Easter Early Morning
Growing up my family made regular visits to see our friends the Christensons. We never lived in the same city so getting together involved careful planning on the part of the adults. As kids, we were just excited about the inevitable chaos and unexpected adventures that happened with our combined families of 10 kids! For a time, the Christensons lived in Decorah Iowa. Our visits there sometimes included a hike by the kids to the old cemetery, at the dead end dirt road behind their home built in 1866. In my memory the adults never made the trip. As one of the younger kids in the crew, it took incredible courage to follow the older kids up the hill to that old cemetery. I think my ability to go was only because of a greater fear that lived in my heart—to be thought a wimp, or to be left behind and completely forgotten.
The older kids seemed to have no trouble hanging out at the cemetery—running around, playing games, singing songs, telling stories at the side of someone’s grave. Their enthusiasm for the freedom we had there almost convinced me that this was an ok place to be. We didn’t intend to be disrespectful. As young children we had been fortunate to not yet have encountered the hard reality of death. I think we were attracted to the mystery of the place and the opportunity to use our imaginations as we played.
But things have changed over the years. I can’t remember the last time our two families were all together. We’ve grown up. Moved about. And I’d be surprised if any of us would consider playing in a cemetery today. Losing a loved one has a way of changing your perspective on a place.
Sooner or later it happens to all of us. We encounter death and know that it holds our hopes captive and puts an end to a future we had imagined. Sometimes death is received as a gift—after a long and blessed life—we might say that. But still, given the choice, death is a reality we would just soon live without. It’s so overwhelmingly disruptive. Someone we love dies and the world as we know it is changed forever.
It’s what’s happened to Mary. It had been a horrendous night—just a short time ago. And now it was the first day of the week. It was still dark—literally and figuratively. Jesus, whom Mary loved and followed, had suffered unimaginable pain. He’d been crucified. Jesus was dead. And now, Mary was given another devastating blow to her heart already broken by grief. There in the cemetery, the stone was rolled away. The tomb was empty. Jesus’ body was gone. This was not good news. It could mean only one thing: someone had taken Jesus’ body. That’s the only scenario that made sense. Dead bodies don’t get up and walk away—not in this world! It’s just not the way things work.
So Mary ran to tell others the terrible news, two of whom returned with her to the scene of the crime. Peter and the other disciple took a look inside the tomb—and the space, empty except for the linens, was enough to have them believe. Believe what? John’s gospel doesn’t tell us. We’re only told that they believed and then returned to their homes.
Mary stayed though—weeping. What else could she do? All hope was lost. Her world had been turned inside out and upside down. The powers of evil had been too great. The world had had its way with Jesus and the world had won.
We don’t need to be outside the tomb of Jesus to know the place in which Mary finds herself. We’ve been there. Some of us may be there now. There is so much about life that disrupts…living: a relationship that’s strained, a lost job, a search for meaning, fear of an uncertain future, more and more stories of increased violence , another war, another natural disasters. We know the power of destruction and death. Too often, in the blink of an eye, our world is turned inside out and upside down. The powers of evil are great. It’s the reality of the world.
But evil has not won. Death doesn’t have the last word.
Peering through her tears Mary saw someone she thought to be a gardener but when he spoke her name, she knew it was the Risen Lord! This is the miracle of Easter we sometimes miss. The tomb is empty—but let’s not just take a look around and go home. When we do, we miss what matters most!
The miracle of Easter is Mary’s encounter with the Living Lord! Jesus is not raised from the dead to disappear off in the distance somewhere. Jesus is there—in the cemetery—with Mary, in her grief, in her pain, in the midst of all she couldn’t understand. Jesus meets Mary, right where she’s at. Nothing can keep him away! That’s the miracle of Easter we celebrate today and every day: in the resurrection of Jesus we’re given the promise of God’s presence in the world and in our lives.
On a day like today when we pull out all the stops at church it’s easy to have a sense of God’s presence—the beauty of this sanctuary, the music, the singing, the word, the wine and the bread—all reveal the power of something going on that’s beyond ourselves, Someone greater than ourselves. We encounter God in this place but God can’t be kept in this space. God can’t be controlled or contained.
Mary was so excited to see Jesus that she reached out to hold on to him. But Jesus stops her. “Do not hold on to me,” he says, “because I have not yet ascended to the Father”. Mary has barely caught a glimpse of him and he tells her that he’s moving on. He’s not the same as before. He’s not returned just for her and the disciples. He’s on his way to God and he’s taking the whole world with him.
The miracle of Easter is that Jesus is alive in the world. The spirit of the living God lives with you wherever you are—not just here, but in the world, in your work, in your home….in your ups and downs, in your joys and fears. Jesus meets you where you’re at….but doesn’t leave you there. You can’t hold on to him, but as angels like to say: do not be afraid. He’s got a hold on you and he’s on the move, leading you, guiding you, inviting you into a whole new way of life.
Before his death and resurrection Jesus dared his followers to imagine a different kind of world. He told them what it looked like. And he showed them that by God’s grace, it already exists. It’s a world where masters wash servants’ feet, and the last are first, a reality in which scarcity doesn’t exist, where there’s more than enough…with leftovers. The hungry are fed, the weary find rest, the outcast are loved, the blind see and the dead are raised to new life! It’s a way of life that turns the world inside out and upside down. It’s a way of being that disrupts the systems of our world. You’ve seen it…you’ve heard it…you know what I’m talking about!
When a child is born, when a friend says I forgive you, when you’re moved to help a stranger, when you sing at a funeral, tell stories at someone’s graveside, when you forget yourself and think first of someone else, when you reach out to someone in need—these are the moments you encounter the Living Lord! The tomb is empty! But don’t keep your eyes focused there. Like Mary, may our weeping turn into witnessing! Look around--you will encounter the living Lord. That is the miracle of Easter! God is present for you! God is present in the world! Christ is risen, He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen!
