| April 12, 2009 - Easter Sunday
You are welcome to reflect on this message
What a sunrise it must’ve been! Something BIG happened. And God wanted it told. But the only ones around to tell it were the women, because even God couldn’t find the guys! When “the Marys” and Joanna returned from the cemetery, they brought with them word of the vacant grave and the unsettling news: “He is not here but he is risen!” And the world has never been the same. All preaching begins here. And everything since is only a reverberation of this initial piece of Good News, first announced by the women to the apostles. The response? Preposterous. Just “an idle tale;” empty women’s talk. And the best news ever heard is dismissed with a wave of the hand. That’s still how most folks feel about Easter.
And yet, you tell me why more people go to church on Easter than any other time of the year, even though they know the story by heart? This is a great year for Easter, considering all the hopelessness in our world. But Luke’s Easter story is pretty meager. Even though he was effusively detailed about events leading up to Christmas. He’s unusually brief in his stories about the resurrection. The bare bones: the women and Peter find an empty tomb and that’s about it. Luke has no encounter with the Risen Lord. There were no eyewitnesses. And the women’s attempt to spread the word was met with skepticism. They say "seeing is believing." But you don’t know who to believe anymore. It’s gotten so bad today, whether I believe anything I hear or not, depends on who’s talking. And half of what I see! Different folks have a way of seeing the same things differently. Preferring our illusions to reality, when reality turns harsh.
But there are some sights that ought to make a believer out of anybody. "A burning bush that wouldn’t go out" made a believer out of Moses. A lightning bolt knocked Saul of Tarsus to his knees on the Damascus Road, and made a believer out of him. The Bible is full of faith-evoking sights: the sea is parted; a multitude of 5000 is fed; a leper is healed; a storm is stilled. Of all the sights in the Bible that gave birth to faith, you’d think the empty tomb on Easter would top the list.
At first light, the women came, their hands bearing funeral spices, their feet wet with morning dew, their hearts heavy with sorrow, their eyes couldn’t believe what they saw, when they "found the stone rolled away." That should’ve clued them in that something’s up. But no word of faith cracks the silence of the dawn. According to Luke, nothing happened on Easter that caused anyone to believe anything. In light of the staggering event that just occurred, don’t you think that’s a bit unusual?
Instead, when the women met those two dazzlers, decked out in their Easter finery, they were petrified. The messengers wanted to know, "Why they sought the living among the dead?” It's an odd question because they were not seeking the living. Nobody was. Cemeteries aren’t where you go to look for the living. Bewildered, they go tell the disciples and they didn't have a clue either. Everybody then was thinking what we think now: the dead stay dead!
They either didn’t listen or had forgotten: “He told them so!” “On the 3rd day he’d rise again." All they knew at that point was – Jesus’ body was not in the tomb. It still didn’t register until their memories kicked in: “He’s not here, he has risen.” That did it. It took them back to Bethlehem: the one born in a barn and laid in a manger, the one who died on a cross and laid in a tomb, has now been raised from the grave! His life, shrouded in mystery at both ends. But the back-end is the most important thing that’s ever happened, because the world has been forever changed. If you can believe it. Those who saw it, believed ... eventually. But those who didn’t see, didn’t believe. The preaching of the women was only hearsay. Because the ear is just not as convincing as the eye.
Until they saw it for themselves, even his disciples, were stuck with Good Friday eyes. It's one of the longest journeys we can take. Even though the gladdest day and the saddest day are only “three days apart.” Good Friday eyes aren't all bad. You can get by on ‘em, but they’re only capable of limited vision. The kind where “they know not what they do.” Those eyes. Nobody expects to see much with Good Friday eyes; certainly no surprises.
So they came to the graveyard, “seeking the dead among the dead.” Whether it’s the living among the dead or the dead among the living, the only option available to us is: how do we respond to the church's memory of what somebody did in the midst of crushing disappointment? As they grope their way through the aftermath of Good Friday, what we remember and what we hope for while doing our duty is very important. Because the women showed up on Easter, we can celebrate today -- a brighter tomorrow. It was there that they witnessed the future and caught a glimpse of something transcendent that re-wrote everything the world thinks it knows about life, death, and reality. If you can believe it.
The message of Easter is: God will ultimately prevail. In our day, when it looks like God’s asleep on the job, we need to remember that. Service trumps exploitation; generosity is better than greed; grace conquers sin; and love will vanquish vengeance. Most days. So at church on Easter I get to tell a familiar story about yesterday; that allows us to gain confidence for today and hope for tomorrow. We no longer fear anything except not having quality life. We need not fear death because Jesus was raised; nor terrorism or financial fiascos, because his Spirit enables us to overcome whatever life bowls down our alley.
