EASTER 2008A
Many years ago, there was a small group of people, men and women who followed a very powerful and charismatic Jewish teacher. They were ordinary people, mostly from the lower and middle class. Many had very little education. They were fishermen, tax collectors, probably some business type people, a rich person or two, some women with material wealth and some other women who had lived a tough life. Because their teacher was so successful, and the religious leaders of his day felt threatened, they conspired to have him turned over to the Roman authorities so that they could get rid of him. They were pretty successful in this endeavor, and one day, after having him whipped and beaten, they led him outside the city walls and put nails in his hands and feet and hung him on a cross. So, this should have been the end of the story. Maybe, years later, some would remember some of the teachings of this guy, but probably not.
So what happened? Why are we sitting here today? Why are you sitting here? Well, we are here because something happened to this small group of people. They believed that after this awful death, their friend and teacher, rose from the dead.
One Easter day the Sunday school teacher was teaching her class and she told them how Jesus rose from the dead on this day. One little boy, whose father was a mortician, said: “Well, that could never have happened after my Dad had worked on him.”
We just read one of the gospel writers accounts of how these early followers of Jesus came to know that something new and amazing had happened. If you read all four accounts of what happened on this day you will find that they all describe it a little differently. If the story had not been true, and it was a story made up by this early band, they certainly would have made sure that they all got the story straight, and told it all the same. But like in any scene full of emotion, those who experienced it share what they saw and felt a little differently.
John chooses to emphasize the role of Mary Magdalene on that first Easter day. Mary was a person who undoubtedly led a very tough life. Mark says that Jesus cast seven demons out of her. In her encounter with Jesus, her life was changed. She found healing and hope, and she was therefore totally devoted to Jesus. She followed him wherever he went. She was even at that awful scene where Jesus is tortured and dies. So on this Sunday, she, with other women, go to the tomb of Jesus. The other gospel writers say that they are going to anoint the body. But when they get there, the stone is rolled away, so Mary runs to tell Peter and John that the tomb is empty. Peter and John run to the tomb and they too see the empty tomb.
Mary returns to the tomb and stands outside weeping. She then glances inside the tomb and sees two angels, and they say to her: “Woman, why are you weeping?” I spent a lot of time thinking about this question. In one sense, it is a dumb question. Of course she is crying because she believes that her friend and teacher is dead. She has lost the one person in her life that gave her life purpose and meaning. Now what was she going to do? And then, after this question, when she turns around, Jesus asks here the same question: “Woman, why are you weeping?” Mary answers Jesus like she answers the angels. She still believes that someone has stolen the body of Jesus and she desperately wants to know where it is. In a real sense, though Mary is broken and in pain, the answer to that pain is right in front of her. Though she weeps, joy is present.
I don’t know about you who are getting older like me, but I cry a lot more now than when I was younger. I tend to think that it is because, as we get older, we see and feel more and more of the pain and sorrow of life. Just like traumatic stress on soldiers or law enforcement officers of emergency responders, the sufferings we experience in our lives and those around us can build up, and we feel more, and as we feel, we weep more.
But the message of Easter is that our answer to all of this death and suffering and pain is ever present with us… with all of humanity.
After Jesus asks Mary: Why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?.... And she asks him to tell her where Jesus’ body is, Jesus simply says her name, Mary, and she realizes who he is. From this point on, Mary will never be the same. She becomes one of the first apostles and witnesses to this incredible event. She goes back to the other disciples and she proclaims: “I have seen the Lord.” Her weeping is turned into joy. Her sackcloth is turned into dancing.
Some time after this event, when Peter preached to a small group gathered together in a house, he tells them that he also is a witness to both the death of Jesus, and the fact that God raised him on the third day.
