Dead Man Walking
Easter Sunday
It’s Sunday morning. Did you hear the news? Did you hear what happened?
Someone said they saw a dead man walking.
Frank, Jack and the Rest of Us
Frank Simmons is a prison guard.
He’s worked at the prison for the last 21 years. It’s Friday, and his job today is to lead a man on death row from his prison cell to his execution. He makes the long walk that day down the hallway of the cell block to where Jack is sitting.
He’s come to know Jack over the years. Jack has been on death row for a while now. Is he innocent? Frank doesn’t know. It’s not his job to know. Jack says he is, but one appeal after another has been denied, and now, today, it’s his day to die. This is his death date.
Everybody has one. Not everybody knows when it is. But everybody has a death date. It’s the other date they put on your tombstone. That first date is the day you were born. The day you enter the world. That second date, that’s your death date.
Everybody has one. Not everybody knows when it is. But Jack does.
He steps into the hallway prepared to make the long walk to the place where he will take his last breathe on this earth. He’s wearing his prison clothes. The same clothes he wears every day on death row. Then Frank calls out, “Dead Man Walking.” That’s what the prison guards call out when they lead a man through the halls of the prison toward their execution.
Dead Man Walking.
What so many of us fail to realize is that Jack’s story is our story.
We Are All the Dead Man Walking
We can pretend to be innocent, we might even think we are innocent. But no one is innocent.
We are all the dead man walking.
We may look alive, but we’re not alive. You can tell we’re not alive because we’re looking for life in all the wrong places.
We look for life in the things of this world.
We believe the lie that money brings life. That if we can get more or have more, then we will really be living the good life.
Or, we think if we can just have more power, then we’ll experience the good life. With more power comes more control, we think. And the more we can control things, the more we can make things the way we want them, the happier we’ll be.
And, we seek pleasure. We want to do the things that make us happy, that make us feel good, and we say things like, “I deserve this.” And what we say we deserve on any given day can change. It can refer to a bag of M&M’s or a trip to Hawaii! It can mean a shopping spree, or day at the spa, or the golf course, or wherever. It may mean looking at something we shouldn’t, drinking something we shouldn’t, or something much worse.
We want what we want and we seek pleasure because we seek life.
But we’re looking for life in all the wrong places and at the end of the day all those things that we thought would lead to life actually lead us in the opposite direction.
They lead to death.
Sometimes with good intention, but always misdirected, we seek money, power, and pleasure but we end up poor, powerless, and dissatisfied because… Because the things of this world cannot give life.
So we may look alive, but in reality we are a dead man, a dead woman, walking.
Real LIfe
If you want to experience life, real life, the Good Life that God promised and the Abundant Life that Jesus has invited us into… that life isn’t found in the things of this world. That life is only found when you realize you are the dead man walking, but that there is a way to walk that leads to life!
This is such good news that some 2000 years ago it was taking the world by storm. It was a Friday in Jerusalem when the whole world went black after they crucified Jesus of Nazareth. Three days later people were talking, wondering, asking, “Is it true?” “Have you seen him?” “I haven’t seen him but she said that she did!”
Nobody could believe it, but everyone was talking about it.
People are saying that some have seen Jesus. But it’s Sunday. He died on Friday. How could a dead man be walking in and around Jerusalem.
Resurrection wasn’t really in anyone’s vocabulary. It seemed impossible. After all, when you’re dead you’re… dead! No one comes back from being dead. Especially after being three days dead.
No one expected it, that’s why no one was there to witness it. Had the disciples really thought it might happen, they would have been camped out by the cave for days waiting for the moment. Had His followers thought it might be in the realm of possibility, they wouldn’t have slept a wink as they watched for the stone to start sliding to the side.
The Romans thought that someone might steal His body and make it look like a resurrection. But never in a million years did they entertain the possibility of an actual rising from the dead early on a Sunday morning moment.
The guards stationed at the tomb would have witnessed the moment, but… when they felt the ground shake beneath their feet and they saw an angel of the Lord appear from heaven, they fainted and fell to the ground.
And then, it happened. Jesus stepped out of that grave. And when He did, He became our resurrected King!
