Edna Lashon tells the story of visiting with a friend of hers whose husband had died. They went out the graveyard where the husband had been buried and they began to share together memories of their life and their relationship it was a meaningful time as they probed in memory and got in touch with all the joyful times of their life. But then there was silence. No one seemed to have anything else to say. All of a sudden, Liz the little daughter of Edna Lashon’s friend, sprang from the group and suddenly burst toward her father’s grave and did a cartwheel over it. Obviously, Edna Lashon was shocked, but the mother looked at her and smiled and said, Liz loves to do cartwheels. She used to do them all the time for her Dad, and they would play so happily together. But Liz has not done a cartwheel until now, since her father died. Later on, Lashonda’s writing and reflecting upon what message this little girl was trying to send to her dad, and she thought that she was giving her dad this gift – the gift of taking up the last thread of her life and starting to live again. And then Edna LaShon concluded, there comes a time when all of us must do cartwheels again, and begin to celebrate the joy of being alive.

Now I don’t know how you respond to that story. I don’t know how I would have reacted had I been there that day and see a little girl go and do a cartwheel over her father’s grave, but I’ve had time to reflect upon that story and I’m here to tell you that that’s a great Easter symbol.

Now we’re not going to do cartwheels down the aisles this morning, but let me tell you what my prayer is. My prayer is that every single person here today will be so alive in Christ, so confident of the resurrection, so joyful in the living Lord that they will go from this place today doing cartwheels in their souls. Now if that seems an outrageous idea to you, I never was very good at cartwheels myself. I hope that every person here today will go from this place, maybe not doing cartwheels, perhaps a Toyota leap of joy or a Snoopy happy hop. But go from this place today thrilled because this is our day, this is the Christian’s triumphant day - for Christ is risen. Our sermon is the continuation of this series on the great claims of Jesus. And we come today for one of his boldest claims – I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me though he be dead, yet shall he live, and whoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. We need to get that scripture in perspective as we continue our long, longing, loving look at Jesus. So see the scripture in its setting, it’s really a love story.

Martha and Mary and Lazarus were some of Jesus’ most beloved friends. When Jesus was in the vicinity of Jerusalem, he always spent time with them in Bethany. They were among his closest friends. It seems a little bit interesting that when Jesus was greeted with the word that Lazarus was ill, he responded, this illness is not unto death but to the glory of God that the son of God might be glorified. And though he loved Lazarus, he did not go immediately to see him. In fact the scripture says he stayed on for two days in Puria, across Jordan from Bethany, and then he went. And by the time he got to Bethany, Lazarus was dead and had been buried for two days. Martha, the no nonsense, practical sister came out to meet Jesus. Mary, the fragile, emotional tender one, stayed in the house weeping. And when Martha got to Jesus she said, Lord, if you had been here, our brother Lazarus would not have died, and I know even now that whatever you ask of God, God will do it. Now that was a great faith on the part of Martha. Jesus responded to her, Lazarus will rise again.

And Martha immediately retorted, I know, I know that Lazarus will rise again on the resurrection on the last day. Now that was a great faith too. But really Martha did not know what she was saying in the context of the immediate situation. She had faith, she hoped in some resurrection out there in the future. So Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me though he be dead, yet shall he live. And whoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Jesus was saying, I’m not the victory that’s going to come in some remote day out there in the future. I’m the victory that comes to each one of you now. So we’ll look at this radical claim of Jesus and this stupendous promise. I am the resurrection and the light, that’s the claim. And the promise is, he who believes in me though he be dead, yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

Let’s register three great powerful meanings of this claim of Jesus. Because Jesus is the resurrection and the life, we can sustain a vision of hope – a vision of hope. Because Jesus is the resurrection and the life, all walls are vulnerable – all walls are vulnerable. Because Jesus is the resurrection and the life, we will not be victims either of circumstance or of death. So let’s look at those in turn.

