WISHFUL THINKING
There was an interesting article in last Tuesday’s Meadville Tribune about the Hitchens brothers. Christopher Hitchens has become one of the world’s most prolific atheists and is the author of a book entitled, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Peter Hitchens is his younger brother, and is a man who recently overcame a bout with atheism. He, too, is the author of a book entitled, The Rage Against God, which is actually a defense of the Christian faith. Can you imagine what their family reunions must be like?
Christopher Hitchens does not appear to be a person who will be changing his beliefs any time soon. He once said, “God did not create man in his own image. Evidently, it was the other way around.” In other words, human beings invented the notion of God out of a deep psychological need. He writes:
There are four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that it manages to combine the maximum of servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wishful thinking.
I don’t want to get into the business of servility or solipsism or sexual repression, but I do want to wrestle with his notions on wishful thinking. Because in a way, I think Mr. Hitchens is right. God could reasonably be called a product of wishful thinking. After all, when someone takes advantage of us and there’s nothing we can do about it, don’t we hope there’s Someone up above keeping score? When we become ill and it’s questionable as to whether or not medical science can heal us, don’t we want to turn to a higher Source? And as we approach that time in life when we will no longer exist in this world, don’t we hope for something beyond this earthly life?
I think of what comedian Jerry Seinfeld once said in one of his bits. He said, “Recent polls show that the greatest fear of most Americans is public speaking. People are more afraid of public speaking than they are of dying. So in other words, most people would rather be in the coffin…than up front doing the eulogy!”
I’m not so sure that Jerry Seinfeld or those so-called polls are right. People who are on in years and have lived a life of faith may not be afraid of dying. But perhaps there is no greater fear for those who have not lived so long or who have not lived a life of faith. Death has long been the greatest fear of the human race. It’s instinctive…we simply have a drive to survive. It stands to reason, then, that life beyond death could well be what Christopher Hitchens calls wishful thinking. We have a deep-seated desire for life to go on, and we have a deep-seated hope that God will provide a way.
Two thousand years ago, the belief in a resurrection was not nearly as doctrinal as it is today. The Pharisee sect of the Jewish faith had a vague notion of some kind of life after death after a cataclysmic end of the world. The Sadducee sect of the Jewish faith vehemently denied the existence of life after death altogether. It was this confusion – this lack of certainty – that led to such despair for those who followed Jesus in the aftermath of his crucifixion. Jesus had died and with his death, all of their hopes and dreams seemed to die alongside him.
Such was the situation for the women who went to Jesus’ tomb bright and early on a Sunday morning. Jesus had been crucified the Friday before and since Saturday was their Sabbath, they waited until Sunday to embalm the body. As they made their way to the tomb, they were all wrapped up in earthly concerns. “Who will roll the stone away from the door of the tomb?” they wondered as they walked. Tombs in those days were caves and they had great round rocks rolled in front of them. The stone would be far too big for them to budge. Thus, we could say it was a valid concern.
Yet when they arrived at the tomb, they found that the stone had already been rolled away. Note how our passage says they were “perplexed” about this. The Greek word translated “perplexed” is haporeisthai. It means literally, “to be at a loss as to what to do.” These women were literally at a loss as to what to do. Note that it was then that they encountered two men in dazzling clothes. Luke says it was two men in dazzling clothes. Mark says it was a young man in a long, white robe. Matthew says it was one angel while John says it was two. In any case, I think the lesson is clear. When we are perplexed – when we are at a loss as to what to do – that is when we can turn to God and God will give us guidance. Sometimes it takes a little perplexity for us to get beyond our pride and self-sufficiency and to open ourselves to God. Again, sometimes it takes a little perplexity for us to get beyond our pride and self-sufficiency and to open ourselves to God.
While the gospels may not be in agreement as to who appeared to the women at the tomb, they all agree on one thing: the tomb was empty. Jesus had been raised from the dead. This, of course, was the greatest news they could have encountered. Death had been overcome by the Son of God. Now their greatest fear – the fear of death – had been vanquished. While Christopher Hitchens may call this wishful thinking, we have four separate accounts that tell us otherwise. Death is not the end of life, it is merely the end of a phase of life. There is a resurrection. Now we have the hope that our lives go on. As I often times say in my funeral sermons, “It’s not ‘goodbye’ we say to the dearly departed today. It is, rather, ‘Until we meet again.’” Such is the assurance of the resurrection. It marks an end to our greatest fear, and it thus serves as the greatest news we could possibly hear. In fact the very words “good news” are literally translated “gospel.” Maybe that’s why the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are called the gospels. They are meant to present – and they represent – good news.
