There is no doubt in my mind that these disciples happy people when they encountered the Risen Christ.
They must have been laughing and carrying on.
They knew the joke was on them, because they hadn’t believed what they had been told.
Long ago in southern Germany, in Bavaria, during the late middle ages there was a custom in many of the Christian churches of that region that seems quite unusual to us.
At the end of the Easter church service, the Easter Mass, the priest would leave the altar and come down among the people and lead the congregation in what was called the Risus Paschalis – which means "the Easter laughter."
It was a time for telling funny stories
and a time to sing comical songs,
and the church would ring with laughter.
Of course the point was obvious, the laughter echoing through the church was a tangible testimony to the merriment born out of the tidings of Easter:
Jesus is alive and loose among us.
All the forces that conspired to lay him in his tomb, the fury, the lovelessness,
the violence, the vaunted powers of kings and empires, they are all made a laughing stock.
Do you get it?
It's a thing to ponder:
the laughter of God,
the laughter of God’s people rolling out into the spring time world from doors and windows of churches where the story is told on an Easter day.
Laughter is a great gift of God,
and I think those ancient medieval Christians in Bavaria were right to give a space for mirth and laughter in the Easter worship of the church.
And so, each year on this Second of Easter we come and celebrate that utterly unique thing that is the Risus Paschalis, the Easter laughter.
Certainly the most obvious element of this laughter is joy.
But, I think there is a great deal more than just joy.
You see the laughter of this day is the laughter that bursts forth when the totally unexpected,
the completely unanticipated,
the utter surprise of a thing strikes us.
OK. Well, here’s the deal:
I have three sets of sermon notes up here.
The 30 minute version cost costs a dollar a head,
And, I have 20 minute version for 10 dollars a head,
And, I have a 10 minute version for $50 a person!
So if the ushers will come forward and pick up the offering and count it, we’ll see which version you paid for!
I think it was Mark Twain, that supposedly told about his idea of a good sermon.
He said, in his mind, a good sermon would have a great beginning and a great conclusion – and they would be as close together as possible.
I think I told some of you about this strange call I got not long ago(?)
Do you remember?
This distraught lady told me her cat had just died and he had been with her for some 18 years.
That cat was family to her.
The only family she had.
And, she wanted to know if I would do a memorial service for the dead cat.
I told her that really, we didn’t do that sort of thing here, maybe she should try one of the Roman Catholic churches nearby and I gave her the phone numbers of two of them.
She thanked me gratefully and said this was all pretty new to her, and that she knew they would want her to make some sort of contribution to their church – what did I think was appropriate for her to offer them?
Would $30,000 be appreciated?
Being no dummy, I immediately blurted out,
“Oh, you didn’t tell me your cat was Presbyterian!”
Let’s talk this over . . .
Imagine, if you can, being part of the group of disciples on the evening of that first Easter day. They had witnessed a disturbing set of events.
Their leader, the one to whom they had sworn their allegiance, the one they thought was going to lead them and the world into a new tomorrow, was tortured, ridiculed, crucified, dead, (for sure,) and buried.
And then, on this third day, they found the tomb in which he was placed, open, and his body missing –
taken by whom?,
removed to where?,
and why?
They suspected sadism, I’m sure.
The authorities or some enemies just wanted to make sure this troublemaker would never be heard from again.
They were afraid.
What did all of this mean for them?
For sure, the authorities would be coming after them now.
What to do?
They gathered behind locked doors – fearing the worst.
So, there they were, wringing their hands, sighing “Ain’t it awful?”
When, lo and behold, the-e-e-e-re was Jesus.
Can’t you just see and feel what happened?
“Oh man, you really did it this time!
You really put one over on us!
You got us good!
And what about the others?
Just wait until they get a load of this!”
You see, the Risen Christ was the punch line of God’s Great Surprise.
The resurrection of Jesus is the greatest surprise in the history of humanity.
Until then, once people died and were buried, they stayed put.
There is no doubt in my mind that these disciples happy people when they encountered the Risen Christ.
They must have been laughing and carrying on.
They knew the joke was on them, because they hadn’t believed what they had been told.
And now the joke is on all those who refuse to believe.
This is the Easter surprise, the Easter laugh, the Easter joy.
C.K. Chesterton wrote that “surprise is the secret of joy.”
And, far from being so solemn and placid like he is portrayed in so many pictures, Jesus must have been grinning from ear to ear! –
grabbing his friends by the neck, hugging and rustling hair.
