A Speed Bump in a Busy Life

Matthew 28:1-10

March 23, 2008

Easter Sunday

I was appointed to Trinity Church in Huntington in September of 1985.  Dominique was seven months old, Christopher was 2 years old, and Matthew was 5. 

There are two main north/south streets in Huntington, both of which are one way.  From the US 24 bypass, you took Guilford Street south into downtown and brought Jefferson Street back north.  There were no traffic signals on either of these streets and they were like racetracks, especially after Huntington North High School dismissed for the day.

The parsonage was on Guilford Street and I immediately began worrying about our young children and the traffic.  I started talking to the Mayor’s Office about the problem, asking him for a red light on our corner. A speed bump would have been alright with me too.  He referred me to the city street department which referred me to some other city department.  I was getting the classic run around. 

The editor of the local newspaper happened to be a member of Trinity Church and I had his kids in youth fellowship.  So I got him involved.  There was an article or two in the evening newspaper.  I wrote a letter to the editor.  I called city officials on the phone.  I made a pest of myself at city hall.

One day, I was talking to the neighbor next door.  They had children about the same age as ours and we decided to push a petition around the neighborhood for a red light on our corner.  We took the petition to the Mayor’s office and asked him again for a red light.  He finally agreed to post a police officer there with a radar gun to catch speeders.  A couple of weeks after that, the city put up temporary stop signs on our corner. 

After the stop signs went up, we had a real circus going on in front of our house.  The people who drove that street every day suddenly saw a stop sign that they weren’t expecting.  We heard squealing tires at all hours of the day as motorists jammed on their breaks to try to stop in time. 

The rest of the story is that the city decided that there really was no need for a traffic signal or stop sign on that corner.  After about a month, traffic patterns were back to normal, but the whole town knew about this crusading young Methodist pastor.  Larry Smith was the senior pastor at the time and he got a real kick out the whole thing.  He thought that I was like Don Quixote going to battle with windmills. 

Now this is my opinion…but I’m sticking to it.  I believe that we live in a society of lead foots (feet?).  We are all in such a hurry to get places.  When we lived in Elkhart, the city did some major reconstruction on one street and put a traffic circle in one intersection to slow down the traffic.  I thought it was a good idea. 

We always like to say that modern culture has become so fast-paced that we don’t slow down long enough to enjoy life.  But I’m not so sure that it is just our culture that has a need for speed. 

I’m not sure how often your daily devotionals lead you to the Old Testament prophet Nahum, but in chapter two, you find a prophecy against the city of Nineveh.  In the midst of the prophecy are these words, “the chariots race madly through the streets, they rush to and fro through the squares; their appearance is like torches, they dart like lightening” (2:4).  No one is immune from this fast pace of life.  Most of us, if we were asked, would report that we wish we could slow down.  But it seems like we have so much trouble doing that. 

Holy Week is the busiest week of the year around every church.  It begins with Palm Sunday, moves on to Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and then into all of the Easter morning activities.  For pastors and church staff especially, this is a week of hectic schedules and hard deadlines. 

This year, it is also the week that I had our taxes done.  It has always been my practice to wait almost to the deadline to get our taxes finished because I refuse to let the government have my money any sooner than necessary.  I never put the taxes in the mail before April 15, and really like it when the 15^th falls on a Saturday because then I can wait till Monday the 17^th.  But we are headed off for a couple of weeks of vacation after Easter, so I had to get them done this week.  Neither Toni nor I had the time, but we did it anyway.  Of course, we found out that there were some things that we didn’t have, so we had to go home and scramble to get all of our documents together.

We are also concluding some major financial business with the bank.  We have been dealing with our Credit Union, our Board of Pensions, some local bankers, and some other folks at the main office in Dallas.  Thursday morning, I got a call from one of the bank people here in Fort Wayne telling me that they needed a couple of things before the end of the week.  “Get that to me as soon as you can”, she said.  “Then we can proceed.”  I told her that it wasn’t going to happen this week.  “This is Holy Week”, I said, “and then you’re going to have to wait until we get back from vacation.”

We are in such a hurry for everything, aren’t we?  I am going to take a guess here, but I bet there are a lot of you who are just like me.  Our days are so busy that we don’t always take the time to pray.  We don’t always take the time to read our Bibles.  We are too busy to enjoy our children.  We are too busy to relax.  We are sometimes so busy that we don’t want to do anything on Sunday morning except sleep in. 

But we finally come to today – Easter – the day of resurrection.  There is nothing like a resurrection to stop you in your tracks.  This is the day to slow down.  This is a day to take a deep breath.  This is a day to stop and take in all that God has given to and for us.  This is the day to pause and rest our weary bones. 

Remember what happened.  On the day after the Jewish Sabbath, the two Mary’s went to the tomb of Jesus to keep a vigil.  Matthew tells the story in a little different way than the other gospels.  In his telling of the story, the women don’t bring spices to the tomb because they don’t expect to be able to see his body.  They are there just to stand watch. 

