Henrietta United Church of Christ

Rev. David Inglis Matthew 28:1-10; Romans 6:3-5

Easter March 27, 2005

“Seeds of the Resurrection”

I always thought caterpillars and butterflies were a way to help kids understand the resurrection. And then I read about what happens inside a cocoon. And now I’m seeing potential resurrections all over the place. When the caterpillar spins its cocoon, its body actually begins to die. But within its body are a few cells that scientists call “imaginal cells. It’s as though their molecular structure has the “imagination” for a whole new creature. And these imaginal cells begin to connect to each other in the dying carcass around them. As they begin to organize together, they use the carcass of the dying body as their nutritive soup. And when a certain threshold is reached in their organization, a genetic code wakes up, and it begins to organize these imaginal cells into a new body, a new metabolism, a beautiful new winged creature that seeks its way to freedom and flight and migration--things that the caterpillar knew nothing of.^[i]

That helps me see Jesus’ death and resurrection in a new way. Think of Jesus the man as Jesus in the caterpillar stage, and the risen Christ as Jesus in the butterfly stage. But the process of transformation from one to the other wasn’t just a biological one; it was a spiritual one. It started in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus had to wrestle with God’s will for him to endure the hatred and vengeance of his enemies armed only with love. As he sweat drops of blood, he began the process of letting go of the caterpillar. And yet he knew that he would still feel everything as it suffered and died. The trials, the taunting, the beating, whipping, the crown of thorns, the nails in his hands and feet, the helpless hanging as he struggled for air--all of that was required in order for the caterpillar to die, and for Jesus to totally, consciously give his body as a sacrifice of love for us. And yet even as the caterpillar was dying we can glimpse the imaginal cells drawing on this suffering as its nutritive soup, and transforming it into something beautiful. He cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they do.” He said to the thief, “Surely today you will see me in paradise.” This whole agonizing, grotesque process was transmuted by his imaginal cells from a dreadful defeat into a transformative triumph, from a grotesque injustice into an enduring gift for all of humanity.

When his imaginal cells were finished organizing into the risen Christ on the third day after his death, we behold a being of divine light, of eternal truth, of infinite love, of redeeming forgiveness, of divine healing. And we look back on his life as Jesus the man and see that those imaginal cells were always shining brightly through his humble humanity. But his total dying to himself during his crucifixion allowed God to complete that metamorphosis from Jesus of Nazareth into the saving Christ of all time. Because he’s no longer bound by a body that is tethered to a particular time and place, we can experience his light, love, peace, and power today.

Is Jesus the only human who went through a metamorphosis like that? Listen to some words from Paul in his letter to the Romans (6:3-5):

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?

Being baptized in a spiritual sense means releasing your old, limited, earth-bound self into the waters, where our self-centeredness, our stubborn pride, our fears, our shame, our guilt, our resentments are washed away. Paul goes on:

Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so too might we walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

What would you be like as a person if you released your fears, and all the things that make you anxious and possessive and defensive and on guard? And what if you released your shame and guilt, and all the things that make you strive for acceptance or avoid criticism or make you insecure or overly eager to please? What if you opened all of your wounds to healing love, and then you let go of all the resentments you carry? What if you let go of all the self-limiting things you tell yourself that keep you small and hidden to protect yourself from failure?

What are the imaginal cells like in you that are created to walk in newness of life? Don’t you suppose that if your imaginal cells reached a certain threshold of organization, you would be able to love openly and be loved honestly. You would be free to create from your heart. You would be a font of deep wisdom. You would resonate to the poignancy of life around you. You could be at peace in the midst of chaos. You would be compassionate without being clingy. You would be deeply authentic--an honest human being, yet a channel of God’s light.

Do you ever catch a glimpse of your imaginal cells connecting together, maybe not yet fully winged and ready to fly, but still inching towards something whole and beautiful and free? I see those imaginal cells in you, and one of my deepest joys is being in a community of faith like this where we help call forth each other’s imaginal cells, and encourage each other’s growth into the butterflies we were created to become. Maybe the process won’t be complete in us until we go through our final dying and are resurrected in a spiritual body. But Paul is very clear that this metamorphosis into new life is something that starts this side of the grave.

We’ve all heard a story in the news lately that reminds us that this can happen to ordinary people like you and me. Ashley Smith is the 26-year-old woman who suddenly felt a gun in her back as she was entering her apartment at 2:30 AM. A man’s voice told her she wouldn’t get hurt if she didn’t scream and did as he told her. The man was Brian Nichols, who had just shot and killed a judge, a sheriff’s deputy, and a customs agent as he escaped from the Atlanta courthouse where he was being tried for rape. Ashley figured out who he was, and she was scared. But she was not so scared as to lose touch with the butterfly that she was becoming. And more astoundingly, she wasn’t so scared as to lose touch with the butterfly that Brian Nichols could become.

