First Reading:
34Then Peter began to speak to them: I truly understand
that God shows no partiality, 35but in every nation anyone
who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to
him. 36You know the message he sent to the people of
Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ — he is Lord of
all. 37That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in
Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 38how God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he
went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil,
for God was with him. 39We are witnesses to all that he did
both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him
on a tree; 40but God raised him on the third day and
allowed him to appear, 41not to all the people but to us
who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him
after he rose from the dead.
Second Reading:
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the
tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2They found
the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they went
in, they did not find the body. 4While they were perplexed
about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside
them. 5The women were terrified and bowed their faces to
the ground, but the men said to them, Why do you look for the
living among the dead? He is not here, but has
risen. 6Remember how he told you, while he was still in
Galilee, 7that the Son of Man must be handed over to
sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise
again.
8Then they remembered his words, 9and
returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all
the rest. 10Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the
mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the
apostles. 11But these words seemed to them an idle tale,
and they did not believe them. 12But Peter got up and ran
to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by
themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
Prayer: Living God, help us to hear your word so that we may understand, that understanding we might believe and believing we might follow you in faithfulness and obedience, seeking your honor and glory in all that we do. In Jesus name, Amen.
Jesus Christ is Risen… He is risen indeed! What else is there to say? One of my primary callings in life is to witness the life and the death and the resurrection of Christ. And so here it is! Jesus Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed! And we aren't surprised… not one bit. We knew it was Easter. Every one of us knew that Jesus wouldn't be in the tomb this morning, even before we walked in the door of the church. We do this every year. Every year, we come together on Easter Sunday and we're asked to believe a story that's incredible… Christ died for us and Christ rose again. But when we remember everything that we know about God it makes sense. Even though it may have happened in ways we don't understand, God has always been at work bringing about life.
In the beginning, when the world was formless and void God spoke into the darkness and created… we were made in God's own image. When the world had gone irrevocably in the wrong direction and things seemed utterly hopeless, God chose Noah to start anew… the flood caused so much grief that God promised to never do it again. To Abraham and Sarah who were an old childless couple, God promised a multitude of descendants and that God would guide and lead them forever. And even when other people had sinister intentions, God used situations to bring about good. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers but he rose to a position of power in Egypt and because he did, God's people became a nation.
The book of Exodus tells us a Pharaoh arose in Egypt who did not remember Joseph or that the promised people of God had once been favored in the land. Pharaoh made the Hebrew people into slaves. He forced them to do unbearable work, and when they said they couldn't keep up, he increased their workload. Life for them was hard, and it was hard to imagine anything else. It may not have been the life they wanted to lead, but at least they knew where they stood… and somehow, every time it felt like God went away, God came back.
God came to Moses. While he was taking care of the normal stuff of living his every day life… the bush burst into flame and God spoke. And as much as Moses protested and as tongue tied as he was, he paid attention and he went where God called. He led the people got out of Egypt and they wandered through the desert for a generation, making mistakes, learning, becoming a nation of God's people… all the while God led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
And once they were in the Promised Land, they had good times and bad times… and every time it looked like things were going from bad to worse, every time it looked like there was no hope for the people of God, somehow God showed up… through a messenger or a judge or even a king reminding the people of where they had been, calling them back to faithful living.
Eventually the nation of Israel was conquered… first by the Assyrians, then later the Babylonians and still later the Romans. There were periods when life was decent under foreign rule, and there were others when it was nothing but hard… but somehow, through the years, through the generations, through the centuries, the people never lost sight of who God was… God kept showing up in the voices of the prophets and the priests. After all, these were God's people, created, chosen and loved, God wasn't about to leave them alone.
