It's time to get real about Reality TV. Don't you think?
Does anyone out there not have just a little bit of trouble swallowing the bait that those Survivor, Amnesia, Fear Factor, My Dad's Better than Your Dad, Bachelor/Bachelorette, programs are Reality TV? Get Real!
How many times does your real life demand that you immerse yourself in a vat of cockroaches? How many of you frequently bungee jump down your office building to get to work? When is the last time a dozen GQ/Victoria's Secret suitors begged for the chance to court you?
In truth all these new reality shows have no more basis in reality than the old reality shows -- those that tried to convince us that Ozzie and Harriet, Father Knows Best, The Brady Bunch were what American families were really like. In both these new and old reality shows -- whether their casts are professional actors or hand-picked amateurs -- the goal is to depict a life that's more interesting than our own, more exciting than everyday, more rewarding than we think is possible in our work-a-day world.
In other words: If we want to really live-it-up, we have to become unreal.
We buy into this unreal reality every time we buy up a batch of short-cuts to fulfilled dreams. If we can't live our dreams, then we'll buy someone else's dreams instead and pretend they're a dream come true . . . and our dream. Choosing the unreal, we lure ourselves into thinking we are really living when we are only pretending.
When you look at how many people live their lives, you're tempted to say: "That's not living, that's existing."
The Easter morning that Matthew describes is the story of a dream truly come real, a dream reborn, a dream resurrected.
The two Marys set out in the cold pre-dawn hour to reach Jesus' tomb just as it's becoming light. These women had been present when the huge stone had been rolled across the tomb's entrance, so they knew they could do nothing more for Jesus. In Matthew's text the women can only be going to the tomb to mourn. That was their reality.
But as soon as they arrive at the tomb that grim reality becomes high drama. Think about the spectacle: Earthquake..... A dazzlingly radiant Angel..... Rolling Tombstone..... Miraculous Pronouncement..... An Empty Tomb! With one swift glance inside that barren cavern, the women's agenda for the day, the agenda for their lifetime, was instantly changed. They received a new directive! This was not a time for mourning. This was not an ending. This was the beginning of a whole new world-a world in which resurrection is a reality! A world in which death has been destroyed! A world in which Jesus lives forever! Then the most astonishing dramatic element of all: an encounter with the risen Christ!
This experience at the tomb transformed these women's existence from real life to resurrection life. In the face of this miracle the women had to abandon their old plan (to mourn) and their old identity (as frightened followers of an executed criminal).
The angel gives the two Marys a directive with direction. These two women are to carry the most miraculous message ever received by human beings, the message of Jesus' resurrection. And they're also to command the other disciples to go to Galilee to meet with the risen Jesus. Galilee, the real site of most of Jesus' teaching, preaching, healing ministry, which now will become the first resurrected site of Christ's message and mission to the whole world.
Not everyone responds well to the challenge of this resurrected life.
The guards, placed before Jesus' tomb to keep the possibility of any grave-robbing disciples away, completely miss out on the resurrection miracle. They too feel the earthquake. They too see the angel. They too witness the rolling stone. But instead of being filled with fear and joy as the women were, these men are simply frozen in place, paralyzed with terror. In the face of resurrection it's the living guards of the old life who became like dead men (verse 4).
Perhaps you, like them, are threatened with resurrection? Guardians of the old reality, bound to an unreal existence that you have striven to make real, you fear transformation from death to life that resurrection brings. Or perhaps you feel threatened by those who live as resurrected, those who struggle for the full resurrection of all men and women, and the threat they pose to a world that chooses unreality over reality.
Newspaper columnist Ann Landers was once asked, "Out of all the thousands of letters you receive each month, what problem is most dominant in people's lives?" Her answer was surprising! "It's fear!" she replied without hesitation. "The one thing that keeps people from the life they dream of is fear. People live every day in their fear. They're afraid of losing their wealth. They're afraid of losing their loved ones. They're afraid of being themselves. They're afraid of growing up and being responsible. They're afraid of life itself" (quote taken from "Conquering Fear" by Lisa Jimenez).
Did you notice how prominent a theme of fear is in the Easter story as it's recorded in Matthew's Gospel? It's not just the guards at the tomb are so freaked out. The two Marys were also frightened by the angelic appearance. And if you read the next verses we discover that the priests and the elders are so frightened by the news of Jesus' resurrection that they bribe the guards to keep it quiet.
