I AM… Life
Sixth sermon in the series: “I AM… the transforming promises of our Savior”
Preached on Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008
Rev. David Tinney
Text: John 20:11-18
Theme:  We are Easter people living in a Good Friday world, but the victory of the grave brings us LIFE!

    I heard a joke about a rabbit this week and since there is a close tie to the Easter Bunny I thought 
it might work as my opening joke.  The story goes that there was a woman who walked into a vet’s 
waiting room dragging a wet rabbit on a leash.  The rabbit did not want to be there.  “Sit Fluffy,” she 
commanded.  Fluffy glared at her and jumped up onto one of the other customer’s laps all sopping 
wet.  
    “I said sit,” the woman yelled, but Fluffy did not sit.  In fact now the wet bunny jumped on all the 
furniture, knocked over the lamp, and scattered all the magazines on one of the tables.  The woman 
was terribly embarrassed and shouted, “Fluffy, will you be good?”  About that time Fluffy started a 
fight with a Doberman and the two go at it as if there were no tomorrow.  Around and around they 
fight in the waiting room and finally the attendant opened the door and they both raced outside to 
continue their battle.  The woman was mortified.  In tears she apologized to the other customers 
saying, “I am so sorry, I just washed my hare and I can’t do a thing with it.”
    What a “hare-ndous” way to begin your Easter…   As many of you know I have been preaching a 
sermon series entitled “I AM…the transforming promises of our Savior” in which I have been 
examining the many “I AM statements” in the gospel of John.  As we have learned, these statements 
are powerful disclosures about Jesus and his intimate relationship with God, his mission and purpose, 
and about LIFE.  It seems that in almost every statement there is a mention of the gift of life.  When 
Jesus says, “I AM the bread,” it is not ordinary bread but the “bread of life.”  When he says “I am 
water,” it is not your basic H2O but “living water.”   In the latter “I AM statements” Jesus says, “I am 
the way, the truth, and THE LIFE” or “I am the resurrection and THE LIFE.”  
    In the gospel of John Jesus is the bringer of life, new life, eternal life.  Remember Jesus’ 
encounter with Nicodemus where he talks about being born again?  While the leader of the Pharisees 
is wrestling with how a grown man can be born again Jesus makes him an offer of life.  “For God so 
loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have Eternal 
Life.”   Later in the gospel when other Pharisees have gathered around him and are pressing Jesus to 
explain why he is here, he says, “I have come to bring LIFE and LIFE abundantly.”  
    If you flip through the gospel of John there is scarcely a page that does not have at least one 
reference to LIFE.  So this morning as we stand together in the cemetery looking into an empty grave, 
as we stand together in our various lives looking into the graves of our own construction, let us 
examine LIFE.  Let us wrestle with the same question the women who came to the grave were asked, 
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?”   This is the question of Easter.  This is the question for 
those of us looking for LIFE.
    In our culture today there are a number of products that promise life.  If you wash your hair with 
the right shampoo it will spring back to life and you find immediate happiness.  If you take the right 
little blue pill your love life will come back to life.  If you buy the right blue jeans you will be the life of 
the party and have instant popularity.  “Life” in the English language can mean everything from the 
number of days we live, to a characteristic of the way we live (they like the country life), to a 
description of the vitality in which we live (she was the life of the party); to the way something 
functions (the batteries are old and lost their life).
    But in Greek, the language used by our Lord, there were several words for life.  One is “bios” 
which means existence or the duration of our lives.  Another word is “zoe” which has more to do with 
the quality than the quantity of life.  Zoe life is flamboyant, passionate, fully-connected, and fully-
engaged.  Bios is life extensive while zoe is life intensive.   When Jesus said that he came to offer 
abundant life he was not talking bios or an eternity of endless days.  To me an eternity of endless days 
sounds more like hell than heaven especially if those days are not intimately connected to God.  Jesus’ 
offer of zoe or eternal life has nothing to do with the quantity of time but everything to do with the 
quality of the connection between us and our Creator.  
