“Just When We Think it’s Over--God Acts!”--Dr. Thomas J. Boone
Easter Sunday, April 8, 2007, Central Presbyterian Church
Psalm 118:14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26

Although fiction, I can’t help but be moved by its meaning each time I read one scene in The Lord of the Rings. The pair had come so far with each other that to stop with the end of their journey in plain view seemed incomprehensible. Yet, too overcome by the weight of his heavy burden, too exhausted to go a single step further Frodo Baggins sunk to the craggy ground heavy in his footsteps. Face down he collapsed on the mountain unable to go any further. His cargo was nothing but a small ring, but within that ring rested the power of ages. It was a horrid power though, and not one that could be used for good, so Frodo was on a journey to destroy it. But, he could go no further. The journey was going to end as a dismal failure. That is, until his friend, Sam Gamgee, tired himself by the journey, picked Frodo up and finished the climb with Frodo on his back step by aching, burdensome step until arriving at last to the place where they could destroy the ring. As Tolkien artistically portrayed, just when we thought it was over for Frodo, Sam acted.

Have you ever noticed that when you’re at the end of your rope, that somehow someone or something comes along as if by divine appointment to carry you or encourage you in just the right way? Have you ever wanted to throw in the towel only to have a spouse or best friend pick it back up, hand it back to you, and say “Oh no you don’t. I’m here now.” As Christians, we believe that’s God acting transforming moments of despair into gleams of hope. He’s done it throughout human history.

No one expected much of her once she had experienced the brain trauma at nineteen months old that left her deaf, mute, and blind. She would’ve been sidelined in a world that had no place for people with disabilities, blindness most of all. She could’ve been sidelined in vaudeville becoming the source of mockery that was meant to be “just good clean fun.” She might’ve stopped at tantrums rising from deep resources overflowing with a sense of injustice or entitlement. That is, until Anne Sullivan entered the scene. Life for Helen Keller, thanks to Anne Sullivan, wouldn’t be a dead end; rather her life became a gift to the world. Through Helen Keller and the influence of Anne Sullivan, God created life out of the experience of death that many disabled people had felt up to that point.

Just when we think it’s over, God acts! That’s the ongoing resurrection story that we’re a part of through Christ Jesus. Either we accept the resurrection as a perpetual, daily scoop of blessing richer than a Marble Slab original, or we deny it’s power over a darkness that surrounds us in a sarcophagus of sinful choices and attitudes.

There is a stark contrast between our resurrection promise and defeat the Enemy reinforces. “Look at me—I’m shattered” sings the Rolling Stones. “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds,” declares the Psalmist. “I’ve become so numb without a soul; my spirit sleeping somewhere cold,” suggest the lyrics of one pop song. David responds, “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.” “Just another piece of trash in the public eye. Another day of bitterness in the unemployment lines. You’re less than zero and who could care,” proclaims one popular song artist. “The stone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” retorts the Psalmist.

Do you get what I’m saying? Against each self-defeating thought we conceive, against all our actions that drag us deeper into a chasm of chaos, against every trick the Enemy uses to prevent us from realizing that we are, in fact, the image of God–against all these God stands fiercely juxtaposed to them. Against death itself God acted because summoning life out of dead things is God’s best business.

People put Jesus in a rock and closed him in tight, putting enough spices around his corpse to mask the death scent that would have accumulated when they came back for a proper burial ceremony after Sabbath. In his life, people regarded Jesus as a radical figure, but it took his death for them to see just how radical he really was; not even death could contain him. Just when they thought it was over--God acted.

And it’s because God acted that death and its children have no dominion over us anymore. Because God acted, our broken hearts don’t have to be broken anymore. Because God acted, fear does not need to shut us down. Because God acted we can hear “you can’t” a million times, but with God in our corner nothing will defeat us. Because God acted, we can let go of anger’s grip and come together despite our differences. Frodo had Sam, Helen had Anne, and because God acted we have Jesus. Just when we think it’s over--God acts!

But, let’s be honest with ourselves. Daily doses of resurrection, while we may yearn for them, often evade many of us. Some of you come to church tormented by a life wrought with pain. And because we wear our masks so well in church, each of us thinks we may be the only one who struggles with a God who’s supposed to love us. Truth is, there’s not a person here who isn’t broken. Each of us needs God to act, and the promise of today is that He does.

Some of you have experienced deep betrayal and abandonment by family members: husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, aunts, or uncles. So, to hear that we’re the family of God makes some of your guts wrench when we treat each other the way we do from time to time. Life has enough emotional landmines and tripwires to cope with, so when we experience these things in the church, it’s tempting just to throw up our hands and walk away. Who needs it?

Do you want to know what’s going to cause the church to grow more than anything else? Some people think it’s a good sermon or a charismatic leader. Actually, real growth takes place based upon what happens not from here but from among you. People today are disconnected and they crave authentic community where they can have healing. The church has an opportunity to provide resurrection community to a society deadened by lifeless pursuits and train-wrecked families. There are so many people who live on the edge of a dark precipice, and because God acts, they can have hope among us if we choose to show it to them.

Another point is that some of us get burdened by the choices we’ve made outside these walls. Sometimes we’re in utter chaos and don’t have a sense of what’s right or what’s wrong. Sometimes we know what’s right yet intentionally choose wrong because we’re in rebellion against parents, school, a boss, a spouse, or even God. Paul writes, “There is nothing...that will separate us from the love of God.” Because God conquered death, the final foe, God stands behind you, beside you, before you. When we’re in the midst of wrongs, we may certainly sadden God, but if you think you do can offend God Almighty so much as to cause Him to walk away from you then He’s far bigger than you think. When we think we’ve done too much wrong, made too much offense, or deserve grievous punishment by God, that’s when we need to remember this. God transformed death into life. Just when everyone thought it was over--God acted, and He acts today still.

Who are you? You’re children of God, Who makes dead things live again! So be proud rather than defeated. Live rather than focus on what weighs you down. And, rather than give up, surrender, or yield to emotions that seem like candy but are in fact poison, let’s remember that Christ died to keep the Evil one in hell and nothing there can touch us who are alive in Christ. Who are you? You’re a child of the God of resurrection and for that we say Hallelujah. Amen!