'We Are The Champions'

Easter Sunday 2006

I was going to play a snatch from Queen, then I thought: ‘it is not for the faint-hearted’. So I decided not to play it. Then I thought again: ‘faint heart never won fair lady’, so I changed my mind again, and so I invite you, without prejudice, to listen to this! (First line from chorus of ‘We are the Champions’)

Lest you think that it is far too triumphalist, even for Christians on Easter Day, let me tell you that even Queen were embarrassed by the way it was used, by football fans, for example. If you really want to cringe, let me remind you that the song is nearly 30 years old.

But this is a day when even the faint hearted can take courage!

Today is the day par excellence for the Christian – the day of days, the day of resurrection, the day of victory for us all. For we are, indeed, as Paul put it in Romans 8, ‘more than conquerors’. Charles Wesley uses the phrase in a hymn we sang on Passion Sunday, saying that Christ now
‘points us to the victor’s crown,
bids us take our seats above,
more that conquerors in his love.’

On that Sunday, David Batson, in his sermon, reminded us of the paradox of the Passion. Through humiliation and through great tribulation on the part of the Christ, and through the awful desertion by the disciples of the Master, by the end of Good Friday, it seemed as if all was lost. That was the end. Great teacher, great people person, suffering no pomposity from anyone, telling it like it really was – all these things could be said of the one they knew as ‘Rabbi’, the one they said they would follow and never forsake. But they all forsook him, every one, and melted away into the night. That was it. The line had been drawn under Jesus, Son of Mary.

But that was where everyone was wrong! And here is the paradox, in words we say every Lord’s Day, every day of resurrection, every Sunday: ‘On the third day, he rose again from the dead’.

Death, the final enemy, had been defeated. The cross was not the end, as some thought, but the threshold of the beginning, and that beginning was what we call Easter.

Concerning the cross: I heard an interesting story last week from the Central Belt of Scotland. Perhaps you heard it too. A school up there is a shared campus – Catholics and non-denominational. A small band of Protestant parents noticed that there were crucifixes around the place, and so threatened to withdraw their children from the school. Of course, they always know where their children are, day and night, and they know exactly what they watch on the TV and their computer games. But a crucifix is really dangerous!

Now, I was brought up a bit like that. The Catholics, I was taught, were wrong. We Protestants knew better, and our cross was empty. In effect, I was being taught that Catholics don’t believe in the resurrection!

It was years before I realised what nonsense that was. The two crosses are not in contradiction. They emphasise two different aspects of the salvation story. That is why in this church we have both. The crucifix emphasises the suffering Christ. The empty cross does indeed remind us that death is not the end of the story. Because of the death and the resurrection of Christ, we are the victors. We are, indeed, the champions!

But let me be clear about this. I am not by any means saying that as Christians we can claim victory in some moral sense, over the rest of humanity, whether they adhere to any religion other than our own, or no religion at all. I am not saying that we have some sort of divine right to rule and organise the rest of the world, because we are victors. That is not the Easter message at all. But what I am saying is this: that the victory Christ has given us, through the merit of his own victory, is victory over all that hurts or harms our common humanity, all that enslaves us, all that destroys us, as God’s children, and finally, gives us victory over death itself. So, we are committed to working for justice and peace, for that is a way of overcoming evil with good, bringing victory to those who are downtrodden. Be a champion for justice!

The resurrection is the other side, if you like, of the paradox, as David reminded us a fortnight ago. ‘In this, conquer’, said Constantine of the cross, for the end is victorious, happy and glorious – just like the Queen!

Which is almost where we began - with ‘Queen’ that is, though I don’t want to end with ‘Queen’. I want to end by saying to you that if what I have said rings a bell with you, that you do know the power of the resurrection in your own life of faith; if you are able to overcome the powers of evil and the sin which as St Paul again says, so easily besets us, then that is great. Let me remind you of the words of an old evangelistic chorus some of us oldies used to sing. If you ever went to a Billy Graham meeting you would know it:

‘He lives! He lives!
Christ Jesus lives today.
He walks with me, he talks with me
Along life’s narrow way.
He lives! He lives!
Salvation to impart.
You ask me how I know he lives?
He lives within my heart!’

If, however, you have never experienced this resurrection power in you life; and if you find that you never are able to overcome anything, but that you always fall at the first fence, then I can say to you this morning that here is a free offer. Just ask. Just ask the risen Christ to make himself known to you. Just ask him to come into your heart, to live there, and to empower your life, so that you can know the victorious power of the resurrection for yourself. Then we all can sing: ‘He lives within my heart’, and you can know for yourself that it is true. Your life can change, and the way you see the world, with all its problems will change too. As we continue with our praise and prayer on this day, my prayer for you is that you, too, will be a champion – for Christ!