Impossible!?

The crew members remained in prison for several weeks, until the Russian Air Force reluctantly informed Japanese authorities that the crew of one of its cargo planes had apparently stolen a cow wandering at the edge of a Siberian airfield, forced the cow into the plane’s hold and hastily had taken off for home.

Unprepared for live cargo, the Russian crew was ill-equipped to manage a rampaging cow within its bay. To save the aircraft and themselves, they shoved the animal out of the cargo hold as they crossed the Sea of Japan at an altitude of 30,000 feet. Thus, the crew members story was not some foolish tale, but the truth.

Some things do sound foolish, but turn out to be true. This would include much of what we believe as Christians. We believe that God somehow caused a virgin to bear a child. We believe that this child was fully man and yet fully God? We believe that He actually raised people from the dead, that He walked on water, that He fed thousands of people with a plateful of food. We believe that, after being crucified and buried, He somehow managed to raise Himself from the dead? And we believe,

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples,
"I have seen the Lord."

Does this sound too foolish to be believed?

Many people and religions have long despised and stumbled over the Easter story. The Jews of Jesus’ day could not fathom their Messiah coming and dying. Messiah’s just don’t die. The Romans saw a dying god as weak and unworthy of their allegiance. Islam flatly rejects the cross, saying, "It is inappropriate that God’s prophet would succumb to such an end." Gandhi, the great Hindu leader, couldn’t bring himself to accept Jesus as anything more than a martyr.

People today, reject Jesus, because they don’t understand the HOW of Jesus’ resurrection. Their rejection reminds me of a colleague and friend who recently wrote in his Easter letter to his congregation, that he had adopted a "Joyous Apathy" with regards to the resurrection of Jesus.

By that he means that he has been perfectly willing to be unable to explain the mechanics of how the resurrection happened. Yet, he remains enthusiastically happy to say that it did happen and that it can make all the difference in your life.

This is the real message of Easter. That it can make a difference in your life, IF you want it to.

Recently, I read an interview with NBA center David Robinson, of the San Antonio Spurs. The interview focused on his faith in God. He recalled being asked by a pastor, "Do you love God?" A question which, like David, we would answer, "Yeah, sure, who doesn’t?"

What happened next, David never expected. The pastor said, "God gave us the Bible to show us about Himself, to teach us about who He is. Do you read it? How much time do you spend praying, you know talking to God? You say you love Him. Do you enjoy talking with Him, spending time with Him?

David had to confess that he didn’t spend much time in God’s Word or in prayer. "But you say you love God," responded the pastor.

Is this the kind of love you have for God?

A love confessed with your lips, but not backed up with your life?

David realized that day that God had given him so much. He could see God’s love for him. How God had stood by him. How God called out to him. How he had never so much thanked God.

It has been eight years since that pastor asked David those questions. Subsequently, David began seriously studying the Bible and living what he said he believed. In actually David began to love God in word and action.

Easter is God’s proclamation to you that God is your everything. Easter is God’s open door to you to come to Him and trust Him in every situation. Easter is your invitation, to recommit yourself to your journey of faith, to rededicate your love for God. Easter is proof of God’s love for you. What do you have to prove your love for God?

Mary’s words,

"I have seen the Lord."

may sound too foolish to be believed. About as foolish as a cow falling out of the clear blue sky to sink a ship. Remember what the Bible says,

"The foolishness of God is wiser than men,
and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

"For the message of the cross is foolishness
to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved
it is the power of God."

Easter presents you and me a choice:

Believe, what some people say is a foolish story,

OR

Be foolish and not believe the story of Jesus resurrection

Foolishness would be not believing.

Foolishness would be believing, but not loving God.

Foolishness would be loving God, but not living with God.

You, have to decide for yourself.

AMEN

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