Reflections on "On to Galilee" Mark 16: 1-7; Acts 10: 34-43

"On to Galilee"* Easter, 2012; Mark 16: 1-8; Acts 10: 34-43; 

I really liked this sermon.  It went really well during the chapel service.  During the Sanctuary service, it did not flow as well.  I made a tactical mistake for Sanctuary service -- even though the lapel mike was acting up and I did not have the sermon memorized, I tried to preach while roaming the front of the the sanctuary, instead of from the pulpit (typically on Christmas Eve and Easter we have the pulpit off to the side to make room for the manger scene or the cross, so I do not preach from the pulpit).  As it turns out, the issue with the lapel mike and my having to refer to my notes more than normal, interrupted the sermon's flow.  I was disappointed not only to have that issue on Easter Sunday, but to recognize that I could have prevented it by preaching from the pulpit.

Content wise, I really thought this sermon worked.  One exception (and I've changed it in the written text below):  I indicated that King Herod had tried to kill Jesus at his birth and as part of the passion story.  Both are true, but I did not connect that it was King Herod the Great in the first instance and his son King Herod Antipas in the second instance.  

Christ is Risen.  he is risen indeed!

Move 1: where would you expect the resurrected Christ to go?

The tomb is empty and Christ is not there. Where is his next destination?

Where would you go if you were Jesus?

Quick getaway to heaven. Enough of his time on earth.,

Swing by Pontius Pilate's throne room to do a little gloating? Hey, Roman big shot. I'm back alive. You think you have power. Look at me.

Or a visit to King Herod. “Your father tried to kill me as a baby. Didn't work. You tried to kill me as an adult. Still didn't work.”

Jerusalem – the Temple. Let the chief priests and the scribes see how they had failed in their plot. Also, the temple was a holy place.

Or maybe Bethany. Jesus had been hanging out there with his friends Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Perhaps he might need a little quiet time after his death and resurrection.

I asked the Lenten Bible study where they would guess Jesus would go. Their initial reaction was that Jesus would go back home.

Move 2: They were right. Jesus did not go to heaven; or to see Pontius Pilate or King Herod; Jesus did not go to the Temple in Jerusalem; Jesus did not go to Bethany.

Jesus went to Galilee

a. Maybe the Lenten Bible study was right.

b. But I think there was more at stake than just visiting with family.

c. Galilee was an important place for Jesus' ministry.

1. Cana – first miracle in the Gospel of John when he turned water into wine at the wedding.

2. Sea of Galilee: Jesus walking on water to catch up to the disciples who had left earlier in a boat.

On another occasion Jesus slept in the stern and calming of the waters took place on the Sea of Galilee;

3. Capernaum, a fishing village in the Galilean region, was the home to several of the disciples and the sight of many of Jesus' miracles;

4. Nazareth, Jesus' hometown was in the Galilean region;

5. A lot of things had happened in Galilee.

b. The resurrected Christ returns to Galilee to confirm who he is.

1. As if to say, if you wondered how I was able to do the healings, now you know. I am in fact the Son of God.

2. If you need proof, notice that I have been raised from the dead.

3. His appearance in Galilee validates everything he had done there previously

c. As importantly, our resurrected Lord goes back to Galilee because that is where real life is happening.

1. Galilee is not Jerusalem, some holy place.

2. Galilee is not some special shrine where the prophets gather..

Galilee, the region that contains his hometown of Nazareth, where Jesus had grown up;

the region that includes Capernaum, where his disciples are from and where they have fished from their boats to make a living;

Capernaum – where Peter's mother-in-law gets sick;


Cana – where people get married.


3. the resurrection was not about disappearing from reality, but transforming reality.
   
   
4. Jesus does not run from the real world, but instead returns to it.
   
   
   d. the resurrection matters less as a theoretical possibility and more as a testimony to the power of God to transform our lives, even as God can transform death into life

1. the resurrection is about hope and new possibilities in the midst of our daily living.

2. If your marriage is on the rocks, the resurrection matters because Jesus comes back to place where families live and struggle to share the good news – things can be different.

If your mother or father or spouse or child is dying, or you have experienced the death of a loved one, the resurrection matters because Jesus comes back to the places where we live and experience loss to say here is the hope.  Death is not the final answer.  Resurrection awaits.

4. If you fervently pray for peace and worry about your loved one who is deployed in harm's way, the resurrection matters Jesus comes back to declare that the Prince of Peace will reign.

5. If your job security is threatened, the resurrection matters because Jesus comes back to remind us that our hope cannot rely on the economic ups and downs, that our hope can only be found in the God who loves us and comes to us.

6. If you feel alone and wonder about your value, the resurrection matters because Christ comes back to show you how much God loves you and how valuable you are in God's eyes.

10. the resurrection is not about some theological concept, but about a God who is alive and in our midst.


11. Jesus goes back to Galilee because the resurrection is about transforming the real world.
Move 3: The disciples also go back to Galilee.

a. The gospel of Mark suggests that in the uncertainty of Christ's death, the disciples are headed home, back to Galilee.

b. The young man at the tomb tells the women to tell the disciples that the resurrected Jesus will meet them there.

1. We are reminded that these disciples of Christ, who were broken by his death, now have resurrection work in which to engage.

2. They have served with Jesus in his life; they have witnessed his death; and now they will join him in the work of the resurrection.

3. They will go into the fishing villages and bring the good news of the resurrection in word and deed.


4. They will gather with friends and tell stories of the resurrection.


5. they will be at wedding receptions and witness to the power of God's love.


4. They will reach out with hope to the poor and the oppressed because they work for the resurrected one.


c. We have that same privilege and challenge – to serve the resurrected one in our world.


1. Donald English, for many years the spiritual leader of Methodism in Great Britain, said that the world doesn't need more salespersons for the gospel, just more free samples. (Christian Century, Oct. 25, 2011”Due diligence A lawyer’s journey to church” James A. Harnish


2. We do not have to sell the resurrection as a theological concept;
1. We are called to live the resurrection among our families, at our schools, our jobs, our neighborhoods; to share the hope we have and the power of God to resurrect and transform lives.
   
   
   Conclusion: the young man at the empty tomb tells the women – do not look for Christ here. He is raised from the dead.
   
   
   He has gone off to Galilee.
   
   
   He has gone off to Ohio.
   
   
   Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed.

* I am indebted to Bishop William Willimon's Easter sermon "To Galilee" that he preached Easter, 2007 (Collected Sermons of William Willimon, Westminster John Knox Press, 2010.  248-252).  He preached the sermon as the visiting bishop, who had been invited to preach that Easter morning by the minister whose son had committed suicide on that Good Friday.  At the heart of the sermon was the question, "Why did Jesus go to Galilee?"   That question stuck came to mind as I read the Mark passage for this year's Easter sermon.