Theme:  Retraction!  A mistake in the Obituary! 

                                   
If Jesus would have had a funeral, and if there had been newspapers in those days, his obituary would have been listed in the Nazareth News, along with all the other obituaries, Section E, page seven. It would have been listed under the J’s e.g. Jacob, Jesus, Joseph, in capital letters of course.

The obituary may have read, “Jesus of Nazareth was born in the year 6 BC. He was born to Mary and Joseph, the carpenter from Galilee. He was preceded in death by a father, Joseph. He is survived by his mother, Mary of Capernaum, also by his brothers, James, Joseph, Judas and Simon, also of Capernaum and several other sisters. During his lifetime, it was rumored—according to this newspaper article—during his lifetime, he received some notoriety and publicity because of unusual occurrences associated with his life such as the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, and the lame walking. It was also rumored that he radically changed people’s lives. More recently, according to this short article in the Nazareth News, last Sunday in Jerusalem, large Passover crowds hailed him as king. Shortly thereafter, the crowds turned against him. This past Friday afternoon, he was sentenced to death by the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, representing the Roman Empire in Jerusalem. He was killed at three o’clock in the afternoon on Golgotha hill, the hill of the crucifixion, outside the walls of Jerusalem. His burial was in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. His family requests that no flowers be sent, but rather than memorials be send to the crippled children’s fund in care of the synagogue in Bethlehem, the place of his birth.”

If that obituary had been printed in the Nazareth News, everyone would have thought that the Jesus movement had ended. Its leader was now dead. His disciples had disappeared. The stories of miracles would fade away. That little episode would become one small slice of Roman history. It would have been like a pebble thrown into a pond: it would have made a momentary splash and the ripples gradually would fade away and disappear. And so it was with Jesus of Nazareth. His life was a momentary splash. His reputation, his memory, his teachings would have faded into the smoothness of the sea…..except…..except for one unique event.

On the third day, unbelievably, they discovered the grave empty. Jesus of Nazareth had been raised from the dead by the mighty powers of God. He was alive again. Recognizable and identifiable. He was alive again, in a new way, in a new kind of body that would never taste death. And so they shouted, “He is risen! Alleluia! That obituary was wrong. They said he was dead, over and done with. Wrong. They were wrong.”

If there had been a hypothetical obituary, you can imagine the hypothetical short article that would have appeared in the Nazareth News the next morning… Sunday!   “We regret any sorrow this may have unduly caused, but we are happy to retract the misleading Obituary printed yesterday, and report that Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph, is amazingly alive and well!  We rejoice with his family!”

The news spread, from the angel to Mary to Peter to the disciples to the 500. And they became a new people. They became a new brand of men and women who were filled with a new power, with Easter power, with resurrection power. They were no longer afraid of living because they were no longer afraid of dying. They had a new passion for life because they had an Easter power, a resurrection power within them. Why? Because that obituary was wrong.  He was not dead, over and done with.  

The obituary didn’t tell the whole story.

Edited from a sermon by Rev. Edward Markquart’s sermon