Easter Sunday, 2010

JOHN 20:1-9
MARY MAGDALEN SAW THE EMPTY TOMB AND CONCLUDED THAT SOMEONE HAD COME AND TAKEN AWAY THE BODY OF JESUS. PETER SAW THE EMPTY TOMB AND WE DON'T KNOW WHAT HE THOUGHT; IT DOESN'T SAY. BUT I GUESS WE COULD ASSUME THAT HE PROBABLY THOUGHT THE SAME AS MARY. WE ARE TOLD THAT THE BELOVED DISCIPLE, THE ONE WHOM JESUS LOVED, WITNESSED THE SAME SCENE, THE BURIAL CLOTHS NEATLY FOLDED AND THE HEAD COVERING ROLLED UP AND PUT IN A SEPARATE PLACE. IT SAYS THAT HE BELIEVED, BUT BELIEVED WHAT? BECAUSE THE NEXT SENTENCE TELLS US THAT NONE OF THEM UNDERSTOOD.
WHAT WAS IT, THEN, THAT THE BELOVED DISCIPLE BELIEVED?
LAST NIGHT WE CELEBRATED THE EASTER VIGIL. IF YOU'VE BEEN TO ONE, YOU KNOW THAT THERE ARE SEVERAL READINGS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. ONE TELLS THE STORY OF ABRAHAM AND ISAAC. PUT YOURSELF IN ABRAHAM'S SHOES. A LIFETIME AGO HE HAD LEFT HOME TO LIVE THE LIFE OF A WANDERER; HE DID SO BECAUSE HE HAD HAD AN EXPERIENCE. HE WAS TOLD THAT HE WOULD BE THE FATHER OF A GREAT NATION. THERE WAS A TIME WHEN HE THOUGHT THAT THE PROMISE WAS GOING TO BE FULFILLED. HE HAD A CHILD BY SARAH'S SLAVE, A BOY NAMED ISHMAEL. BUT SARAH, IN A JEALOUS RAGE, INSISTED THAT HE DRIVE THE WOMAN AND HER CHILD AWAY, AND ABRAHAM HAD NO IDEA WHETHER THE BOY WAS ALIVE OR DEAD. AGAIN, HE HAD BEEN PROMISED THAT THEY WOULD BE TAKEN CARE OF, BUT IT WAS NO CONSOLATION. AND THEN FINALLY, LONG AFTER HE AND SARAH HAD GIVEN UP HOPE OF HAVING A CHILD, THEY WERE TOLD BY STRANGERS THAT A CHILD WOULD BE BORN, AND SO ONE WAS. ABRAHAM WAS ABOUT 90.
AND NOW, THIS SELF-SAME GOD, THE GOD WHO HAD STARTED THE WHOLE THING, HAD TOLD HIM TO TAKE HIS ONLY SON AND SACRIFICE HIM. THAT SOUNDS APPALLING TO US, OF COURSE. BUT IT WASN'T OUT OF THE QUESTION IN THOSE DAYS TO SACRIFICE A CHILD TO A GOD. THE SCRIPTURE EVEN TELLS US THAT GOD RECOGNIZED THAT ABRAHAM LOVED ISAAC. SO ABRAHAM, WITHOUT ANY EXPLANATION TO SARAH, OR THE PEOPLE WHO TRAVELED WITH HIM, TOOK ISAAC AND SOME FIREWOOD AND A KNIFE AND STARTED UP THE MOUNTAIN. BECAUSE NO EXPLANATION WOULD BE BELIEVED, NO EXPLANATION MADE SENSE – NOT EVEN TO ABRAHAM.
WAS THIS BLIND FAITH? COULD YOU DO THIS? EVEN IF GOD HIMSELF ASKED YOU TO DO THIS? I DON'T THINK I COULD. AND I THINK ALL OF US HAVE A PROBLEM UNDERSTANDING ABRAHAM.
SO WHAT IS THIS FAITH OF ABRAHAM? I THINK ABRAHAM WENT UP THE MOUNTAIN WITH HIS SON, WITH THE FIREWOOD, WITH THE KNIFE, BECAUSE HE HAD FAITH. HE HAD MORE FAITH THAN I DO, BECAUSE HE TRUSTED THAT WHATEVER HAPPENED, GOD WOULD KEEP HIS PROMISE. FAITH, FOR ABRAHAM, WAS SOMETHING LIKE FALLING IN LOVE. WHEN YOU FALL IN LOVE, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUTURE WILL HOLD, BUT YOU MOVE FORWARD WITHOUT KNOWING.
