Easter 2011 Year A

Acts 10:34-43; Ps. 118:1-2,14-24; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-18

Preachers always say that Easter and Christmas are the two hardest sermons to write.

That may seem counterintuitive.

It’s not like there’s any lack of material.

The story is super compelling.

And there is plenty of rich tradition to draw on.

But that’s just the problem, isn’t it?

Easter is one of those come to church days that has a lot of unspoken stuff going on.

Number one is that people, families come to church on Easter even if they only come once or twice or a half dozen times a year.

Even if they’re not really sure why they’re going to church.

It’s one of those churchy days that dads and grandparents and kids get dragged to whether they like it or not.

And I suspect there’s a goodly number of the “or nots” out there.

Second is that Easter has a lot of good looking stuff going on.

The new outfits, and you all look super good out there.

The beautiful flowers, the big music, the promise of eggs and candy and toys.

It’s hallmarky without all the pressure of buying everyone gifts.

Third, it’s got the whole spring thing going for it.

Green grass and blue skies after long dreary months.

New life is in the air all around us.

What’s not to like about Easter?

From the actual churchy viewpoint the emphasis is good for everyone.

God’s love, a plan in motion to make things right for us.

To take care of the bad stuff and make it all good again.

God loving us all and making sure a workable plan is in motion to get things on track so we can go to heaven.

Who doesn’t like that part of the God thing?

Is that why you’re here?

To celebrate God making things right through Jesus so that we can all go to heaven?

Bright, shiny, happy, goodness, and love all around…is that Easter?

Well, yes and no.

It is a celebration…a feast.

We heard Mary Magdalene say it today…I have seen the Lord.

Wow.

We thought he was dead but he’s not.

Mary went to that tomb to weep because Jesus had been killed and taken from them.

And she loved him and missed him.

She missed the love in his face, the healing in his touch.

The words that showed her a different way to live life, words of purpose and hope.

She was ready to sit and weep at his tomb.

But he was gone.

Even Peter and John had to admit that Jesus had flat out disappeared.

All there was left was a pile of linen wrappings.

So they left the tomb.

But not Mary…she stayed to weep.

She didn’t recognize Jesus when she first saw him.

She thought he was the gardener. The gardener.

And then she heard that voice and she knew who it was.

She didn’t know how or why, but she knew it was definitely Jesus.

Alive.

She had followed him through the streets as he carried his own cross.

Bloody and stumbling.

She watched them place a crown of thorns on him and a purple robe.

To mock him, a kingly robe and crown to mock him.

And she watched the nails being driven in and the cross lifted.

His agony, his pain, his quiet words of dying and letting go.

She saw him die and she saw him put in a tomb sealed with a rock.

And now he’s talking to her. Alive.

Today, did we come to see the cleaned up, shiny white robed Jesus?

He is here.

But when I look at that Jesus, I see all of the rest of it too.

The celebration today isn’t just for that shiny, happy Jesus.

The celebration is for all of it and for all that it means.

The scourging and the crown of thorns, the whole nailing to a cross thing.

What kind of a deal is that anyway?

Bloody sacrifice.

That hardly makes any sense to us in 2011.

Most of us have not been in the habit of sacrificing lambs on the altar to make things right.

Really, it’s icky sounding.

So why did God do that?

Why did Jesus do that?

And, honestly, what did it accomplish?

The world still seems like a pretty messed up place.

People are still messed up.

You and I are still messed up.

Do we celebrate Easter so we can pretend that God did something to make things right?

Here is what I see when I look at the cross.

I see love beyond all love.

I see God willing to come and to be like us, loving us that much.

Humans somehow broke the rightness of creation.

And God came in human form to make it whole again.

To make us whole again in God’s eyes.

Not perfect, not perfect acting.

But perfect in God’s eyes.

When I look at the cross I see more than a dying man.

I see the shepherd who loves us all.

I see the shepherd from Luke’s gospel, the one who has 100 sheep.

And that shepherd leaves the 99 when he realizes that one has wandered off and is in danger.

Who would do that, would you?

But our shepherd does.

You have wandered off all by yourself and that shepherd sets everything else aside.

He hunts and hunts and never stops until he finds you.

And then he celebrates, he rejoices.

The shepherd puts you safely on his shoulders and carries you home.

Calling out along the way to friends and neighbors to rejoice with him.

Finding you is so good, so wonderful, that he wants everyone to rejoice with him.

That is the man on the cross.

The shepherd that’s coming after you, the one lamb that has wandered off.

Did you come here today with a heavy heart?

With problems. Money, relationships, kids, wives, husbands, parents.

Jobs you hate or just wishing you had a job.

Illness, cancer, addictions, mental problems, emotional problems.

Did you come here today thinking this whole Easter thing really has nothing to do with you?

You’re here for the family, to be together, to share in the party.

Did you come wanting to honor God, to celebrate the resurrection but thinking that all is well for you on the spiritual front?

Just enough belief, but not too much belief.

We all end up here in this sanctuary today with a million different ideas about why we’re here, who we are, who God is, what Jesus was up to.

But it all comes down to this shepherd.

Our God.

This Jesus, human and God all at once.

Full of love for each us, offering up his life.

Taking on all of the brokenness in people and in the world and overcoming all of it.

The empty tomb means that death no longer has the final say.

The empty tomb means that life on this earth can be full of hope and purpose and meaning.

That love, that love on the cross, and the power of the empty tomb does all of that.

That shepherd looks for each one of us.

And if we will be found, we will find a place safely on his shoulders.

And we will be surrounded by rejoicing.

No matter how impossible that may sound to you in this moment, it is possible.

And more than possible, it is what God is wanting for each of us.

For you.

No matter where you wander.

No matter if your life is full of pain and struggle.

Or just the opposite, even if you think you pretty much have life under control, thanks anyway.

Wherever you wander, Jesus will find you if you will be found.

This may be just the moment you have waited for.

A moment to close your eyes and be found and feel yourself lifted up by strong and safe arms.

The love of the shepherd, the love of Jesus.

The promise of the empty tomb.

All of that is our hope.

All of that is what we celebrate today.

The shepherd is risen.

The shepherd is alive.

So be found.

Today is the prefect day to be found.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.