Dr. Karoline Lewis is the Marbury E. Anderson Chair in Biblical Preaching at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and she provided a commentary on the story of the resurrection as found in Luke’s Gospel. In her commentary, she writes concerning the reluctance of the disciples to believe the testimony of the women:
There is so much truth and honesty in this reaction. After all, the good news frequently seems too good to be true. If the tomb is empty, if Jesus has been raised from the dead, then life as we’ve known and expected it is no longer. The world has been turned upside down (Acts 17:6). And if the world has been turned upside down, how do we even know how to live?
I have quoted this in my sermon today, but as always, there is more to the story. When someone offers a cross reference, as she did with Acts 17:6, it sent me on the rabbit trail to see what that was about. Turns out, it wasn’t a rabbit trail, at all. It is a story we rarely read, yet it adds depth and meaning to the message of the resurrection.
In the story found in Acts 17, there is an uproar in Thessalonica in the Roman province known as Macedonia. Paul and Silas journeyed there. Paul went on three separate sabbaths into the synagogue and “argued with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead and saying, “This is the Messiah, Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you.” (17.2-3)
We are then told that some of the members of the Jewish community, along with devout Greeks and “not a few of the leading women” became followers of Jesus. This angered the Jewish religious leadership there, and “with the help of some ruffians in the marketplaces they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar.” (17.5)
Their objective was to drag Paul and Silas to the assembly, but when they could not find them, they attacked the house of one of the followers, a man named Jason. We are told that “they dragged Jason and some brothers and sisters before the city authorities, shouting, “These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.” (17.6-7)
What that means is that the message of the crucified and risen Christ is not just some good news that we celebrate and then go casually about our daily lives.
The resurrection is always subversive.
The resurrection tends to undermine our conventional ways of thinking … our structures and systems that are structured in ways to maintain power for the privileged few … our churches that, by misuses of doctrine and creeds, have oppressed, harmed, and killed countless children of God through its own history … and our governments that, while claiming to be “of the people” fail to act on behalf of women, children, immigrants, non-white, citizens. This judges our failure to speak up for oppressed people caught in tragic wars around the globe our failure to speak up for our planet.
These are the things represented in the gospel narrative as the sin and death that defines so much of human living.
The Resurrection is …
the answer we seek. It is a new way of living that builds community … a community that crosses boundaries and challenges our very segregated Sunday morning experiences. This is what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called the Beloved Community. It is where we gather regardless of the color of our skin, our economic differences, the language we speak, or who we love!
It is here that we learn again that God ultimately wins and even death cannot stop the inbreaking reign of God! despite the horror stories and our fears at an uncertain future, we have a God who reminds us that our future is found in the unfolding story of resurrection.
We are then reminded yet again, that when the world has us in the grip of sin and death, our risen Christ comes to turn this world upside down. When it does, we fall straight into the arms of God!
Reflections on Grace 