May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
We come to church this morning braver than we think. We gather this Easter confounded with many thoughts. Some may be thinking about how their Easter Dinner is going to go with family and friends today. For others, they may be thinking about how the story of the Empty Tomb relates to their own empty 401 (k) Plans. Still others may be remembering someone that they have lost who is near and dear to them. And, still for others, who are pondering more immediate things, are thinking, “Maybe I should time how long this sermon is going to be?”
Easter is all about God’s action for the World. This may be surprising to many since we like to think that we do everything ourselves; but, the Christian experience should tell us otherwise: the more we think about it the more we come to realize that it is all God’s doing – God’s work – We did not make up the Easter Story. We received it. So, you and I are invited by God in Jesus Christ to share in his victory over death. We are invited to “come and see.” We are offered a new way of being in relationship with God and of forming a new community of living in the belief that death has been overcome, that death itself is dead.
If you want to see beyond the vale of death to see the promise of eternal life, if you want to believe that there is more to this present life than what you know, and if want to be brave enough to step away from the conditioned coordinates of the world, then you have come to the right place. This is the moment to “come and see.”
The first thing to know about Easter is that it is not easy for poets and writers, for scientists and theologians, or for you and me to unravel with any certainty the mystery of the resurrection. One of the best examples of the problem is contained in the well-known Easter poem “Seven Stanzas at Easter “ by John Updike. Updike identifies the issue of the bodily resurrection of Jesus head-on in the first lines,
Make no mistake: If he rose at allEverything hinges on the word “if.” What if it did happen? What if it did not happen? The tension in our gospel lesson for today is whether Mary saw the dead, and now alive, Jesus and believed; or whether she believed it and then saw the Risen Christ.
It was as his body;
If the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
Reknit, the amino acids rekindle
The Church will fall.
The earliest known Christian writing on the resurrection comes from The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians. According to Paul, we can trust with confidence at least four truths: Peter and some other disciples found an empty tomb. Secondly, Peter and the other apostles came to believe that after Jesus’ death they had encountered him alive and well. Thirdly, days and months later, Jesus appeared to as many as 500 followers. And finally, Paul personally believed he encountered the Risen Christ.
In all these events, it is recorded that these once frightened and beleaguered disciples were changed – transformed -- into a brave and resolute community of faithful men and women who would risk their lives to share with Jew and Gentile, men and women, slave and free, rich and poor, the good news of Jesus Christ.
I am reminded of the story of a group of miners who were part of the California Gold Rush of 1849. They found a large deposit of the precious metal, but wanted to keep the discovery to themselves. They pledged that none of them would share their secret when they returned to town to get their supplies. And they kept their promise. Not one of them said a word about their find. But when they set out for their claim a few days later, they were surprised by a large group of people following them. “How did you know we had struck pay-dirt?” they asked. “No one said a thing,” they were told, “but you all used to be such a grouchy group when you came to town, and this time all of you were smiling.”
Evidence in the Resurrection is not simply whether Jesus came back from the dead but how his presence affected those whose lives were inalterably changed from fear to joy. This change is exquisitely revealed through Mary Magdalene’s encounter with Jesus in the garden. Their give and take conversation in John’s Gospel is instructive for us: He calls her woman. He calls her sir. He responds by saying her name Mary. She reacts with joy saying Rabbouni. He asks her to share with her brothers the good news. She goes to the disciples and announces to them: “I have seen the Lord!”
The conversation between Mary and Jesus in the garden forms an outline of how the Christian faith can work. At first, we may understand Jesus as an historic figure who was a healer and a teacher. We come to learn The Lord’s Prayer and to appreciate The Sermon on the Mount. Reading the New Testament, we can see how Jesus affected people, how he healed and taught and how he stood up against the principalities and powers.
Like all wise prophets, we can appreciate Jesus as a wisdom teacher. Over time, perhaps through prayer, through proximity to the sacraments, we come to develop a desire to know Jesus more deeply in a personal way as friend and companion. This closeness leads to an intimacy where we feel we are known by name. The feeling, “I am not alone,” is more than re-assuring. It forms the ground of our being.
This sense of being known – truly known – leads more deeply to an open heart and a ready mind to see how Jesus’ life, death and resurrection holds a profound and abiding truth about healing, forgiveness, and redemption.
Then, there comes a moment –unbidden- when we know that Jesus, our friend, is more than just a friend. We come to know him as our Savior.
Easter means there are many things we cannot see or fully comprehend. We see glimpses. The tip of an iceberg is just that, the tip. I know there is another side of the moon even though I have never seen it. You may watch a baseball game and see the nine players on the diamond. Each is ready for the pitch; and the ball is struck by the batter that forms into a triple play that transcends the game into a thing of beauty. We only see a glimpse of what is truly there. Music and art have the same transcending arc when one hears Bach’s St. Matthew Passion or views the paintings of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” or Jackson Pollack’s “Summertime.” Easter confirms for us those intimations of deeper realities. Faith means that we see only the tip of glory.
The mystery of Easter is faith first, miracles second. It is by assent that one comes to see the meaning of the resurrection for our own lives. If Mary was transformed, if Paul was transformed and if John was transformed then we, too, can be transformed. The resurrection is not merely about eternal life but about sharing in that life right now. The resurrection is about a new life and a new world made up of both the living and the dead. It is also a world of the brave yet to be born who already carry within them the seeds of love planted long ago by God through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I once knew a young woman in hospice. And I would call her brave. She was cancer-ridden with not much time left to live. Her family stayed by her side. They told her how much they loved her and how much God loved her and that there would come a time when she would soon see God and know the absolute fullness of God’s love. She responded that she knew she was surrounded by love. Not too much later, she fell into a coma.
Days later, her parents were beside her bed and in the very last lingering moments of her earthly life, she suddenly came out of her coma, opened her eyes to a bright sunny day, looked outside of her room onto a beautiful garden, and smiled.
Some of you may ask is there a God like that who is our friend and not a stranger? It is a fair question in our day and age. So I have to answer you the best I can: I believe so. I know that the God who raised Jesus from the dead, who is the Savior of my life, will not let those we love ever go from His presence either in this life or in the next.
And now to God we give the praise, the honor, and the glory. Amen.
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