    That connection has been broken.  It has been severed by our sins, broken by our arrogance, and 
damaged by our rebellion.  Sin begins when we stop listening to God’s voice and start following the 
many voices of the world.  Sin begins when we stop trusting our Creator and start trusting in our own 
creations.  Sin continues when we say I know what is best for me and I will live by my rules rather than 
God’s rule.  
    When we stopped trusting and listening our friendship with our Creator died.  We felt 
disconnected to the thing that once mattered most so we found other things to connect with – things 
like careers, possessions, popularity, wealth, and status.  But soon we found that these new 
connections demanded too much and gave too little back.  We worked longer hours separated from 
the ones we claimed to love, spent more time worrying that laughing, and spent more time plotting 
our future rather than praying about them.  Sooner or later these new connections felt more like 
tombs of dissatisfaction, disillusionment, disappointment, depression, and despair.  
    Hear the good news.  Christ came to free us from these tombs.  Christ came to liberate us from 
the graves of our own construction.  Christ came to breathe life into our flatlined lives and reconnect 
us to our Maker.  All of this is possible if we believe and trust in him.
    That is what we celebrate on Easter – but there is more.  Jesus not only makes a verbal invitation 
but he then acts it out.  He leads the way to eternal life.  Just before heading to Jerusalem and the 
cross Jesus makes a powerful “I AM statement.”  He says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”  
Notice he was not being politically correct here.  He didn’t say I know a way, or I understand part of the 
truth.  He said I AM THE WAY.  
    His way was to take on our sins – all those things that separate us from God – and pay the price so 
that we might be connected again.  His way was to face the darkness of death and be victorious so that 
we would understand his love and his power and claim the new life he was offering.  His way was to 
redeem even the darkness of Good Friday with the victory of Easter Morning so that everyone of us 
sitting in this room would know God never gives up.  God can redeem our greatest sin, our darkest 
secret, our nastiest addiction and bring new life. 
    Hear the good news proclaimed today.  We are Easter People living in a Good Friday world.  We 
are Easter People living in a Good Friday world and the source of our redemption has shown us the 
way to LIFE.  
    Let me remind you of a story that happened about a year ago.  On April 16 a deranged gunman 
transformed the once tranquil campus of Virginia Tech into a shooting gallery.  When he was done he 
killed 32 students and teachers, wounded many more, and then committed suicide.  It goes down in 
history as the deadliest school shooting in our country.  When we see stories like this on our 
televisions we have to wonder about our society.  We have to wonder where was God.  We have to 
articulate somewhere in the depths of our hearts Lord how can you redeem this kind of darkness? 
    This past week I visited the campus’ website to see what has taken place in the last year.  I 
wanted to see if redemption was possible.  There are now simple but powerful memorials on the 
campus honoring those who died.  There have been great speeches made and visits by all sorts of 
dignitaries including the New York Yankees this past week.  But there were two things that touched 
me and showed me God’s hand of grace.  The first was a link to page after page of condolences from 
all over the world.  There were thousands of them and many spoke of our shared humanity, our shock 
and grief, but many more spoke of a future redeemed by God.
    For instance Lori Eagleston, 20, from Canada wrote, “God didn’t promise days without pain, 
laughter without tears, sun without rain, but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the 
tears and light for the way.”  
    Then there were the words from an unknown person in Lawrenceville, Georgia.  “Gracious God, 
all around me people are suffering.  When I turn away from my own problems, I feel sorrow for the 
problems of others.  Through the news, the media, and my conversations, I am daily confronted with 
the pain and suffering of so many innocent people in my life and in the world. Suffering seems to 
eagerly eat at the edges of life until people are worn down with sadness and despair. Even though I do 
not understand the reasons for suffering, I believe that you are a God of love, a God of compassion. I 
pray that you will be with all those this day that are in pain, who suffer silently and alone, who feel 
abandoned and left by the side of life’s road. Wrap your arms of grace around them, until they know 
they are safely held in your embrace. Amen”
    One more… these were the words of an eleven-year-old named Morgan.  Dear God, Please be 
with those we have lost and the families they have come from. Please help us all overcome this 
tragedy.  Lord in Heaven, help us not to be afraid of what may come in the future, and be with those 
who are grieving. Let us all know that You are there for us and that you will be with us and stay with us 
forever. Dear God please remember that we love you and trust in You that you will help us in every 
way after this terrible tragedy.”
