The first reading is Acts 10:34-43.
The second reading is 1 Corinthians 15:19-26.
The holy gospel according to Luke (24:1-12)
1On
the first day of the week,
at
early dawn,
[the
women] came to the tomb,
taking
the spices that they had prepared.
2They
found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
3but
when they went in,
they
did not find the body.
4While
they were perplexed about this,
suddenly
two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them.
5The
women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground,
but
the men said to them,
“Why do you look for the living among the
dead?
He
is not here,
but
has risen.
6Remember
how he told you,
while
he was still in Galilee,
7that
the Son of Humanity must be handed over
to sinners,
and
be crucified,
and
on the third day rise again.”
8Then the women remembered
his words,
9and
returning from the tomb,
they
told all this to the eleven and to
all the rest.
10Now
it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna,
Mary
the mother of James, and the other women with them
who
told this to the apostles.
11But
these words seemed to them an idle
tale,
and
they did not believe them.
12But
Peter got up and ran to the tomb;
stooping
and looking in,
he
saw the linen cloths by themselves;
then
he went home,
amazed at what had happened.
The gospel of the Lord.
-----
“Why do you look for
the living among the dead?” the angels ask the women, those first
witnesses of the resurrection. “Why do you look for
the living among the dead?”
The women are still stuck in Good Friday and the Holy
Saturday of grief and waiting and what happens now? They, like many of us, look among the dead.
This week and this year have been Good Friday times. In the last two weeks alone, terrorist
attacks have struck in:
Ankara, Turkey;
Grand-Bassam, Ivory Coast;
Maiduguri, Nigeria;
Peshawar, Pakistan;
Istanbul, Turkey;
Bamako, Mali;
and Brussels, Belgium.[1]
People in this country have been killed, abused, struck with
illnesses, and natural disasters.
Many of our loved ones have died over the last several months. Stress, anxiety, abuse, depression, and
discrimination make life hard for many of us.
Death, hatred, and fear seem to be taking over. We look around and much of the time we
are looking “among the dead.” We
don’t really know what to do, when we sit and grieve and wonder what has gone
wrong? Why is the world so messed
up?
And yet even in a world so full of pain and hurt—so full of
Good Friday and Holy Saturday, we hear Mary and the women as they proclaim:
Christ is risen! (Christ is risen,
indeed!) Alleluia! In our amazement with Peter, we join
the proclamation of Mary, Peter, Paul, the women, and the angels that Christ is
risen! (Christ is risen,
indeed!) Alleluia! All Christ’s enemies are underfoot and
“26The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
Christ crucified is the reality we live in and yet the
Resurrection pulls us in. “Why do you look for the living among the
dead?”
Today we come among the dead. But are we looking for the living? Are we actually looking for Christ in all of this Good
Friday/Holy Saturday mess? Are we
looking for the living among the dead or are we just looking for the dead among
the dead? At least we come looking…and no matter what we’re searching for, we
find: the living.
Maybe we come on Easter because it’s just what we always do
on Sunday morning. Maybe we come
for our family. Maybe we come
because our doubts and our questions can keep us away every other week of the
year, but we’re just not ready to give up on it all yet. Maybe we’re afraid of death and looking
for a way out. Maybe we come for
the mystery of it. Maybe we come
looking for the living—the new life to be found. Maybe we come for this different community. Whatever the reason, the Holy Spirit
gathers us together.
We join Mary and the other women following Jesus from dinner
to the garden to the cross and the tomb.
And this morning, we show up.
We show up because we need the reminder. The tomb is empty.
“Why do you look for the living
among the dead?”
At first the women are perplexed by the empty tomb. They don’t know what to make of
it. They don’t know what to
believe, they are filled with questions and doubts.
And so the angels come with their own question and
reminders. The angels recount
Jesus’ words, foretelling his death and resurrection.
That
is what Easter is for. It is for
remembering. For remembering “how [Jesus]
told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7that the Son of Humanity
must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”
And then the women remembered. And we remember.
We gave thanks for our baptisms today in particular, because they join
us together with Christ in his death in order to also join Christ in the
resurrection. Baptism re-members
us into the body of Christ and reminds us of the resurrection.
We tell the story of our faith. We remember and remind each other of the wonder and
awe.
