Sermon Preached on April 8, 2007 at the Easter Sunrise Service in the historic church on the circle in Tallmadge, Ohio
Luke 24:1-12
Dedicated to my wife, Betsy, who helps me to see Easter, and always to the glory of God.
In all of the gospels, even though they tell the story of Easter morning in different ways, they all agree it all happened on Sunday, on the first day of the week. The women didn’t visit the grave on Saturday because that was the Sabbath, but Sunday is the beginning of a new week, and like our Monday, it is the day to get back to normal life. So it is that Mary Magdalene and the others go out to visit the tomb in the morning on the first day.
Before we go on with the story, I want to stay with those very first words we read in the gospel, “on the first day,” because I believe that these words speak a truth about you and me. Today is the first day. And if today is the first day, then it implies that there will be more days to follow, it implies that Easter may not be a one-day experience that demands an immediate understanding, or an instant conversion from grief to joy. Rather, Easter is a journey of many days, weeks and years of deepening faith, and growing trust in this God who is always greater than we can understand.
I can remember the first days of school, or the first days at a new job, before I knew anyone’s name, before I knew how to get from one room to another, before I really knew what I was doing and wondered how I would ever learn and get through it. Or, the first day may be for you the first day after retirement, after moving to a new home, or the first day after someone has died. Sometimes we finish the first day overwhelmed, confused, and exhausted. The only way we can go on is that part of us knows it won’t always be like this. As we go on, things will become clearer and we will find our place and we will begin to feel at home again. The promise of Easter is to come home to a home like we’ve never known, the home where we are loved and made whole, the home where all is well.
We come to celebrate Easter on the first day.
Some of us come on Easter already believing a lot.
Some of us come believing a little bit.
Some of us come because the only way to get the big Easter meal is to go to church with family. That’s ok - not a bad way to come.
Some of us come not believing much but wanting to believe it is true.
I don’t think that the first visitors to the tomb believed much of anything, or had any idea what to make of it. The women find the empty tomb and they stand there wondering. They go to tell the disciples what they have seen, and the disciples think that it’s nonsense. Peter alone goes to see for himself. And what does Peter do when he has seen the empty tomb with his own eyes? Luke tells us that he goes home with wonder. He goes home, just like you and I are going to do!
We need times in our lives when we are not trying to figure things out, not trying to see how this will apply to the future as we map out a plan, not reviewing our past mistakes and successes, but simply taking it in. Today might be one of those days. We can spend time later talking about just what the resurrection means. But today is simply a day to celebrate the resurrection, to bask in its mystery. To say: I’m still not sure, after all these years, exactly what to make of it, but I need to be present on this day to hear the story, tell the story, sing the story of the tomb that closed death in but was opened by God for life.
The writers of the gospels simply say “Christ is risen” but we may want more details. We’re educated people, we operate by getting information and making thoughtful decisions, and we want to know more than just “Christ is risen.” But to them, they had already said all that was important to say. They don’t say Christ is risen, which means that his cells rejuvenated and the blood began pumping again with oxygen from his lungs which had re-expanded.
And they don’t say Christ is risen, but now he has a new, spirit-like body that we can see like a vision. Sometimes we can touch him, sometimes he walks through locked doors, and we don’t always recognize him, it’s a different kind of life.
And they don’t say Christ is risen, and that’s a metaphorical truth about life after death, and new life following tragedy, like spring follows winter, and the sun rises after the coldest hour of night.
They don’t explain. They just say Christ is risen, and perhaps that should be enough for us.
I am afraid that Easter can be one of the worst days for the Christian church. I’m afraid that there will be a lot of explaining about how we know that the resurrection is true, that it really happened. We all have questions about Easter. It’s a very strange story. And so, in the name of Christ, many preachers who have much better things to be doing will try, on this day, to explain away all of our questions. They think: today’s the only day I’ve got to take care of all their doubts and questions, especially for those people I’m not going to see until Christmas. For them, the importance of this day will be whether or not we believe that it really happened, because it’s important separating those of us who believe it from those people who don’t. What a sorry way to spend this day that passes understanding.
What’s important today is not that we get our thinking all lined up good and orderly. It’s just the opposite. This day is about getting our thinking knocked out of joint enough that we can see the world from new angles. Instead of questioning the truth of the resurrection, we should allow the resurrection to question us. And there are at least two questions I think we might be asked.
1. Where are the places in life where you have given up hope too soon? That’s what happened to the disciples. Where have we given up hope too soon?
I’ve given up hope of ever getting along better with that person.
I’ve given up hope that I could find work that engages my heart, so I’ll just keep doing this job that drains my spirit.
I’ve given up hope of a happiness ever since that injury, or illness, or that traumatic life-changing event.
I’ve given up hope that we can live in peace with other nations and people.
I’ve given up hope that we can leave the world in good shape for our grandchildren.
Where have you given up hope too soon?
2. The resurrection might also ask this: do you treasure your life as much as God does? God treasures life so much, even death is turned around.
But do we walk around feeling dead to laughter?
Do we feel dead to our fellow human beings?
Do we feel dead to the beauty and wonder in the world?
Do we move from day to day, just trying to make it through the next hard and difficult step, or are we able to smile at the undeserved gifts of a safe place to live, food to eat, and family and neighbors who show us care?
The people who inspire me the most are the ones in their 70’s, 80’s, 90’s who have lived through tragedy and heartache, whose bodies are failing them, whose friends are dying, and yet they look at the world with eyes of wonder and joy, and make you feel good just to be alive. You know people like that, don’t you? They live by the light of Easter.
Do your treasure your life as much as God does?
These are not questions for us to understand and answer in one day, but questions to be lived out over a lifetime. Understanding can wait. On the first day, we simply take it all in with great wonder. We say Christ is risen.
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