First, because Jesus is the resurrection and the life, we can sustain a vision of hope. Before the resurrection, hope was dependent upon the episodic breaking in of God now and then upon human history. But now in he resurrection there was a once and for all event, and therefore, because of the resurrection, our hope is not episodic – we can sustain a vision of hope. That’s the reason Paul argued so adamantly, in the 15^th Chapter of I Corinthians about the fact that the bodily resurrection of Jesus is the most crucial item of the Christian faith. Listen to him, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you’re still in your sins. If in this life we who are in Christ have only hope, we are of all men most to be pitied. And he was talking about the kind of hope in some distant resurrection the kind of hope that Martha had when she first greet Jesus. I think of Debra Kerr here, and the making of that movie, Clovantis, ??/ at one point in the making of the movie, she was bound to a stake in the Roman coliseum, and they unleashed five or six angry lions, who plunged at Debra Kerr. A reporter asked her later, were you not frightened to death when those lions came lunging at you? She said, no. I’m the kind of actress who reads the script all the way through, and I had read the script to the end and I knew that Robert Taylor was going to save me. Now lift that to an infinitely higher level. We’ve read the Bible. We have the witness of history. We have the testimony of people through the ages and therefore, our hope – our hope is not hoping in the normal sense off the word, it’s not wishful thinking. It is the, it’s the very substance of life itself. It’s our greatest certainty. I like that word form the epistle to the Hebrews, we’re not of those who shrink back and are destroyed. We are of those who have faith and keep their souls. No wonder we sing so joyfully and so confidently, that magnificent contemporary gospel song which really sounds the note so beautifully – because he lives, I can face tomorrow – because he lives, all fear is gone – because I know, I know who holds the future, and life is worth the living, all because he lives.

But not only can we sustain a vision of hope, because Jesus is the resurrection and the life, all walls are vulnerable – all walls are vulnerable. One the most important events that surrounded the crucifixion of Jesus was the rending of the veil of the Holy of holies in the temple. That took place as Jesus hang on the cross and it was one of those climatic moments in the crucifixion event. The Holy of holies was reserved for one man to enter, the high priest, and that only once a year – on the great Day of Atonement. In the Holy of holies, surrounded by that veil, the very presence of the spirit of God dwells and no one had access to that experience and to that presence in a normal kind of way. Only once a year could the high priest go there. So the symbolism here is tremendously powerful. But now in the rending of the veil of the temple that separated the Holy of holies for human kind, the very heart of God was being revealed and God was saying that we all have equal access to him, and on the cross God revealed to us that which was going on always in the heart of God, his mercy – a mercy that suffers to the point of going to the cross to die for us. And so, the way is opened to all and every wall is vulnerable. There is no wall that God cannot penetrate. Do you realize what that means? It doesn’t matter what kind of wall it may be. It may be a wall between you and God because you have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. You’ve not repented – you’ve allowed that sin to reign within your life and you do not know forgiveness – a wall is there between you and God because you have been dull to his call. You have spurned his love, you have cried, Lord, Lord, but you’ve not done his will. You’ve held back. You’ve not been obedient. You keep protecting yourself, refusing to give yourself to him completely, refusing to give your time, refusing to give your money, refusing to be the witness that he wants you to be. A wall is there – it matters not what the walls are; they may be walls between you and your spouse, because you’ve allowed past hurt to go unacknowledged and unhealed and those hurts have festered and become a poisonous sore. A wall is there, between you and your spouse, because one of you knows the unfaithfulness of the other and there has not yet been repentance and confession and forgiveness. A wall is there, between you and your spouse, because one or both of you have allowed the fire of love to die; you haven’t kept the flame kindled by giving and forgiving, by caring, by all those acts of tenderness and self-giving for the sake of others. A wall is there, it matters not what the walls are, they may be walls between you and one of your children. You’ve grown weary in giving and giving and giving, and the uncaring response of your child has worn you down to despair. A wall is there, between you and a child who is even more separated. The child is in the far country and is spending his or her substance in riotous living.

Your heart is broken and the pain is well now unbearable. A wall is there, it may be any kind of wall. And young people, it may be walls that you feel too, between you and your parents, you feel that they don’t understand or listen or even try to understand and listen. That they’re most interested in your performance than they are in you as a person. A wall is there, and between you young people and your friends. You’ve come into the Christian life and you’re excited about the faith and you try to live the faith. But it doesn’t make sense to your friends, they want you to be cool as you once were. A wall is there, and we could go on and on. You know what I’m talking about, because in the lives of all of us, there are these walls. But this is the good news – because Christ is the resurrection and the life – all walls are vulnerable. There is no wall that he can’t penetrate and dissolve before his love and forgiveness and the power he gives us to love and forgive. All walls may be broken down. But let’s press on. Because Jesus is the resurrection and the life we can sustain a vision of hope. All walls are vulnerable.

