May only truth be spoken, and truth received. Amen.
The
women in our text today, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and others,
were broken-hearted, confused and their spirits were in turmoil. They were
still reeling from the events that had taken place over the last few days. Their
time with Jesus seemed all too brief. Not only did it end much too soon, but it
ended in a way for which none of them were prepared. While it was true that
they had heard him refer to his death at various times, none of them expected
things to come crashing down the way they did. None of them truly believed what
Jesus had been telling them all this time.
At
the beginning of the week, when he had entered Jerusalem, the whole town had
been moved by his presence. People stripped palms from the trees and threw down
their cloaks to cushion the steps of the donkey upon which he rode. They
rejoiced greatly as they sang glad hosannas to his name. They gave so much
praise that some of the religious leaders wanted him to quiet the crowd. Just
one week ago, today, these women had come for Jesus’ triumphant entry into
Jerusalem. Now they are draped in their garments of mourning, and with
tear-stained eyes and with trembling hands they carry bottles of ointment to
anoint his dead body. They have come in the dark to the tomb where they expect
to find his dead, cold and partially decayed body. They still couldn’t believe
it – Jesus was dead! The man who everyone thought was going to save them from the
Romans was crucified like a lowly criminal!
Now
here we are on the first day of the week, at first light, and the women are
headed to finish the work on preparing Jesus body because, by Jewish law, they
weren’t able to do so on the Sabbath. Boy, were they ever surprised to find the
stone rolled away and the tomb empty! The women went to the tomb expecting to
finish the burial process and were surprised to find the tomb empty. But how can
that be? Dead people stay dead…don’t they?
But
their Lord was not in the tomb, because he had risen just as he had said he
would, just as he told them all throughout his ministry. Jesus had told them
that he would be handed over to sinners, crucified, and then rise again on the
third day. He told them so, and now these women, standing in the empty tomb,
remembered his words. And they ran. They ran straight back to the rest of the disciples
to proclaim the Good News – Jesus has risen from the dead! These women, Mary Magdalene,
Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and others, instantly went from disciples to
evangelists.
Except
for one thing…no one believed them. Luke wrote, “But these words seemed to them
an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” You could easily slough it off
and say, “well, in that time, women weren’t considered credible sources.” But
how often are the words of women cast aside simply because they are women, even
today? Despite these women being the first proclaimers of the Good News, there
are still denominations and countries that feel women are not fit to be
preachers. So, Peter and the other men declare their disbelief in the women’s
statements and Peter runs to the tomb to see things with his own eyes. And he
reports back that he found things exactly as Mary, Mary Magdelene, and the
other women said it would be. Can’t you picture at least one of them, hands on
hips, staring the men down, and thinking, or even saying, “We told you so!”
The
women, carrying their precious spices and ointments to minister to the body of
Jesus, didn’t expect resurrection. Peter, running to the tomb after the women’s
declaration that Jesus’ body wasn’t there, didn’t expect resurrection. And I’m
sure none of them had a clue as to what was going on. The resurrection is hard
to believe. It was surprising, despite Jesus’ constant warnings, and it was beyond
anything that the people could believe or imagine. The resurrection is hard to
believe and hard to understand, so let’s not pretend we have a clue as to what really
happened that day.
We
may not understand it, but the resurrection is everything to us, as Christians.
Without the resurrection of Jesus, he was just another prophet, martyred for stirring
up the public and standing by what he claimed, despite knowing he’d be killed
for his words. Jesus’ resurrection changed everything; it turned the world on
its head. The New Testament offers no account of the act of the resurrection of
Jesus. We have reports of the empty tomb, and in the weeks to come, during the
weeks of Easter season, we will hear the stories of encounters with the risen
Christ. But we have no stories, no account, no evidence of the actual
resurrection event. No one was in the tomb with Jesus to see what actually happened.
This
is where our faith comes into play – is it true even if no one saw it happen? If
the resurrection of Jesus is not true, Paul says to the Corinthians, “we are of
all people most to be pitied.” If the resurrection of Jesus is not true, then
we are doomed to very short and pointless lives, and to be defeated by the
suffering that we continue to see all around us, to be defeated by death
itself.
What
could we possibly use to measure the impact that the resurrection of Jesus has
had upon the world – the ways in which forgiveness, joy, reconciliation,
self-giving love and charity have wrought miracles and abundance on the face of
this earth in the time since we have first heard that Jesus is risen from the
dead? How does this surprising and inexplicable event continue to change the
world?
The
moment God raised Jesus from the dead, the world was turned inside out. and we
say that it is no less true today than it was on the first day; it is no less
miraculous today than it was on the first day – no less shocking, no less
joyful, no less important, no less life-changing and meaningful. The power of
the resurrection is that it turned terrified followers hiding out in fear into
bold witnesses then, and it still does today. When a group of people are no
longer afraid of death, whether it's because they have nothing left to lose or
because they believe in the movement or because they believe that death is not
the end, those people are the most dangerous of all to societal status quo. Those
are the people who affect change. Those are the people who fight for justice
and peace.
Resurrection
people are willing to speak truth to power, to live their lives authentically
and loudly, even in the face of hate. And every time we get a hint of the resurrection,
the empire loses a bit of power, the world gains a bit more courage, and we
start to bring about the kingdom of God on earth, as it is in heaven. The women
told us so, now it’s time to tell others. This is not the time to stay quiet.
Alleluia! Jesus is risen!
Jesus is risen indeed! Alleluia!
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