Zig Zigler writes that “the most destitute person in the world is the one without a smile.”
This is when the disciples broke out of their situation – no longer were they feeling destitute.
A church historian has pointed out that in days of yore, every Easter sermon began with a joke.
Somehow, we have misguidedly equated somberism with Christianity.
Clearly, this was not the case in the very beginning.
Those early Christians were so surprised by their Risen Friend that they must have been ecstatic! – totally joyous –completely joy-filled.
Today in many parts of the world, many Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox countries celebrate Easter Monday as a day of “joy and laughter” with parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus’s resurrection.
It is called White Monday,
Bright Monday,
Dyngus Day,
and Emmaus Day in various countries.
It is a time for the faithful to play practical jokes on one another,
a time to sing silly songs,
a time to dance.
It is a time for clergy and lay people to tell jokes and to have fun.
The custom of Easter Monday and Holy Hilarity Sunday celebrations are rooted in the musings of early church theologians like Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa and John Chrysostom that God played a joke on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead.
You see, Easter is seen as “God’s supreme joke played on that old imposter, death.”
The early theologians called it “risus paschalis” – the Easter laugh.
This theme has been passed down through the ages.
Francis of Assisi advised: “Leave sadness to the devil. The devil has reason to be sad.”
Meister Eckhart, a 13th century theologian, wrote:
“God laughed and begat the Son.
Together they laughed and begat the Holy Spirit.
And from the laughter of the Three, the universe was born.”
Martin Luther wrote: “God is not a God of sadness, but the devil is.
Christ is a God of joy.
It is pleasing to the dear God whenever one rejoices or laughs from the bottom of your heart.”
Easter is the morning when the Lord laughs out loud,
laughs at all the things that snuff out joy,
all the things that pretend to be all-powerful,
like cruelty and madness and despair and evil,
and most especially, the great pretender, death.
Jesus sweeps them away with his wonderful resurrection laughter.
Norman Vincent Peale wrote:
“laughter sweeps away the cobwebs from the mind.”
Paul talks about a resurrection appearance of Jesus before an audience of over 500 people.
One writer ruminates:
“[Now how would you think] 500-plus people react to an appearance by Jesus, the one who had been crucified and buried?
Would they applaud politely? (With a proper Presbyterian clap.)
My guess is that 500-plus folks rose to their feet with a standing ovation.
This was the most incredible comeback story of all time.
They would have jumped for joy and hugged their neighbors.
These 500-plus folks, because of Jesus, had the best belly laugh of their lives.
Easter had taught the 500-plus how to celebrate.”
We ought to pay attention, don’t you think?
Church historians indicate that there is considerable evidence that during the early centuries of Christianity, Easter celebrations went on for days – even weeks.
This picture on our bulletin is very appropriate for today.
Today, many churches all over the country are trying to lift up the hilaritas of the Easter season -- celebrating the risus paschalis: the Easter Laugh.
Laughter has been called God's holy medicine –
the ancients thought it to be exercise for the soul.
What a great idea, don’t you think?
Laughter is exercise for the soul!
In fact, there is a tremendous body of evidence being
accumulated today in schools from Johns Hopkins to
Stanford University Medical Schools and in countries
all over the world – evidence that supports this ancient idea:
that laughter is exercise for the soul and
actually affects our physical and mental health.
Today we celebrate the risus paschalis – God’s easter laugh.
The joke is on the devil.
The joke is on all who still think that life is defined by birth and death.
Jesus taught the early church how to laugh:
how to laugh at death.
how to laugh at appearances,
how to laugh in the face of all manner of difficulty.
Today, we remember God’s great surprise – and the word for each of us:
Turn to John 15:11
Like those early disciples, when you experience the risen Christ – joy is yours.
Paul can say:
“rejoice in all things.
Again, I say, rejoice!”
Easter is a time of deep surprise, the surprise of suddenly realizing that God makes all things right in ways we can never imagine.
On this second Sunday of Easter, I hope you can continue to feel the joy of encountering the Risen Christ for a long time to come. Amen.
Let’s stand and sing the disciple’s song:
I’ve got that joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart.
[If they didn’t know this particular song, they made up one just like it that first Easter night.]
The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, heard this sermon amidst an hour of hi-jinks, bloopers and gremlins during the worship service May, 1, 2011.
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