And finally, and this may be the most important truth. Because Jesus is the resurrection and the life we are not the victims either of circumstance or of death. Huber Motos?? was a teacher and a journalist in Cuba. In 1959, when Castro took over, many Christians and many of the people who had stood up courageously for freedom were either imprisoned or killed, and Motos was among those imprisoned. In a letter smuggled out from that Havana prison, a letter to his wife and children, Motos said this, I know that I’m going to die in prison. I’m sad that I will not see you all again, but I want you to know that I have peace. They have swords, but we have Psalms. See the difference between Huber Motos, and an attractive young woman about whom I read recently. She was intelligent and fabulously wealthy. With energy and shrewdness she had amassed a fortune in investments. She seemed to have it all, but one thing was missing from her life, like that of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus confessing his inner emptiness. This young woman drove her silver Mercedes convertible to a hotel, checked in, and later checked out for good with a drug overdose, leaving this note – I’m tired of clapping with one hand. That young woman did not know the peace and the songs of Motos. She did not k now Jesus, who is the resurrection and the life. She did not know that there is one whoever liveth to make intercession for us, because Jesus is the resurrection and the life, we are not the victims of circumstance, we do not have to clap with one hand. But more important than that, we’re not the victims of death.

Let me tell you one story and with this I close. A little 11 year old boy was dying of an incurable disease. His mother and father had sought out every specialist that they could find, seeking to save the life of this child, but had not been able to find any help. The mother had become reconciled to the inevitable, but the father was bitter and unaccepting and cynical. It was Christmas Eve and the father couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned and finally went out to the living room and the tree was there. It had a lot of presents around, many presents for the little boy who would probably not use them very much, maybe not at all. There was a football and a lot of games and a chemistry set. And the father seat there and, and pondered the cruel injustice of it all, and really began to wallow in his self-pity, but what a miracle took place. Gradually he began to pray. And later on he recorded his prayer in this fashion – Dear God, he began, something has happened to me tonight, and I ask you to hear me out. As I sit here, I remembered what a personal success I am, and how you have always responded whenever I asked you to give me a hand. But I know that all those prayers were selfish and very personal, even my prayer for you to save Billy was so personal and so selfish, I couldn’t stand to lose him. I had so many great things in store for him. I wanted him to take over my business, and I wanted everybody to know what a fine boy that I had raised. Father, you know what I remember now? I remember your son and your great love when you gave him to us, and how sad you must have been when he died on the cross. And so God, if you would do this one thing for all us, then I will be comforted by your sacrifice. It’s been a long time, God, a long time since I trusted you completely. And I want to do that now. I want to trust you completely, so I pray that you will welcome Billy when he comes. I know that he will be in good hands – thy will be done. It was almost time for Billy’s medicine, so he went in to give it to him, the boy was awake, took his father’s hand and said, Dad, I want need that medicine tonight. Why, father asked. The fella smiled and said, Dad, I’ve been dreaming. I’ve been dreaming about Jesus, and it may seem strange to you Dad, but it’s almost as though Jesus was in this room with us right now. And his hand relaxed its grip on his father’s hand, his eyes closed and the last breath of life went from him with a gentle sigh, and he went home. Neither he nor his father was the victim of circumstance or death – they were the victors. Let it register clearly. Let it be imprinted upon your mind convincingly, because Jesus is the resurrection and the life, we can sustain a vision of hope. All walls are vulnerable. And we’re not the victims either of circumstance or death, we are the victors. Go back to my beginning story. The little girl Liz acted out her faith by doing a cartwheel over her father’s grave. What do you think the angels did when Jesus was raised from the grave? Think about that. What do you think the angels in heaven did when Jesus was raised from the grave? Might they have done some cartwheels of joy? And what should be our response? What should be our response on this greatest of all days? At least this – a shout of hallelujah, for the Lord Christ reigns. King of kings and Lord of lords. So shout it with me – Hallelujah! Again. Hallelujah Again. Hallelujah! Amen