New Creation: A Real Future and Hope in the Midst of Our Grief

Sermon preached on Maundy Thursday, April 5, 2012, at Kumler Chapel, Miami University, Oxford OH.

Lectionary texts: Isaiah 25.6-9; Psalm 23; Romans 8.28-39; Psalm 139.1-11; 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18; John 11.17-27.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

I am Kevin Maney, a priest in the Anglican Church of North America and rector of a brand new parish on the NE side of Columbus. I am also an old neighbor and friend of the family. When I lived in Oxford, Alfred and I were known to have sat out on our porch and swill a few beers on occasion—usually without getting into too much trouble (although Dorothy might not necessarily agree with that assessment). During those times (and others) we would talk about life, death, and everything in between—and of course OSU football. Anytime Alfred wanted to get me going, he’d just mention a certain former head coach and soon I would be cussing and Alfred would be cackling out that infectious laugh of his. So I do not come to you this morning as a disinterested third party. Instead, like you, I come with a heavy heart. Given our friendship and the nature and timing of Alfred’s death, this is one of the hardest sermons I have ever had to preach, but preach it I must. And yes, I am still angry about it all. I am not angry at God for reasons that I hope to make clear. I am angry at the evil that exists in this world, pure evil like the cancer that took Alfred’s life and robbed us of a friend and his family of a husband, father, brother, uncle, and son. When evil like this shows itself, it is an affront to the goodness of God and his creation, and anyone who cares at all about human beings should be at least indignant over death. And so this morning I want to offer us all a word of real hope as we come to remember Alfred and mourn his death because real hope is good balm for grief and anger. The hope I offer is the Christian hope of new creation and it has the power to sustain and comfort us as we grieve our loss and reflect on our own life and death.

We can all relate to Martha in this morning’s gospel lesson, can’t we? When we are confronted by death, especially when it is somewhat unexpected and catastrophic the way Alfred’s was, we are tempted like Martha to throw our hands up and cry out in despair, “Why did you let this happen, Lord?” Now if you are hoping I will give you the definitive answer to that question, you will be sorely disappointed because I cannot. I do not know why God in his infinite love and wisdom for his human creatures allows evil to afflict us in the way that Alfred’s cancer afflicted him. Neither do I know why God does not tell us why he allows evil to exist in his good creation. But if we think about it, even if we did know why God allows evil to exist, it wouldn’t really change anything. Alfred would still be dead from cancer and our knowledge would leave us informed but still grieving and largely without hope.

All this suggests that we would be much better served if we stopped asking the why questions and concentrated more on what God is doing about the problem of evil and death in his good but broken world. If you listened carefully to Jesus’ response to Martha’s “why” question in the Gospel lesson, you noticed that he did just that. Jesus did not answer her question directly. Instead, Jesus gave Martha a much more satisfactory answer. Acknowledging the reality of death, Jesus talked to Martha about resurrection and that to which it points—the new creation, God’s ultimate answer to the problem of evil and death.

For you see, Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension represent the climax of the biblical narrative of how God became king in the person of Jesus and is putting the world to rights and rescuing us from all the evil that bedevils and dehumanizes us. As Israel’s Messiah, Jesus fulfilled God’s call to his people Israel to bring God’s healing love and redemption to a world and its people created good but gone terribly wrong because of human folly and rebellion against God.

On the cross, God has dealt decisively with evil and death, bearing himself its terrible consequences and the consequences of our rebellion against him, thereby giving us a real hope and chance to live with him now and forever. This is an act of sheer grace and here we see God’s faithful love for us put into action to bring about our forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation with God, the very foundation needed to reestablish God’s kingdom on earth as in heaven. On a more personal level, we also see God’s love for us in Jesus tenderly manifested if we read further in today’s gospel lesson and watch him weep over his friend’s death, just the way we are weeping for Alfred today (cf. John 11.33-39). When we start to see God in this light, as a God who weeps with and for us, and who has acted decisively on our behalf so that we can have real life once again, it is hard to believe God does not care about us or his creation, even in the face of massive evil like the cancer that claimed Alfred’s life.

Of course, in claiming that God had defeated evil and death decisively in the cross of Jesus, the first Christians were well aware that God’s victory had not yet been fully consummated. After all, Paul wrote to the Colossians about the cross’ victory over evil from prison (cf. Colossians 2.15)! Despite their awareness that evil had not been fully vanquished, the first Christians believed that God had defeated evil and death in the cross of Jesus because they had witnessed Jesus’ resurrection. And as Jesus reminded Martha, his resurrection gives us a preview of coming attractions of what God ultimately has in store for his people in the promised new creation.

