Easter 5 From Nobody to Somebody

[HKHaugan]

If someone asked you, “Who are you?,” what would you answer?

I remember when I was in New York City at Spring Break my second year of seminary. I had just come from seeing 'West Side Story' and was headed back to my hotel. I happened to take a shortcut through a narrow passageway by a Broadway theater where a small crowd of excited young people was standing by what looked like the proverbial stage door. They seemed to be anticipating the arrival of some star. As I walked by out of the semi dark alley someone shouted “Who's that?” In the flick of an eyelash the crowd turned and looked at me expectantly until someone blurted, “Oh, he’s nobody!” and the crowd shifted its gaze back to the door. I walked quickly by. At that moment my identity was “Nobody.” I didn’t think about it at the time but I felt something inside. It left an impression that later would give me pause to think about who I really was, what had really taken place and what I felt at that moment of being identified as “Nobody.”

We live in a world where the standards of identity are set by image, wealth, achievement, success, recognition and marketability. In the eyes of the world we are judged by horizontal external appearance, empty symbols and whatever defines the value of the moment. It's the 'rock star' mentality. Whoever can command the charismatic (small 'c') moment in any field. Notice the choice of leaders in business, education, athletics, politics who make media notice. They have some kind of draw, appeal, quirkiness. They're “somebody.' Like Marlon Brando in “Waterfront” said about his faded boxing career, “I coulda been somebody. I coulda been a contendah.”

Now shift from 'somebody' back to where a ‘nobody’ named Mary Magdalene and two other ‘nobodies’ from a ‘nowhere people’ in a ‘nowhere’ country arrived to find that the tomb of a ‘nobody’ named Jesus was empty. He had been executed by the military of the mighty Roman Empire on a cross of wood designed to show that non-Romans were ‘nobodies.’ That dynamic is alive and well in every collected group where individual identity is a matter of belonging, recognition and acceptance. No one wants to be ‘nobody.’

When Glen Campbell sang his hit “Rhinestone Cowboy” it spoke to the need for an identity in the world. It depicted the ‘nobody’ who wanted to be “Like a Rhinestone Cowboy, getting cards and letters from people I don’t even know.” Another song screams “I wanna be a somebody.” And another “I'm gonna be a somebody someday.”

When Jesus died as a ‘nobody’ He rose as a ‘Somebody.’ Because He rose from the dead He turned the tables on every world definition outside of God. He overturned death, anonymity, nobody, insignificance, the devil and his tools he uses to tempt vulnerable ‘nobodies’ to be his idea of somebody.

The glory of the Resurrection is that the most famous nobody in history has become the greatest ‘Somebody’ of all time. A single non-descript young man from an obscure ethnic group in a fringe province in a nowhere land becomes the Savior of the world.

Jesus died the most humiliating death, death on a cross, that sent a message to the rest of the world that Rome alone defined the world, humanity, life and death. Not some lower form of humanity from outside that empire. Who died more alone and deserted than like this 'nobody' named Jesus. His Resurrection changed all that. Notice the historical switch from being a world defined somebody to a resurrected nobody. Rome fell. Jesus rose. Now every 'nobody' who believes in Him is an eternal 'somebody.'

But not only that He promises something more. “If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me.” His Resurrection did three very basic things for every ‘nobody’ who was ever born.

First, He lifted up all human beings and gave them an identity, images of God, that is above any the world has to offer.

Second, He gave them a relationship with His Father through Him as younger brothers and sisters.

Third, He gave them the Spirit of God to secure that relationship eternally.

When Jesus was raised, truth was raised with Him. He is the only ultimate 'Somebody.' There are seven basic truths He raised for us personally.

First, He raised up the truth that One spiritual God is the source of everything.

Second, He raised up the truth that He made, knows, cares about and loves every single human being.

Third, He raised up the truth that we are spiritual beings made in His image and likeness to be like Him, significant, with meaning and purpose for eternity.

Fourth, He raised up the truth that He is a personal Father to everyone and therefore the God of the universe gives us His identity, which is above all worldly identities.

Fifth, He raised up the truth that we ultimately answer to Him. He is our final personal authority.

Sixth, He raised up the truth that the Scripture given by Him is our written authority defining who He is, what we are and our lifestyle as His children.

Seventh, He raised up the truth that we are part of a larger spiritual family called the Body of Christ whose mission and purpose is to share Jesus so that every nobody becomes somebody. A nobody can be rich and famous or simply an anonymous drifter. All, every single individual, are loved by God making us His personal 'somebodies.'