The
women have a special place in the resurrection. Early on that Easter morning in Jerusalem, “Mary Magdalene,
Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them” come with
spices—here in Rushford they come with egg bakes, cinnamon rolls, fruit, and
coffee. Mary and the other women
show up faithfully. The spices
scenting the air, with no plan for the stone, hoping against hope that
something will work out. They come
to look “among the dead” and they are surprised into the resurrection. The angels of God re-member them into
their place as followers of Christ and apostles to the apostles.
And the story begins to spread. The angels remind the women and the women become the bearers
of this story. They go to remind
the apostles, who … don’t believe the women. But the women share the news anyway and while they share,
and the men don’t believe, Peter at least goes to investigate and he
comes away amazed.
Peter can no longer deny the truth of the women’s
story. Peter is transformed by the
resurrection, and joins the women as a storyteller, as we heard in today’s
reading from Acts.
Resurrection is powerful because it sparks something in us.
It is startling—shocking even—that a person could die—and
not just die, but be killed—in such a terrible, public, political way, and
then, just a few days later, rise from the dead?!?! Think about it. That’s
just not normal! If we heard about
something like that happening today, would we believe?
That is the shock of the Resurrection. That is how God works. God works slowly and quietly turning
winter into spring and God works with a big bang. Because God is not normal. God doesn’t make sense. And yet, God is.
The other day a friend was telling a story of a card game
with God. You’re playing poker
with God and as the game goes along, you might just have the best hand you’ve
ever had—four of a kind! It
couldn’t get better, and so when God goes all in, you call it. You’ve got this. And then, the big reveal, …and God has
5 aces!
God’s not normal.
God’s so not normal… that
God cheats.
That
is Easter, folks. Easter is God’s
ultimate cheat. Death and the
powers of evil—hatred and fear—think they’ve won. God has come to humanity in love and humanity has responded
with crucifixion. Death, evil,
hatred, and fear think they’ve put this dissident who’s “doing good and healing all
who were oppressed by the devil,” this one who’s stirring things up,
preaching God’s love and grace for even the outcasts and the
sinners. “That one” they finally
think they have put to death. They
sure showed him! “hanging him on a
tree.” Death has finally claimed
God and Nietzsche is right. “God
is dead.”
A
friend of mine shared a video on Facebook yesterday of a group of people in North
Carolina. North Carolina has been
in the news this week for passing a bill that will roll back existing
protections and rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer
folks. The video was of the
response of LGBTQ activists in North Carolina. The government in North Carolina thinks they’ve won. They think they have the power and the
powerless are put in their place.
Little
do they realize, the party’s just begun!
The spices are ready, the Sabbath is over, the women head to the tomb in
despair … and Jesus, the dissident, the danger, the dead one “is not here, but has risen.” And the tables are turned! In North Carolina, the video was of activists dancing. They had a dance-in to protest the
legislation. That is resurrection
in the flesh. “Why do you look for the
living among the dead?”
Christ
is risen! (Christ is risen,
indeed!) Alleluia! Christ triumphs
over the fear and hatred that sent him to the cross! Christ triumphs over evil and all enemies. Christ triumphs over death. God cheats and God wins.
And in doing so, Christ frees us. Christ breaks our bonds of fear and hatred and even death because Christ has conquered them. “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”
Paul
proclaims that “26The last enemy to be destroyed is death”
and here today on Easter morning, the last enemy is conquered and we dance and
celebrate the cheat and the victory of Christ’s resurrection.
[1] On March 13th in
Ankara, Turkey a terrorist attack killed 37 people and wounded many more. That same day in Grand-Bassam, Ivory
Coast terrorist linked to Al Qaeda attacked people at the beach, with 22 killed
and many more wounded. On March 16th
in Maiduguri, Nigeria two suicide bombers, likely linked to Boko Haram,
attacked a mosque and killed 24 worshipers. That same day in Peshawar, Pakistan, a terrorist attack,
likely linked to Taliban militants, killed at least 15 and wounded many
more. On March 20th in
Istanbul, Turkey, a suicide bomber linked to ISIS killed 5 people and wounded
many more. On March 21st
in Bamako, Mali, 3 terrorist attacked a hotel serving as headquarters to a
European Union mission. On March
22nd in Brussels, Belgium, a terrorist attack killed 34 people and
wounded many more.
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