Not sure what to make of the sermon. Maybe it was too serious? It felt a bit heavy. Of course, I felt a bit heavy (not my weight) preaching about resurrection a few days after my sister's death. Resurrection is good news in the face of death, but it also means there has been a death.
Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed!
(John 20:1-18) Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her. (NRSV)
“Looking Toward Easter” February 14, 2016; FPC, Troy I Corinthians 15: 12-26; John 20: 1-18
Introduction: When last we left Jesus, we were gathered here in the shadows of the sanctuary at our service of darkness, and we heard Jesus say, “it is finished,” as his spirit left him hanging there on the cross.
Dead.
We learned in our Lenten small groups that the Greek phrase, “it is finished” has the connotation of victory. That is, the task is done and the mission is accomplished (Adam Hamilton, John: the Gospel of Light and Life, 136)
I suspect that as Jesus' family and friends watched him hanging on the cross, they did not feel that sense of victory or accomplishment.
Jesus was dead, and their hopes and dreams had died with him.
As Mary Magdalene walks to the tomb that first Easter morning, weariness and heaviness weigh her down.
It is finished, except for the final preparations of the body.
Maybe you know that feeling.
You have just received news that a loved one has died;
Or you have lost your job and do not know what to do next;
Or you know that the the way your life is going has to stop, but you don't know what to do.
Your read the news of death and discord in our world and you feel helpless and hopeless.
The world closes in on you.
There seem to be no options.
In that moment it feels as if life has ended.
You are with Mary Magdalene on the way to the tomb.
Then Mary Magdalene arrives at the tomb.
The stone has been moved.
She races away before even looking in to see what is in the tomb.
She does not yet know what has happened, but she is beginning to wonder if it really finished.
Even if it is simply someone has stolen the body (could she dare to hope that Christ was raised from the dead?), there will be more of the story to play out.
She finds Peter and the beloved disciple and tells them about the stone.
They run back to the tomb and go in and discover that there is no body.
Off they go. Maybe there is more to the story yet to be told.
Mary sees someone she thinks is the gardener.
'What have they done with the body.”
The gardener person calls her by name, “Mary.”
At the sound of his calling her by name, she knows: She knows that it is Jesus, who has now been resurrected.
She knows that 'it is finished” has not become “God is not quite done.”
Move 1: her name is not important, although some of you old-timers will know it.
She already had been battling cancer for several years before I arrived here as to serve this church.
She and her husband had my family over for dinner the first night when we moved to Troy. We sat on the picnic table in their backyard. She told us, “Well, everyone else has been making me meals lately, so I thought I would make you a meal.”
I saw her a lot those first few years. She and her husband traveled quite a bit, but when they were home, she was in and out of the church and in worship on Sunday mornings..
Most of the time when I saw her, it was during the week here at church or maybe at her house. Her general rule in dealing with her bald head was to just go bald, or wear a do rag that covered her baldness. When she would show up at church, however, she would wear a wig. I seldom saw her that way, so it always took me a minute or two to recognize her sitting in the pews.
Almost three years into my time here, the end of her life was drawing near.
Easter arrived. As I stood here preaching the Easter sermon, I looked out and saw her. She was pretty weak by this time, but she sat there with her wig on and a smile across her face.
I was pretty sure it would be her last Easter service, and I even wondered if it would be her last worship service (which it was).
As I told the story of the resurrection with her sitting in the pews, I realized that it was not a story to her; it was not a debate over what resurrection was; it was the hope she clung to as death was knocking at her door.
She knew the truth of Paul's words, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.”
Her hope was not in vain.
a. Thomas Lynch, the Undertaking: the idea of eternal life or the afterlife “begins to make the most sense after life – when someone we love is dead...”
1. he notes that when you're sitting in a hot tub enjoying the evening, you need resurrection like you need another belly button.
2. “Faith is for the heartbroken, the embittered, the doubting, and the dead.” he writes.
3. he describes the people who have gathered through the years at the death of loved ones and proclaim their faith in the face of death as people who “stand upright between the dead and the living and say, ‘Behold, I tell you a mystery…’” (81).
My friends, today, I proclaim to you the mystery of the God who is not quite done, the God of resurrection.
Move 2: Tom Are, Jr. reminds us that the first Easter gathering was not a public gathering.
a. Now, of course, Easter is a big event.
1. community Easter egg hunts.
2. Big crowds at church.
3. stores changing their hours of operation to accommodate Easter gatherings.
b. But that first Easter Jesus did not go public.
1. there were were no crowds to witness the resurrection.
2. you know, the resurrected Christ could have made a public splash by walking in Pontius Pilate's office and saying: “I am here to see Governor Pilate, please.” “I’m sorry, sir, is the governor expecting you?” “No, I’m pretty sure he’s not expecting me.”
3. or going down to the Temple and publicly parading around, pointing the chief priests and asking, “what do you think about your arguments against me now.”
- or he could have gone to the barracks of the Romans soldiers and asked if those who had gambled for his clothes and won could give them back.
(this thought on Jesus appearing publicly was shared by Tom Are, in his sermon “Resurrection Choices,” preached a Village Presbyterian, Prairie Village, KS, on April 15, 2015)
c. Jesus does not go public. Instead he turns to his followers, he turns to us.
1. “here I am,” he says. “Back from the dead. Your work [our work] is not quite done.
2. Jesus has overcome death and invites us into that new life.
3. not just for our own sake.
4. Not just to know the promise of eternal life.
- But to be part of what God is still doing in the world.
6. The resurrection is not played out as a public spectacle but as Christ's followers go into the world living in the hope of the resurrection.
God is not quite done, which means that we, the followers of the resurrected Christ are not quite done.
Move 3: I read an interesting blog entry the other day from a mother whose daughter Amma started showing up with a green blob. In fact, the four-year-old had been showing up for four days with the green blob on her forehead.
Her mother noted that Amma was her third child, so she didn't really bother her too much. If her first child had had a green blog on his forehead, she notes that one the first day she would have taken him to the pediatrician.
But the third child. Well, there it was. No questions were asked until the fourth day. On the fourth day Amma had showered and when her mother toweled her off, she noticed that her forehead was clean. No green blob.
But when Amma came out of her room after dressing, there was a green blob on the forehead again.
“so, what's with the green blob”
Her daughter looked up at her and said, “I'm a child of God.”
And her mother noticed that the green blob was a really smeared green cross that just looked like a green blog.
“My green is to remember. So I can be brave.”
(http://momastery.com/blog/2015/08/04/the-gift-of-the-green-blob/; Momastery blog by Glenna Doyle Melton)
c. We gather here to tell the story of resurrection again and remember that God is not quite done.
1. to be reminded that God has overcome sin and death and god invites us into that new reality.
2. when we hear of bombs blowing up and in metro stations and airports, we remember that God is not quite done and we have work to do.
3. When we see the racism that is on the rise in our own nation and communities and hear the rhetoric that divides us, we remember that God is not quite done and we have work to do.
4. when we see the news of a world at war, we remember that God is not quite done and we have work to do.
5. When a loved one dies and our heart breaks, we remember that God is not quite done and we hold fast to the hope of the resurrection.
Conclusion: My friends, I tell you this mystery: the God who raises the Christ from the dead is not quite done, and we are called to be serve the Resurrected in the world now. Amen.
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