04/05/26 Easter Sunday: Everything is Restored

1:37 Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. I'd like you to have a seat. so on holy thursday we talked about how everything was given that jesus gave everything and on good friday so we talked about how everything was taken so we have these these two everything is given everything is taken the question is what what happens next what happens after everything is given what happens after everything is taken so years ago there's a man his name is lee uh Lee Strobel. He was a journalist, investigative journalist in Chicago, and he was an atheist. And he was fine being an atheist. He and his wife, they had a decent life. Not great. There were some rocks in their marriage. There were some pains in their lives, but he thought they were doing just fine. At one point, she went to church, and he was like, that's fine as long as you don't bring your church home. Unfortunately, she brought church home. And so she kept asking him, inviting him to come with her to mass, or not to mass, but to church. And he said no, said no and then he finally said this he said okay listen if I can prove to you that this isn't true if I can prove to you that Christianity isn't true if I can prove to you that Jesus didn't rise from the dead will you stop going to church and kind of this agreement so so he sets out and he does this he's an investigative journalist and so he does what investigative journalists do he investigates the evidence and he talked to historians he talked to uh theologians he talked to scholars medical doctors and it all came down to this big question when it comes to the teaching of Jesus, because everyone would say teaching of Jesus is incredible. He's brilliant. He's so insightful. The guy was really good. But the question is this, not just was his teaching brilliant or not just was the man Jesus good. The question was, is the resurrection real?

3:26 The question is, did Jesus really rise from the dead? Because Lee Strobel knew this, that if Jesus didn't really rise from the dead, then none of it matters. But if he did, then it all matters. And after two years of investigating and two years of trying to disprove Christianity, Lee Strobel came to a conclusion he did not want to arrive at.

3:52 It's true. The resurrection is true. He was man. He set out to disprove the resurrection and he became a Christian because of it. not only to become a Christian, but it was this reality that shaped his life. When he came to the conclusion that, oh my gosh, after investigating the evidence, I can't just be a Christian who kind of sort of goes to church on Sundays. I have to be someone who lets this truth define my whole life. So he wrote multiple books on Jesus. He preaches on Christ. In fact, in some of Lee Sturbel's preaching and some of his teaching, I came across another man's story. In fact, it's a story that kind of mirrors Lee Strobel's story. It's the story of a man named Sir Lionel Lucku. Sir Lionel Lucku died in 1997, so died relatively recently. But he was a lawyer and he was a criminal defense attorney.

4:47 In fact, he is, some people say, in the Guinness Book of World Records, for the most consecutive wins in murder trials, He has something like 245 consecutive murder acquittals when it comes to his work. So this is a man who knows the law. This is a man who knows evidence. This is a man who knows what cross-examination is. And at one point, someone asked Sir Lionel, he later on became a judge and a diplomat, but at one point in his life, people asked Sir Lionel, Sir Lionel, are you a Christian? And he said, not really. And they said, why not? And he didn't have an answer. He didn't know why not. He just kind of assumed that it wasn't true, or he assumed that it didn't matter. And so just like with Lee Strobel, someone challenged Sir Lionel to find out, to look at the evidence. Again, Lee Strobel, investigative journalist, look at the evidence. Sir Lionel, Lucku, defense attorney, judge, look at the evidence.

5:43 And he, just like Lee Strobel, took time and he investigated the evidence and the cross-examination. At one point, he looked at the gospel accounts. He looked at the lives of the apostles completely transforming the gospel today. We heard about them, right? John and Peter, who had to run to the tomb, and their lives changed when they saw something happen. The eyewitness testimonies that testified to the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. In fact, the historical claims, all of those things, the evidence, pointing to the truth of the resurrection, led Sir Lionel to this conclusion. He said, applying his legal standards, Sir Lionel said this, he said, the evidence of the resurrection is so overwhelming that it leaves no room for reasonable doubt.

6:35 The evidence of the resurrection is so overwhelming that it leaves no room for reasonable doubt. And what does that mean for us? That means that the resurrection is an historical fact. That this is something that we don't just kind of believe in or like a myth. In fact, St. Peter, in 2 Peter, he writes about this. 2 Peter, he writes, he says, he says, we did not follow cleverly devised myths. We made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. He's talking about this morning. He's talking about today when they see Jesus risen from the dead. This is not a myth. It's actually true. And that's, you know, our OCIA people, We tell them this again and again and again. The only reason to believe anything is because it's true.

7:22 But if it's true... what does it mean? You know, C.S. Lewis had once said, he had said, Christianity, if false, is of no importance. If Jesus didn't really rise from the dead, it's of no importance. Christianity, if true, is of absolute importance. He said the only thing Christianity cannot be is marginally or relatively important. It is either unimportant if Jesus didn't really rise from the dead, or it's absolutely important if he did. And it's true that Jesus really is who he says he is. Now, that's amazing. That's amazing on its own. But we have to realize there's more. Why? Because Jesus did not merely walk out of the tomb to win an argument, right? Jesus didn't rise from the dead to prove a point. Jesus rose from the dead to do something.

