March 23, 2008
Easter Sunday
Pastor Anita Hill

Was Jesus Subversive?

Matthew 28:1-10 

“Was Jesus subversive?” is the title of an article by Rev. George Johnson in the current issue of The Lutheran magazine. George is now retired. I knew him when he served Our Savior’s Lutheran in Circle Pines, a congregation our interim pastor Harry also once served. 

These are our questions on this Easter morning. Was Jesus subversive? Is Jesus still subversive? Are we as Christians subversive enough in our culture? 

Many Christians know the words of John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he sent his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” And we follow the theology of an early church Father, Anselm, who translated Jesus death into the ultimate sacrifice to save us from eternal damnation. 

While there are Bible verses that speak about the death of Jesus as payment for sin or as ransom to save us humans, other questions arise about Jesus’ death.

You can be sure that he’d be one who could not get a travel visa today. One who would be forbidden to board a plane. One for whom the orange/red warning signs would be flashing near the airport saying; “Report any suspicious activity.” ĘThere is strong evidence that the answer to our question is yes. The subversiveness of Jesus’ death and resurrection has been overlooked because of the emphasis on the sacrificial aspect of the cross. 

Jesus was countercultural. From the start of his ministry, Jesus said and did things that brought conflict. He told the poor they are blessed of God and you know what kind of trouble that might bring when people are empowered. He warned the rich to beware. He talked with women, even a Samaritan woman, which would have been strictly forbidden for Jewish men. Jesus exposed the lack of compassion that rigid adherence to the law could bring. He healed on the Sabbath. He brought people back to life. He exposed the corruption in the temple.  

Jesus was put to death because what he did and said challenged the status quo. Leaders of church and state plotted to kill him because he was a threat to the established order. For heaven’s sake, they said his teaching about forgiveness was blasphemy. 

The authorities didn’t want to put their privileged place in the Roman Empire at risk, so they turned Jesus over to Pilate, where he was condemned, scorned, beaten, crucified, and buried. 

Jesus declared God’s justice by living, teaching, and dying for alternatives to violence, greed, hunger, domination, prejudice and hatred. “Jesus was killed because he was considered a threat to a society that neglected the poor and worshiped the sword.” Sound familiar? 

This I know. The God I’ve come to know and love did not require the death of his son.

Atonement by Jesus’ death is not something God planned or wanted. But the death of Jesus has become a reminder of the length to which God goes to demonstrate love, hope, and resurrection life. 

God did not need to require the death of Jesus to pay for the sins of the world, nor does God desire the death of sinners for our misdeeds. What is true is that Jesus’ death is a result of the sin of people and that through Easter resurrection, God shows us the power of forgiveness and grace. 

Such biblical insights do not take away from the sacrificial aspect of Jesus’ death or diminish the love that led him to the cross. Nor do they belittle the reason Christians are gathered in sanctuaries across the world today to celebrate the resurrection. 

What is subversive about resurrection? The religious leaders asked that Jesus’ tomb be sealed and guarded so no one could steal away his body and claim he was resurrected. The final verses of Matthew’s gospel explain that the guards posted at the tomb, the same ones who were so scared they were as dead, were paid off not to mention the angels rolling the stone away. They were paid to say that the body was stolen from the tomb, and that story seems to still be in circulation today. 

But no one can dispute that the resurrection is real and that resurrection life happens day after day more than 2,000 years later.  

Ask someone who is living clean after alcohol and chemical dependency treatment.

Ask those who live the 12 steps if resurrection is real.

Ask people who have lost everything and have found new life out of the ashes.

There is new life in the children who came up front this morning, and new life and hope in students graduating this year.

New life in elders who show us how very important it is to trust God each day and every moment.

There is new life with those whose bodies fail yet find new purpose in prayer like those who live cloistered lives.

Resurrection is real in the conscious daily thanks of a man who has lived 25 years past heart bypass surgery when he was told to expect no more than 10.

There is life even in the midst of death. That’s resurrection.

Resurrection life comes when we attend the wedding of couples whose lives together will bring children into the world.

Resurrection life exists when we attend the blessing services of same gender couples whose promises lift up love and creativity in a world as yet unsure how to respond. That’s subversive.

Resurrection is here when we pray wide-eyed knowing the only response to what God has done in Christ Jesus is the one word prayer, “Wow!” 

I know that you are probably expecting the pastor today to say: Christ is risen! To which you all respond: Christ is risen, indeed! But this morning, I invite you to join in my one word prayer: Wow!  WOW! 

There are things today that still need to be subverted by the cross and resurrection. Poverty, hunger, sickness, homelessness, discrimination, exclusion, joblessness, violence, corporate and personal greed, emotional abuse, any kind of abuse, and the list goes on. The kind of expansive love and care that leads to justice for all is still as subversive today as when Jesus lived. 

We’ve heard signs of resurrection life in this political season. We heard it in long awaited speeches calling us to unity beyond our country’s divisions. Against the Good Friday prophecy of an anguished pastor damning America for its faults, we have heard the audacity of resurrection hope that our country can move beyond racial tensions and our sad legacy of slavery to live more fully and equitably. We heard it in the belief we can move beyond pain and cynicism to a new destiny, a resurrected destiny, a subversive destiny of caring for all of humanity, whether in this country or not.  

Living the resurrection life brings us to understand that our children and grandchildren deserve a world in which they can survive and thrive. Living the resurrection life brings us to love and live as Jesus did. Is that subversive? I believe it is. To follow Jesus Christ is to shoulder the cross to make a difference despite the consequences, knowing that eternal life awaits us. Living the resurrection life means opening our senses, our eyes, our ears, and our hearts to respond compassionately to the ills of the world so that new life is possible where hopelessness existed before. 

There is a reason the words we hear so often in scripture await the Marys who go to the tomb on Easter morning. The angel tells them not to be afraid. The risen Jesus repeats it to them: Do not be afraid.

Christ has conquered death. There is no need to fear. Resurrection is ours. Nothing remains the same. Resurrection is all around us, waiting for us to see it and say, “Wow!”  We are called to labor fearlessly for a world worth living in for the future. We are called to join Jesus in the subversive life of resurrection.

Life is ours now and always because of Christ Jesus. Was Jesus subversive? Yes.

Is resurrection still subversive? You betcha!

Wow. Wow. Wow!

Amen.