And years later there was a little town, in an obscure part of the Promised Land which was now an occupied province of one of the great empires the world has ever known… the people of God were holding onto only a slim hope that their way of life would be sustained… they were being pressed on all sides. The emperor wanted to make sure that no tax revenue was slipping through his fingers so he ordered a census. And even as Caesar was working together with everything else that seemed to be squeezing the life out of God's people, God was working toward another purpose. And a young woman began to sing…
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
And she sang because she knew that God was doing something wonderful… amazing… incredible. She was going to have a baby and one day he would be called wonderful counselor, prince of peace, Mighty God. And Jesus grew. He didn't only grow in age or in stature but in understanding of God and understanding of people. He was one of a kind: always in touch with the will of God, always in touch with the needs of people, filled with compassion and power and authority… Everywhere he went people loved him and people hated him. People loved him because he empowered the normal every day folks to live a new and different life, a grace filled life… and people hated him because anything that empowers others is scary for those who are invested in maintaining the status quo. And there were lots of people invested in maintaining the status quo.
Friday was terrible, but it wasn't terribly surprising… the political landscape was one of fear and domination… Jesus was on the road to the cross for a long time. He challenged people's traditions, he associated with the wrong people, and he didn't play by the rules. They tried other methods to keep him in line… they would scold him… Jesus why do your disciples not fast? They would shun him… This man eats with sinners and tax collectors. They would set traps for him… is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? But he kept on being him, and that just drove them crazy… Who did he think he was to shake the foundations of their society… to insist that people could be forgiven without the ritual and sacrifice of the temple system? When it became clear that they weren't going to be able to control him any other way, we knew that it would come to Friday night… One way or another Jesus would have to be silenced. And it seemed like Rome had the power to do it. And so the one who welcomed everyone to the table, the one who touched the untouchable and loved the un-loveable, was hung on a cross to be shamed and to die. He couldn't possibly be the messiah. All that stuff that was said about him couldn't possibly be true… he was gone and the world looked pretty much the same as it always had and God sure seemed absent, until Sunday morning.
Now let me be clear: If you're looking for me to explain the
resurrection, I can't. If you're hoping that I'm going to wrap it up
in a nice neat little package with an Easter bow on top of it, I won't
be able to. In Luke's gospel the women who came to the tomb started
out perplexed then moved through terrified, but when they remembered
everything they knew about Jesus it made sense… He said this
was going to happen. So they went and told the disciples and the
disciples thought their words were an idle tale.
When someone's apprehended by the dominant superpower in the world,
convicted of sedition whether fairly or not, when they're sentenced to
state sanctioned torture and the death penalty, when they're executed
publicly and put in a tomb, we don't expect that his body will be gone
in a few days. At least not in the way the women said it
was gone.
The disciples didn't necessarily believe but Peter
was interested enough that he ran to the tomb to check it out for
himself, and he was amazed at what happened.
There are things that are beyond our comprehension and there are things that are beyond our control. Resurrection is extremely unnatural. But all of a sudden, God was there and once again God was affirming life: full life. Maybe we should have expected that by now. All the way through Jesus' life you can see that death is losing its grip. Every time somebody who was crippled walks, every time someone who was blind sees, every time someone who was held captive because of their situation or station in life is set free, every time the outcast has a place at the table, life wins; even if it's just a little bit.
You see the resurrection isn't about doctrine or theories or wondering what Jesus' post resurrection body was like… I don't know that we can comprehend the resurrection any more than the women at the tomb or the disciple who went running… but that doesn't mean that we can't be witnesses to its power in history and in our own lives. Easter Sunday is unique because of the climax of the resurrection, but is not a singular event. We've had glimpses of it over and over again in scripture and we've even seen it in our own lives, every time it seems like God's gone away and then unexpectedly shows up, that's Easter.
Every time people face the power of oppression and death and are not overcome — life wins… that's Easter. Every time the spirit of God comes back into the hearts of people who are on the brink of hopelessness, that's Easter, and every time we remember who God is and we share the story of what God's done in our lives, that's Easter. After all, the women didn't understand the resurrection but they remembered who God was and they told what they had seen. Even when he ran to the tomb, Peter didn't understand but he was amazed and he became a witness. And we're here today because once upon a time someone told someone else something they may not have understood… something they knew was incredible and something they knew had the power to transform lives… God is here! Jesus Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed! Alleluia and Amen.
The foregoing sermon was given by Rev. Dan Holland at the United Parish of Bowie on Easter, April 4, 2010.
© 2010 Daniel Holland
