Yesterday was a long lazy day at my
house. We did not have any demands on our time, which was a welcome change. The
kids are on Spring Break but of course we did not go anywhere because it’s
Easter and it was pretty important that I be here today. I noticed that a
couple of my clergy friends posted little statements on their Facebook pages on
the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. One wrote: “The clock ticks slowly on Holy Saturday, pressing us beyond
our capacities. It was a day fashioned for hand-wringing. Waiting and
hand-wringing - alone. Utterly alone.”
You see,
it is so easy for us to jump to the joy of Easter Sunday isn’t it. We come here
on Palm Sunday. And then truth be told, we would prefer to skip over that
crucifixion part. The truth of the Crucifixion is just too unpleasant. It is
much better just to get to the good part of Easter Sunday.
But in
order to understand the weight of the day, we really need to try to put
ourselves in the mindset of Jesus’ close friends on days before Sunday morning.
For the men and women who loved Jesus those
hours on Friday after he died, and the long day on and night of Saturday night were
hours when they were overcome with grief. They were walking through that fog of
grief that we have all been through, at least those of us who have lost someone
close to us to death. You know the fog, you feel lost. You know the person is
gone. Death is final. There is no turning back from death. They saw him take
his last breath and then they watched as his lifeless body taken down from the
cross. And they wept.
Just try to imagine, then, what on
earth it must have felt like to be Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of
James, and the other women
who
went to the tomb that morning. They were in mourning for a dead man. They were wearing the clothes of
grieving. They went to do some ritual anointing, rituals
they could not do immediately when he died, because it was the Sabbath.
When they got there, the stone was
rolled away and the tomb was empty.
Remember, death is final. That is a
physical truth, we know that. The women
went to a tomb. And then they find the tomb empty. I don’t about you, but if I
had found the tomb empty my first reaction would have been disbelief, and then anger.
What now? More indignity? Is it not enough that they beat him and drew lots for
his clothes and then left him to die. Now someone has stolen his body so we
can’t even give him a proper burial? This is the worst indignity ever.
And then these dazzling men began to
unfold the situation for them. “Remember how he told you that he would be given
over to sinners, and crucified and on the third day he would rise from the
dead?” How could they forget something that important? “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” they asked. Why
indeed!
The truth became clear to the women and
they believed! So the women went and told the men.
And guess what happened. The men thought
it was an idle tale. Imagine that! The men did not believe the women. Well,
we will forgive them, because, after all, it was a pretty unbelievable tale.
However, the men were curious enough that they went to the empty tomb to see
for themselves. But the truth has a way. The scripture says “when they saw for themselves they were
amazed.” The truth became clear to the
men also and they believed! Truth
finds a way.
On Easter morning, the followers of
Jesus woke up to the most miraculous event ever known to the world. We have
heard the story so many times, though, we expect it. We take for granted that
Jesus did not really die for good. Most of us don’t even want to come to
worship on Holy Thursday or Good Friday. We don’t want to see the picture that
we had on the screen last Sunday of Jesus carrying that cross, because it makes
us uncomfortable. We know he is going to be raised from the dead, so why do we
have to hear that gruesome story year after year?
You see, we can’t really comprehend the
impact of this gift of new life, until we realize that God walked through death
with us to get there.
Jesus suffered every possible human
pain we can imagine. So God understands our fears, our regrets, and our
suffering. Jesus felt it with us and for us. God still feels it with us. But
when Jesus died on that cross, he died to take our fears, our regrets and our
suffering with him to the grave.
So when he rose from the grave, free
from death, he frees us from those fears, regrets and suffering. Everything
changes for us because Jesus did not die. We have the freedom to leave behind
our fears and regrets and our suffering, because we live in God. We live a life
surrounded by God and God’s love. THIS IS HUGE. This changes everything. Easter morning changes everything.
When the women went to the tomb, the
men (or angels) in dazzling robes asked them a question: “Why do you look for
the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen.” The angels we will call them told them that.
Besides telling them the amazing news
that Jesus was resurrected, I think they were also telling them women to stop
lingering in death, go and LIVE.
This is our invitation on this Easter
Sunday. The witnesses to the resurrection ask us: Are we going to walk around
surrounded by death and the things that bring death? Or will we live as people
free from the brokenness of this world and full of the life that comes from
God’s second chances? Will we accept God’s
second chance.