Acts 10:39-41 (
NRSV ) 39We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in
I don’t believe these early followers of Jesus made up this incredible, in a sense, ridiculous story. I don’t believe that they all got together and said: “Jesus is dead, but we want to keep his message alive, so we will say that God raised him from the dead. Then we will say that the cross was really a sacrifice for our sins and the resurrection is God’s triumph over death. OK , are we all agreed.. now lets go out there and preach and teach and if we have to, let’s suffer and be beaten and then give our lives for this story, which we know never really happened.” Let’s go……..
No, I believe that on that Sunday, many years ago, as incredible and strange as it sounds, Jesus overcame death and the grave. For almost two thousand years, the church has been gathering as we are today and celebrating this belief. In a real sense, we are witnessing to the world that we also believe, like Mary and Peter and those early disciples, that Jesus is alive, and as we say in our creed, sits at the right hand of the Father.
If this is true, then we are forced to look at life a little differently. I can remember my struggle in coming to an adult faith. My issue was, Jesus, are you alive? If you are, then though I don’t really know now what that means, I will try and learn.
As I ponder what Easter means for me, the word hope always is present. When I go back and read my old sermons, the concept of hope is always present. But it is not a hope based on human will, but a hope rooted in the love and power and justice of God. It is not a hope that ignores the reality of human sin and suffering, or even a hope that has many answers. It is a simple hope that love and truth and justice will one day, somehow, triumph over all that is evil in the world. It is a hope that looks death in the face and sees beyond it to a risen life with Christ.
Let me return to that scene of Mary weeping outside the tomb. This scene seemed to me to be a very powerful illustration of the truth that though, at times, life seems to be very painful and even awful, Jesus is standing right there besides us. In essence, the answer to our sorrow and pain is always present. Even if we can’t see Jesus, and we think that he is the gardener, he is still there.
All of us are in different stages of our earthly pilgrimage. All of us are in different places in our faith journey. To some of you, this whole story is about as real as Winnie the Pooh or Stars Wars. Some of you may be struggling to believe, but the reality of life and the pain of it all is crushing your faith. Some of you may be greatly rejoicing in the hope of Easter. Some are hoping that I would just stop talking so that you can go home sooner.
Wherever we are, I believe that Jesus is alive and present with us. The whole message of the Bible, from beginning to end, is a love story of God to the human race, and thus to you. I want to end this Easter message by stressing the wonderful truth that you are loved by God, no matter what you believe, or what you have done.
There was a guy many years ago who had lost hope. After being a jock in HS, he lost his way in college. Those were the years of civil rights, revolution, war and anti war movements, and rock and roll. Drugs were becoming a part of college life, and he became ensnared in them. In his mind, he could see no future. There was no hope. But then hope began to dawn in his heart. He heard the story of Jesus and of Easter anew. And then one day, in a small community church, he went forward during an altar call, and his life was forever changed. Hope was born in his heart. That guy was me.
I don’t know what brought you here today, but I want to bear witness, as Christians have done down through the ages, that I believe that Christ has risen. How do I know? Of course I can’t prove it… all I can do is testify to my experience. . In a real sense, it was as if I kept looking at Jesus and only saw a gardener, but then that day, by God’s great grace, I finally saw Jesus!
Many of you know that your life is not what you want it to be. Many of you know that you are unhappy, fearful, mad, empty, addicted, lonely… life is not turning out the way you want it to. This can all change. Jesus is in the business of giving us hope and a new life.
The Easter life, a life of hope and meaning and purpose, is available to all, at any time. Jesus is standing right next to us at all times. All we need do is turn and seek. There is no magic formula for coming to faith. All I know is that anyone who comes to God with a sincere and open heart will not be turned away. If you feel God pulling at your heart, at any time during this service, or at any time the rest of your life, simply begin talking to him and opening up your heart and ask Him to come to you and be with you. You will never regret it.
Let us pray.
O Lord Jesus, who on this day overcame the death and the grave, come by your Spirit into our hearts, that we may see and know you more fully and clearly. Come and comfort all those who are suffering and struggling this day. May hope be born in our hearts that we may live our lives loving and serving as you loved and served us.. AMEN!