And His invitation is for us to step out of the grave with Him, to be resurrected with Him, to walk in the newness of Life. How does that happen?
30 Years Later
30 years after the life, the ministry, the crucifixion, the burial, the resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus, there is a small church in the ancient city of Colossae located in modern day Turkey, about a 1000 miles northwest of Jerusalem. It would have taken weeks if not months for people to travel that distance and traverse that terrain 2000 years ago but nothing was going to keep the gospel from spreading.
More than likely, this church was started by a man named Epaphras (Colossians 1.7) who was a minister, church planter, and preacher. The Apostle Paul considered him his “beloved co-worker.” And Paul writes to this church to remind them of what Jesus has done through his death, burial, resurrection and ascension.
Paul writes…
Colossians 1.15-22
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.
So he is first in everything.
For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
This is THE GOOD NEWS!
The Good News is NOT, Christ died and rose again and if you believe in Him and are baptized in His Name you get to go to Heaven when you die!
The Good News is NOT that you were bad and Christ came so you could do better, be better, act better, or live better.
The Good News is NOT a formula to believe, a plan to follow, or a set of instructions you have to adhere to before leaving earth!
The Good News IS that because of what Jesus Messiah has done, you can be reconciled with God, you can enter into His presence here and now, and you can stand before Him holy and blameless because of Jesus!
The Good news is that Christ has risen, you are forgiven, and we are being transformed more and more into His image every day!
Decision, Disciple
You see, the invitation of Jesus isn’t just about making a decision, it’s about becoming a disciple. The Good News isn’t just about your salvation it’s about what God started before the world began and is bringing about in the here and now and will continue until Christ returns.
It’s about what life looks like now living under the rule and reign of Christ as we participate in making things on earth as they are in Heaven.
The Apostle Paul would go on to say it this way…
Colossians 2.12-14
For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
This is the Good News!
Christ is Risen!
He is risen indeed!
Yes! One day, you will rise again when Christ returns to live with Him forever and ever.
But also, Yes! You rise again in your baptism to live the baptized life. God makes us “alive with Christ!”
Christ is risen! Your sins are forgiven!
Alive
What everyone on Jack’s cell block knew that day, including Frank Simmons the prison guard, that you didn’t know was that Jack had already died. During his time on death row someone had shared with him the Good News about Jesus. The Good News that…
Christ is Risen!
He is risen indeed!
And because He has risen, Jack’s sins were forgiven!
Truth was, Jack wasn’t a dead man walking. He had never been more alive.
What about you?
You’re here and you’re not dressed in prison clothes, you’re wearing your Sunday best. That Easter dress. That new shirt. You are looking good today!
But the real question for you today is simply this: Are you clothed with Christ?
And if you are, then every day is a good day because you are a child of God. Every day you get to live the baptized life because every day you are clothed with Christ.
Near the end of his letter, the Apostle Paul told the church…
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. – Colossians 3.12-15a
This is the baptized life!
The baptized life is the life clothed with Christ!
Today. Everyday! The resurrected life! The abundant life! The life where we are being transformed every day more and more into the image of Jesus!
Are you living the baptized life? Are you ready to live the baptized life? Here’s the thing: your baptism isn’t just about making a decision; it’s about becoming a DISCIPLE. It’s not just about your salvation, it’s about your participation in the Kingdom of God! It’s about living the baptized life, being clothed with Christ.
If you’ve never been baptized into Christ, what better day than today! We would love to help you with that and pray with you about that. Let me invite you to come down while we sing this next song and let us know.
If you have been baptized but, if you’re being honest with yourself, you’re not living the baptized life, can I invite you today back into the baptized life. You don’t have to be re-baptized, but you do need to remember your baptism. Remember who you are! Remember Jesus. Confess your sin and return to Him.
Because, Christ is risen, you are forgiven, and we are being transformed more and more into His image everyday!
Some 2000 years ago something happened one Sunday morning that changed everything forever. As the sun was rising a stone was rolling away from a borrowed tomb. Christ rose from the dead!
Today, may we remember that we have been invited into this resurrected life. The baptized life. It’s not a one time event, it’s a daily decision to follow the One who gave everything so we could have life and have it abundantly!
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