My friend Sr. Paulette Schroeder tells
a story of how long it can take a person to turn around and receive this
healing love of God, and receive that second chance. Paulette’s life work is
peace. She works for peace in many ways, one of those ways is that she cares
for people in our prison system and she opposes the death penalty. Apparently,
back in 1976 she started corresponding with a young man who was then 18 and
sentenced to death for “being an accomplice to the killing of an
undercover policeman in a pharmacy drug theft.” She has corresponded with him
for all these years, and visited with him too. She wrote in a blog post this
week:
“My friend is a brilliant man who, unfortunately,
used his intelligence in devious rather than productive ways for 33 of his 37
years in prison. He played the prison game.” She said he had no religious faith
and she suspected he was involved with criminal activities within the prison
system. At times when he seemed discouraged she would suggest he “try God” but
he we not receptive. Finally about 4 years ago “the right person in the system
crossed his path,” he attended Mass, and asked to study the Catholic rite of
initiation. A year ago he was baptized. She writes: “This restless, crime-bent
man had found purpose, meaning! He had surrendered his ego! He had
allowed someone else to lead him! . . . .Faith had grabbed hold of him.
His heart was full of joy, full of life. Smiling often during our visit, he
sometimes paused in a soft faraway look: “Is it real, Paulette? Am
I really the person to whom all this has happened? Would you have believed it
10 years ago, Sister Paulette, that we would be sitting here today sharing and
laughing and FREELY talking about God! My humanity is coming back to me!”
Sister Paulette worked patiently with this man for 37 years. It took him
a long time to escape from the grave, to escape the grave he created for
himself on this earth, in order to live in the freedom that comes when we give
our lives over to God. He can’t erase
the consequences in his life and that of others.
This is what the Easter story is about: choosing not to live in the
graveyard of our brokenness, but to live as resurrection people. Mary Magdalene
and Joanna and the other Mary were looking for death but they found life.
You see, in one way or another, we all need to choose life over death. Your
situation is not as extreme as the young man living on death row. But we all
would do well to focus on living, to get out of the graveyards of our lives:
our fears our regrets, our sorrows. God wants us to claim the resurrection life
that God desires for us. God has
wonderful plans for each one of us here and now, but we all have things we need
to let go of so that we can take the next step into that new life. It’s a wonderful future.
A couple of years ago, the Patheos web site asked some of their bloggers
to answer the question: “Why I Need the Resurrection.” I want to share a couple
of their responses with you.
Why I
Need the Resurrection by Kara Root
I need the Resurrection
because my sister is sick
and can't afford insurance,
because I've told a weeping Haitian mom,
"No, I can't take your son home with me."
because I've been rushed off a Jerusalem street
so a robot could blow up a bag that could've blown up us.
because I've exploded in rage
and watched their tiny faces cloud with hurt.
because evil is pervasive and I participate.
I need the Resurrection
because it promises
that in the end
all wrongs are made right.
Death loses. Hope triumphs.
And Life and Love Prevail.
I need the Resurrection
because my sister is sick
and can't afford insurance,
because I've told a weeping Haitian mom,
"No, I can't take your son home with me."
because I've been rushed off a Jerusalem street
so a robot could blow up a bag that could've blown up us.
because I've exploded in rage
and watched their tiny faces cloud with hurt.
because evil is pervasive and I participate.
I need the Resurrection
because it promises
that in the end
all wrongs are made right.
Death loses. Hope triumphs.
And Life and Love Prevail.
Why
I Need the Resurrection by Amy Julia Becker
Shower, breakfast, kids to school,
myself to work, go running, make dinner, kids to bed, check email, sleep. It's
easy to forget. But after the earthquake in Haiti, I need the resurrection.
When my friend’s parents die in a plane crash, I need the resurrection. When
another IED explodes, I need the resurrection. And when I see the flash of blue
and yellow of a bird in flight, when apartheid ends, when my kids hold hands, I
need the resurrection. In the sorrow and the joy, the resurrection reminds me:
goodness will last, light overcomes darkness, life triumphs over death.
How about you? Why do you need the
resurrection? What brings you down so that it’s hard for you to live in the
freedom that God offers to lift you up.
As
a response to the message today, I want to ask you to share your response with
a couple of other people. You may have people out there with you or you may
have to reach out or maybe you need to
share here. So, why do you need the
resurrection?
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