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Grace Episcopal Church, The Rev. Kate Ekrem, Rector I don't think we can hear this story enough, because it's a story that, one way or another, most all of us have lived through at one point, or will live through. Two women go to the burial site of the person whom they loved most in the world who has just died. In John's Gospel, Mary Magdalene goes alone, but I think this version is more real - you wouldn't want to be alone, you'd want to have a friend with you in this situation. They go to grieve, maybe to make themselves really believe that the nightmare of two days ago really happened; that Jesus, their teacher, their friend, their hope for the future, is really dead. Can you imagine how they must have felt? How you have felt in perhaps similar situations? That sick feeling at the pit of your stomach that just won't go away? That feeling of dread and fear - of not knowing how things could possibly get worse or what on earth you are going to do next? Maybe it is the death of a loved one that has made you feel that way, or maybe it was a conversation with your boss that did not go well, or when your doctor says, "why don't you get dressed and come into my office." You know the feeling I mean. But then, out of nowhere, it was suddenly all different. Instead of a dead body they found a very impressive looking angel who said, that whole death thing, that's over, Jesus is actually alive. Jesus is risen. He's waiting for you, he wants to see you. And then they do see him, he's right there, living flesh and blood. What kind of feeling do you think those two Marys had in their stomach then? Do you notice that the first thing the angel says is also the first thing that Jesus says, "Do not be afraid"? Don't be afraid. I once heard someone voice the opinion that all fear comes from fear of death. We fear death most of all, and all our other little fears come out of that. It was also said that it's our knowledge of our own mortality that makes us seek security in saving money in the bank, or eating whole grain foods, or whatever it is. Those are good things to do, but they aren't going to make us live forever. So what is St. Paul saying to us, when we read this Easter morning his letter to a small church like ours, "So if you have been raised with Christ, set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died." Is he writing to dead people? No, of course not. But he is writing to people whose lives have changed so much that it's as if they have died to their old life and gotten a whole new life. Their lives had been changed forever by the event we celebrate today. The two Marys went to the tomb to mourn their dead friend, and found it empty. Jesus had walked right out of it. And he didn't stop there, he kept on walking, telling the women to go spread the word, everybody should head back to their base in Galilee, there was more to happen. Death was not the end, it was barely the beginning. Resurrection happened. And it will happen again, and it's happening right now. When our daughter Lucy was about a year and a half, we discovered that the word "later" had magical properties. When she announced some toddler demand like, "I want a lollypop!" or "I want to play outside!" saying no, of course, created a tantrum. But we found that if we said, "um, not now, Lucy, but later, ok?" she would be totally happy. "Later!" she would say and go off and play happily. …That is starting not to work anymore. Lucy's no longer buying the later thing. She's discovered that later is often a vague and slippery term. Resurrection life- Paul is telling his church in Colossia- is not just later. It's not just life after death, but also in the here and now. What Jesus brought us, bought us with his life, is not just something saved for later, but is for now. We may have that fearful feeling in the pit of our stomach, we may feel like we're inside a stone-cold tomb, but we can break out of the box, because Jesus did. Jesus walks right out of the tomb, and walks on, back to where we first met him, on to some new place. Like the two Marys, we need to hear Jesus saying to us, don't be afraid, and follow him to the place he wants us to be in. We have to leave the cemetery, leave our tomb, and follow him into light and life. To leave behind our old life, leave fear behind; be dead to sin, alive in Christ. The ultimate freedom is to be free from fear, isn't it? If you aren't afraid, you are free to do anything; to be your best self. We may hold back from that because we think others will kvetch or criticize or pull us down, but those who thought they had power over Jesus, even the power to execute him - really didn't. Those who we think have power over us - really don't. The resurrection/ is not just a miracle. It's not just one person coming to life again. That would be cool, but that's not enough to change the world, or even to start a new religion. Jesus' followers started a new religion because they saw that Jesus' resurrection was just the beginning of God's promises coming true. That it was about that fear at the pit of their stomach being gone forever and replaced by something else; Replaced by the wellspring of eternal life. That it was just the beginning of God's Kingdom breaking in to our everyday world. The whole world is broken open, old ideas of what could happen, what the limits of possibility are, are shattered forever. The future is changed for all creation, for every person. Thomas Merton (the philosopher monk) once said that even if Christianity doesn't make sense to you, resurrection does make sense. Because we all know this story, one way or another it has happened to us. It's when that sick feeling at the pit of your stomach, that fear of your own mortality, of losing what is most important to you, is changed. Maybe because of some kind word or new hope that comes from outside yourself, maybe because of your own prayers, or your own sense of God's love for you, maybe because God's love is shown to you by another person. Whatever the way it happens, God's Spirit is there and the place where your fear once was, is filled with the light and air, and becomes, in Merton's' words, a freedom and freshness in the very depths of our lives. Jesus is alive, and his aliveness is that "very freshness of God, the very freedom of Holy Wisdom, as a centre that is within us and beyond us, ever-present yet ever-new." * If you have ever felt that freshness and freedom, as surely the two Mary's must have done when they looked into the face of their beloved Jesus, if you have ever had that first day of summer vacation feeling, if you've ever heard the words "you're cancer free," if you've ever fallen in love, if you've ever conquered your fear and accomplished something you never thought you could do, then you know what I'm talking about. That is resurrection life. Death is real. We've experienced death, and will do so again. But it's not the limit of our life; it's not what defines or controls us. We don't live in fear of it. We don't live in fear at all, because Christ has been raised from the dead. God triumphs even over death itself - that's the point. That's the point of my sermon, the point of being here today, the point of Christianity, the center point of our world and our existence, around which everything else turns. God's love triumphs even over death. "So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that
are above, where Christ is seated on the right hand of God. …,
for you have died and your life is hidden with God in Christ. When Christ
who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him
in glory." |
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