Sunday, March 23, 2008 - Easter Day
Matthew 28:1-10
Let’s begin by being honest. None of us fully understands what God accomplished by raising Jesus from the dead. We may have heard the story since we were children, but none of us fully grasp what God was doing in Christ’s death and resurrection. And none of us fully recognize what Christ is continuing to accomplish across the world through Christ’s death and resurrection. So let’s come to the story as if we are hearing it for the first time. Let’s see if there are fresh insights, new connections Christ wants to make with us and our lives this Easter.
Today’s gospel begins in the darkness of early morning, as Mary Magdalene came to Jesus’ tomb. Mary is overwhelmed by her grief. Remember, Mary had a very difficult life. But she met Jesus, and Jesus helped her experience his healing, forgiving power. Jesus helped her find a sense of worth and purpose. Jesus helped her feel loved by God.
Mary found a whole new life by traveling with Jesus and his disciples. She kept learning from Jesus, listening to his teaching, watching his healing actions. Jesus was the center of her life. In fact, she really believed that Jesus was the One God had sent to bring hope to the world. She believed that Jesus would overcome the military and political power of the Roman Empire which occupied Israel. She hoped that Jesus could restore peace and economic prosperity to Israel and the whole world.
Today, people of all ages are attracted to athletes, movie stars and singers. But Mary’s attraction to Jesus was much deeper. She saw Jesus as the person God had sent to heal all the wounds of humanity, to stop violence, end poverty and injustice, bring peace, harmony and love to all people. She expected Jesus to be the King, the ultimate Good and Just Ruler of the world.
But then came last Thursday night. Jesus was arrested and taken away by the police. He was tried in both religious and secular courts…and neither trial was fair or just. This good man was victimized by dishonest leaders and mob violence. He was tortured, laughed at, ridiculed. Friday noon, with blood streaming from his wounds, Jesus was crucified, the most cruel and public form of humiliation and execution. His dead body was taken down from the cross and hurriedly placed in a nearby tomb before sunset. There wasn’t even time for a funeral. No time to grieve. He was dead and gone.
Then there was Holy Saturday, the Sabbath, when Mary could do nothing but stay home and weep. This was not just the death of a good man and a wonderful teacher. This was the death of God. This was the death of hope for the world. How could there be any future when God’s messenger of hope and new life had just been killed? All Mary could do on Saturday was to wait and weep, not knowing what God’s future might involve.
Can you imagine the heaviness of grief and despair that Mary felt as she tossed and turned throughout a sleepless Friday and Saturday night. She wept, not only for herself, but for the whole world, the whole universe! She wept for the loss of hope!
Let’s step outside Mary’s story for a moment. There are people living in the 9th Ward of New Orleans who feel like there is no hope, no future for them. There are people Rebecca and I saw in Liberia who are overwhelmed by poverty, living in squatter shacks with thousands of others. They see little hope for their future. There are families in Springfield and across this country who have no jobs, only a marginal place to live and no sense of hope for their lives. And there are people here in this Cathedral right now who know some of the hopelessness that Mary Magdalene felt after the death of Jesus. We remember past moments of despair…and even now, some of us are carrying heavy burdens, not knowing what the future will hold.
Sleepless and restless Mary couldn’t stay in bed any longer. Her grief urged her out of her house and into the darkness of that first Easter morning. She had to visit her only physical connection with her grief and loss. She had to go to the tomb where Jesus had been buried. She had no hope, no expectations, except to continue her grieving there and put finishing touches on the linen cloth wrapped around his dead body. All she could do was focus on her loss, focus on the empty place in her life and in the universe.
She got to the tomb, saw that the stone had been moved from the door and she assumed the worst. She assumed that someone had stolen the body of Jesus, so she ran to tell Peter and John. They ran to see what had happened, and found that, in fact the tomb was empty. Then, without trying to explore the mystery, Peter and John went back home. They looked right at the empty tomb evidence which could have given them hope…and they only saw bad news.
How often do you and I look at what we assume to be bad news situations and see only bad news…but miss the hope which God has hidden in plain sight?
Mary stayed there at the tomb, weeping. She could not go back home. She couldn’t get on with her life until she went to a deeper place. What happened to Jesus? Where is God in this situation?
In her persistence, she again looked into the tomb…and this time she saw two living figures sitting there. They were God’s angels, God’s messengers, but Mary did not recognize them. Throughout the Bible, when people see angels, they are either afraid or overwhelmed with awe. But Mary was so blinded by her tears and grief that she barely saw them. She was not even aware that God had sent angels to guide her.
One angel said to her: “Woman, why are you weeping?” Mary must have thought that was a stupid question. Can you hear her snapping back in grief and anger, “They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him.”
Without really looking or paying attention to the angel’s question, Mary backed out of the tomb…and saw another person out of the corner of her eyes. She thought he was a caretaker of the garden. Again, Mary was so self-consumed with her grief that she didn’t even look at the person. Jesus repeated the question of the angel, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?”
Mary still does not really look at or listen to the person who is speaking to her. She is still consumed with her own inner agenda. “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Mary is trying to get on with her plans. She came to put proper finishing touches on the shroud around the dead body of Jesus and she refuses to let go of her plans or see things differently.
Then Jesus speaks her name. Mary. She is jolted to awareness. The man is no longer a stranger getting in the way of her agenda. She hears his voice, looks into his face and recognizes Jesus. She is surprised by joy. The impossible has happened. Jesus is alive. There is life after death! There is hope on the other side of despair! God can bring a new beginning out of a dead end!
Mary was overwhelmed with joy and hope. And Jesus had a job for her, a way to share her new found joy and hope. Jesus sent Mary to tell the other disciples that she had seen the risen Lord.
Mary might come to ask us this morning…have you learned to look and listen for the presence of Jesus in the painful places of your life? Have you experienced Jesus sending you out to listen to the pain of others…and ask why they are weeping? You see, Jesus is still visiting people around the world in their places of grief and mourning, just like he visited Mary. Jesus wants to restore all people to unity with God and each other. Jesus wants violence, poverty and wars to end. Jesus wants all children to be loved and raised with care to be all that God created them to be. Jesus wants God’s Kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as in heaven.
So God’s Easter work is still unfolding. Jesus is still looking for people who will allow him to guide their lives. Jesus is searching for people who will look at the crying needs of the world and walk into them, like Mary went to the empty tomb, so that God can bring new life out of the dead end situations.
What is Jesus trying to help you see differently this Easter? Is Jesus inviting you to change some of your beloved patterns of life…so that both you and others can find life, as Jesus intends for all of us? What might Jesus want you to let go of, to change, so that God’s gift of new life can emerge for you and for others in need?
Let’s close our eyes & listen to what Jesus might want to say to us in the silence…
O Jesus…thank you for coming to each of us and surrounding us with your love this morning. Help us to learn more deeply what it means for us to loose life…so that we and others can find life…through the help of your Holy Spirit at work within us. AMEN.