Wonder – Luke 24:1-12
The Resurrection of Jesus is the defeat of death and the beginning of a new creation. It stands as an invitation into a new story; a story that replaces our disenchantment with wonder.
“if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and…. we are of all people most to be pitied.” –1 Corinthians 15:17, 19
To be culturally disenchanted
In Taylor's work The Secular Age, Taylor suggests that in the past 200 years, we have told, and been told a disenchanted story.
Living out a disenchanted story is not just giving up on believing in the supernatural; it includes a sense that science and technology have an explanation for every question we may ever ask.
“You never understand everything. When one understands everything, one has gone crazy.” – Phillip Anderson
“You think that [humans]--can figure it all out? This to me seems so crazy! It cannot possibly be true! What they figured out is one particular response to their actions, and this response gives this universe, and the reality that is behind this is laughing! ‘Ha ha! They think they have found me out!”–Paul Feyerabend
Disenchanted stories leave us desperate for answers to all of our questions– and only leave us left with a sense of emptiness.
And is it possible that in telling this disenchanted story we’ve lost something essential?
Might it be that the story of Easter is an invitation to a life of wonder?
“The women who had come with [Jesus] from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath, they rested according to the commandment. – Luke 23:55-56
24 “But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.” – Luke 24:1-3
“4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” – Luke 24:4-5
To their shock, instead of the body of their King– they are greeted by two heavenly messengers with a question that will rock them to their core– “Why do you seek the living among the dead?
“6 He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” – Luke 24:6-7
“Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” –Luke 24:26–27.
The Bible is a library of ancient writings, of both divine and human origin, that tell a unified story that leads to Jesus.
“all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.” – Romans 3:23
The Resurrection is Jesus' victory over death, sin, and the Evil one.
“The good news is that the one true God has now taken charge of the world, in and through Jesus and his death and resurrection. The ancient hopes have indeed been fulfilled, but in a way nobody imagined. God’s plan to put the world right has finally been launched. The ancient sickness that had crippled the whole world, and humans with it, has been cured at last, so that new life can rise up in its place. Life has come to life and is pouring out like a mighty river into the world, in the form of a new power, the power of love. The good news was, and is, that all this has happened in and through Jesus; that one day it will happen, completely and utterly, to all creation; and that we humans, every single one of us, whoever we are, can be caught up in that transformation here and now. This is the Christian Gospel. Do not allow yourself to be fobbed off with anything else.” – NT Wright
“And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.” –Luke 24:8-12
θαυμάζω | thaumazō
marvel
be atonished
wonder
Luke’s strange tale of Easter has wonder right at its center.
The women were perplexed by the empty tomb…
The women were frightened by the appearance of the angels
Peter went home marveling, [in wonder] at what had happened…
“The practice of resurrection is an intentional, deliberate decision to believe and participate in resurrection life, a life out of death, a life that trumps death, a life that is the last word, Jesus-life.” –Eugene Peterson
Cultivating a Sense of Wonder
Pay attention to Beauty.
Open yourself up to the gift of others.
Consider the Resurrected Christ.