Ashley had known what it was like to be lost, on a dead end path, and in trouble. She had been arrested for shoplifting, drunk driving, speeding, and battery. Then she found God, and she got in touch with the parts of her that were created for honesty, generosity, compassion, and service. As these imaginal cells organized inside her, she turned her life around.

The rapist-murderer who was now sitting in Ashley’s bedroom with her looked very much like a worm of a man. But Ashley knew what worms are capable of becoming.

She asked Brian if she could read.

“What do you want to read?” he asked.

She got the book she was reading, Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life. She turned to the chapter that she was on that day, and she started to read to him Warren’s words that every life has a purpose. Warren asked his readers what they thought their purpose was--what talents and gifts they were given to use. So Ashley looked up and asked him what he thought his purpose was.

“I think it was talk to people and tell them about you.”

Ashley began telling Nichols about her life, about the trouble she had been in, and about her husband being murdered and dying in her arms four years ago. She told him about the difference God had made in her life, and how her whole purpose for living had changed. Nichols talked about his life too, and the things that led up to the scene in the court house. Ashley listened without judgment or blame.

As she made pancakes for him and they had breakfast together, Ashley asked Brian if he believed in miracles. Did he believe it was a miracle that he had escaped from the courthouse with police everywhere looking for him after killing those people? Didn’t it seem like a miracle that he had come to her apartment that she had just moved into two days before? Might it be a miracle that they were sitting here together thinking about Brian’s purpose for living?

Brian told Ashley that he thought she was an angel sent from God, and that she was his sister and he was her brother in Christ. He said that he had been lost, and that God had led him to her to tell him that he had hurt a lot of people, and to let him know how they felt, because she had gone through it herself.

Ashley showed him her husband’s autopsy report. She told him, “That’s what a lot of people will have to go through now, because of what you’ve done. You need to turn yourself in. No one else needs to die, and you’re going to die if you don’t.”

Brian showed her a picture of the customs agent he had killed. He told her he hadn’t wanted to hurt the agent, that he had begged him to do things his way, but he didn’t. He said he didn’t want to hurt anybody else. He put his guns under the bed, saying he didn’t want to mess with them any more.

She told him, “You know, your miracle could be that you need to be caught for this. You need to go to prison and you need to share the Word of God with them, with all the prisoners there.”

Brian Nichols allowed Ashley to leave and call the police, and he gave himself up without a fight.^[ii]

Brian had taken his first step towards butterfly-hood. What can we say about Ashley? As a butterfly, she soared!

Every one of us, no matter how wormy we may act or feel, has imaginal cells inside us. We might call them seeds of the resurrection. How do you water and feed those seeds in your life? Are they growing into new life in you?

We can look at those imaginal cells another way too. We can be the imaginal cells of a new world, a new order. Jesus called that new order the kingdom of God. Our calling and destiny as God’s people is to help give birth to this new way of living together, where love rules rather than fear, where hope motivates us rather than cynicism, where diversity is integrated into community, where wounded people are healed rather than scorned. Our world supports our being hell-bent on meeting our own needs, looking out for number one, seeking gratification wherever we can find it. We feel like isolated cells trying to survive in a hostile, foreign land where we compete for profits and jobs and goods and influence. But there is another way.

Right here in this community of faith, we are organizing our imaginal cells to create a new order of reality where all people are welcomed with the unconditional love of Christ, where we find our purpose more in sharing than competing, more in giving than in getting. We give our time to care for each other, and count it a joy. We value each one, young and old, for their own gifts and perspectives.

And we can be the imaginal cells that help create a new order in the world beyond these walls. We do that by connecting with other imaginal cells, and creating new orders of honesty, compassion, peace, creativity, and hope in our families and work places and community.

Margaret Meade said, “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens has the power to change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” She’s talking about imaginal cells, isn’t she? Imaginal cells connecting, connecting to create a new order.

Today we celebrate Easter--the triumph of hope over despair, of light over darkness, of love over hate, of life over death. Today we celebrate that God’s resurrecting power is still on the move, and it is calling forth butterflies out of caterpillars in the likes of Ashley Smith and Brian Nichols, and in the likes of you and me. What beautiful imaginal cells are stirring in you? Where can you start planting your seeds of resurrection?

_______________