Easter Sunday, 2009

JOHN 20:1-9
TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE VERY REASON THAT WE CHRISTIANS EXIST AS A RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT. SOMEWHERE IN AN OBSCURE CORNER OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE SOMETHING HAPPENED, SOMETHING THAT MADE A SMALL GROUP OF ILLITERATE, LOWER CLASS, MARGINALIZED MEN AND WOMEN BECOME FIRMLY CONVINCED THAT A MAN WHOM THEY SAW PUT TO DEATH ON A CROSS HAD RISEN FROM THE DEAD. THEY DID NOT EXPECT IT, THEY DID NOT EVEN HOPE FOR IT; IT HAD NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. BUT BECAUSE OF THIS EVENT, THEY WERE TRANSFORMED; THEY SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND BEYOND, TIRELESSLY TELLING OTHERS OF WHAT THEY HAD WITNESSED. OTHERS WHO MET THEM COULD SEE THAT THEIR LIVES HAD BEEN TRANSFORMED; IN A WORLD OF UNCERTAINTY, THEY HAD CERTAINTY; IN A WORLD OF WAR, THEY HAD PEACE; IN A WORLD OF POVERTY, THEY WERE RICH; AND WHERE EVERYONE JEALOUSLY GUARDED THEIR LIVES, THEY THREW THEM AWAY, BECAUSE THEY HAD SOMETHING MORE VALUABLE. AND THOSE WHO MET THEM BECAME THEIR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, AND THE MOVEMENT GREW AND GREW, UNTIL TODAY ONE IN EVERY THREE HUMAN BEINGS ON EARTH ARE FOLLOWERS OF THAT CRUCIFIED MAN.
SOMETHING HAPPENED. I'M NOT SURE WE REALLY GET WHAT HAPPENED BY READING THE GOSPELS. EVERY ONE OF THEM IS A LITTLE DIFFERENT WHEN IT COMES TO THIS EVENT. IN MARK THREE WOMEN ARE MET BY A YOUNG MAN WHO ANNOUNCES THAT JESUS IS RISEN; IN MATTHEW, TWO WOMEN GO TO THE TOMB, AND AN ANGEL ROLLS BACK THE STONE AND SENDS THEM OFF TO TELL THE DISCIPLES THE GOOD NEWS. IN LUKE, SOME WOMEN GO TO THE TOMB, AND MEET TWO MEN WHO ARE DRESSED IN CLOTHES THAT GLEAMED LIKE LIGHTNING. AND WE HAVE JUST HEARD THE STORY FROM JOHN, WHERE ONLY MARY MAGDALENE FIRST CONFRONTS THE TOMB, AND CONCLUDES THAT THE BODY OF JESUS HAS BEEN STOLEN.; BUT PETER AND JOHN ARE THE ONES WHO GO INTO THE TOMB AND SEE THAT IT IS EMPTY. WHAT THE STORIES HAVE IN COMMON, THOUGH, ARE THAT A WOMAN, WHO IN THOSE DAYS COULD NOT BE A RELIABLE WITNESS IN A COURT OF LAW, FOUND AN EMPTY TOMB. AFTER THAT, ALL THE GOSPELS, THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, THE EPISTLES OF PAUL, ALL ATTEST TO THE APPEARANCES OF JESUS AFTER HIS DEATH – PAUL REFERS TO ABOUT 500 WITNESSES, AND ADDS THAT MANY, WHEN HE WROTE HIS LETTER, WERE STILL ALIVE.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? SOME WRITERS SAY THAT THE RESURRECTION IS A METAPHOR; IT IS A POETIC WAY OF SAYING THAT AFTER JESUS DIED, HIS DISCIPLES DISCOVERED THAT THE HIS SPIRIT WAS STILL WITH THEM, AND THAT GAVE THEM STRENGTH TO GO FORTH AND PREACH HIS MESSAGE. AND THEY TELL US THAT IF WE LOOK INSIDE OURSELVES, WE TOO CAN FIND THE SPIRIT OF JESUS, AND WE TOO CAN BECOME BETTER PERSONS. OR THAT IT IS ALWAYS DARKEST BEFORE THE DAWN, OR THAT GOD CAN TRANSFORM EVEN THE WORST SINNER, INTO A SAINT, EVEN THE MOST TERRIBLE CATASTROPHE INTO A GOOD THING. AND THIS IS A GOOD MESSAGE; IT REMINDS US THAT THE HUMAN SPIRIT IS POWERFUL, THAT WE CAN HAVE HOPE THAT WE CAN MAKE THINGS BETTER.
