Resurrection: Psalm 116
THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Today, we continue our reflections in the Psalms, turning our attention to Psalm 116, appointed for this Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (BCP, 486). What a day we enjoyed yesterday as we celebrated the marriage of Brian and Caroline in the beauty of our cathedral church! And let me thank everyone who served to make it the wonderful and joyful occasion it was! But this morning, I realized the stark contrast between yesterday and today: yesterday was a wedding procession of joy! But today is a funeral procession of sadness.
A funeral cortege (which is a very solemn procession) involving a large crowd of city residents (Luke says, "most of the city") is transporting a young man's body to the cemetery, who has been cut down in the springtime of life. The mourning is intense, as it always is, whenever someone with so much life ahead dies suddenly and tragically. And what could be more heartbreaking than a mother weeping over the death of her only child? A city of beauty is covered in ashes.
Now I know what you're thinking, "Father Michael, please don't be such a downer on this gloriously beautiful morning. And especially after yesterday's joyous and happy occasion!" Well, if you came here today desperately needing good news, guess what? You've come to the right place because I'm here to tell you that death doesn't get the last word; God does. And his final statement on death and hell is summed up in one word: resurrection.
This is beautifully exemplified in the Anglican funeral liturgy in our prayer book. Though the sanctuary is full of people, the liturgy for the burial of the dead begins in complete silence: dead quiet. Then, the altar party solemnly and slowly begin to process towards the altar, the Cross of Christ leading the way... and then, from out of the silence, the priest, moving through the people, boldly pronounces these words of our Lord Jesus Christ, "I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (BCP, 324). The final verdict pronounced over the death of a Christian is resurrection: life eternal. Though we, the baptized, shall die, we will live again and, what's more, never taste death again. How can this be? The answer to this question is found in today's Gospel, and Psalm 116 is the only acceptable response to having found the answer.
In Luke's Gospel, we observe a somber procession of death as a widow walks beside the body of her dead son. But this isn't the only procession; there is also a second. Luke says that when
[Jesus] came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier, and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. (Luke 7:12-14)
The procession of death was halted by the procession of life, resurrection life. Jesus marched straight towards death and, with the simple touch of his hand, overthrew man's greatest enemy: death.
The snares of death compassed me round about, (says the Psalmist), and the pains of hell gat hold upon me. I found trouble and heaviness; then called I upon the Name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul (Ps 116:3).
And... the Lord ignored him? Left him in isolation and death? Found something more important to do? No, no, my friends. The Lord looked upon him just as he saw the mourning widow. He heard the voice of his prayer because the Lord inclined his ear unto him. And why? Because He cares; He cares. He sees the sorrowful and has compassion. He hears the lament of the brokenhearted and draws near because the Lord searches to find those "compassed in death and the pains of hell" to deliver their "souls from death, their eyes from tears, and feet from falling." This, my friends, is good news. Once, when we walked in rebellion and sin, He stopped our death march and touched us with grace. By the washing of regeneration, he resurrected us from the pains of hell to walk in the newness of life: that is good news. No, it's the best and only news that matters in this life and the next.
My friends, do you believe Luke's story? Do you truly believe that Jesus stopped a funeral procession and actually raised this poor widow's son from the dead? After three long days in the grave, the Father raised Jesus from the dead; he burst forth from the tomb, never to die again... do you believe this as well? Then you, my brothers and sisters, believe in the Gospel of Salvation: you believe and confess with the church of all time that Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried, but on the third day, he rose again! If you have been buried with him in baptism, you have also been raised with him to new life, into the resurrected life that knows no end.
"I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living." Do you hear the psalmists' confidence? A real and substantive hope? "I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living." He believes it, doesn't he? Do you? Yes, we do believe, and therefore we shall not die but live: resurrection. This future hope is precisely the focus of Isaiah's confession (that we heard earlier): "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted." In that future day, when you die, do not be afraid because the LORD is your salvation, and he will resurrect you from death, and you shall taste the waters of eternal life in the city of God.
But what about today? Some of us so desperately need the Lord to raise us today, to resurrect us from the pit of tribulation, the well of bitterness, the depths of hades. You may need Jesus to pull you out of the waters as he did when Peter walked on the surface of the sea but wavered in faith and sank to the depths. But we only need to look at St. Paul, who says, "Pray; call on the Lord in your present time of trouble." The Psalmist is telling us the same, in verse 4, "I found trouble and heaviness; then called I upon the Name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul" - right now, today!
Jesus says, "I am the Resurrection and the Life," for us to experience his risen life right now, we must have a deep and vibrant relationship with Jesus; this intimacy is first and foremost attained through prayer. We need a relationship, a conversation: Jesus isn't merely an order taker. We speak and listen. He speaks, and we listen. And we must respond to his grace, trust his counsel, and humble ourselves by turning from sin unto holiness and virtue not to impede our prayer. It means not just hearing him but following him, step by step, word by word, thought by thought. This is what the Psalmist means by paying our vows. And it is the proper response to our blessed resurrection reality.
The path of death is to order our lives apart from Jesus Christ. So many people are dead men walking: hollow on the inside and faint as ghosts on the outside. Others are wasting away, decaying daily from sin and vice, and are full of hatred, envy, lust, and anger towards their neighbor and often against God, incapable of recognizing their own deadness as they slip into line, joining the parade of sorrows, another human casualty on the death march, not realizing they've already taken up residence in the city of the dead.
Some of the most tragic cases within this procession of the dead are those who mistakenly think they're alive because they have some intellectual knowledge of Christ and his teachings, they may know some or much of the Scriptures, and sometimes they pray and even attend church regularly, but the Lord Jesus Christ isn't really alive in them because they are going through the motions of faith.
Still, within the life of their soul, at the deepest levels of their being, they're not in a relationship with Jesus, not walking with him. He's not a priority because resurrection means nothing to them. They are white-washed tombs, spotless on the outside, but on the inside, selfish, wicked, and corrupt. The energies and motions of their lives (even religious motions) take them further and further away from The Lord of Life. "What reward shall I give unto the LORD for all the benefits that he hath done unto me?" Your life.
The path of life, the journey of true faith, is a path in which we lose our lives for God and others, in which we love others as Jesus has loved us first, in which we sacrifice our own needs and desires so that others may live. The path with Jesus, the relationship with Jesus, always involves this type of self-emptying love. Our Lord calls this "dying" to ourselves. But remember, Christ takes what is dead and makes it new and alive: every time you die to yourself under the banner of Christ by turning from that one temptation, giving out your poverty, loving and abiding that difficult person, suffering patiently under great affliction, caring for that sick child or friend, in each of these deaths to self, Christ is making you more and more alive in Him. Remember, death always precedes resurrection, even the daily deaths we gladly incur in the name of our Lord.
Therefore, with St. Paul, I pray, "Be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end." Amen+
