Easter Sunday 2008      “Empty Tombs & Full Hearts”

 

God of resurrection and new life ~ let Your light break into the darkest corners of our lives, that we may be filled with the passion that Your Holy Word inspires.  Amen.

 

          Stories are, I believe, a beautiful gift from God.  And discovering our own personal stories is truly a spiritual quest.

 

Our personal stories ~

·        Proclaim who we are at any given moment

·        Identify us as members of a particular family and community

·        Connect us with our past

·        Open us to new insights and visions

 

We tell stories ~

·        To entertain ourselves and others

·        To help us understand ourselves / our actions better

·        To honor our family ancestors

·        To keep our family AND faith traditions alive and vibrant and growing.

 

We gather on this special morning to hear again the sacred story of that first Easter morning … and to open ourselves the transformative power of our risen Saviour.

 

 

 

 

          The beginning of this story is one of great energy and anxiety …

·        In the dark, Mary Magdalene discovers that the stone that covered … AND protected … Jesus’ tomb has been rolled away.

·        So she RUNS to the people she knows best … 2 of Jesus’ friends & followers … Peter and beloved disciple … with an urgent message ~

o       THEY have taken Lord out of tomb … we don’t know where He is.

Immediately ~ these 2 disciples RUN to the tomb … a bit of comic relief in this story …

·        2 men running down the path

·        tugging at each others shirts … slowing the other one down

·        elbowing each other off the path

·        trying to trip each other in order to be FRIST one at the tomb!

 

Beloved disciple arrives first … stands outside … peeks inside … sees funereal bandages there.

Simon Peter arrives … enters immediately … sees funeral wrappings AND then finds cloth that covered Jesus’ face in separate spot.

Beloved disciple enters … he SAW and BELIEVED.

 

THEN … they go home.  No words exchanges … no other actions taken … they simply leave and go home.

 

 

 

TO US: This seems to be strange reaction. 

          BUT … we are people of the resurrection … we KNOW the END of the story … we KNOW the significance of those linen cloths strewn about the tomb.

 

BUT … for those 2 disciples … ALL they know is that:

·        Jesus had been placed in that tomb 3 days before

·        He had been wrapped in the linen cloths

·        NOW He is gone … and all that remains is an empty tomb … and some linen cloths.

 

Even with Jesus’ predictions about His death … and resurrection … this would have been a lot to absorb and understand. 

          Even confronted with the evidence of the empty tomb, it still would have been difficult for the disciples to comprehend HOW and WHY Jesus was not there.

                   In their bewildered state, it seems only natural that they would return to their home … to safety and comfort among family and friends … where they could ponder what all of this might mean.

 

What is truly amazing is that, at this point, this is a story about an empty tomb … NOT a resurrection … YET ~  the beloved disciple … having entered the tomb …

·        He sees the empty tomb

·        He sees the linen funeral cloths on the ground

·        AND HE BELIEVES … Jesus has indeed defeated the finality of death

 

 

The disciples leave … yet Mary Magdalene remains at the tomb … weeping and filled with sorrow.  NOW … for the first time … she peers into the tomb ~

and sees 2 ANGELS in white … sitting where Jesus’ body had been lying.  They have only question …

WHY ARE YOU WEEPING?

AND Mary repeats the words she had spoken to the disciples:  “They have taken away my Lord and I don’t know where He is!”

 

Again … being clued in to the ending of this story … our minds immediately leap to visions of the risen Lord. 

          BUT the angels do not speak of Jesus … or resurrection.  Their question merely point out Mary’s sorrowful devotion … and move us along in our story.

 

Once again, Mary hears the same question:  WHY ARE YOU WEEPING? … this time from a man standing behind her.  And then a 2nd question:  WHO ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? 

          Blinded by tears, Mary does not recognize the man in front of her … and replies just as she did before … “My Lord is missing … IF you know where He is, TELL ME … and “I” will take Him away!”

         

An amazingly bold statement … from a woman in the 1st Century … all alone … in a place of burial.   

YET … it is also a testimony to her deep faith and love of Jesus that she would dare to confront a man that she supposes to be the gardener.

