It is very clear that none of those early followers of Jesus expected Easter.
Resurrection was not a part of their daily experience.
Jesus’s closest friends and disciples didn’t believe the women.
Because the story was too far fetched.
If we are honest, those apostles on that first Easter were really not much different from us, are they?
We know what’s real, don’t we?
We know the limits of the physical universe.
The real miracle of Easter is that Jesus continues to be alive and continues to come to us and continues to empower us –
just as he came to those apostles, and just as he empowered them.
Like the apostles, like those women early in the morning on that first Easter,
we usually fail to recognize the living Lord and his restoring power for our lives,
because we look in the wrong places.
Easter is a
conviction that says that something extraordinary is loose in our world,
and compels us to live our lives into glory.
So, I have this cartoon that shows two Roman soldiers guarding Jesus' tomb on the first Easter morning.
Each has a mug of tea in his hand, and the sun is just rising above the horizon.
One is encouraging the other:
"Cheer up, it's Sunday morning.
As I see it, we have one more day of guarding the tomb.
By Monday the whole thing will blow over."
Of course, the whole thing didn’t blow over, did it?
The world is still astonished that millions of Christians celebrate Easter with such excitement. Like those guards at the tomb they assume that "by Monday the whole thing will blow over."
But, it doesn't, does it?
After some 2000 years, we still come to hear the story told once more.
While we may not comprehend the actual story – and the events the stories recall –
we have a hunch that it is an important story
and so we come to hear it again,
to sing the festive music,
to take in the colorful flowers,
to see who else is here,
and, maybe, to be inspired somewhat.
The Easter story is central to each of the Gospels.
Each of the Gospels has a little different slant on the story, but each one is very clear about the significance of what happened that day.
Mark lets us know that it was the women who were there first early in the morning.
[It seems like the women are always there first, doesn’t it?]
And Mark names the women.
When they got to the tomb they became frightened.
What they saw was not what they were expecting to see.
It is very clear that none of those early followers of Jesus expected Easter.
Although the signs may have pointed to it, it was not expected.
[At this point, they were no different from you and me, were they?]
Resurrection was not a part of their daily experience.
They actually thought their movement was over. They were afraid for their lives.
They took to hiding, lest the authorities would find them and kill them too.
So, while the men hid, the women went to the tomb carrying spices they had prepared, presumably for a ritual cleansing of the body of their friend Jesus.
Just two days before they were there as the body of Jesus was placed in the unused tomb that had been dug out of solid rock.
And so, they were surprised to find the stone that blocked the entrance to the tomb rolled away from the doorway.
And, then they saw this man – and then they were frightened.
Why was this stranger there?
And why is he in the tomb of their friend?
What did he want?
Who was he?
Who did he work for?
Of course, they were too scared to ask these questions out loud.
They had witnessed the way the authorities and the crowds treated their friend a couple of days before, and they must of feared for their lives now.
They bowed downed to the ground.
They cowed.
They turned their heads.
They averted their eyes.
As if to say, “I didn’t see you.
Spare me and I won’t tell anyone you were here.”
But then, the unusual happens – the real surprise of the story.
The man in his bright shining clothes spoke to the women.
He said, “So, Why are you looking among the dead for the one who is alive?”
Those women must have wondered what that meant as much as we do.
Then the man said, “He is not here!”
What do you mean, “He’s not here?
What have you done with him?”
“He has been raised. Remember what he said?”
“Well, yeah, but . . . .”
Mark says that then they remembered.
Then it began to dawn on them.
It must be true.
All that he said before.
It must be true.
Blessed are the peacemakers --
the last shall be first --
love your neighbor as yourself --
a place is prepared for you at the table in the Kingdom --
worry not about the cares of the world, God will take care of you.
It all must be true!
They immediately returned to where the apostles were hiding and told them what had happened.
“It all must be true, don’t you see?”
But, the apostles thought the women were a little touched in the head
– they thought they were crazy
– they thought the women were nuts
– they didn’t believe them.
Jesus’s closest friends and disciples didn’t believe the women.
Because the story was too far fetched –
even for them –
especially for them.
They had seen their leader totally defeated,
mocked even,
tortured,
ridiculed,
killed,
dead to the max.
And no one helped him.
He died alone –
apparently despised and rejected by all who may have been able to help him –
apparently even abandoned by his God.
The authorities had won.
If they had thought of it, they would have said, “The devil was victorious.”
Clearly, their lives as they had known them, were over.
Things had changed now.
And, they weren’t sure just how it was all going to be sorted out.
So the women must be hallucinating.
If we are honest, those apostles on that first Easter were really not much different from us, are they?
We know what’s real, don’t we?
We know the limits of the physical universe.
We experience the reality of life within boundaries of space and time, right? – we are born, we live, and we die.
And so we hear the Easter account as those disciples did on that morning – except . . . .
Except, we know the rest of the story.
