Now What?

John 20:1-18

April 16, 2017

I.

Every time we learn something there are three stages to it.  There’s the What?  the So what? and the Now what?  The What? refers just to the basic statement itself, the facts, the data, the opinion, what is actually said or perceived.  The So what? asks what this means for me, how does this information apply to my world?  But the key, the place where the rubber meets the road, is always the Now what?  Because that’s where we do something with this information.  We tend to spend an awful lot of time and energy on the What? and the So what? about things, and comparatively very little on the Now what?

All of the Resurrection narratives hinge on the Now what? question.  We have historically paid a great deal of attention to trying to figure out what happened and interpreting what it means.  But we do not invest enough in the question of what we are called to do now in light of this event.  We do not even get to the Now what? most of the time.  Instead we leave it as a story, a historical event, and maybe we study its context, and its theological, mythical, symbolic, spiritual, religious, historical importance.  Sometimes, it seems hard for us to imagine that there is any Now what? at all, that the story actually demands that we do anything.

Within this story, Mary’s Now what? is when she breathlessly runs back to the upper room where the disciples are staying, and announces what happened to her.  The Now what? of her story is her telling it, as Jesus instructs to do.  She doesn’t just take this news in and go home to think about it.  She starts spreading this amazing good news that Jesus is now alive!  That’s why she has always had the title of “Apostle to the Apostles.”  The Now what? is always about communication and testimony.  It is always about witness and discipleship.

The Now what? of the resurrection for us is the same.  This story and the truth to which it points must reshape our lives.  It has consequences.  It requires us to live differently.  It insists that we act in new and even odd, countercultural ways in the world.     

When Mary tells the story, she in so doing becomes herself part of the story.  And it is the same with us.  Our telling of the story means we have to become the story.  We have to become ourselves the good news so profoundly that it is no longer just about something that happened to somebody who lived a long time ago, but about us.  It is about something that happens to us, here and now.  

II. 

Jesus himself makes this point when he tells her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.”  Here we learn that it is not his earthly, mortal, historical form that is most important.  Jesus says “Don’t hold on to what you can see, and touch, and feel, and measure.  Even this is temporary and conditional.  That is all still facts and data.  That is all happening out there to someone else.  Jesus tells Mary it’s really not about walking with me and talking with me, as a popular old song croons.  He is really going to be closer to us now than he was in his mortal, historical form.  

Jesus explains to her, “I am ascending to the Father.”  By saying this he does not mean that he is going away to some other, remote, inaccessible place.  He does not mean he is abandoning her and leaving her alone.

Ascension is an ancient and metaphorical way of recognizing that the higher we get, the more we can see; that is, the more inclusive our vision becomes.  If you get as high as God, you can see everything.  Height is a biblical image for inclusiveness.  Ascension is a way to talk about how Jesus becomes omnipresent; it means there is a sense in which he is emerging everywhere.  

Jesus is lifted up on the cross, he is raised up in resurrection, and he ascends to heaven… and it’s all one continuous upward movement.  Just as in his incarnation he descended from universality to particularity, now he ascends from particularity to universality.  When he says that he goes to prepare a place for us and that where he is we will be also, he means that he brings us along with him in this ascent. “When Christ who is your life is revealed,” says Paul, “then you also will be revealed with him in glory.”   

Jesus instructs Mary to tell the disciples: “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”  The normal way we understand this is that she is to tell them what Jesus tells her about himself.  But the text is ambiguous.  She is to stand before the disciples and “say to them ‘I am ascending.’”  She is talking about Jesus… but at the same time she could also be heard as speaking about herself.

To encounter the risen Lord is to have your perspective blown open, widened, broadened, and made infinitely more inclusive.  It is to ascend with him.  It means we can no longer view things from our little, limited, self-centered perspective.  In Christ we have a wider view of things.  We no longer put ourselves, our family, our nation, or our interests first; we now see things from above, so that we act, think, and speak according to what is good for all.  Jesus gives us a God’s-eye-view of everything, uniting us to everything in love.  He shows us how to live for all.

To be united with him in a resurrection like his, to walk in newness of life, to follow him… all these are ways we talk about how his resurrection is not just about him but about all, beginning with those who by placing their trust in him see that.  To be united with him in a resurrection like his means living your life now with the care, joy, and love that he has for all.  To be united with him in a resurrection like his means we see and enact the big picture.          

III.

So the Now what? for us, in light of the resurrection and our participation in God’s life in and through Jesus Christ, is that we live in unity and identity with all creation and all people.  The Now what? is that we live to tell the story, not just in words, but with our whole lives.  The Now what? is that we cherish every life, every creature, every soul.

The Now what? is to see and live from God’s perspective.  It is to approach everything and everyone with wonder, compassion, and joy.  It is to actively express humility and perform self-less service to others.  We become visible, embodied expressions of God’s openness, peace, and love.  We recognize that we together are Christ-in-the-world.

In Christ we renounce and reject the violence, exploitation, selfishness, and ignorance that ravages the Earth, oppresses the poor, excludes the stranger, and murders the enemy.  In Christ we see the we are all one and we have no enemies, no competitors, and no opponents.  In Christ we are all about equality and forgiveness, healing and liberation, because we know that, from God’s viewpoint, which Christ gives us, we are all one.  Another’s suffering is my suffering.  Another’s joy is my joy.  And God’s peace is given for all.

Today we celebrate with some of our members who have chosen to take on themselves the promises made at their baptism.  This is a beginning.  They are only dimly aware of what they are getting into, in this journey of faith, hope, and love.  It begins with the resurrection.  And at every turn, at every moment, we need to be opening ourselves to the adventure of the Now what? of new life in the Word and Spirit of God.

+++++++