Introduction
Many years ago now, there was a young boy who loved Mister Rogers and Captain Kangaroo. He faithfully watched both shows every day. One day they announced that Mister Rogers would be visiting the Captain Kangaroo show. Oh my God, this had to be the perfect moment in time – the two things he loved the most in one place. He told the whole family about the upcoming event. He asked every day if this was the day for the show. Finally the day came. The whole family gathered around the tv set with him. The show came on for one minute – and then he walked out of the room. He father followed him thinking something was wrong. The little boy was overcome with emotion – this is just too much. I can’t take it any more. It is just too much goodness in one place I just cant take it all in.
Easter for me
That is how I feel about Easter Sunday. It is just too much to take in. Serving as the Associate for nine years, I have always had to prepare a sunrise service sermon, but that is nothing like having to do the big Easter Sermon. What can I possibly say in this sermon that is so much more special than my other sermons.
My favorite part of Easter is the Easter vigil the night before. Staying up all night, making sure everything is just perfect for Easter morning. Usually I am up all night making sure that all of my easter baskets are complete, making sure everything is ready when the kids come in the morning, making sure breakfast is complete when the sunrise service is over with. And somewhere in the middle of the night I have to get my sermon done. I am nervous that I am not going to have enough time to get everything done.
This year, Holy Week in general was pretty lame. There was no real pressure at all. I did not have to prepare any services during the week, just show up. My sermon was done before sundown on Saturday (that will never happen again, I can assure you), I emailed, Cari, the tenant ahead of time to make sure that I could use her drive way so that I didn’t get a ticket this year for parking overnight, I even picked up the flowers way before the greenhouse was about the close. It appears that Easter will be a pretty normal day this year. Long, but not stressful.
The Resurrection Story
But you know I think that is the Easter message for us in this modern times. We are so accustomed to television dramas – so we think that in order to be special, there has to be stress, there has to be some problem solved, some deep questioned answered. There has to be some earth shattering event that shakes us up and makes us pay attention.
And yet that is not the resurrection story that you find the gospel of Mark. Mark’s story is a very subdued story. A story about a group of women, who came to a friends tomb, actually after the sun had already come up. Preparing to say goodbye and to make sure that he was prepared to his journey into eternity.
A large boulder stood between them and their task of love. Some say that the boulder was so big because it protected the body within. Others say that the boulder was so big because it protected the living from what was inside. The living and the dead had to be kept separate. There had to be some kind of boundary between them. I often what boulders stand between us and Jesus today? What stands in the way of us hearing the resurrection story. What is our boulder of separation between who we are today – and who Jesus is asking us to become. And what angel is going to come along and roll away the stone for us?
What the women found
Ironically the women came that morning looking for Jesus and they found – absolutely nothing. No body, no burial cloth, no resurrection appearance, no voice from beyond. Just an angel explaining that what you came to see it not here. So you might as well just move on, tell your friends that if you want to see Jesus, you need to move on. Go on the galilee and you will find what you are looking for there.
It is interesting that the first witnesses went to the tomb looking for Jesus, and found nothing. And yet Paul, intentionally ran away from Jesus and he saw everything. The verses in first Corinthians is a creed of what Paul came to believe. A belief that changed his whole life, that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, rose and appeared to those who believe in him.
Both stories teach a valuable lesson for us today about witnessing the easter story. When we come to the tomb looking for Jesus, what do we see – everything or nothing. It all depends on what we are looking for. The resurrection is not an event that can be explained. It can only be lived. We can never tell what happened on Easter, the truth is we don’t know. We can only tell what we saw in our lives when we came to that event, that Easter morning , for us here at the church sitting together in faith.
Reconcilartion, blessing, forgiveness, healing, life, love, renewal, salvation, joy, peace, grace, hope, good news, holy, resurrection, transformation, new – these are just some of the words of the Easter season.
These are just some of the ways that the resurrection story makes a difference in our lives. Walter Brugeeman says that Easter is not a day – it is a verb – it is what we do to show God’s love in our lives.
Modern Witnesses
Most people, when they are testing a microphone, they say one two three- or some other meaningless words. Billy Graham always recites the scripture For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He says that he does it because if no one gets his message, at least the sound technician will get something. Rachel and Bill work every day jobs, but they look forward to going out on the weekends and participating in RAK - random acts of kindness, they make a point to leave quarters in the landromat, gift cards in the grocery store, water on the bike trail. Anything to help others learn the love of God. Another couple lost their son in a car accident, and now have a website to help other parents with loss, a group of teenagers started a blog to tell other teens the importance of living a spiritual life. What do we do in our lives to witness to the Easter story.
When we live like that as the Easter people, people don’t have to believe in the resurrection of Christ, because they can live it for themselves. The gospel of mark wants us to understand that Easter is not an event – it is a verb It is not something to believe in, it is something to live by. It is not a special day, when we became witnesses to an extraordinary truth. The truth that peace transforms violence. When forgiveness transforms broken relationships, where life, transforms boredom, where confidence transforms fear, when the ordinary becomes holy.
The Messianic Secret
Not by what happened, but by what didn’t happen. Not by what we saw, but by what we didn’t see, not by what we understand, but by what remains a mystery.
We have been studying the book of Mark all year, and I told you that Mark is the story of the messianic secret. Jesus doesn’t want anyone to know who he really is and what he is doing. Mark ends with a bit of mystery in this story. As a matter of fact, Mark ends the resurrection story in without even finishing the sentence. Mark ends by saying that the women fled the tomb and said nothing to no one because they were afraid. He never tells us whether they made it to Jerusalem, whether they say Jesus, or how their lives were transformed. This morning we read the longer version of Mark, which is believed to have been added by a later writer – where Jesus appears and tells them to make disciples of others, and the world is able to hear the message.
Yet Mark intended to end the story in mystery, he left us hanging on purpose. The story is not over until we get out of our seats and become witnesses to the resurrection. Until we realize that this is not all that there is for us. Jesus has gone on ahead of us- and the best is yet to come.
Who Holds the Future
A professor once had to give a speech at a conference on the future. And others have all kinds of speeches on their predictions for the future. What the economy was going to be like, what kind of technology would be developed, what kind of relationships we would have with others. In the midst of all of these predictions, his speech was that he had no idea of what was going to happen in the future. All he knew was that God was already there in the future and in complete control of whatever happened. Just as Jesus is ahead of us in the days to come to show us the power of transformation – if we are willing to be witnesses – but anyway I digress. Ten years later, the professor retired and was looking at all of those predictions – he laughed, because he was the only one who was right about what would happen.
That is the beauty of Mark – he ends his story by saying they were afraid for – for what – no one really knows.
What this means for us
We really don’t know what happened the night – between Jesus death and resurrection, we will never know how it happened – did Jesus just wake up, or did the angels revive him – who knows. But we do know why it happened –
So that we could have the experience of an empty tomb. And have a choice to either be witnesses to nothing – or something. To live in life believing that Jesus is ahead of us – working out our transformation – or not. To become a part of the never ending story – or do nothing at all.
In the coming weeks, during the season of Easter – I will be preaching about the power of resurrection and transformation. The point of Easter is to invite each of us to tell our own stories. Live on in peace! Amen.
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