Turn Around

The Rev. Joseph Winston

April 8, 2007

Sermon

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1
A common theme in the never ending battle between the sexes occurs when
drivers get lost. For some reason that has never been completely explained by
science or philosophy, it seems that men never like to stop and ask for directions.
We either prefer to drive on until we see a familiar landmark and then navigate
back where we need to be from this point or we tell the females in the car that
we have an innate sense of directions and as soon as we get our bearings back
everything will be just fine. Females have a completely different approach. From
what I can see from my admittedly biased viewpoint is that they simply want to
stop the car and ask someone for directions.
This basic disagreement between males and females was played out in the de-
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3

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lightful 2006 animated movie, “Cars.” The running gag, which clearly showed the
two divergent ways of thinking, started near the middle of the movie. Two mini-
vans get lost when they exit the interstate highway. Quite predictably, the female
minivan, played by Edie McClurg, wants to pull over and ask for directions. How-
ever, the male minivan, voiced by Richard Kind, disagrees. He wants to drive on
until they hit the freeway again. Because they follow his advice and continue driv-
ing, the two minivans enter the town of Radiator Springs, a place on Highway 66
that has been lost to the rest of the world when the freeway bypassed it. The two
continue to wander through the movie and they never find their way back to the
main highway. As the movie ends, the female minivans says, “Oh, for the love of
Chrysler! Can we please ask someone for directions?” To which the male replies,
“ No! there’s an on-ramp close! I KNOW it! I can FEEL it! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
Even though it deeply pains me to say this, the entire sequence of wandering
through the little town of Radiator Springs would have been avoided if the two
minivans pulled off the road, asked for directions, and then turned around.
Turning around is the theme of all of the lessons today. The prophet Isaiah
tells us of a new world where everything is turned around. In God’s new creation,
infants will no longer die, people will never cry, and there will be no poor. This
topic continues in the psalm. The author tells us to turn around and look at what is
happening in the world. The rejected One is the foundation of God’s salvation. He
also tells us to turn around and stop running away from God. Paul’s message to
the congregation at Corinth follows the same pattern. Jesus has turned the world
around so that the dead live.

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 The Gospel lesson is full of examples of the command to turn around. The
women who came to the tomb expected to see the body of Christ. When they
finally arrived with all of the embalming supplies, their entire world was turned
around. The corpse could not be found. Two angels suddenly appear on the scene
and tell them, “Turn around. Stop looking for the living in the household of the
dead.” This amazing message caused them to turn around and bring this Good
News to the rest of Christ’s disciples. For the most part, the men are unmoved.
They do not believe the women’s message and they stay where they are. One of
the group has his attitude turned around and runs to the tomb. When Peter arrives,
he finds out that the entire world has changed. The dead God is alive!
If we are like the male minivan in the movie “Cars” and we go our own way
then we will get lost. Sometimes, our wandering off the highway is little more than
a diversion from the real meaning of life. We will see sights that we did not know
existed and we will eventually stumble back into the world that we know. And at
other times, our refusal to turn around could be direr. We might run out of gas and
find ourselves forever stranded in the wilderness. Another definite possibility of
wandering off the well-known path is that we never find our way back home.
It is for these reasons that God continually tells every one of us, “Turn around
and come home!” If we only would stop running away from God then the Holy
Spirit could take us back to Jesus. There with Jesus we would find true life because
Jesus is the One who has successfully made the trip here on earth.
That is why we are here today. We are celebrating all of Christ’s life. God the
Father agreed with every step that Jesus took and when the world took Christ’s

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life from Him, God gave Jesus’ life back. We have gathered together to at Trinity
to remember God’s amazing gift. Jesus is alive!
God never promises that this road, which all humans must take, will be easy.
This point can be clearly illustrated by looking the Christ’s life. The sinless Son of
God, who followed God’s way to a letter, suffered. At the very least, we also will
encounter bumps along the way because the world does not like God’s message
of life. And at the other extreme, you might be required to die for Jesus.
The battle between the sexes on asking directions verses just driving on is
nothing more than a glimpse into the struggle between God and us. Jesus has
shown us the way that we need to live and we often refuse to follow. When we
wander off the road and get lost, God brings us back.
Immediately after today’s Gospel lesson, some disciple were on the way to
Emmaus. They must have been men because they were lost. They were talking
about the events of the first Easter but did not understand nor probably even be-
lieved what had happened. Somewhere along the way, Jesus appeared to them,
discussed with them all of the Scriptures about Himself, and only in the meal that
thy shared did the men recognize Him. You know there still might be hope that us
men will not get lost. Anyways, when you get lost, stop and ask for directions and
turn around. You need to be here.
When you turn around and go home, look at the people you encounter. Just
like for the early followers of Christ, Jesus will be there. He will be found eating
with you and He will be found with those who speak to you. Turn around and see
Jesus.

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 “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.”2

2
Philippians 4:7.