8:15 Why? Because we know this. We know that death has touched everything. That's our experience of life. Death has touched everything. Go back to Genesis chapter 2 and 3. Here's God who makes this world, and God is so good. He makes this world good. He makes us good. And he says, don't eat of that tree. Why? Or else you'll die. In fact, Hebrew says, if you eat of this tree, you will die the death. I have a friend, Mike Gormley. He says, actually, the Hebrew literally is, if you eat of the tree, you'll die, die. You'll die, die. Which means, not just that your bodies will die. Not just that you'll come to the end of your life and you'll cease to exist, but like the logic of death. Death touches everything. Broken relationships.

9:01 That we know this. Trust dies and sometimes never comes back. Death touches shame. Where a person carries a past and feels like that absolutely defines them. Discouragement. someone who used to walk with hope or you'll walk with uh the someone had dreams someone had an imagined future and then that future those hopes those dreams are just quieter and even in sin not just the act of sin but the aftermath of sin like the the fracture the damage the this the distance death touches everything and not just even bad things like this death we know this death even touches joyful things like even joyful things in our lives have an outline of sadness I mean, our students are graduating in just over a month, which is exciting, it's joyful, but you're also like, okay, here's where the real work starts.

9:57 Or weddings. Weddings are incredible opportunities, incredible moments of joy, but everyone in that congregation that has lived a life knows like, okay, guys, we have no idea what you're, we don't know what's coming down the road from you, for you. Even joyful moments are just, they haven't outlined it, or ordinations. They said, we're excited, we're grateful. Praise the Lord that this person's getting ordained. Okay, here's where you really start carrying that cross. Because we know, right? We know this. We don't just suffer death at the end of our lives. We live in a world where death is at work.

10:36 Where things break and they stay broken. Where things end and they stay ended. where things that were beautiful and full of life decay. So the question is this, what do we need? Like, do we just need advice? Do we just need something inspirational? I think we need something more. We don't, we don't, this is so good.

11:02 Jesus is the greatest teacher who ever lived. But we don't just need his teaching. And Jesus brings forgiveness, but we don't just need forgiveness. If death is the problem, then we need something stronger than death. If everything is given and everything is taken, then we need everything to be restored. and that's the resurrection that that's that is today uh here's here's jesus god himself not escaping death not ignoring death not avoiding death but jesus enters into death and he undoes it from the inside jesus doesn't go around it he lets death do its worst to him and then what Thank you.

11:56 everything is given, everything is taken, and then everything is restored. Jesus allows death to do its worst to him, and then he rises, and that doesn't just prove something. It doesn't just win an argument. It introduces a new reality. It's a life that death cannot touch. It's a life not defined by decay, not defined by shame, not defined by loss. This is our students. Last night, we had so many students. Estimate, about 55 are students. But 10 or so were baptized. The rest had their, made a profession of faith. They were confirmed, First Holy Communion. In addition to the cathedrals, they had like 40 people. It was incredible. It was amazing last night.

12:44 What did they do? Those who got baptized, they said, okay, Lord, I'm going to give you everything. God, I'm going to let you take everything. So that everything I give you and everything that you take can be restored. And this is what it looks like when they place themselves under that water. The bishop, as he baptized them and poured water over them, they're placing themselves, God, here, everything is given. God, everything is taken so that everything can be restored. If you went to confession over the last week, that's the same thing. We just come to the Lord and say, okay, God, everything, everything I know that is holding me back from you, I give it to you. And what do you do, God? What does God do? He takes everything. Why? So that everything can be restored. every one of those people who were baptized last night, who were confirmed or received Holy Communion last night, all of us. What does St. Paul say? St. Paul's letter to the Romans, he says, do not realize that the spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead also lives in you.

13:42 We don't just believe a true thing. we live the truth. We don't just believe in the resurrection. We get to live the resurrection. The resurrection is alive in you. The Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is in you. So those places that feel dead, they're not just comforted. God brings life out of them. Those relationships that are beyond repair, it's not just, hey, we'll try harder. It's the reality that new beginnings are possible.

14:23 And for those of us who have shame that feels permanent, it's not covered. but grace recreates the person. And Jesus didn't rise from the dead to prove that he could. He did it to begin the restoration of everything that death had touched.

14:49 Everything is given. Everything is taken, so everything's restored. And that, of course, what does that mean? That doesn't mean that here there's no more pain or tears or loss or grief. It just means that in the midst of pain or tears or loss or grief or death, the resurrection is the beginning of a world where death no longer gets the final word.

15:12 And the incredible news is we get to live this now. The resurrection, it's not just proof, but it's something we're invited to participate in. And we're invited to participate in with our wounds. This is the last thing. Next weekend we're going to it's Divine Mercy Sunday we're going to read the gospel where Jesus reveals himself to his apostles and he shows them his wounds and that is the truth is this what after the resurrection Jesus has wounds resurrection doesn't mean this never happened it just means that what wounded you no longer defines you.

16:03 See, our wounds are reminders of the reality and power of death. And the resurrection reminds us of the reality and power of restoration. And everything that you and I hand over to Jesus, everything that you and I hand over to the one who has raised from the dead can be restored, all of it. All we have to say is, Jesus, it's yours. All of it.

16:35 Everything given. Everything taken. And everything restored.