    I find hope in these words.  I see God redeeming one of our darkest moments in history and 
bringing forth new life.  But the thing that touched me the most was that a few weeks ago school 
officials announced that when they reopen Norris Hall, the scene of the shootings, it will not be a 
normal classroom.  Instead it will be the new home for the Center of Peace Studies and Violence 
Prevention.  That is redemption.  That is Good Friday being transformed by Easter Sunday.  
    The vacant grave on Easter morn brings us hope.  It is a constant reminder that God has a greater 
plan and it will prevail over all the other forces that try to stop it.  
    I heard another cute story this week about resurrection.  A man, his wife and his mother-in-law 
went to Israel on a trip.  While they were there, his mother-in-law died.  The man went to the local 
mortuary to make arrangements and the mortician said they could ship the body home for $5,000 or 
they could have her buried there for only $150.  He thought about it for a while and weighed the 
pluses and minuses and went over his finances and then said he wanted the body shipped home.  
    The mortician assured him that they would do a great job and that it would save him a lot of 
money and headaches with the government paperwork if he were to bury her in Israel but the man 
resisted.  Finally when pushed for a reason the man said, “You buried a man hear more than 2000 
years ago and three days later he came back to life.  I’m not taking that chance.” 
    Each one of us here is banking on that chance.  Each one of us in this room has placed our hope 
for eternal life in the victory of that resurrection that happened more than 2000 years ago.  Easter is 
not something that happened long ago and is relegated to the pages of history to collect dust.  It is 
something that brings hope, it is something that transforms our lives, and it is something that takes 
away the fears of today because of the promise of tomorrow.  If you were guaranteed a tomorrow 
how would it change the way you live today?
    Let me end with another story.  In late March 1993, a sudden, unexpected snowstorm blanketed 
the East coast of the United States. In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Eastern Tennessee 
and Western North Carolina, it was the snow of the century. Many hunters and hikers were trapped in 
the park--cut off from their loved ones.
    Four medical doctors from Knoxville, TN. had chosen that weekend for a hunting excursion in the 
Smokies. Since they had expected to be gone only one night and did not expect any adverse 
circumstances, they did not bother to give their families or their staffs the exact location of their hunt. 
They felt that their SUV could take them deep into the mountains and get them back out with no 
difficulty whatsoever.
    Imagine their surprise when the snow banked up around their vehicle became so deep that their 
SUV refused to budge. What were they to do? This was before cell phones became commonplace. No 
one in the outside world knew where they were. They hadn't brought enough food for more than two 
days. They were frightened and bewildered as what to do next.
    Evening fell on the second day. Still, they had no contact with civilization. Their SUV was as 
unmoveable as on the day before. They divided a stale doughnut that someone found in the back of 
the vehicle. They were cold, hungry and greatly discouraged. Would no one find them before they had 
either frozen or starved? 
    Then suddenly they heard a sound overhead--the unmistakable whrrrr of a helicopter. They 
jumped out of their vehicle and screamed and waved their arms to allow the pilot of the helicopter to 
locate them. And he did. For a moment the helicopter hovered above them. They could see it was 
already filled with other hunters or hikers. Then they saw a basket being lowered from the helicopter. 
In that basket was a note. On that note was one word: "Tomorrow." Immediately those four 
sophisticated medical doctors made a chorus line, and they kicked their legs as high as the snow would 
allow and they began to sing at the top of their lungs, "Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow, 
you're only a day away." Their fear was gone. Help was on its way. They would live to see another day.
    That is the message of Easter.  Christ’s victory over death offers each of us the promise of LIFE 
today and tomorrow.  
    The vacant grave fills our hearts with hope and our lives with joy and purpose.
    Christ’s victory over death releases us from the tombs of our own construction and allows us to 
reconnect to the source of all LIFE now.  
    We are Easter people in a Good Friday world.  We are Easter people and we celebrate Christ’s 
victory.  
  John 3:16
  John 10:10
  Luke 24:5
  Max Lucado, “3:16”
 
 
 
 
I AM LIFE

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