Definition: A targum is an extended interpretation and explanation of scripture.
What might a letter (or most likely, an email today) from Paul sound like if he was writing directly to us today? Maybe a small slice of his letter to the Church of Colossae—chapter 3, verses 1-4 would sound like this:
Dearest sisters and brothers in Christ gathered together on this Easter Morn at 1224 Davis, Northwest—May tulip-blooming, truth-bearing, tomb-emptying grace, mercy peace be yours...
I write to you on the morning we celebrate the ultimate end of all mourning.
The terror and amazement that Mary, Mary and Salome experienced on that day that changed everything is rightfully expressed today with gorgeous lilies, endless Alleluias and plenty of jubilation. Christ has died, but even better, Christ has risen from such death. Yes, this changes everything. No longer can the Tempter dance upon our souls with an attitude of invincibility. No longer can sin pierce daggers through our heart. No longer can any jaws of evil completely close or try to swallow the amazing vitality and abundance of life that God has both created and redeemed. Yes, Christ’s resurrection changes everything. Best yet, God has adopted each one of us into this very story of life being redeemed and the power of death being destroyed.
Like you celebrated in Selma and Eddie’s very baptisms, we are drawn into this narrative through the power of the Holy Spirit converting, forgiving, and restoring us as individuals and as a gathered community. This is an ongoing, ever-deepening-- ever-broadening conversion that we’ve been gifted with and grown into through God’s grace and God’s grace alone. At the heart of story and of this conversion is a central Easter claim that Christ has died, that Christ is risen, and that Christ will come again.
This means, with all intended drama and mystery that our death has also died in Christ’s death; that our life has been raised with Christ; and that we will fully and finally celebrate the ever-ending dance of restoration when our Savior comes again in glory. It is to this promised restoration that we are to keep gazing upon and seeking after. As such, we know that there is no garbage uncleanable; no lives unredeemable; no mistakes unforgivable. With resurrected eyes and justified hearts, we gaze upon reality much differently from those yet to be touched with such grace. Like God, we see beauty in what some may deem ugly. Because of what God has done, we see truth in the One nailed upon a tree. Because of what God promises to complete, we also see hope and a reason for celebration in even the most difficult of trials and tribulations. Even in such moments, we know that our Good Shepherd not only cares, but also promises to lead us, Soon and very Soon, to the everlasting Table of Plenty already prepared for us. It is to this Good Shepherd that we are to posture our journey of faith. It is in this Lord Most High that we are to lean into with our strength and soul. It is upon God’s fullest revelation and ultimate gift of Love that we are to reframe our imaginations. In fact, Christ is not only life’s focus and trajectory, but our Risen Savior is the very center of life itself. Stated differently, our Risen and Reigning Jesus Christ is life in its abundant, overflowing fulfillment. I’m talking about a very different kind of fulfillment then can be found at the little Adult Book Store around the corner on Leonard Street. I’m talking about a different kind of thirst quenching joy then can be found from brown-bagged bottles. I’m talking about a different kind of truth then what is often espoused by Madison Avenue, K Street, or even the busy part of Alpine Avenue.
I’m certainly talking about a different kind of peace then can be found when we try and will our way into heaven or rationalize our way into salvation or behave our way into God’s favor. Remember, my dear friends, in dying with Christ, we die to all that binds freedom, all that hides truth, and all that suffocates joy; just as in rising with him, we flourish in the designs and desires of our Maker. Setting our minds on different gods and different powers and principalities will not and cannot bring the kind of deep and abiding fulfillment God, through Jesus Christ, continues to share. In fact, such competing loyalties and combating priorities will actually steer us away from the liberating hope and life-changing delight that, God, like the prodigal father from parable in Luke’s gospel, longs for us to enjoy both now and into the now-after.
