The Resurrection According to John- Should

He is risen!

This morning, we celebrate the resurrection of Christ. We gather together here in this sanctuary to be revitalized, to be changed, to be infected by the Holy Spirit. Or maybe you’re just here, to check off a box that says I attended church this year! To please your parents or grandparents. There are all kinds of reasons why you might be here and truth be told, I don’t care what brought you here, whether it is blackmail or love of Christ, I am just glad you are here.

You have been brought here to worship a man whose death was powerful enough to rip open the curtain of heaven. Destroying, shredding, ripping it apart like Hulk Hogan’s shirt, the curtain that created a barrier between you and God. No longer is the pathway to heaven available only to a select few. With the tearing of that curtain, you became a priesthood of believers. You no longer need someone else to pray for you. No longer do you need someone else to grant you forgiveness. No longer must you go through a priest, pastor, or other clergy member to speak to God. Every single one of you has become a priest, in that sense. Every single one of you can pray on behalf of another, directly to God. No middleman. Straight from your mouth to his ears.

And I hope that scares the hell right out of you because Jesus might not have done you a favor that you wanted. You may prefer to live in a world where the words that cross your tongue and pass through your lips that are not heard by God but my friends; that is not the world we live in. We live in a world where we are heard. God hears your voice calling out to be saved. God hears your cries for mercy. God hears your heart, mind, body and soul.

I don’t know about you, but I am confident some of the words I have spoken will not get me into heaven, let alone all those that have passed through my heart or crossed my mind. Some choice phrases that flittered through when that little old lady cut me off on the interstate and then hit her brakes in front of me come to mind. Didn’t say them, but I thought them, which means God heard them.

Of all the things I have said and thought, one word in particular comes to mind that I am ashamed God hears me use. Even though I am aware of it, I still use it more often than I should.

What could quite possibly be the most destructive, damaging, hurtful, arrogant, self-serving, in-sufferable, condemning, damning, relationship ending, evil word mankind has ever uttered that he has no business ever using? Wanna guess what it is? I will give you a couple clues: It does not start with the letter F and I have heard it many many times even within the walls of this sacred space. It’s even worse than “Always.”

The word is “should.” That little old lady should not have cut me off. She should have been paying more attention. If she can’t see, she shouldn’t be driving.

Or even more common, you should have known better, I should have known better, they should know better. Should you see is the epitome of judgment.

Every should that crosses our minds and escapes our lips, are judgments placed that we are not worthy to cast.

When we read this passage, a lot of ‘shoulds” arise for Mary. Maybe you’ve used some of them before when you lost someone you loved.

He never should have died. I should have done something about it.

 I should have done more.

I should have spent more time with him.

I should have loved him more.

Hopefully you didn’t think this one, or I probably would have read about it in the news, His body should have been in the tomb, right?

This shouldn’t be happening!

It’s not just Mary spouting should in this passage. The disciples should have known he wasn’t going to be there! He told them so. The angels even asked “Remember how he told you?”

It wasn’t even just the angels that reminded the disciples they should have known. The women passed the same information along to the disciples, “He’s not there! He should be there!” And what did our disciples do? The exact same thing. They should have known! They had to see for themselves though, no one is going to believe a group of hysterical women shouting about a body gone missing..

Even, Peter ran to the tomb! After another disciple told him it wasn’t there. Of course he did! He didn’t believe them. Jesus should be there! But he wanted proof! He had to see for himself, their words weren’t good enough. Their observations didn’t matter. He has to see for himself!

He should have just listened to the women! But no, he goes to the tomb, verifies there is no body, no angels, and then goes away, wondering to himself what happened. Incidentally, did you catch that? He only believed that yes, in fact, the body that should be there is gone. He verified that they weren’t lying, playing a joke on him, or just somehow overlooked it. What they didn’t believe was that he was resurrected “for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.”

To recap, Jesus told the disciples he would die and be resurrected 3 days later, the women relay a message from presumably straight from an angel, a messenger from God, that this has in fact happened. Peter sees no body, yet still assumes the women don’t know what they’re talking about, the body is just lost, they’ll find it somewhere.

They still believe he’s dead so they do not recognize Him when he comes to them. They should have recognized him! They should have known by now! How much evidence do they need!

But what do they do? More of them go to the tomb and scratch their heads, huh he’s not there. He should be there.

Have you ever been in a situation where, say you walk into a room, flip the switch, and the lights don’t come on, so you say to someone, “Hey, the lights aren’t working.” And then they go and flip the switch and say “Huh, the lights aren’t working.” And you stare at them in utter disbelief that they apparently think you are so stupid that you didn’t try the switch?