The disciples came to believe only after they experienced the Risen Christ –
the disciples came to believe only after they met the Risen Christ --
the disciples came to believe only after the encountered the Risen Christ.
And so it is with us.
The real miracle of Easter is not that the tomb was empty.
The real miracle of Easter is not that Jesus was raised as the two men announced to the women that morning.
But, the real miracle of Easter is that Jesus continues to be alive and continues to come to us and continues to empower us –
just as he came to those apostles, and just as he empowered them.
They came to find and experience the presence of Christ wherever they went.
Wherever they went, whatever they did, he was already there – ahead of them.
Like the apostles, like those women early in the morning on that first Easter,
we usually fail to recognize the living Lord and his restoring power for our lives,
because we look in the wrong places.
[Why do you look among the dead, for the one who lives?]
When we seek the living Lord among the dead, as they did, what we do here and what we celebrate is little more than a history lesson.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, what Easter proclaims is that Jesus refuses to stay buried,
refuses to stay undercover,
refuses to stay entombed,
refuses to stay in the container.
He keeps getting out of the tombs in which we keep trying to bury him.
It would be much more comfortable if we didn’t have this to deal with, wouldn’t it?
We keep trying to put Jesus in a box, don’t we? – a tomb –
like the Jews tried to keep their God in a box.
But, it didn’t work for them.
And it doesn’t work for us.
A preacher-friend told me a story about his little league days.
In 1953 there just four teams in his little town.
Their uniforms were just baseball caps and T-shirts dyed different colors.
They didn’t have much of a playing field –
there was barely discernable grass in the outfield, and there was nothing defining the base paths –
except for chalk lines down the first and third base lines.
He remembers playing two and three games a day on that beaten lot.
And every single time they played, he remembers Jack being there.
Jack was a man of no last name,
but Jack was the faithful soul who was always there and always laid down the chalk base lines for every game.
It didn’t take long for the chalk lines to be obliterated, but Jack would remark the lines after the third inning of each game to ensure the integrity of the playing field.
He said, “Jack, the chalk man was always there to mark the baselines of our play.”
And I thought, you know, that’s what this Risen Christ is always doing:
lining the pathways for us to follow.
He establishes the pathways between human beings and God,
pathways that are frequently obliterated by the struggling enthusiasm, and stubborn resistance of people like you and me.
The Risen Christ opens passages of love among people,
among cultures,
among nations again and again.
It happens when people feel the deep conviction of the love of Christ in their lives and know that they live under the command to share the gospel story of love.
There is a Gaelic legend that tells about an eagle swooping down and carrying a little baby off to his lofty nest up as high as the eagle could go on top of the mountain.
Needless to say, the people of the village were extremely upset about this.
And the strongest of the young villagers chased after the eagle.
They tried to scale the high rugged cliff to reach the eagle’s nest on top.
But, alas, one by one, each of the rugged young men fails.
Each one starts to lag.
Each one starts to draw back.
And as they languish, they see a thin young woman coming up the steep cliff behind them,
slowly and deliberately, finally overtaking them,
and even passing them, and going on to reach the nest on top.
The eagle is not there.
The baby is – and appears unhurt.
She picks up the baby, carefully wraps him up in her shawl and starts down the treacherous precipice carrying the unharmed baby in her shawl.
Needless-to-say, the men were astounded.
They asked, “How can you do that? – when we failed?”
And she tells them her secret: “I’m the baby’s mother.”
The point is that she had a conviction in her heart and soul which propelled her up the cliff to reclaim her child.
And that’s what Easter does for us.
That’s why we celebrate Easter each year at this time.
That’s why we celebrate Easter each and every Sunday when we gather in here in worship.
Easter is a conviction that says that something extraordinary is loose in our world, and compels us to live our lives into glory.
Christ is alive!
Christ is present today.
We see it again and again. If we only look.
If we only use the senses that have been given to us.
We encounter the presence of Christ through people who are ready to help one another through difficult times.
We encounter the presence of Christ through those who care for one another.
We encounter the presence of Christ through those who work for justice and are willing to protect the sacred rights of every person.
We encounter the presence of Christ among people who seek peace with a fervent desire to live in a world that is transformed by human action and divine love.
We encounter the presence of Christ with people who joyfully share the gift of love no matter the circumstance or cost.
And the kicker is, friends, you and I are called to be those people –
each and every one of us, is called to be –
helpers,
caregivers,
protectors of justice,
pursuers of peace
and witnesses to God’s love at work in the world.
You can look all you want among the dead for the one who lives.
But, you’ll never find the Christ there.
The direction was given to those women on that first Easter morning –
and the direction is given to you and me –
“He is not here.
He has been raised.
Go back to where you came from.
Go back to the communities, to the streets and byways where you live your lives.
That’s where you will find him.”
It’s a new world now.
It’s a new day!
There are new rules to play by!
Joy to the world!
Joy to you this Easter day!
Amen.
The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, heard this sermon during a worship service on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013.
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