Taking Care of the Foundation

Luke 24:1-12New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Has Risen

24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Hypothetically speaking, if I bought an old house and spent a couple years updating everything that needed improved but didn’t ever go look at the basement I think we could agree I would be doing myself a disservice.  If I had the Amish build custom cabinets and drawers; if I bought the latest and greatest appliances; if I updated all the water lines and put tile in the kitchen and bathrooms; if I renovated my dream house but never addressed the issues in the foundation then all that work would be for not.  If I didn’t take time to take care of the water seeping in through several places; if I never addressed the large cracks in the bricks; if I never anchored the walls and took care of the issues in the foundation then my beautiful dream home would be falling apart quickly.  The foundation had better be the strongest part of any structure.  For example, take the One World Trade Center that was built in memorial of where the World Trade Center Twin Towers once stood.  The building contains 40,000 metric tons of structural steel, 49,000 cubic yards of concrete which is equivalent to 4,000 New York City blocks.  There are 104 stories that rise up from a 40,000 square foot base reaching 1,776 feet into the air.  Imagine the foundation that is needed to make sure that building sustains natural disasters and otherwise.  We all understand the importance of a strong foundation.

But I have to be honest, I feel our foundation starting to crack... I am not some religious, crazy person saying we are headed down a fiery path if we don’t accept Jesus right now.  I am not some evangelical, monster truck announcing, over the top preacher screaming “WE NEED JEEZZZ-UUUSSSS IN AMERICA AGAIN!”  I am a simply man from humble beginnings telling you we need to love and respect one another again.  We so easily tear each other apart in any given moment.  Humor me for a bit and imagine we are heading to the tomb with the women this morning and we get there to find it empty.  Mary Magdala snaps a picture and posts on Facebook and Instagram saying Jesus isn’t here... #confused #stonerolledaway #nonsense Peter responds to the post with the confused looking emoji and many of the other disciples are leaving comments like Are you sure? I don’t believe you.  #liar  A Instagram user by the name of Greatest_Pilate_Ever leaves the comment I washed my hands of it.... #sorrynotsorry  A gentleman on Facebook named Roman, Roman Soldier, puts a smiley face emoji with the comment Christ is King! Someone else mentions Peter in a comment asking for his advice on this whole Jesus thing to which Peter responds by saying I have no idea what you are talking about... I do not know this man you call Jesus.  Was he on Team Blake on The Voice?  It’s kind of odd but three different times Peter makes such a denial.  Finally someone posts a meme of Peter walking away from the tomb deep in thought, scratching his head, talking to himself on verge of a great discovery but then is distracted by a question about Gentiles only to forget his brilliant theological discovery he was about to make.  Several years later, Peter reposts this meme from his Timehop under the new name of Pope Peter and the comment hahahahaha lol.  Ok, now that I have the modern version of the trip to the tomb firmly imprinted in your mind, let’s get back on track...

Christ’s earthly life was supposed to set the foundation for the disciples as to what was happening and yet they were so completely far off from understanding what Jesus was trying to tell them.  Why did those first to get to the tomb Easter morning have to be reminded of Christ’s teaching and why did Peter leave the tomb still wondering what had just happened?  I often wonder if this was intentional on the part of Christ or if those disciples were not as observant as we give them credit for.  So many times I want to go back in time and slap the disciples on the back of the head and say, “hello, don’t you get it?! THE SON OF MAN IS STANDING BEFORE YOU! HE IS GOING TO DIE AND GOD IS GOING TO RESURRECT HIM SO DEATH NO LONGER WINS.  HOW DO YOU NOT SEE THIS COMING???!!!!  It’s so frustrating to me that they don’t get it... How easy would it be to believe if we were able to walk with Christ just like those disciples did and yet they don’t get it.  I don’t have sympathy for them.  When the tomb was empty they should have been high-fiving and sprinting away from there knowing full well that Jesus had kept all the promises he made with them.  But they didn’t... Something that seems so common sense somehow totally escaped the disciples.  Pretty inexcusable if I do say so myself.  I mean seriously, how did they not see it?  

You have probably caught on by now that I am using a tool called sarcasm to make this point: faith, following Jesus, being in relationship with God and one another is not nearly as apparent and easy as we would like it to be.  The signs for the disciples should have been clear but the same could be said for us.  Jesus calls us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give water to the thirsty, and to serve another and yet we fail so miserably when it comes to doing this.  The foundation is showing its cracks.  We are nowhere near being irreparable at this point but we need to take a lesson from the events of Holy Week and repair our foundation.  We have to start making time for our faith, we need to make time for those in need, we need to make time for our church, we need to make time for our children and our community.  We need to make time for one another.  Life is so incredibly busy, there is so much available to distract us from our calling and we need to do better to shift our focus back to God and back to taking care of one another.  As a small congregation of 50 or so we have the power and skill to change the world but it must start here.  Look at what Christ did with a rag-tag group of 12.  I know we are capable of greatness in spreading the love and grace of God.  We must start making repairs to our foundation while we are still able.  And I wouldn’t want to continue on this journey with anyone other than each of you.  Our foundation will start to regain strength when we begin to work together; when we realize that each one of us, despite our beliefs, can work together for the benefit of the greater good.  Amen.