Now, granted yes, I have encountered rare situations where there are ten people standing outside a door waiting to go in because they think it’s locked and no one has tried the handle but more often than not, someone did and so did every other person thereafter because they deemed the person before them incapable of mastering such a complicated technical device as a doorknob so they had to try it themselves.

This same line of thinking is what goes into every should. Shoulds are judgments made by the inept and unqualified who have deemed you more inept and less qualified than they are. They will deny it but that is exactly what shoulds convey. I know better than you do therefore I am placing myself in a position of authority to tell you what you should do. Even though you didn’t ask, I’m going to tell you what you “should” do or at the very least what you “should” have done.

Shoulds are not love. Shoulds are not faith. Shoulds are saying I won’t believe you without proof. And not the evidence you give me, no, no, no, that will not suffice. I want the proof that I gather myself because you do not know as well as I. You are the inept, the unqualified, not I. I know how you should do it.

We often think to ourselves, the apostles should have recognized Jesus. They walked with him, talked with him, learned from him and lived with him. When Jesus came to the disciples, he tried to tell them but they refused to listen. Why? Because they had to flip the switch themselves to see. Until Jesus physically did something in a way only Jesus would do, they did not recognize him. Until he provided the proof that they wanted to see, not the proof that others gave, the proof they wanted and obtained, he was a stranger. After all, they should recognize their own teacher right?

Shoulds are not ours to give. Aside from being judgments, they are commands which none of us are in a position to be making upon one another. In our minds, perhaps the disciples should have recognized Jesus, all of them should have known he was going to rise from the dead, all of them should have known and should not have been surprised he died, but the thing about shoulds is there is only One worthy to issue them. There is only one who determines what “should” be and what “should not be.” And I’m sorry to say it, but it’s not you, or the person sitting next to you, stop looking at them like that. You’re just as guilty as they are.

It is He who gave us the 10 commandments. It is He who laid down the Law, the only Law of what we should and should not do. It is He who has the power to make all of the other shoulds in this world that we think should happen immediately stop. It is He who has the power to make things which should not happen happen. There is only One God who can make the blind see and those who can see blind. There is only one God who can resurrect the dead.

There is only one God who can forgive all of your sins. One God who would do something so subtle, so personal, so significant as to come to earth as a human being to demonstrate his power. A God who could make bring the earth into existence with the power of his voice, make us believe in Him, not through a demonstration of brutal force or military prowess they way people think a leader should rule, but as a tiny baby whose life was cut short, because we all think he should have lived forever on this earth, but through a betrayal by those who said they loved him.

Now that’s power. That God can tell me what I should and should not do and He can tell you but as for the rest of us, maybe we should keep our opinions and should to ourselves and stop trying to be gods.

Maybe we should learn to have a little faith. Maybe we should learn that being right isn’t nearly as important as believing in someone.

You know what the funny part is about being locked out of a room that isn’t even locked? The strange irony that goes against the should of our societal standards? Being wrong, not trying the door, not flipping the switch, can make a whole crowd of people who would have otherwise just gone into a room, sat in their chairs and played on their phones, talk to one another.

The woman who went to the tomb, who should have believed and known he wouldn’t be there? They talked to each other about it. The disciples who didn’t believe the women, even though they should have? They talked to each other instead of sitting around moping and grieving. The disciples, walking down the street, instead of walking in silence, were talking to each other about it.

Who cares what “should be”? If you were meant to have known better, you would have. If someone “should” have done or should not have done something that you think they “should” have or should not have, they would have.

God is our should. God is the only one with the power to decide what should and should not be. If we would stop having to question one another, require proof, require our own proof, stop doing everything for ourselves instead of trusting one another, and instead do what we “should” do, love one another, this world would be a much better place. The next time someone tells you the light won’t come on, the car won’t start, or the door is locked, instead of trying to prove them wrong or that you’re better than them, because you have mastered the doorknob in your infinite skill set, try demonstrating some love and having a conversation with them before you try the switch.

Get rid of the should and just listen for a change instead of giving advice. You are not God. You do not know what others should do. If they ask your advice, you can freely give, but if they do not, you are casting a judgment upon them that you are not worthy to cast. Speak love to one another. Jesus didn’t die and rise from the grave so we could judge one another. He did it so we can forgive one another.

When you leave this building, celebrate the resurrection with family and friends by embracing them with your words instead of judging them. Get rid of the BS should that you know any better than anyone else how they should be living their lives. You’re having a hard enough time just living your own. Jesus died to give each and every one of us one life to live, which means their life is not yours to command. Love one another. Love yourself. Do what God tells you that you should do.