Easter Sunday 2018

“When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But 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. But 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.” So 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.” – Mark 16:1-8

~

“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.” – Colossians 3:1-4

~

It’s been said that Palm Sunday begins in joy and ends in darkness, and Easter begins in darkness and ends in joy.  And I think there’s a lot of truth to that. But as we read the stories of the first Easter – in any of the four gospels, although we’re reading Mark today – what we see at first among the disciples is more confusion and fear than anything else.

Holy Week began with some Greeks coming to the disciples and saying “we would like to see Jesus.” And now on the first day of the week following Good Friday, the disciples themselves see Jesus and don’t know who they’re seeing.  Grief can do strange things to our perceptions sometimes.

But I’m getting ahead of the story just a little.

When we left off the story on Good Friday, Jesus was crucified and dead and was being buried in the grave of a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea, buried in spices provided by Nicodemus the Pharisee, and tended to by some of the women disciples.

One of Jesus’ last words from the cross had been tetelestai – “it is finished” – which was not a cry of defeat but a cry of victory. The price for our lives was paid in full; and the powers of this world had done their worst and been shown up for what they were; and Jesus knew his kingdom was secured and he’d be back in three days. And hearing these words, the centurion at the foot of the cross said, “this indeed was God’s son.”

Back in the book of Genesis, when God finished making all of creation, he looked around and said “It’s finished. Done.” (Gen 2:2) And on the seventh day God rested.  When Jesus was just about to die, he said “it’s finished”. Creation had been redeemed. And on the seventh day he rested.

The disciples, however, probably didn’t rest much that weekend.  They were observing the Sabbath so they weren’t working; but most were in hiding, deep in grief and fear, and shattered by what they’d seen.

In all the gospel accounts, only three people do something on Saturday: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and Salome (that’s Salome the wife of Zebedee, not Salome the dancer). These are the ladies who had accompanied Jesus’ body to the tomb on Friday; but Jesus’ burial on Friday had been rushed because the Sabbath was starting, so the women were anxious to get back to the tomb on Sunday morning to complete the burial of Jesus’ body.

So, as Mark says, “as soon as the Sabbath was over” the three women went out and bought spices. I never really thought about this until this past week – but since “as soon as the Sabbath was over” would have been night-time, they must have gone out Saturday night to get spices – which would not have been an easy thing to do. First off, most spice-sellers weren’t going to open up shop after dark on their Sabbath-day-off; secondly, for women to be out and about after dark unaccompanied by men was somewhat questionable behavior back then.  So these ladies were resourceful and determined, and passionate in their love for Jesus. In spite of their broken hearts, they moved mountains to take care of his body.

And they did all this in spite of incredible emotional distress. Unlike most of the disciples – the notable exception being John – only the women had watched Jesus die.  They witnessed the torture and the cruelty of Pilate and the religious leaders; and they were shattered that the one they loved and believed to be the Messiah could die.

But they did what they could do: they got the spices and headed out to the tomb, outside Jerusalem’s city wall, not far from where Jesus had died. The tomb was in a garden; a beautiful and peaceful place. After 2000 years of history nobody is 100% sure of the actual location; but the photos included in this post were taken close to where it would have been.

The large stone that sealed the entrance that first Easter is no longer there. The tomb itself was carved out of rock and was made for a rich man’s family. A tomb like this would have taken a lot of man-hours to create and would have been costly to build, and would have been intended for use by more than one person. This particular tomb has space for two bodies and could have been expanded to hold more.

On that first Easter morning, the women were worried about who was going to move the stone – something it would have taken two men to move. On top of that the authorities had sealed the tomb shut and placed a guard so no-one could steal Jesus’ body.

But when the women got to the garden they found the guards gone, and the stone already rolled away! And so, in fear and trembling, they bowed down and entered into the tomb, and off to the right they saw a man they didn’t know, seated on a half-height wall.  And after everything they’d been through, their broken hearts couldn’t take any more.

Mark says they were “alarmed” – but that’s a mild translation.  Better words might be distressed, terrified, greatly disturbed. So the man says to them ‘don’t be afraid’. He says: “you’re looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He’s not here. He’s risen, just like he told you. Look, here’s where they laid him.” – and the women would have been able to see the burial cloths, and the blood stains – but Jesus was gone.

The man said, “Go tell his disciples and Peter that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee, and you’ll see him there just like he told you.”  He’s referring to what Jesus had said to the disciples on Thursday night, after the last supper:

“…it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’  But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” (Mark 14:27-28)

So this mysterious man in the tomb reminds the women of what Jesus told them.  But it’s too much for the women to take in, and they flee in terror.

