Easter Day

By the Reverend Martha Frances

Year A, Easter Day

23 March 2008 

Text:  John 20: 1-18

Others:  Acts 10: 34-43; Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24, 22-24; Colossians 3: 1-4 

      All morning in prayer [& music] & acclamation, we've been declaring that Christ is risen.  We've been waiting for this moment all of Holy Week, & truth be told, all through Lent.  We know the story, & we've heard it again this morning.  It's a triumphant one, one most of us have grown up with.  But for a few moments, let's venture back to a time & a people who didn't have that assurance or assumption. 

      Let's hurry to the cave early in the still-dark morning with Mary Magdalene, her arms full of herbs & ointments to complete properly what had only been done quickly before the beginning of Sabbath last Friday night—anointing Jesus' body for burial.  In her grief & concern to fulfill the proper Jewish burial rites, Mary has not considered how she'll get the large stone away from the cave opening, yet she's perplexed when she finds it rolled away & runs to share the news with the men disciples.  She assumes someone has taken the body; resurrection does not enter her mind.

      For Peter & the Beloved Disciple—tradition tells us it is the writer John himself—in their youth & eagerness, even this rush to the tomb becomes a contest.  The Beloved outruns Peter, peers into the cave, finds only the burial clothes, but waits for Peter to enter the tomb itself.  How typical for Peter to bumble right in, eager & awkward as ever, considering neither the possibility of a stench nor that he will thus become ritually unclean!  And he notices details:  the head cloth is rolled up by itself, separated from the rest of the linens.  John claims that as he follows Peter, he first believes tho does not yet understand the scripture any more than Peter does.  What is it that he believes when they return to their homes that morning?  What do they make of the empty tomb?  Are Jesus' predictions of a resurrected body on their minds?

      At this point, neither disciple is moved to a new way of life by the sight of the empty tomb.  Neither should we moved too quickly from this early exploration of that cave when Peter & the Beloved Disciple find themselves in a sort of limbo.  It is not the empty tomb alone which effects a newness of life. 

      We return to Mary.  When does she return to the cave?  We're not told, but she has arrived weeping inconsolably, not even able to minister to the body of this master she has followed so faithfully & loved so completely.  It is she who sees the angels.  Were they there before?  Are the eyes of her heart open to see what the men do not see?  She still believes someone has moved Jesus' body, & even when Jesus appears behind her, she does not recognize him & assumes it is he—the gardener—who can solve her dilemma.  Even now, for Mary, there is no evidence of resurrection. 

      How does Mary recognize Jesus?  Jesus calls her by name.  Jesus calls her just as Jeremiah & other prophets witness that God calls us:  by name.  We are precious to God.  Jesus, the Good Shepherd, calls us each by name & his own flock know his voice.  Of course, she reaches out to embrace Jesus, but his relationship with those he knew as a human being is forever changed & is now transitory, so Christ asks her to stretch, to reach beyond what is familiar, & to fulfill the astounding new role of apostle.  Amazingly, it is to the woman Mary that Jesus says, "Go & tell."  Indeed, he calls Mary Magdalene to be the first evangelist, to share her experience, strength & hope.  She returns to the disciples saying, "I have seen the Lord."

      Although Mary is profoundly taken aback by her encounter with the risen Christ, she begins to act upon her new reality.  John implies that only when Mary tells them of her experience do they begin to fully believe.  Perhaps the eyes of their hearts are open so the same evening they can begin to contemplate belief's turning into action. 

      At what point would you be moved to proclaim "Alleluia!  Christ is risen?  When are you ready to celebrate this central tenet of our Christian life together?  When are the eyes of our hearts open to Jesus' invitation to new life?  If Jesus rose to become the first-fruits of the new creation, how & when do we continue by fulfilling his expectation that we join in the harvest?  Throughout the 7 weeks of Easter, we will explore what Jesus' conquering of death meant to the first disciples & might mean to our way of life as disciples.  Sort of like with TV serials, stay tuned until next week!

      Today is Easter, the Feast of the Resurrection.  Christ is risen.  We are called forth from our tombs of self-satisfaction or grief or helplessness or fear to the new life which Easter promises us.  We celebrate Easter not only today but for the whole 50 days of the Easter season.  We celebrate Easter not alone but in the Christian community where we are learning here at Hope how to become what God has already created us to be, an Easter people.  May we celebrate the joys of Easter as vigorously as some of us observed Lent.  Come let us worship & study, build community & witness beyond it together.  We are an Easter people.  Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Christ is risen indeed!