is patient, love is kind,
love does not envy, does not boast; it is not arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at
wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all
things.” That is what love looks like in the kingdom of heaven.
The last god
we must deal with is Mammon. We often conflate Mammon with money, but Mammon is
more than money. It is all the material things that tempt our hearts. So it
includes money, but also watches, new phones, nice cars, bigger houses, better
televisions, and more streaming services. Jesus says these things will rust,
become moth-eaten, and fade away. Instead, Jesus urges us to focus on God’s
grace.
The word
grace is closely related to the concept of gift. You don’t earn gifts. They’re
given freely … otherwise they’re not a gift. James, the brother of our Lord,
says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of
light.” Jesus Christ is the light of the world who comes down to give us the
greatest gift. He delivers the most profound grace. By his death and
resurrection, he has restored the Father’s kingdom to us. In his resurrection,
you have life. Shun the ways of Santa Muerte! Because Jesus died and lives
again, you have received mercy. Reject the ways of Moloch! Since Jesus is risen
from the dead, you have real love. Do not be fooled by Eros’s cheap and
fleeting imitations. And because Jesus is alive forevermore and death can no
longer touch him, you have received grace in every way from the Father. Leave
Mammon’s temptations in the garbage bin where our stuff always ends up.
Jesus is
risen. That is the lede. The consequences of the resurrection are wonderful.
Celebrate that the kingdom of heaven is yours.
There is a
story that comes out of the old Soviet Union of a Communist official railing at
a public gathering about the foolishness of the Christian religion. He noticed
an Orthodox priest in the crowd in his black cassock and his long beard. He
decided to try to make a fool of him and called him up. “What do you have to
say to all this? Prove me wrong!” The priest serenely looked at the crowd and
said, “Khrystos Voskres.” The crowd replied, “Voistynu Voskres!”
Christ is
risen. He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Don’t bury
the lede. Live, show mercy, love, and receive and give God’s grace, because
Jesus rose for you. Amen.
Comments