And Mark’s gospel ends here.  But John adds more detail.  In his account, Mary Magdalene stays behind at the tomb, weeping. And twice she is asked “why are you weeping?” And twice she gives the same answer: “they have taken away my Lord and I don’t know where they have laid him.” But the second time, unknown to herself, it’s Jesus who’s asking. And then Jesus calls her name – “Mary!” – and that familiar voice cuts through the fog of grief. And she cries out “Rabbouni!” – ‘my teacher’, ‘my lord’.  At which point Jesus tells her not to cling to him, because there’s something he needs her to do.  He says “go tell my brothers you’ve seen me.” So she does. Mary Magdalene is the first person on earth to bear the gospel message.

Luke and Mark both tell us the disciples didn’t believe Mary at first – which, given what had happened that past week, is understandable. Later the same day Jesus will meet some of them on the road to Emmaus, and they won’t recognize him – at least not right away. But little by little, the grief and the confusion give way, first to amazement, and then to unspeakable joy.

A few days later all the brothers and sisters will be together again with Jesus in Galilee. Peter will be forgiven and reinstated; questions will be answered; meals will be eaten. And the disciples will spend 40 more days with Jesus before he returns to heaven. I imagine it probably took most of that time for them to come to terms with the shock of Good Friday, and to get used to the resurrected Jesus whose new body could do some unusual things like walking through locked doors – but that’s another sermon for another day.

For now, the first Easter Sunday began in darkness, and then passed through terror and then confusion and then amazement, and finally ended in the greatest joy the world has ever known.

So where do we fit into this story?  I think the answer to that question is found in our reading from Paul’s letter to the Colossians.  Paul writes:

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth…”

We’ve heard the old saying about the person who is ‘so heavenly minded they’re no earthly good’ but that’s not what Paul is suggesting here.  First off, Paul is addressing the entire church. All the nouns and verbs in the passage are plural – so Paul is not talking about a ‘private’ faith or a personal quest for holiness.  Rather Paul is telling us as a body of believers to keep our focus on the risen Christ of Easter, and don’t get distracted.

All around us today we see churches dying out, merging, closing their doors. Sometimes this is just a matter of demographics: people move away, populations change. But I think for many, distraction from the primary message of the risen Jesus and his victory over death is where the decline begins.

And churches may be distracted by good things: family activities, service projects, justice issues; trying to be attractive to the culture outside the church; sometimes we get distracted by arguments over what kind of music to have in worship. And in some churches there have been preachers and teachers who over the years have gotten skeptical about Jesus’ physical resurrection, and aren’t sure if they believe it any more, but rather than change careers they’ve downplayed the miracle of Easter… and the message the church has been trusted with.

I find it comforting to know that ours is not the only time in history when this has happened.  Wherever and whenever in history we see the good news of Jesus’ resurrection becoming a secondary item on the church’s agenda, the church has gone into decline. But history shows God is faithful – even when we are not – and these dry times for the church have always, throughout history, been followed by widespread renewal of faith. We can pray for that time to come.

And second, for me, the teachings of N.T. Wright on the kingdom of God help to regain focus.  He writes:

“The link between kingdom and cross forms the inner logic of the whole [faith] narrative… [the] scene between Jesus and Pilate is all about the “kingdom”… [and] the truth to which Jesus has come to bear witness… for which Pilate’s worldview has no possible space.”

He continues:

“The only word to do justice to this kingdom-and-cross combination is agape, love. The death of Jesus is the expression of God’s love, as… John 3:16 makes clear. […] The kingdom put into effect is the victory of God’s love… But not just a spiritual victory that leaves present human rulers unaffected. The work of redemption is complete; Jesus has been glorified… and now the Spirit can be given and Jesus’ followers can begin their own work.”

The apostle Paul writes:

“we have died, and our life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ who is our life is revealed, we also will be revealed with him in glory.”

Before he was crucified, Jesus said that anyone who would follow him must also take up their own crosses; that there would be suffering in this world for those who would follow Jesus, because the model Jesus has set for us is redeeming love achieved through self-sacrifice.

And yes, these words to apply to individuals; but Jesus’ words and Paul’s words in these passages are plural. Together we die to this world; together our life is hidden with Christ. When he returns, we will be revealed together with him in glory.

You and I and all of us together, are not going where this world is going.  We’ve got a better place to be: a far better world than we could ask or imagine. And that is the great joy of Easter. By his death Jesus has won our forgiveness; and by his resurrection Jesus is leading us with him into his kingdom, where we will share in his glory, and where our joy will be complete and forever.

And so we say, with all the saints throughout history:

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

 

Preached at Fairhaven United Methodist Church, Spencer United Methodist Church, and Incarnation Church (Anglican, Pittsburgh), 4/1/18

~