REAL FAITH IS COMPLICATED. FIRST OF ALL, IT'S NOT LOGICAL AT ALL. YOU CAN'T REALLY FIND A REASON FOR BELIEVING. IF SOMEONE GIVES YOU A REASON, SOMEONE ELSE CAN GIVE YOU A REASON FOR NOT BELIEVING. FAITH IS ROLLING THE DICE, IT IS DECIDING TO BELIEVE SOMETHING, AND TO BELIEVE IT STRONGLY ENOUGH TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE. AFTER MOTHER THERESA PASSED AWAY, SOME OF HER CORRESPONDENCE WAS PUBLISHED. IN THESE PRIVATE LETTERS TO HER SPIRITUAL ADVISER, IT WAS CLEAR THAT MOTHER THERESA LIVED IN PAIN, BECAUSE SHE HAD EXPERIENCED NOTHING TO CONVINCE HER THAT HER FAITH WAS JUSTIFIED. AND YET, SHE KEPT FAITH, SHE LIVED HER FAITH, AND CRIED HERSELF TO SLEEP AT NIGHT. AND HER FAITH MADE HER DO THINGS THAT THE OTHER SIX BILLION PEOPLE ON THE EARTH WOULD NEVER DO.
THERE AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE OPEN TOMB, THE BELOVED DISCIPLE DID NOT CONCLUDE THAT JESUS' BODY WAS TAKEN AWAY. HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK, BUT HE DID BELIEVE. HE BELIEVED THAT JESUS CHRIST WOULD KEEP HIS PROMISES, THAT SOMEHOW EVEN THOUGH HE HAD SEEN THE MAN DIE, HE HAD WITNESSED THE SPEAR THRUST IN HIS SIDE, HE HAD WATCHED AS THE BODY WAS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS, WRAPPED IN LINEN, EMBALMED, AND PUT IN THE TOMB – THE BELOVED DISCIPLE STILL BELIEVED THAT GOD WOULD MAKE IT RIGHT, THAT SOMEHOW GOD WOULD TURN THIS TRAGEDY INTO SOMETHING GOOD. THE BELOVED DISCIPLE HAD THE SAME KIND OF FAITH AS ABRAHAM.
WE CHRISTIANS BELIEVE THAT JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD, AND WHEN HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD, THIS WAS NOT A METAPHOR, THIS WAS NOT SOME GHOSTLY THING. IT WAS NOT THE FACT THAT THE APOSTLES SUDDENLY FELT AS THOUGH JESUS HAD NEVER REALLY DIED, BUT WAS LIVING ON IN THEM. AND WHEN JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD, WE ARE TOLD THAT ABOUT 500 PEOPLE WITNESSED THIS. AND WHEN SAINT PAUL WAS WRITING HIS LETTERS, HE STATES THAT MANY OF THEM ARE STILL AROUND, PEOPLE WHO SAW AND TOUCHED AND HEARD THE RISEN JESUS. BUT WITNESSING THE RISEN JESUS IS ONE THING. FAITH IN THE RESURRECTION IS ANOTHER. BECAUSE IF IT DOESN'T DO SOMETHING TO US, THEN IT IS MERELY A CURIOSITY. WHEN WE STAND BEFORE THE EMPTY TOMB, WE DON'T UNDERSTAND EITHER. THE FACT THAT SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE TRIED TO EXPLAIN THE RESURRECTION AWAY JUST MEANS THAT THEY DON'T WANT TO MAKE THAT LEAP OF FAITH THAT JESUS DID RISE FROM THE DEAD IN A REAL SENSE, NOT IN SOME SYMBOLIC OR METAPHORICAL SENSE. AND OUR BELIEF IN THE RESURRECTION HAS CONSEQUENCES. IF WE BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS, THEN WE MUST BELIEVE IN EVERYTHING JESUS SAID BEFORE HE WAS PUT TO DEATH. IF WE BELIEVE, WE KNOW THAT WE WILL RISE AGAIN, IN OUR BODIES, BECAUSE JESUS PROMISED IT AND HE SAID, “WHERE I AM, THERE SHALL MY SERVANT BE.” IF WE BELIEVE, WE KNOW THAT GOD IS IN CHARGE, AND GOD CAN AND WILL TAKE THE WORST DISASTERS, THE GREATEST TRAGEDIES, AND BRING GOOD OUT OF THEM. IT'S NOT LOGICAL, IT'S AGAINST EVERYTHING IN OUR EXPERIENCE, BUT THAT IS WHAT ABRAHAM BELIEVED, AND THAT IS WHAT THE BELOVED DISCIPLE BELIEVED, AND AFTER JESUS APPEARED TO THE APOSTLES IT IS WHAT THEY BELIEVED, BECAUSE THEY SAW THE DEATH OF JESUS, THEY SAW AN INNOCENT MAN PUT TO DEATH; AND THEY SAW HIM RISE AGAIN. THEY BELIEVED STRONGLY ENOUGH TO GO OUT AND PREACH AND TEACH AND ULTIMATELY DIE, STILL BELIEVING.
SO TODAY, WE CONFRONT THE EMPTY TOMB. IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. BUT DO WE ASSUME THAT SOMEONE TOOK THE BODY AWAY? OR DO WE HAVE THE FAITH THAT GOD WILL ACT IN OUR HISTORY TO BRING GOOD OUT OF EVIL, EVEN IF WE DON'T KNOW HOW?