Luke 24:13-35 (topical sermon)

Two of our greatest human needs are certainty and security. I see these needs expressed by our three young sons, each in their age-specific ways – finding themselves among strangers, or misplacing a security blanket, or not being fed as soon as the demand arises.

But what about spiritual certainty and security? If I took a poll, I’m sure it would reveal that each of us has a deep spiritual yearning for wholeness, certainty and security – a yearning that often goes unsatisfied, leaving us feeling empty, alienated and disconnected from reality.

Let me suggest three common perceptions emerging from this yearning for something more, and offer an Easter interpretation of each one.

First, the perception that God is indefinable. One of our deepest personal yearnings, often suppressed or reinvented in material ways, is a search for the transcendent, a search for God.

I believe people seek God’s presence and power in many ways – from the tree-hugging of pantheists to the rich liturgy of Roman Catholics, from the rationalism of the deists to the subjectivism of the charismatics, from the secular spirituality of psychotherapy to the passionate practice of Wicca.

Recently I saw, on the side of a mug, one person’s perception of the defining element of several religious traditions:

Protestantism: “It’s the thought that counts.”

Catholicism: “Stop thinking those thoughts!”

Judaism: “You should have thought of that before!”

Taoism: “You are what you think.”

Buddhism: “Think a good thought.”

Hinduism: “I’ve had that thought before.”

Where am I to go in the supermarket of spirituality to find genuine certainty and security, worthwhile purpose and lasting fulfilment? Which brand of spirituality is true? Which really works? How can I know? Or is God simply indefinable, and my search fruitless?

Second, there is a perception that death is irreversible. You have only to look at the carnage and grief of our national Easter road toll to realise that death’s cold hands could claim any of us at any moment. We all know that death is irreversible in this world of cause and effect, in this magnificent universe slowly winding down to entropy and chaos.

In the movie Meet Joe Black, “Death” (aka Joe Black) is personified by Brad Pitt who pays a visit on a rich but principled media tycoon (played by Anthony Hopkins) nearing the end of his life. “Death” wants to hang around for a while to get a feel for what it’s like to be human, and in exchange offers the tycoon a few more days of life.

But it is only a few days; vast riches and principled ethics notwithstanding, the tycoon’s mortality catches up with him and he dies. And we all accept that death is irreversible.

Third, we often feel that happiness is unattainable. There is a constant striving for fulfilment, but how often have you sensed that true happiness is just out of reach, that genuine well-being is just beyond your grasp?

Fulfilment is not found at the altars of money, sex and power – although we often go to those false gods in order to find it. Or we may seek happiness through New Age practices, or related forms of self-actualisation. But do they work? Or are they merely the latest get-rich-quick scheme for the gurus?

Donald Horne, perhaps best known as the author of The Lucky Country, experienced a turning point in his life in 1960. He had been an army gunner, a diplomatic cadet, and a journalist on Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, first in Sydney, then in Europe.

But despite these diverse achievements, he says he might have called his autobiography up to that time A Failed Life, or A Wasted Life. He was unsatisfied with his achievements. There was more to life than he had experienced. There were more important goals than those he had sought.

Horne went on to edit several magazines and direct an advertising agency, becoming a university professor, serving as a university chancellor, chairing the Australia Council, and publishing 24 books. He interrupted his life and transformed it from waste into significance.

As Horne and many others have discovered, you can escape the treadmill and change your life, but be sure you’re not simply hopping off one treadmill onto another! It’s easy to make the same mistake over and over again; what proves true greatness and individuality is doing something different and meaningful, and achieving lasting happiness and fulfilment in life. But for so many of us that hope is an unattainable hope.

Tony Campolo has a famous Easter sermon titled “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming!” and if you’ve heard the title you’ve heard the whole sermon. I’ve talked about God being undefinable, death being irreversible and happiness being unattainable. That’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming!

The Good News of Easter Sunday is that, where we feel God is indefinable, we discover that Jesus defines God! (John 1:18; 14:9b)! In John 1:18 John says of Jesus, “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen [God] the Father” (Jn 14:9).

French physicist Blaise Pascal said, “Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride. Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair. Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance because he shows us both God and our own wretchedness.”

Through his life, death and resurrection Jesus shows what God is like, and gives us the key to escape the wretchedness of the human condition and experience life in the new dimension of a new creation in perfect harmony with God.

The Good News of Easter Sunday is that, where we feel death is irreversible, we discover that Jesus destroyed death! 2 Timothy 1:10 declares that “Jesus has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

In that garden tomb at dawn on the first Easter Sunday Jesus stared death down, broke its power and said, “Asta la vista, baby!” and walked right past into the power of endless and indestructible life!

You recognise the reality and inevitability and irreversibility of death; now look at the empty tomb, and recognise the power of its reversal and defeat through the work of Jesus and the power of God.

The Good News of Easter Sunday is that, where we feel happiness is unattainable, we discover that Jesus delivers happiness! He delivers true happiness, lasting joy, emotional wholeness, the freedom of forgiveness, inexpressible peace, eternal hope. Because of Easter, Jesus will give you a purpose to live for, power to live on, people to live with, principles to live by, and a profession to live out!

In John 10:10 he defined the purpose of his coming to our world in these words: “I have come that [you] might have life, and have it to the full!” Not just a little bit, not just on Sundays, but to the full, and every day!

In Steven Spielberg’s movie, Saving Private Ryan, an army captain named John Miller (played by Tom Hanks) is ordered to find a solitary private among thousands of displaced soldiers in the aftermath of the World War II D-day invasion at Normandy Beach. His mission is to return Private James F. Ryan to his mother, whose other three sons have just been killed in action.

Captain Miller and his small group of men successfully locate Ryan, but then are forced to defend a strategic bridge against enemy tanks and troops. Miller is fatally wounded and, as he dies, he reaches out to Ryan and says with great emotion, “Earn this! Earn this!”

Years later as an old man, James Ryan stands in a veteran’s cemetery tearfully looking at the tombstone of the man who saved his life. He wonders aloud if he has indeed earned the greatest gift he received.

Two thousand years ago Jesus Christ died on the cross so that we might live forever. That’s the only reason why Good Friday is called “Good.” In his final words Jesus did not suggest that we could ever earn such a gift. Instead, he cried triumphantly, “It is finished!” You don’t earn God’s salvation; you simply accept it.

We began by reflecting that we sometimes come to believe that God is indefinable, death is irreversible, and happiness is unattainable. When that resonates in your experience, you’re living in the shadow of Friday. But Sunday’s coming! Easter Day is on its way!

In Jesus Christ, and through his life, death and resurrection, God is defined, death is reversed, and happiness is gained. Those are awesome statements. Those are audacious words. Those are astonishing ideas. I have no authority to impress them on you except that God reveals them to us in the Bible. And God is true to his word, and you can both know the truth of these words, and – far more important – experience their reality!

This Easter, on this Easter Day, will you accept what God has said and done in the cross and the empty tomb? Will you discover the significance of the Easter events? And will you follow-and keep following-Jesus Christ your Saviour and Master?

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E122 Copyright (c) 2003 Rod Benson. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: New International Version (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1980). To talk with Rod about this message, email or write to P.O. Box 1790, MACQUARIE CENTRE 2113 AUSTRALIA. To subscribe, email with “subscribe” in the subject. To unsubscribe, type “unsubscribe” in the subject.