Let us recall the words of the Easter Story as they are written in the Gospel of John, chapter 20 verses one through eighteen:
Scripture Reading John 20: 1-18
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.
So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.
Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.
Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,
as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.
Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.
(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb
and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Here ends this reading of the Word of God for the People of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Spirit of power and new possibility, through the scriptures, open our minds to understanding, our hearts to loving, and our wills to carrying out the mission of the Risen Christ, God’s Living Word. Amen.
This morning, we celebrate that Christ the Lord is Risen today. Alleluia!
On a brutal Friday afternoon, many, many years ago, Jesus Christ was put to death. The Roman rulers of Israel and the scared Temple Authorities thought they eliminated the problem of Jesus Christ, the man from Nazareth, a Galilean, who many people believed was the Messiah. The man we know was the Messiah.
Jesus’ teachings were inconsistent with the way Judaism was being practiced in the first century. If people followed Jesus, the Temple authorities would be irrelevant….they would be out of a job…they would be out of power. So, they eliminated their problem when they asked for Jesus to be put to death.
Or so they thought.
The Romans also were uneasy with Jesus. If he was truly the King of the Jews, and was god embodied in man, he was a threat to Roman rule. How could they rule Israel of a living God led the people against them? How could they ensure loyalty to the Romans and their government and their Caesar If Jesus was the real Messiah? The Romans would lose their control over their colonies if the colonized people rose up against them. So, they eliminated their problem when they put Jesus to death.
Or so they thought.
Early on the first Easter morning, despite Mary’s despair and confusion about the reality for the Resurrection, Jesus rose from the dead. What is impossible for man is possible for God. God loved the people of the world so much that God shared Jesus with us. And, then when the people of the world messed up and killed Jesus, God loved and forgave the people of the world and had Jesus rise from the dead.
And, when Jesus rose from the dead, he wasn’t a re-animated mummy. He wasn’t like Frankenstein or a zombie. He was restored to life with his mind and body healed and restored. Jesus seemed a tad more divine than a normal person – he could appear and disappear to his followers. But, it was Jesus, in the flesh, with the wounds he received on the cross – the nail holes in his hands, the mark on his side when his skin was pierced by a sword. Jesus was restored to life.
On the first Good Friday, humanity really missed the mark. We misunderstood Jesus’ presence. We misunderstood how to react to Jesus and his teachings. We were selfish. We were blind. We were cruel and brutal.
And, it was us. We may find it convenient to say the Jewish Temple Authorities called for Jesus’ death and the Romans crucified him, but if we were around 2000 years ago, who would we be? As much as I hope I would have understood Jesus and his significance, I suspect I would have been oblivious. People like me crucified Jesus. People like us crucified Jesus. People who are rule followers. People who follow orders. People who do their jobs. People who respect government. People who respect religious teachers. Patriotic people. Religious people. People like us.
Despite the ways we fail God, God does not fail us. On the first Good Friday, Jesus died because of human failure. Jesus died because of human sinfulness. And, Jesus died so that we would become reconciled to God. Jesus took our sins on his back and died for us. Because of Jesus and his love of us, our sins are forgiven. We are redeemed. Our sins are washed away, are washed down the drain.
Jesus’ resurrection is a reminder that God loves the people of the world. No matter how we fail…. No matter how we mess up… God forgives us. God loves us.
We are never alone in this life because God’s Holy Spirit is present with us. God’s Holy Spirit accompanies us through this life comforts us when we suffer. God loves us and forgives us. Jesus took our sins upon his shoulders when he died. And, Jesus was resurrected to show us that God forgives us and loves us no matter what.
The question of the day is “Now what?” Now that we are forgiven, how do we respond? Now that we know we are loved by God, how do we respond? Now we are reconciled to God, how do we respond?
Now what?
Jesus taught us the most important commandments we are to follow are to “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” In response to God’s love for us, we are to love God and love each other. So, as we claim the Easter faith, as we claim Christ resurrected, we are also called to work to love God with our whole hearts and to love each other will all our might.
Let’s do it.
Thanks be to God.
Christ the Lord is Risen Today. Alleluia!
Amen.
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