Scripture: Ezekiel 37:4-6; 1 Corinthians 15:3-6; Luke 24:5 Series: 2022
An Advent sermon in a series on the Apostles’ Creed, focused on the clause ‘on the third day he rose again.’ Wilson argues that the resurrection is bodily and time-bound, which is why Christians worship on Sunday—the eighth day, a little Easter and the first day of new creation. Drawing on Ezekiel’s dry bones, 1 Corinthians 15, and Updike’s Easter poem, he stresses the fleshly reality of the resurrection and contrasts Chronos (clock time) with Kairos (God’s redeemed time). He then turns the angel’s question—‘Why do you look for the living among the dead?’—on declining, convenience-driven church attendance and membership vows reduced to dead obligation, calling the congregation to come to the Communion table willing to be changed and to proclaim Christ is risen.
Illustrations: southern-blue-laws, christmas-on-a-sunday, valley-of-dry-bones, updike-seven-stanzas-easter, chronos-vs-kairos, attendance-1-4-times-a-month, membership-vows-dead-works
December 4
On the third day, he rose again.
He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, Dry bones, hear the Lord’s word! The Lord God proclaims to these bones: I am about to put breath in you, and you will live again. I will put sinews on you, place flesh on you, and cover you with skin. When I put breath in you, and you come to life, you will know that I am the Lord.” Ezekiel 37:4-6
Why do we worship on a Sunday? Christians celebrate on a Sunday, not a Saturday as Jews do the Sabbath. The sabbath, in the Jewish faith, is on the seventh day of the week. For Christians, they celebrate on the first day of the week. The reason why we have a weekend in general is because the Sabbath is still Saturday for Christians. The Lord’s day is Sunday. So you have two days: Sabbath and the Lord’s Day. Neither of them are very restful in the modern world. For many of us today, they’re full of activities, escapes, family time, excursions, catching up on work around the house. Honey do lists, all sorts of things. If you have children, weekends are filled with sports activities, Saturdays and Sundays, all day longs in different places. For a long time, in the south especially, there were blue laws that limited which businesses could be open on Sunday. I think, in large part, this artificially inflated church attendance. A lot of people went to church because it was the only thing they could do. This year, Christmas Day is on a Sunday. It happens every few years. A lot of churches cancel Christmas worship because of this. They say that Christmas is for family. I think Christmas is partially for family. My family has a number of wonderful Christmas traditions, but a Sunday is the Lord’s Day because on the third day, Christ rose from the dead. The third day was Sunday. In the Christian faith, it is not the first day of the week, it is the eighth day. It is the first day of new creation. This Sunday, and every Sunday, each is a little Easter, a little resurrection, a little reminder that the new creation of all things has begun in Jesus Christ. If we believe Jesus rose from the dead, we are living in a different world now.
Series Intro
My friends, we are continuing our series on the apostles creed, that historic doctrinal statement of the faith. We are going to look at how the creed encapsulate scripture and offers it to us in a way that shows us what has been revealed from God about who God is, how the world is, why we are in need, how Jesus saves us, and what we should do about it.
Today, on the third day, he rose again.
This series is a in part a response to claims that the United Methodist Church is leaving Christian doctrine behind. The doctrine of the church has not changed and cannot change. And there is no more central doctrine than the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The timing of resurrection matters, as does the fleshiness of it. Ezekiel 37 has this great image of the valley of dry bones and the Son of Man breathing out and the sinews of flesh coming back to the bones. This is the most detailed description of resurrection. Ezekiel shows the renewal of flesh and bone, not Spirit bubbles or souls floating above the surface.
The Bible doesn’t talk a lot about disembodied souls, but it speaks of resurrected bodies. Jesus rose in the flesh. Lazarus rose in the flesh. Even Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration are bright and brilliant, they are not ghostly.
Each moment of resurrection takes time. 1 Corinthians 15 offers a beautiful summary of our faith that addresses the time. We can see a creedal pattern already present here.
I passed on to you as most important what I also received: Christ died for our sins in line with the scriptures, he was buried, and he rose on the third day in line with the scriptures. He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve, and then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once—most of them are still alive to this day, though some have died.” 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 CEB
The timing of the days matters. Not just because it was predicted in Scripture. Jesus was killed before the Sabbath on a Friday. If he had risen on the Sabbath, nobody would’ve witnessed it. Nobody would’ve been there there. The day after the sabbath was a normal day. An average day. The women go to the tomb to do their duty to Jesus. They find the tomb empty. An Angel there asks them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” It is a question that is still relevant for us today: Why do you look for the living among the dead? Worshiping on a Sunday as the gathered body of Christ is an opportunity to look for the living among the living. It is a chance to find God where God is among the living. We don’t need to look for the living among the dead. He is not there. The resurrection itself was bodily. It wasn’t just in spirit. The New Testament has little time for spirits. It has little time for ghosts floating about as John Updike puts it in his Seven Stanzas on Easter.