When they arrive, they feel the rumblings of a great earthquake which heralded the coming of an angel.  The angel then went to the stone that sealed the tomb and rolled it back. 

Some things are just so incredible that you have no choice but to stop and ponder.  How many times have you stopped to watch a gathering thunder storm?  How often have you stopped whatever you were doing in order to watch a gorgeous sunset?  A few weeks ago, Matthew called me in the evening and told me that I had to stop whatever I was doing so I could go outside to see the eclipse that turned the moon black.  How often have you stopped to watch a child play in a fountain or a swimming pool?  There are some things that just make you stop and take notice. 

Last year, Toni and I were eating dinner on the porch of a harbor side restaurant in Port Charlotte, Florida.  Suddenly a dolphin came swimming in and played in the water only about ten yards from our table.  I noticed that conversation in the restaurant stopped and all eyes were glued to this graceful animal.  As much as these things take our breath away, can you imagine how the women must have felt when they witnessed that angel?  

The women were scared, but they were comforted by the angel who told them not to be afraid.  He told them that Jesus, whom they had come to find, had risen from the dead.  Notice what happens next.  The angel said, “Get on your way quickly and tell his disciples.”  But as they ran to find the Disciples, they met Jesus on the road.  They stopped in their tracks to cling to him in worship. 

Telling them not to be frightened, he then simply said, “Go tell my brothers that they are to go to Galilee, and that I’ll meet them there.”  There is not the sense of urgency here as there was with the announcement of the angel.  It is as if Jesus wanted them to take the time to ponder the moment and the miracle they had just witnessed.  That is what the resurrection does.  It forces us to stop, take stock of where we are, and decide what is really important.

How many of us speed on past Easter as if it is just another day in our life?  How many of us get through this day without being touched by it?  How many of us approach this day as just another Sunday like any other?  How many see this day as more than just an excuse to buy a new spring dress and pair of shoes or have the family over for dinner?

Easter is the defining event in the life of Christians.  This is the story that was told first.  The early Christians heard the details of the resurrection long before they began to spread the story of Christ’s birth.  This is the central act of God in human history.  Without Easter, we would not be here today.  Without Easter, we would have no faith.  Without Easter, we would be nothing.  Without Easter, we would be destined to wallow in our sins.  Without Easter, we would have no assurance of forgiveness, justification, or salvation.  There is nothing like this day…never has been…never will be.  How can we speed on past with only a passing glance over our shoulder? 

Too often, we try to speed on through our life as if Easter means nothing.  On the contrary, Easter means everything.  Easter means new life.  If God can raise Jesus from the dead, there is nothing that he can’t accomplish. 

Do you think you have a broken relationship that can’t be mended?  Do you have an addiction that has you by the throat?  Are you unsure of yourself or looking for some sort of meaning in your life?  Are you afraid of death?  Are you afraid of living?  Has your faith dried up?  Do you wonder if you have been forgotten or forsaken?  Do you think that you have been dropped by the wayside to wither and die? 

Are you so alone that you can’t find friendship?  Do you worry where your next pay check is coming from?  Are you angry with someone?  Is someone angry with you?  Have you left the church and don’t know how to re-establish yourself in the community of faith?

Has your relationship with your spouse come to a dead end?  Do your children no longer trust you?  Have you considered suicide?  Do you just want to run away and escape from your present life?  Do you feel like you have nothing to live for?  Are you afraid of getting older and less able to care for yourself?  What is bothering you this morning?

Easter is the great speed bump in life to get us to slow down and consider the implications.  However you interpret the passion and death of Jesus:  he bled and died so we wouldn’t have to; he paid the ransom for our sins; he proved that the love of God is greater than the evil of sin and death – whatever you believe – I have a proclamation. 

Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.  Death could not hold him.  Sin could not keep him down.  Persecution could not topple him.  The cross could not withstand him.  Satan could not stand up to his witness.  This is the day to stop and remember.  Today is Easter.  There is nothing you are facing this morning that hasn’t been confronted by Jesus.  There is nothing in your life that hasn’t been conquered on the cross and through the empty tomb.  This is the day to come to Jesus. 

To come to Jesus means to turn our lives in his direction.  It means to move forward always assured of his love and presence.  To come to Jesus means to grasp the reality of the resurrection and trust that God has the power to heal all that ails us.  To come to Jesus means to worship the Rock of our Salvation.  To come to Jesus means to offer ourselves to him completely, without condition, so that his witness may continue.

This is the day to slow down and remember.  May the stone that was rolled away become a speed bump for you as you come to Jesus – maybe for the very first time – or perhaps again and again.  Your lives are not too busy for Jesus.  In fact, if you are too busy for Jesus and the resurrection, you are to busy.  Slow down.  Worship.  Celebrate the resurrection.  Find new life in him.  Amen.