SURPRISE!!!!

John 20:19-31

I like surprises, ones that are more like "Ta-da" than "Ha-ha, gotcha!"  Case in point.

I had a classmate in seminary who found out I startle easily, as in jumping and screaming whenever he snuck up on me.  One day, I decided enough was enough.  The next time he did it, I turned, clutched my chest and collapsed to the floor and then lay very, very still.  Poor guy went into a panic; he actually thought he had "frightened me to death."  

Gotcha.

The second Sunday of Easter is celebrated in some churches as Holy Humor Sunday or Bright Sunday.  The custom was rooted in the musings of early church theologians like Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa and John Chrysostom.  They believed that God played a practical joke on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead.  God pulled a "Ha-ha! Gotcha!" on the forces of evil.  Early theologians called it the Easter laugh.  For Christ's followers, it was a wonderful "Ta-da!" moment.

It's celebrated with bright colors and clothing and lots of clean humor.  But most importantly, we celebrate the surprising love of God through Jesus Christ.

During Jesus' time among his disciples, He surprised them a lot.  He did things in their presence that were unconventional, unexpected and often unbelievable.

• Jesus, despite pressure from the religious leaders to conform to their idea of a righteous person, hung out with people who were from the wrong side of society.
• He chose mercy and compassion over judgment and punishment.
• Christ fed 5,000 people on a very limited budget.
• He healed the poor, the lepers and those who had lost hope, and ministered to gentiles (non-Jewish people).
• Jesus brought sanity to the insane.
• He raised Lazarus from the dead.
• And he took a leisurely stroll across the Sea of Galilee in the middle of a raging storm.

After God raised Christ from the dead (which was a pretty incredible surprise by itself), the surprises continued.

He appeared to Mary Magdalene, surprising her in her grief and filling her with joy.

On the evening of his resurrection he made a couple of personal appearances.  He showed up for supper in Emaus, and proved to His disciples that locked doors and shuttered windows weren't going to keep him out.  Later, he took Thomas' challenge to prove to him that crucifixion can't keep a good Messiah down.

After His last surprise for his disciples, His bodily ascension into heaven, He continued to and still does surprising things in the lives of people.

When I was seventeen, I was an introverted, nonverbal, bookish, socially inept, chronically depressed seventeen year old.  I was totally surprised when I heard myself say "yes" to Jesus at a Lay Witness event my friends had literally dragged me to.  Because of the grace of God in Christ ...

•  I went to college where God equipped me with the gift of teaching, one of my greatest joys.
•  Rather than just having a "job" or a "career," I had a calling and a vocation in the secular world where I was able to make a difference in people's life.
• I've experienced the healing of Christ not only physically, but spiritually and emotionally as well.
• In my late forties, God called me to ordained ministry and I celebrated my fiftieth birthday in seminary.

What a surprise!  I never saw any of that coming when I gave my life to Christ as a high school senior, let alone that I would be leading a Holy Humor Sunday worship service!

How many ways can you finish the sentence, "Because of the grace of God in Christ ..."?

As Christians, we can all say that because of the surprising grace of God in Christ, our sins have been washed from our lives, and we have life abundantly, including eternal life and the confident hope of the resurrection.  We have been adopted as sons and daughters of the King of the Universe and made citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.  As the Body of Christ, the church, we have been appointed as priests, agents of love and reconciliation.  (Revelations 1:4-8)

But to me, the most amazing and surprising thing is how extravagant God's love is for us.  Through Jesus' life, death and resurrection, we see that God's love is unconditional, self-sharing, self-sacrificing, and tenaciously steadfast.  God never abandons us or gives up on us.  God's love remains, strong and true, no matter what.

Paul prayed that the believers in the Ephesian churches would come to know the full extent of God's love through Christ.

"And I ask that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in, with all followers of Jesus, the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love.  Reach out and experience the breadth!  Test its length!  Plumb the depths!  Rise to the heights!  Live full lives, full in the fullness of God."   (Ephesians 3:18, MSG)

I like to think of it this way.  Christ loves us this much:  from one nail-wounded hand to another.

How do we respond to such surprising, amazing, extravagant love.?  By doing surprising things in Jesus' name.

To live lives that counter the negativeness of the world.

To call those our culture has judged and found wanting neighbors and friends, brothers and sisters.

To be agents of God's reconciling and healing love to the prisoner, the stranger, the poor and the ill.

To be the body of Christ, sharing God's love shown to us by Christ in unconventional, unexpected and often unbelievable ways.

In other words, surprise the world.