Matthew 28:1-10
Easter Vigil
Do you believe in fairies? It’s a question, a most desperate question
asked by Peter Pan. His dear friend, the
fairy Tinkerbell, is on the brink of death and the only thing that will save
her is if people believe. “I believe in
fairies, I believe in fairies,” goes the chant and when enough people believe
Tinkerbell is brought back from near death to life.
Is that what we are doing here? Some would say so - that Jesus’s resurrection
is just like Tinkerbell’s - it exists only in the minds of the believers. I beg to differ. What we celebrate on Easter, what we are
doing here is not about wishful thinking.
The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is real regardless of whether
someone believes.
As the gospel of Matthew records it,
Jesus is dead. Crucified on a
cross. His lifeless body is brought to
rest in Joseph of Arimathea’s new tomb.
There is some concern by the authorities that Jesus’s followers may want
to cause trouble by stealing his body so guards are dispatched and the tomb is
secured by a heavy stone. It is early on
the first day of the week, Sunday. Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary are on the way to the tomb. The darkness of the morning before dawn is
nothing compared to the darkness and chaos these women and the rest of Jesus’s
followers have endured these past three days.
And the upheaval in their lives is not done yet for upon arriving at
Jesus’s burial place, suddenly there is a great earthquake, an angel descends
like lightening, the stone is rolled away.
The guards, who are no shrinking violets, faint from fear. After all this shock and awe, it’s
understandable that the first thing out of the angel’s mouth to the two Marys
is, “Do not be afraid.” Do not be
afraid. This is overwhelming and
completely unexpected, but here’s the news: Jesus is not here for he has been
raised from the dead.
Certainly that’s not something you hear
every day. In fact, it’s probably not on
your radar at all. I don’t think that as
those Marys walked to the tomb early Sunday morning they were debating whether
they would find a dead body or a resurrected one. So when they were hit with the news of
resurrection - whatever that meant - it must have been so disorienting. Nonetheless, they do as the angel commands
and being full of both fear and joy they take off to tell the disciples what’s
happened. But they don’t get far before
their world is rocked again as it is now Jesus who suddenly appears. “Greetings!” he says, and they throw
themselves at his feet and worship him.
“Do not be afraid,” Jesus offers them comfort and then comes the
instructions, “Go and tell.” In this
case, “go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” And, indeed, that is what the women do.
Did you notice, though, that the state of
Jesus being raised from the dead, the resurrection of Christ had already
happened before the women or any of Jesus’s followers knew about it, let alone
believed in it? It’s been said that
reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away. The reality of the resurrection is not dependent
upon anyone’s power to believe - it doesn’t go away. Rather, the existence of the resurrection is
the result of the great power and never failing love that God has for each and
every one of us.
Then show me the proof, many say. And therein lies the rub for as far as we
know, the resurrection of Jesus is impossible to prove. (Even though there is a
movie currently out trying to make that case, I suspect the evidence put
forward is still up for interpretation.)
For better or for worse, Jesus’s resurrection, the good news of Easter
is not something to be proved by argument, maybe it’s not even something to be
believed, but rather a reality to absorb, to experience, to live into: the
existence of God’s continual presence, God’s transforming power, God’s
never-failing love that is really with us every day of our lives.
And if we are willing to open ourselves
up to this resurrection reality then everything changes. Does it mean that we get to live sheltered
lives where nothing can go wrong? I
wish! But that’s not reality nor is it
the hope we that we proclaim. The truth,
the good news of Easter that changes everything is that even if we suffer, even
if life is hard, whatever may happen to us and whatever the day may bring, God
has the power to strengthen us and uphold us; that whatever we face, we do not
face it alone. That nothing, nothing we
encounter is bigger or stronger than God’s love. Ultimately God gets the last word over all
the darkness, all the brokenness, all the horror of this world. In the end, and sometimes before the end,
God’s love is triumphant. That is the
good news of the resurrection - that all forms of death have lost their sting
because of the power of God’s love. And
we are invited to live into this reality that exists whether we believe it or
not, on Easter day and every day.
With all this focus on our experience of
the resurrection, let me switch gears for a moment to offer a different,
perhaps a bit irreverent perspective which comes from Jesus’s diary over Easter
Weekend. It reads, Friday: hot; stretched out on a hillside, wondered if I was in the
right job. Saturday: quiet, stayed
in. Sunday: got up early, went to see
some friends, they seemed surprised to see me.
Yes, indeed, they were surprised, for it
takes a lifetime for any of us to absorb the good news of the resurrection and
all that means in our lives and in the life of the world. But as we seek to do so, here are Jesus’s
words given to us on that first Easter day, words of comfort and instruction,
“Do not be afraid. Now, go and
tell.”
May we all fearlessly live into the
reality of the resurrection, rejoicing in the power of God’s great love. And may we go out into the world so that our
lives in both word and deed proclaim the good news that changes everythin:
Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen,
indeed! Alleluia!
No comments:
Post a Comment