Sunday, April 12, 2015 | 8:00 a.m.

Being Easter People

Associate Pastor, Fourth Presbyterian Church

Psalm 133
1 John 1:1–7
Acts 4:32–35

God raised Jesus from the grave so all fears may be banished; so the locked doors of our hearts could be flung open; so our quivering lips could declare what we have seen and heard.

Thom M. Shuman

Christians are Easter people. Easter—the resurrection of Jesus Christ—defines who we are. Our identity is shaped by resurrection. The reality of resurrection means, using the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, that goodness is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate; light is stronger than darkness; life is stronger than death. This truth defines us, gives us hope, and brings meaning to our lives. We are Easter people.

This is, in some ways, ironic, because this most formative reality is not something we can explain. Who can comprehend the resurrection? We don’t know exactly what happened between Jesus and God in that tomb where Jesus was laid one evening but then was empty the next morning. We know Jesus truly did die. And we know that the lives of his followers were later completely transformed. They who had been consumed with grief and fear became blessed with joy, hope, and new life. Some of Jesus’ followers later were persecuted, imprisoned, and even killed because of their discipleship. But they lived and died with courage and conviction because they had encountered the risen Christ.

A significant portrayal of how lives were changed by resurrection comes in the verses we just heard from the book of Acts. The early Christian community in Jerusalem is described as being “of one heart and soul.” This unity is remarkable, because that first-century congregation would have been made up of quite a diversity of different ethnic backgrounds, ideological perspectives, and theological viewpoints. Their unity was expressed through the fact that there was not a needy person among them. It doesn’t mean some did not start out poor. In fact, most of the early followers of Jesus were from the poor and working classes. Those in Jerusalem not only faced religious persecution, but many also had difficulty earning a living. That would have been true even under the best of economic conditions in Palestine but became even more acute by the addition to Jerusalem’s population with the influx of people from other lands.

No, the reason there was not a needy person among them was because the Christian community redistributed resources to make that so. Their faith changed their economics. Those who had resources—houses or land or other possessions—sold them and gave the proceeds to the apostles. Then the apostles distributed resources as they were needed by others. There was no private ownership among them, for they held everything in common. Oneness in Christ meant that if you are suffering, I am suffering with you. If you have a need and I have resources to help fill that need, I will share what I have with you. And if I have a need and you are able, you will share with me. The unity of the faith community expressed itself in mutual generosity. There was not a needy person in the whole community.

According to Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, the most dramatic sign of resurrection power was a community in which there was not a single needy person. This description is a summary statement of mission for the early church in ways that Luke 4:16–18 is a summary statement for Jesus’ mission. Jesus claimed his mission was to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. If “the year of the Lord’s favor” is indeed the “jubilee year” referred to in the Old Testament, then Acts 4 enacts it. Debts are forgiven. There is enough for everyone. No one is in need any longer. The sign of God’s victorious reign in Jesus’ ministry was healing and the restoration of the broken to life in community. The sign of God’s victorious reign in the book of Acts is the creation of a new community where life for everyone is sustained. What a radical witness, countercultural to the ways of the world. They were of one heart and mind. That community could have truthfully sung the hymn “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

Stop and think about what a radical witness such love would be if the Christian community practiced this type of economics today. No private ownership, everything held in common. What a challenge to the rising materialism and global capitalism in our day. Instead of an economic principle that says whatever I earn belongs to me, we find a new principle: whatever I have belongs to the whole community. Instead of the principle that to have a secure future you need to accumulate more and more wealth and never pass up an opportunity to earn more money, we find a new principle: divest yourself of your possessions to support others, trusting that when you are in need, others will care for you. Instead of expecting people to pull themselves up by their own boot straps, we expect that of course some people need to rely upon the help of others in certain seasons of life. Instead of focusing on sound fiscal policy defined as the bottom line, Christians follow the fundamental imperative that we are to care for one another above all else and that the highest calling is what is best for all. People gladly let go of their prized possessions to benefit others so that no one else will go hungry or be homeless or be unable to get an education. There is no shame in receiving, no pride in self-sufficiency. Friendship and solidarity supersede self-satisfaction. What a radical witness of love. What defining characteristics for Easter people.

Such unity is rare in human history and just as rare in church history. Such solidarity and generosity could only come through the power of the Holy Spirit. Today the church doesn’t look much different than the cultural context surrounding us. We all are infected by materialism and, perhaps even more, by individualism. We believe we are supposed to take care of ourselves and others should take care of themselves. We don’t have strong ties to one another as a faith community, especially in a church this large. Many of us are lonely, feeling as though few others truly know and care about us. It would feel far too vulnerable to reveal how poorly we may be doing financially or, for that matter, how well we may be doing. Money is a taboo subject, not to be talked about, kept a private matter. The pervasive thought is that how much we share with others is a purely personal affair between oneself and God, for each to decide alone.

Most of us are not going to live out our faith in community that so radically witnesses to the power of God’s love as that early church. It is such a vast difference from how we live. Yet we are called and are able to live as God’s holy, Easter people.

Holiness means, in its core, being set apart for God’s use. The holiness of the church is made manifest partly in our use of the goods of this world. We witness to the centrality, or lordship, of Christ in our lives by not making money our source of security or identity. We live as Easter people by being detached from possessions or needing to own things and instead find meaning in reaching out to brothers and sisters. We witness to the resurrection by showing that Christ is Lord of our resources. We embody Christ’s love for all people by being generous with those who have less than we do. We work for a redistribution of resources so no one is hungry or homeless or enslaved by poverty. The resurrection is the demonstration of the victorious power of God over all the powers of sin, death, and destruction in the world. Easter people witness against the values of a consumer society. We embrace different economics. As Cynthia Campbell wrote, “Resurrection clearly is not just about praise; it is about reorganizing the economic structure of community.”

The need for such a witness to the resurrection has never been greater. There is an ever-increasing gap between the haves and the have-nots. Former President Jimmy Carter warned that this gap, which he calls “the chasm” between the rich and the poor, “is the most serious problem we face today” (“Carter at 75,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 26 September 1999). That was sixteen years ago, and since then the chasm has gotten even bigger.

Jim Wallis, in his book God’s Politics, describes the declining economic situation this way:

One in every six American children still falls below the poverty line in America—and one in three children of color. . . . Even worse is the one billion people globally who live on less than a dollar a day; and the three billion who live on less than two dollars per day . . . and thirty thousand children [who] die every day due to hunger and disease related to utterly preventable causes [like the lack of clean drinking water]. Those poverty “facts” shouldn’t be tolerable to anyone across the political spectrum. But . . . just to decry these facts has not solved the scandal of poverty. (Quoted in Jim Wallis, God’s Politics, pp. 47–48)

To solve the scandal of poverty requires changes in the way we practice economics, as nations, cities, and churches. It is critical that the church invests significant portions of our money to benefit those who are poor. It is essential that the church advocates for changes in practices by our government and by corporations that increase the gap between the rich and the poor. Organizations like faith-based Opportunity International, which through microfinance breaks the cycle of poverty for some of the poorest in our world, are important efforts to expand. And God calls us to greater generosity with our personal resources.

There is a great need for the radical witness of Easter people, for us. Being Easter people doesn’t mean we wear bright spring colors and sing alleluia. Being Easter people means we love one another as God loves us. We embody, through generosity that helps all people thrive, that life is stronger than death. Our witness includes—or perhaps is especially—with our money. May the power of the risen Christ transform you and your wallet.