In the midst of all this fear Jesus appears and speaks words that every single one of us needs to hear, "Do not be afraid!" Interesting that those would be the first words of the risen Son of God. I don't think He says those words just because seeing someone risen from the dead would be more than a little unsettling. I think he is speaking to every one of us who struggles to keep our heads above water when fear tries to drag us under.
Maybe you're here this morning and underneath your "unreal" Easter best, you're a mess of fear. Maybe you've recently received a diagnosis that has shaken you to the core, or maybe someone you love has, leaving your future uncertain. Maybe you're facing a financial crisis and see no way out. Or maybe you're in a relational crisis...the one you've laid all your hopes on is abandoning you or has betrayed you. Or perhaps you're wrestling with a demon called addiction and no matter how hard you try you can't seem to shake loose. In a word-fear-is pulling you under.
Whatever fear you're wrestling with, the risen Christ has something to say to you: "Do not be afraid. I am with you. I have the power to make you new, to set you free. Trust Me!" Those are more than mere words. He proved them up on the cross. He guarantees them in the empty tomb!
Are you threatened by resurrection this morning? Do you like life the way it is . . . do you really want the unreality of real life when the hyper reality of resurrection life is there as a gift?
Are you so captivated aspiring the real life -- a life that finds meaning in a steroid house, a Kate Spade handbag, Gianni Versace jeans, a nose-bleed title, a nose-jobbed, perfectly sculpted, wrinkle-free face -- are you so captured by the unrealities of a real life that you're running away from the possibilities and promises of a resurrected life?
If so, then this Easter's for you! This Easter, let resurrection return life to life. Let real life back into your unreal life. Let resurrection life back into your reality TV life. "Do not be afraid!"
Some time ago, I read a theologian's reflections on how God responds to our fears. I don't remember who the theologian was, but the words have always stuck with me. He said that when a small child cries out in the middle of the night because she is afraid of the dark, it is the foolish parent who turns on the light, shows the child that there are no monsters in the closet or under the bed, and then turns out the light and tell the child there's nothing to be afraid of. It is the wise parent who climbs into bed with that child, wraps her in arms of love and comfort and whispers, "It's OK , sweetheart. I'm right here!"
The Bible never tells us that there is nothing to fear in this world. Far from it! The Bible is painfully realistic about the multitude of things in this world that can and do cause us to fear. But into that darkness of our fears comes Jesus, the risen Son of God. And He doesn't just say, "Do not be afraid!" He says-and does much more! Into the darkness of our lives, into our fears God comes in the risen Savior, wraps us in His arms of love and whispers in our ear, "It's OK my child. I'm right here."
Years ago I took the confirmation students to summer camp, and one of the activities we did to build community was called "The Plunge." One student would step up a number of increasingly tall poles that were stuck in the ground until they stood on the last pole, about six feet in the air. The rest of the students stood facing one another and, linking their arms, made a human net. The student on the pole was then asked to turn around, close their eyes, cross their arms over their chest and, stiff as a board, fall backward into their classmates' arms.
It was an awesome activity. I took great sadistic pleasure at the sheer terror of those students, until the last student had gone and they all looked at me and said, "It's your turn, pastor!" I promptly gave them a litany of reasons for why I couldn't possibly do that. I was too big, too heavy, too old. Of course, the truth was I was too scared and I think they knew it because they didn't buy any of my excuses. So I walked up those poles...which looks so easy to do from the ground but is much harder when you're legs feel like jelly. I stood on that top pole, turned around, crossed my arms over my chest and froze there like the guards outside the tomb. I couldn't do it, until one young lady who had cried the whole way up the poles and took the plunge anyway said, "You can trust us. We love you, pastor!" And I believed her. And so I took the plunge. The freedom and terror of that little fall and of landing in their strong arms was amazing.
Not a bad metaphor for us today. The resurrected Lord says, "You can trust Me. I love you. I died for you. I long to make you new. I want to set you free from real life that has become so unreal in your frantic pursuit, so that you can live resurrection life and know life that is truly abundant-not artificial, not unreal, but truly transformative." Are you willing to trust Him? Are you willing to take the plunge? That's what faith is, a daring to let go and fall into the arms of the One who loves you enough to die for you so that you can live a resurrection life now... and for all eternity! Amen!
