"Easter Is" (Mark 16:1-8)
"Easter Is" (Mark 16:1-8)
Preached 4/1/18 at St. Peter's United Church of Christ (Carmel, Indiana)
1When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” 8So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
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Anticipating that we would share the poem you just heard, I asked my kids to tell me the Easter story. Blank stares. Sensing my anxiety, they finally came up with an answer … the Easter Bunny and egg hunts. As you might suspect, this isn’t the answer an aspiring theologian was looking for … it’s like a dentist’s kid with bad teeth, it doesn’t make sense. I jumped right into the story and realized … it is not that easy of a story to tell. Like many things in our lives, it is easy to get lost in the complicated and questionable details. The questions start to flow out as I tell the story … wait, if Jesus is God, why did the stone need moved at all? If Jesus isn’t there, where did he go? Are you sure you are the right tomb? Dad, do you even know what you are talking about? Without an interpreter, the story just doesn’t make sense. Contemplating these details with children on the highest holy day of the Christian faith, give me the dyed eggs and decorated cake.
But what I love about the Easter story is that the gospel writer just doesn’t get lost in those same details. The writing is matter of fact …”He has been raised. He is not here.” He has been raised, he is not here, as though it were a passing detail. The bulk of the story, like the bulk of our lives focuses on something else … people. If the amount of time spent telling the story matters, the people are the most important element. We have Mary Magdalene, a woman who has become legendarily intriguing in biblical lore, Mary, mother of James, and Salome, who some believe to be Jesus’ aunts. Headed to the tomb to anoint Jesus, they take on the appearance of a family, organizing an important family event...not unlike many of you will do today with your families, biological and chosen. We also meet a mysterious character at the tomb, perhaps an angelic figure or maybe more like the beloved Disciple in John’s account of the resurrection. Like our families, we can imagine from the text and storytelling that these people have very different personalities, very different takes on the world. We don’t know the precise nature of any of their relationships with Jesus, but know they all served as his counsel at various points in his life, ministry and death.
I believe each of us have resurrection moments during our lives. A critical point in time where something stops and something new, something better, something different, begins. If this is true, it makes me wonder, who are the people that surround us in those moments? I think of the three women in this story like I think about the people who surround me at Easter and other important moments. A mom who is my biggest supporter, no matter what, even when she knows better. A grandmother who just gets things done, un-phased by drama unfolding around her. A sister able to tell you that sometimes crappy things happen and we don’t know why but that you’ll still be okay. Who are the people you need at your next resurrection moment? And I’ve not forgotten about the mysterious guy in white reporting the news of the resurrection. In all of our resurrection moments, may there be a little bit of mystery - an unexpected new friend, someone you haven’t seen in awhile, that crazy unpredictable relative at Easter dinner who makes us feel a little uncomfortable but gives us a new perspective. I like the description the Society of Saint John the Evangelist gives this mystery figure: “Perhaps the [figure] is never named, never individualized, so that we can more easily accept that [it] bears witness to an intimacy that is meant for each one of us. The closeness [it] enjoyed is a sign of the closeness that is mine and yours because we are in Christ and Christ is in us.”
So, then, let us not celebrate those eggs and the decorated cake, but the people who made them and are sitting around the Easter table with us. Chances are they will be at your next resurrection moment, along with a tinge of the unexpected. One theologian puts it this way: “The proof that God raised Jesus from the dead is not the empty tomb, but the full hearts of his transformed disciples. The crowning evidence that he lives is not a vacant grave, but a spirit-filled fellowship.”
He is risen. He is not here. But, we are. We are his transformed disciples of Jesus, striving to be full-hearted. The story may be difficult to tell, nearly impossible to explain, but the story’s characters are a good place to start. This Easter, let us enjoy the fruits of the Easter story… or perhaps its cakes – The People! Let us enjoy this beginning together...
Preached 4/1/18 at St. Peter's United Church of Christ (Carmel, Indiana)
The Resurrection of Jesus
1When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” 8So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
------------
Anticipating that we would share the poem you just heard, I asked my kids to tell me the Easter story. Blank stares. Sensing my anxiety, they finally came up with an answer … the Easter Bunny and egg hunts. As you might suspect, this isn’t the answer an aspiring theologian was looking for … it’s like a dentist’s kid with bad teeth, it doesn’t make sense. I jumped right into the story and realized … it is not that easy of a story to tell. Like many things in our lives, it is easy to get lost in the complicated and questionable details. The questions start to flow out as I tell the story … wait, if Jesus is God, why did the stone need moved at all? If Jesus isn’t there, where did he go? Are you sure you are the right tomb? Dad, do you even know what you are talking about? Without an interpreter, the story just doesn’t make sense. Contemplating these details with children on the highest holy day of the Christian faith, give me the dyed eggs and decorated cake.
But what I love about the Easter story is that the gospel writer just doesn’t get lost in those same details. The writing is matter of fact …”He has been raised. He is not here.” He has been raised, he is not here, as though it were a passing detail. The bulk of the story, like the bulk of our lives focuses on something else … people. If the amount of time spent telling the story matters, the people are the most important element. We have Mary Magdalene, a woman who has become legendarily intriguing in biblical lore, Mary, mother of James, and Salome, who some believe to be Jesus’ aunts. Headed to the tomb to anoint Jesus, they take on the appearance of a family, organizing an important family event...not unlike many of you will do today with your families, biological and chosen. We also meet a mysterious character at the tomb, perhaps an angelic figure or maybe more like the beloved Disciple in John’s account of the resurrection. Like our families, we can imagine from the text and storytelling that these people have very different personalities, very different takes on the world. We don’t know the precise nature of any of their relationships with Jesus, but know they all served as his counsel at various points in his life, ministry and death.
I believe each of us have resurrection moments during our lives. A critical point in time where something stops and something new, something better, something different, begins. If this is true, it makes me wonder, who are the people that surround us in those moments? I think of the three women in this story like I think about the people who surround me at Easter and other important moments. A mom who is my biggest supporter, no matter what, even when she knows better. A grandmother who just gets things done, un-phased by drama unfolding around her. A sister able to tell you that sometimes crappy things happen and we don’t know why but that you’ll still be okay. Who are the people you need at your next resurrection moment? And I’ve not forgotten about the mysterious guy in white reporting the news of the resurrection. In all of our resurrection moments, may there be a little bit of mystery - an unexpected new friend, someone you haven’t seen in awhile, that crazy unpredictable relative at Easter dinner who makes us feel a little uncomfortable but gives us a new perspective. I like the description the Society of Saint John the Evangelist gives this mystery figure: “Perhaps the [figure] is never named, never individualized, so that we can more easily accept that [it] bears witness to an intimacy that is meant for each one of us. The closeness [it] enjoyed is a sign of the closeness that is mine and yours because we are in Christ and Christ is in us.”
So, then, let us not celebrate those eggs and the decorated cake, but the people who made them and are sitting around the Easter table with us. Chances are they will be at your next resurrection moment, along with a tinge of the unexpected. One theologian puts it this way: “The proof that God raised Jesus from the dead is not the empty tomb, but the full hearts of his transformed disciples. The crowning evidence that he lives is not a vacant grave, but a spirit-filled fellowship.”
He is risen. He is not here. But, we are. We are his transformed disciples of Jesus, striving to be full-hearted. The story may be difficult to tell, nearly impossible to explain, but the story’s characters are a good place to start. This Easter, let us enjoy the fruits of the Easter story… or perhaps its cakes – The People! Let us enjoy this beginning together...
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