SOME LOOK AT THE RESURRECTION EVENT AND SEE THAT IT HAS POWER, POWER TO TRANSFORM SOCIETY, POWER TO MAKE THE POOR RICH, THE WEAK STRONG; AND THEY ARE INSPIRED TO FOUND POLITICAL OR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, WHICH HAVE RELIGIOUS OVERTONES, LIKE ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, OR LIBERATION THEOLOGY, OR CHRISTIAN FEMINISM, OR SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT. AND THESE ARE GOOD THINGS. IF THE RESURRECTION INSPIRES PEOPLE TO WORK FOR WHAT OUR WORLD DESPERATELY NEEDS, WONDERFUL.
YES, WHEN PEOPLE THINK ABOUT THE CRUCIFIXION AND THE RESURRECTION, MANY HAVE BEEN INSPIRED, AND NOT JUST CHRISTIANS. BUT IF THE RESURRECTION IS A METAPHOR, AN INSPIRATION, A SIGN OF HOPE AND NOTHING MORE, THEN WE MIGHT AS WELL ALL GO HOME.
A WOMAN, OR SOME WOMEN, CONFRONT AN EMPTY TOMB. IN EACH GOSPEL ACCOUNT, THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE BODY HAS MERELY BEEN STOLEN IS RULED OUT; WHO WOULD STRIP OFF THE BURIAL CLOTHES AND NEATLY ROLL UP THE HEAD COVERING IF THE BODY WERE BEING STOLEN; WHO COULD LOOK INTO A TOMB THAT HELD A DEAD MAN AND FIND ANGELS? AND SO THERE IS ONLY ONE POSSIBILITY, THAT THE OCCUPANT OF THE TOMB THREW OFF DEATH AND ROSE AGAIN; SOMEHOW THAT MOST BASIC OF FACTS, THAT DEATH IS THE END, HAS BEEN SHOWN TO BE A LIE. AND THAT IS WHY THE MARTYRS JOYFULLY EMBRACED DEATH, WHY HERMITS WENT INTO THE DESERT, WHY MONKS CREATED COMMUNITIES BEHIND WALLS WHERE THEY TRIED TO ANTICIPATE A LIFE WHERE DEATH DID NOT MATTER. THAT IS WHY SAINTS SERVED THE POOR, SPREAD THE GOSPEL THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, SPENT THEIR LIVES FORMING THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN THEMSELVES AND IN THEIR SURROUNDINGS. THAT IS WHY OUR PRIESTS LIVE TO SERVE OUR PEOPLE, WHY OUR FAMILIES STRUGGLE DAY IN AND DAY OUT TO CREATE PLACES WHERE LOVE REALIZES ITSELF IN THE BOND BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE, IN THE FORMATION OF CHILDREN. THAT IS WHY SINGLE PEOPLE DEVOTE THEMSELVES TO SERVING THE COMMUNITY TO WHICH THEY BELONG.
BECAUSE EVERY ONE OF THESE PERSONS WHO LIVES A CHRISTIAN LIFE, WHETHER HIDDEN OR FAMOUS, LITTLE OR GREAT, HAS PEERED INTO THE TOMB AND SEEN FOR HIMSELF OR HERSELF THAT IT IS EMPTY, THAT THE ONE WHO WAS BEATEN AND TORTURED AND PUT TO DEATH ON A CROSS CANNOT BE IMPRISONED BY DEATH, CANNOT BE CONFINED TO A TOMB. AND WE REMEMBER HIS WORDS TO US, “WHERE I AM, THERE MY SERVANT MUST BE.”
SOMETHING HAPPENED 2000 YEARS AGO IN AN OUTPOST OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE AMIDST A PEOPLE WHO COULD NOT EVEN CALL THEIR LAND THEIR OWN. AND THERE IS ONLY ONE EXPLANATION FOR IT, AND FOR WHAT FOLLOWED, FOR WHAT CHANGED THE WHOLE WORLD, FOR WHAT IS NOT JUST A METAPHOR, IS NOT JUST AN INSPIRATION. AND THAT IS THAT GOD BROKE INTO HUMAN HISTORY, AND CONTINUES TO BREAK IN, AND NOTHING WILL BE THE SAME AGAIN, AND DEATH WILL NO LONGER BE AN OBSTACLE TO WHAT IS POSSIBLE FOR HUMAN BEINGS.
LOOK INTO THE EMPTY TOMB. DO YOU FEEL IT? DO YOU SENSE THE SACRED? DOES THE WORLD TAKE ON A HALO, A GLEAM OF HOLINESS? THE EMPTY TOMB MEANS THAT THE RISEN JESUS WALKS AMONG US STILL.