Make no mistake: if he rose at all/It was as His body;/If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit,/The amino acids rekindle,/The Church will fall.
He is risen is the eternal proclamation of the church in all seasons. He is risen is the proclamation of every Sunday. Christ has transformed every first day into an eighth day. Christ has transformed all our time from chronos into kairos. Chronos is linear time. Clock time. Chronos is the time of the schedule; the organizational man, the life hack for more efficiency and productivity. Kairos is the time of God. The redeemed time of flow and transformation. The time of falling in love. The time of the first cry of your child. The time of undeserved mercy.
Time moves slowly as a child and swiftly as an adult. Our routines and habits are good and beautiful, but they can make time pass in ways that seem too fast.
When we live for ourselves, we will forever be trapped in Chronos time. Resurrection offers us an opportunity to live in kairos time. We need not live for ourself anymore. On the third day, when Jesus rises, the new creation of reality begins. It has happened. And you can be a part of this. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, offers us a stark choice about how to live in light of resurrection. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, let us eat, drink and be married for tomorrow we die. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead on the third day, what are we doing here? What is the point of any of this? If he did rise, then everything is different. If Christ did rise from the dead, our lives are different. Grace is freely offered to us through Christ. We are forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God. Let us stay reconciled by seeking Jesus.
You are loved and forgiven, my brothers and sisters, by the God who loved you so much. He came to earth and took your sins upon himself. He died for you. He went to the depths for you. On the third day, after he was truly dead, after he proclaimed eternal life in the midst of eternal death, he rose again.
So where are you going to look for him? Are you going to look for Jesus in the dry bones? We are in the season of advent. A time of preparation for Christmas and the coming of Jesus. It is tempting to only look back for Jesus. To look at the past, at our memories and experiences and comfort level. And yet, why do you seek the living among the dead?
Church attendance is a fickle thing. It goes up and down. I’ve been a part of churches with rapid growth and then they plateau and then they descend. A generation ago, regular church attendance was every Sunday unless you were out of town. Today, regular church attendance is 1.4 times a month. A lot of things get in the way. There are sports games or trips or family or the only time to catch up on the laundry. I never understand what the preacher is saying. I don’t prefer the music. I don’t want to get trapped in a conversation. I practice my faith outside of the walls. There are a lot of reasons to not attend church. At its worst. Church attendance is a begrudging duty.
When people join the church, they pledge to support it by their prayers, their presence, their gifts, their servants and their story.
When I talk to people about joining the church, I always ask them what these words mean to them. It is always great. We make a promise to God and others to be present, but life changes. Patterns change. It gets harder. Like all the promises of membership: prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness, when they’re seen solely as obligations, they slowly deaden over time. They turn into dry works. The very works that Paul spoke about as the dead works of the law. Instead of drawing us closer, they keep us from God. Church becomes a social obligation that we can take or leave as we see fit. Once Sunday becomes an obligation, it ceases to be a day of resurrection. It becomes another valley of dry bones.
And yet, what we humans deaden, Christ redeems. If Jesus rose from the dead, everything is different, why do we look for the living among the dead? Why are we looking for God in places not from God?
When we look for convenience and comfort, when we look for homogeneity, and affirmation, it’s like looking in a graveyard, but Christ is not there. When we stay away from church unless it is convenient, we are looking for the living among the dead. When we are more excited to receive than to give, we are looking for the living among the dead. When practicing our faith looks more cultural than sacrificial, we are looking for the living among the dead. When the Bible is used more to condemn others than to convict ourselves, we are looking for the living among the dead. Christ is not there.
Christ is here, at this table. If we are going to come to the table, we need to lay down our burdens and grudges. We need to lay down our bitterness and hobby horses. If we are not willing to be changed, we are not willing to proclaim, on this day, or any Sunday, Christ is risen indeed!
Let us pray, Heavenly Father, thank you for your mercies in sharing with us the good news of Christ’s resurrection. Help us to live a resurrection life even now, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.