The question is, what do we do with that wonderful news? Is it meant to be shared or is it meant to be hoarded unto ourselves? Or, perhaps better put, is the assurance of our salvation the end of our journey with God, or is it merely the beginning? Abraham Heschel has an interesting take on this in his book, God in Search of Man. He writes:
The world needs more than the secret holiness of individual inwardness. It needs more than sacred sentiments and good intentions. God asks for the heart because He needs the lives. It is by lives that the world will be redeemed – by lives that beat in concordance with God – (and) by deeds that outbeat the finite charity of the human heart.
In other words, the assurance of our salvation is not the end of our journey with God. It is merely the beginning. God wants us to do something with the good news of the resurrection, not simply hoard it unto ourselves. And that is exactly what those women who went to the tomb to embalm the body of Jesus did. They ran and told the disciples of all they had heard and seen.
We might even call them the world’s first evangelists.
Yet the disciples did not believe the report of the women. Our passage says, “The words seemed to them an idle tale.” That’s actually putting it mildly. What the Greek words used here mean literally is that it seemed to them to be the babbling of fevered or irrational minds. Still, Peter went to the tomb to check the story out. He ran to the tomb and found it just as the women had said. Yet he found something else as well. The gospel of John takes an entire verse to explain it. Peter found the linen cloth that had been wrapped around the body of Jesus lying there. He also found the napkin that had been on Jesus’ head – not lying with the linen wrappings – but folded up in a place by itself. Is a folded napkin significant?
In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, one has to understand a little bit about the Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded napkin had to do with the master and the servant, and every Jewish servant at the time was aware of this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, then the servant would wait – just out of sight – until the master had finished eating. The servant would not dare touch the table until the master was done.
If the master was done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers and his face, then wad up the napkin and toss it on the table. The servant then knew it was time to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, “I am finished.” But if the master got up from the table and folded his napkin and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table. For you see, the folded napkin meant, “I’m not finished yet. I will be coming back.” Perhaps the folded napkin in Jesus’ tomb was meant to insinuate the very same thing. Perhaps it, too, meant, “I’m not finished yet. I will be coming back.” Peter knew then that his job was not yet finished either. The assurance of his salvation was but the beginning of his journey with God.
So there you have it…the assurance of your own salvation. Perhaps you have figured out that your journey with God is just beginning as well. So what do you suppose it is that God still wants you to do? Or perhaps better put, what do you suppose God wants the mission of the First Presbyterian Church of Meadville to be?
We live in a community that is filled with poverty, more and more every day. I recently heard that more than 40% of our high school students are on the free or reduced lunch plan. More than 50% of our middle school students are on the free or reduced lunch plan. And one of our local elementary schools has 96% of its students on the free or reduced lunch plan. And this doesn’t count the students who may be too proud to admit their need – who don’t want to admit to their poverty “stigma.” If we are truly Christians assured of our own salvation, we cannot sit idly by in the face of facts like these. Our hearts must somehow be moved to action.
I know it’s easy to blame the parents of these children for their predicament. But nevertheless, can we in good conscience allow these children to go hungry? Can we in good conscience sit idly by, reveling in our own salvation, and allow these children to climb onto that same merry-go-round of poverty that their parents are on? Or should we seek to do something about it?
Maybe we could provide an after-school program for kids who are in this predicament. Our after-school program might include things like recreation time, Bible study, a nutritious meal, and classroom tutoring. Kids from the streets would encounter Christian compassion and love, maybe for the first time in their lives. Of course, such a program would require a significant number of volunteers. Yet if we actually attempted to do such a thing, don’t we believe it would make a profound difference in their lives? In fact, don’t we believe that the presence of Christ makes a profound difference in anyone’s life? Here’s the most amazing thing about that though. When compassionate people seek to transform the lives of those in need, those people often find themselves being even more profoundly transformed. Again, when compassionate people seek to transform the lives of those in need, those people often find themselves being even more profoundly transformed. That’s just the way God’s Holy Spirit works.
I know, I know, some of you are rolling your eyes saying, “We’ve heard all of this before!” And I’ll admit it. You have. You’ve heard it from me. But don’t you know what preaching is? Preaching is like the waves of the ocean lapping up against a rocky shoreline. As the waves continually slap against the rocks, they slowly begin to make inroads. They slowly erode the rocks away. That’s what preaching is meant to do. It’s meant to make inroads and to erode away the hardened hearts of our worldly nature. Of course, you have to be here for that to hap-pen, but that’s another sermon.
Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed! Now that our greatest fear has been taken away – now that we have the hope of life everlasting – our journey toward God is ready to begin. We have a deep need in our community and we have a profound mission from God. As author Frederick Buechner once said, “Our calling from God is where the world’s deep need and our deep hunger...intersect.” Is the social and spiritual transformation of the young people in our community something we feel called by God to accomplish, or is it merely wishful thinking? Amen.
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