Every time I preach on the resurrection a little voice reminds me that Jesus died and lived; but we still live and die. I take refuge in realizing the Bible doesn’t deal with resurrection in a rational way, but in mystical fashion, based not on our belief in God, but God’s belief in us. God likes bodies as much as souls and doesn’t compartmentalize ‘em the way we do. Whether you prefer the Nicene Creed or Quantum Physics, you can tie your brain up in knots trying to figure it out. But I don’t know anybody who ever has. Proof is not an Easter word. But faith is. To believe there’s something truer about Easter than literal, bodily resurrection. It’s about a God, who will not abandon his beloved.
St. Paul makes the most sense to me when he said, “Behold I show you a mystery!” That’s about as good as it gets. He later wrote to the church at Collossae (3:1-4) “You have been raised with Christ, set your mind on things above.” The women showed they were Easter people, by going and telling the others. How do we show it? Artists paint it on canvas with a holy glow behind Jesus’ head. We can’t go around wearing halos in real life. Nobody looks as us and says, “Yeah they look like they've been raised from the dead!” Nah, we don’t look any different from those that haven’t been raised from the dead. Because most folks need to see their way to faith, they see it best when we “set our minds on things above,” and get rid of things below: like greed, and meanness, and hurtful addictions; things we do to ourselves. We show it by the way we treat one another.
Is the world more kind or hateful because we were here? Have you forgotten how to laugh? Or be a blessing to somebody? Paul said “put on the clothes of resurrection: compassion, kindness, humility, forgiveness, and love. If people see that in us down below, they can believe in a God up above. Luke said nothing to foster faith. And the resurrection did nothing to change the world. But it changed the women, who changed the world, because they “set their minds on things above.” And it’s especially hard to do when crucifixion was real and resurrection only a rumor.
Isn’t it just like Jesus to make Mary the apostle to the Apostles? The first time she met him, he drove “seven demons out of her,” and peace flooded her soul. She couldn’t stay away from him. For once, she discovered somebody who accepted her like she was. But God loves us far too much to leave us like we were. When they hung him up on Friday, she was crushed with disappointment. The next morning she went to the tomb in grief. Then in the dim light of Easter, he healed her one more time of her heartache; and asked one more thing of her: Tell the others! Because she did, God says to all of us: “For we know that all things work together for good for them who love the Lord” (Rom. 8:28).
Winston Churchill was one of the last century’s most interesting characters. I’ve always admired his tough-mindedness. He died the way he lived, in character. His funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral included the majestic hymns of the church, and utilized the stately Anglican liturgy. There was a bugler stationed high up in the dome of St. Paul’s. After the benediction, “Taps” was played as the universal signal that “the day is done.” That’s how we’d expect to end the funeral of the Lion of London.
But as soon as “Taps” was finished, those in attendance realized “it wasn’t finished!” Another bugler began to play ... “Reville” “It’s time to get up! It’s time to get up! It’s time to get up this morning...” Wasn’t Sir Winston saying the same thing as the women on Easter? At the end of history, the final note won’t be “Taps,” but “Reville.”
The empty tomb was the “first bud” of God’s gracious springtime of the soul. And Mary of Magdala, the faithful madwoman, was the Risen One’s first herald. That should give the rest of us reason to hope and celebrate – God’s victory of powerless love over loveless power, and develop some of Churchill’s stamina, to show that we too are Easter people. Seeing is believing. The Mary’s saw and believed. Peter saw and was amazed. (V. 12) is in a footnote but it’s in keeping with Luke’s Easter story: Luke leaves us “wondering what happened,” not assured. For “blessed assurance,” we turn to the Gospel of John. But even he declared, “blessed are those who have not seen ... and yet believed!”
The church has taken great pains to preserve the story with care. It’s important to know the story, because you have to make some decisions about it. The biggest decision is whether or not you believe it. If you don't believe it, then ... you don't have to do anything. It's just “a fairy tale." When you're dead, you're dead, and that's the end of it. But if you do believe it, then you must decide what that means for the rest of your life ... and then some.
Providence Prayers: Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009
When irreverence raises its ugly head and death has broken our spirits, we wake-up prepared for grief and sorrow. The prospect of resurrection is an idle dream. But because new hope dawned long ago, when the myrrh-bearing women came to the graveyard prepared to mourn, they learned that “joy comes in the morning!” May their experience give us hope as we strive to be Christ-bearers to all we meet.
We pray for those among us and our world around us, who live with a sense of running out of what they need; and the raw anger it causes. Those running out of time; out of patience; out of health; out of money, out of hope. Those running out of excuses, nearing the time they’ll be forced to assume the blame for their failures. Those running out of faith, finding it easier to accuse and criticize and get even. Thou alone, O God, are able to keep us from falling; where our reserves are low, fill us.
We pray for our church, preaching from a Book that reads us; a faith community where the strong bear the infirmities of the weak; for meaningful worship that reminds us of Thy love and forgiveness; for the old rugged cross; Joseph’s Garden; the third day. Let the hope of resurrection light that streams from a borrowed tomb shine on our world, illumine our neighbors and invigorate us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Back |