 

As she says these words … we almost hold our breaths, don’t we … because WE KNOW what is coming next!  But …

·        put yourself in her place

·        try to imagine … AND FEEL … the overwhelming joy she must have felt as …

·        the “MAN” says her name … Mary!

 

It is a glorious & grace-filled moment of recognition ~

·        Jesus ~

o       Calls her by name

o       Identifies her as one of His beloved friends and disciples

·        Mary ~

o       Recognizes her beloved friend & teacher

 

In her joy, Mary probably did what any of us would have done … reached out to touch Jesus … to FEEL what she could SEE with her eyes … that Jesus was alive and standing in front of her.

 

But Jesus’ next words quickly stop her movements …

·        Don’t hold on to me …

·        Don’t hinder me

·        There is work that I MUST do ~

His ascension

·        Return to God, the Father

·        Make new life possible with God as revealed in Jesus Christ

·        Establish new identity/relationship for all believers: We KNOW God even as Jesus KNOWS God

Jesus’ final words to Mary: 

·        GO! 

·        TELL everyone that you have seen me

·        TELL them that, with my ascension to my Father and your Father … my God and your God ~  we are all family, grounded in the love of a God who knows us and cares deeply about us.

 

GO!  And TELL!  Don’t keep the story to yourself. 

·        In our Epistle reading, Peter tells a household of new believers:  We ARE witnesses to all that Jesus was and did

·        WE must testify / bear witness to His life as we preach the good news that Jesus brought

 

Our Gospel story today is one ~

·        That we can’t wait to hear … throughout the 6 weeks of Lent

·        We love the drama of the angels’ message to the disciples

·        We are filled with same sense of joy and delight that the disciples experienced at seeing risen Jesus

BUT … is it a story that we experience and put away for another year … OR is it one that we can easily tell and retell to everyone that will listen to us?

 

 

 

 

 

Today … I will tell you a true story … my own encounter with the risen Lord …

 

Maundy Thursday ~

·        Dreary, overcast day

·        Service of Word / Sacrament / Foot-washing in chapel @ Conference office

·        Chapel … altar / cross on wall / stained-glass on either side of cross

 

Foot washing … powerful experience for me

·        Sitting on chair, having Rev. Craner kneel in front of me, gently washing / drying my feet

·        Reminded of members of St. Paul’s …

o       Home-bound and hospitalized

o       Those far away

o       Those in nursing homes

o       Those who ache physically / spiritually

o       Family / friends / caregivers who ache for loved ones

·        Powerful reminder of Jesus’ tender care and passionate love for each of us …

o       broken as we are

o       just as we are w/ talents & faults

o       where we are w/out pretense or false pride

o       we are loved / cared for / KNOWN by name / gently held in Jesus’ loving hands.

 

 

 

Service continued … Sacrament of Holy Communion … concluded with reading of Matthew’s Gospel account of Christ’s passion and death.  Rev. Butz read:  “Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed His last.”

 

At that moment:

·        sun broke through the clouds

·        light streamed through stained-glass windows

·        every colored piece of glass sparkled like gems

 

GOSPEL ~ dramatic cosmic events heralding Jesus’ death … earthquake / clouds / torn curtain / opened graves

 

AT that moment … I saw the other dramatic cosmic events that heralded the joy and delight, grace and love that Easter is all about ~ those moments:

·        that take your breath away when confronted with signs of resurrected Jesus

·        when glimpses of God’s grace move us to humbly proclaim I BELIEVE

·        when the bright light of God’s love in Christ breaks through our own personal dark corners and reminds us that we are NOT alone

·        when we recognize that the One that we have been looking for has been standing right there WITH us ~ calling us by name / claiming us as family

·        when we experience that delicious thrill of the hope and promise of new life that is gifted to us HERE and NOW and throughout ETERNITY

 

 

THIS is exactly what Easter is all about! 

 

THIS is the story of the good news that Jesus Christ brings into our lives and the life of our world.

 

THIS is the message of hope and promise to which we bear witness every time we share our story.

 

TODAY … and EVERYDAY … let us run with joy and share the Good News …

          Christ is Risen!

                   Christ is Risen Indeed!!

                             ALLELUIA!!!