This isn’t to say that setting our minds and centering our life upon Jesus is as easy as breathing or getting internet access at McDonalds. I know better than most that living into this fulfillment takes heavy doses of humility and honesty. In fact, I personally know what it feels like to have arrogance blinded and pride converted. I personally know what persecution and imprisonment look like. I’ve actually encountered being dismissed and flat-out dissed by former friends and family members alike for allowing God to reset the course and compass of my life. I’ve even struggled with my own sin throughout the journey—even though I know better, even though I should know better. Through and through, I’ve certainly wrestled with staying hopeful, joyful and at peace when economies keep caving in, relationships keep severing, and doubt and cynicism keep grabbing deep for everyone’s soul.
Yet, God’s claim upon my life is bigger than any such doubt or struggle. God’s ability to keep covenant is truer than my proneness to wander or my times of flat out denying Christ, like thrice denying Peter before me. God’s willingness to keep taking me back despite my obvious flaws and foibles certainly trumps all of the very stupid things I’ve done and will do at some point in the future. Of course, this is the revealed truth of the gift of the resurrection: Again, I reemphasize the word “GIFT.” In Christ, we have died to our sins. Our savior has taken upon himself the punishment of death each one of us deserves. Even better, in Christ, we have access to life: Abundant life. Overflowing life. Fulfilled life. The kind of life that really lets us live with audacious freedom and laser-focused truth. Others may dibble and dabble around the truth, but you and I are freed to live the Truth: To embrace the gift; to surrender control; to lift up our hearts knowing and trusting that God has already lifted away any boulder blocking us from the resurrection of the body and from life everlasting.
So, when the world says, save yourself… we know that, in Christ, we are indeed saved when we allow for God to do the work. When the world says, might makes right, we know that, in Christ, the first shall be last and the last first. When the world says, power begets power, we know that, in Christ, power only really comes from a willingness to humble ourselves before the One who also humbled himself to the point of death on a cross. When the world says, strength comes through violence, we know that, in Christ, true strength comes from a willingness to serve and love and walk alongside of the powerless and the marginalized and ostracized. When the world says, Christ died and the rest of the story is some mere mythical tale for the weak minded, we join thousands of years of witnessing Christians, that know and believe that our Savior has not only risen from the dead, but even now reigns in a revealed glory that directs our faith and cultivates a Spirit-fed imagination to live for and with our Lord.
This is all true: Whether we eating lunch at the Calder Plaza on a gorgeous April day, or drinking sodas at Founders Brewery, or taking an art history classes at Calvin College, or eating breakfast at the Westsider Café, or helping a new student learn the ropes at City High, or working long hours at Meijer Corporate, or breaking noses on the Orchard Hill Softball Field, or lying in the scorching sun at Ft. Myers Beach, or sabbaticalizing in San Cristobal, Chiapas, or being held captive by Pirates off of Somalia coast, or serving near the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, or changing diapers at the Hill Day Care Center, or kneading soon-to-be hot cross-buns in your kitchen, or even holding the hand of a loved one who inches towards death on the 5th floor of Butterworth Hospital.
So…Whoever you are; however God has brought you here this morning; whatever skeletons and scars you have accumulated in the past…Please know that Jesus Christ died for you. Not just for others or for creation as a whole—but also for you. He came. He chose to die. He now reigns in glory… all for you.
This also means that: death has been converted to life for you and your salvation; that tulips bloom and lilies blossom to share foretastes of your very restoration; that Jesus, who is the heart and soul, the meaning and movement of your life, will return to complete what has changed the course of history for you and your victory over the powers of death.
Beloved brothers and sisters, gathered in a community named after our Trinitarian God, please keep living with Christ; keep serving with our Master; keep loving; keep celebrating; keep faithfully engaging the wonderful Westside of Grand Rapids that our Savior also so deeply loves. And in all things, know that Christ’s glory is your glory just as today’s celebration of the empty tomb is your encouragement to live with a boldness and mind-setting focus that this world especially needs right now from the church. In Christ, you have died to the sins that hold you captive. In Christ, you are now liberated to share and reveal and proclaim to all that death will never and can never overcome the power of life. In Christ, you have life since our Savior is our life.
Happy Easter my dear friends… Happy Liberation from the Power of Death Day.
[Signed ] Paul—servant of Jesus and brother in the work of the gospel
Easter targum for Colossians 3:1-4, K. Voskuil at Trinity Reformed Church, GR (April 12, 2009)