As both our OT lesson and Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians remind us, God does not intend to destroy his world or his people. Instead, God intends to redeem his people and all creation because God created all things to be good (cf. Genesis 1.1-2.25) and creation matters to God! So when Christ returns in great power and glory, he will bring about his new heavens and earth, the new creation. The dimensions of heaven and earth, biblical language for God’s space and human space respectively, will be fused together in a spectacular and universal event so that they will no longer be separated as they are now. This is what Paul is struggling to find the words to describe in his letter to the Thessalonians. Our mortal bodies will be raised from the dead and we will be given a new resurrection body, the kind of body Jesus has. Like Jesus’ resurrection body, our new body will be impervious to all the nasty things that can afflict our mortal bodies. In the new creation, there will be no more suffering or separation or sorrow or sickness or disease or evil or death—ever. There will be new life to live and new work to do, work that will bring God praise and glory, life and work that we will find infinitely fulfilling and meaningful. And best of all we will get to live in God’s direct presence forever (cf. Isaiah 25.6-9; 1 Corinthians 15.1-58; Revelation 21.1-22.9). We need to be careful about getting too specific about all this because Scripture is not terribly specific. But whatever the new creation looks like it will surely be more glorious than we can comprehend or imagine because God is its author.

So the Christian hope and promise consists of this. We believe that when we die, we go immediately to be with our Lord to enjoy a season of rest until he returns in great power and glory to raise the dead and usher in fully the new creation that his resurrection previewed for us and about which we have just spoken. That is why Jesus could tell Martha that those who believe in him live, even though their bodies die. And as Paul and the psalmists remind us, once the Lord has really claimed us, nothing can separate us from his love, not even cancer or death.

I don’t know about you but I find the hope of new creation to be a much fuller and richer hope than the idea of dying and going to heaven to spend the rest of eternity as a disembodied spirit. And there is no doubt in my mind that Alfred would too because the promise of new creation reminds us that this world and its people matter, and Alfred was all about that. A person as full of zest for life and having a passion to help improve the lives of others will surely relish living in God’s new creation with his new resurrection body where there will be infinite opportunities for him to continue to grow in his work and love for God and others. This is the hope to which Jesus was alluding when he told Martha that he is the resurrection and the life. This is the future and hope to which we commend Alfred today, thanks be to God! It is God’s gift of grace offered freely to everyone without exception.

But what about us? After Jesus finished telling Martha about the hope of new creation that was in him, he asked Martha the fifty-cent question. “Do you believe this? Do you believe that I am the resurrection and the life? Do you believe that those who live and believe in me will live, even though their bodies die?” Likewise, Jesus asks us the same question in the midst of our grief. “Do you believe this?” Do you believe in the hope and promise of new creation to which Jesus’ resurrection points? The extent to which we can answer yes is the extent to which we can have real hope and real Good News to sustain us in our grief and loss.

You know, Alfred kept matters of the faith pretty close to the vest, at least with me. He usually did not talk about his relationship with God unless asked. But I did ask him about such things, especially after their daughter, Debbie, died. And Alfred did believe the promises I have just described, even if he didn’t articulate them in the manner I have. I know this to be true because I watched him live his faith. I watched how he and Dorothy handled the death of their infant daughter. I watched how he cared for his father who had Alzheimer’s disease instead of abandoning him to a nursing and getting on with the more pleasant things of life. I watched the passion Alfred had for his scholarship and for his students. You could see his passion for justice in the signature of his email every time you read a message from him. I observed how he loved on his wife and sons and worked hard to be there for them as good husbands and fathers do. Alfred knew what it meant to deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Jesus, even if he didn’t articulate it in those terms. He showed his faith not so much in words but through his actions, as real faith always manifests itself. That’s why I have no doubt how Alfred would have answered Jesus’ question to Martha and why I am not worried in the least about him or his future. May the God of love and power bless us with the grace to answer yes to Jesus’ gracious question as well. If you have that kind of faith and hope, you will not only find real comfort in your grief, you will also have Good News for yourself, just like Alfred Louis Joseph, Jr. has, now and for all eternity.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.