An Idle Tale

April 4, 2010
Easter Sunday
Psalm 118
Luke 24:1-12
An Unlikely Tale
Year C

Woodrow Wilson’s butler called him one night to tell him that the tax accountant for the government had died. Sir, I was wondering if it s okay with you if I could take his place. Now mind you this is the middle of the night – butler- tax accountant. President Wilson responds – you know it doesn’t matter to me if you want to take his place – but you should probably ask the funeral director if it is okay.
The women in Jesus life have gathered to go to the tomb of Jesus. They want to anoint the body. That’s what you do when you are family – you show love and care to the body by rubbing it in spices. They have been through a hard ordeal, traveling with the teacher, believing and being inspired by his message, watching him beaten and killed for all of the wrong reasons, seeing your family fall apart from the stress, feeling like you have to do something – only to witness the final insult – his body is gone.
Bodies don’t just disappear on their own, they don’t just walk away on their own, - something had to have happened. After all they have done to this man – how could they have deprived Jesus of his final resting place? Seeing two men near the grave – she says – sir if you have taken him, just give him back, so that I can give him that final dignity of resting in peace.
The two men were really angels. And they ask her an important question. A question that certainly should have been asked of Woodrow Wilson – but needs to be asked of us today – why do you continue to look for the living amongst the dead.
If there was a body to speak of everything would be different now. If he had a final resting place- if there was a place we could go to honor his memory – we wouldn’t need to come today or any Sunday.
Even as those who come together to celebrate the resurrection – we still find ways to look for Jesus among the dead. Knowing that we will never find him – but we look anyway.
When we seek comfort instead of righteousness – we are looking for life in the midst of death. When we are in constant pursuit of pleasure and forsake joy – we are looking for life in the midst of death. When we seek security and what is best for us, instead of reaching out to help others – we are looking for life in the midst of death. When we are much more willing to listen to what the world says, and forget what god says – we are looking for life in the midst of death.
Looking for the living amongst the dead. There are times when we have to do that. I think of the recent Haiti disaster. I have a picture here of the cross that survived, when the church was destroyed. (I will pass it around).
There were people in that disaster and many others – who had the task of looking for the living amongst the dead. Who had to go through that rubble of each fallen building – and look for life in the midst of death. Who had to examine every body for signs of life. And at any sign of life, they had to stick with that person until they were taken to safety. No matter how the faint the sign may be- if they are alive then they have to be nurtured back to health. We have that type of obligation to life.
Things would have certainly been different if they had found a body. If we had found a body. Our obligation to death and to life are very different. Death can take care of itself – but it is in life that we have an obligation to carry on. In the midst of our circumstances of life, our troubles, our hardaches, our questions, our destiny. Death can give us easy answers. But when we are still alive, and we don’t know what to do, or what comes next, or how things will work themselves out- that’s when we need a resurrection faith.
Faith in an empty tomb – faith in a promise of new life, faith in divine intervention in a way that makes no sense, faith that death has been conquered, so that we will have to strength to go on in life. Faith that God will succeed and conquer all.
Lenin fashioned himself as a savior of the people. He told them that communism would save them. He told them that there was no need for faith. It didn’t do anything but give false hope. He promised his people a better life, he even took the time to teach people a new way of understanding. And then he died. At his death – the question was asked – what do you do with a God who has failed you? They actually did the same thing that the women at the tomb were planning to do with Jesus. Anoint his body with spices, preserve it, give it a nice home, and put it on display as a monument so that people from generation to generation could come and see death. And yet remember to point he was trying to make. Why do we continue to look for the living amongst the dead.
The empty tomb is a witness to a God who does not fail, but who has won the ultimate victory. The triumph of life over death. There is no body for us to remember and show respect to, there is no principle for us to be reminded of.
There is a life that we are to live. There is a story that we are to tell, there is an event that we are to witness to. There is no body – there are only people. People who choose life over death anyday.
When the women went to tell the disciples what they had witnessed. No one believed them. It couldn’t be- God never intercedes like that, no one has ever been resurrected. No one who had died, has ever come back to life. Peter even went to the grave himself – he saw the empty tomb. He saw the proof for himself that the body was gone – it had indeed just walked away. And yet he didn’t believe. It didn’t make sense. He did not see the life in such a tragic event.
The world is the same – the world sees proof everyday of a god who won – a living faith. And yet they refuse to believe.
It is easier to believe in easter bunnies, and chocolate, and eggs, than it is to believe in life over death. The good news is that Easter is not a day or an event – Easter is life unfolding, and God revealing, each and every day.
Jesus came to each an every one of them – to reveal the truth and to show them proof of the resurrection. With each passing day – they understood a little bit better, and they saw a little more clearer.
The good news is the Easter is still unfolding, God is revealing, Jesus Christ is alive an still appearing to his disciples, and we still get the chance to choose life over death. There is not body – only people. When we celebrate and sing Hallelujah God wins. When we live as if we believe that Easter is a life changing event – God wins. Otherwise this all is just another idle tale- as his own disciples believed long ago.
Let us pray…
Lord,
the resurrection of Your Son
has given us new life and renewed hope.
Help us to live as new people
in pursuit of the Ways of Christ.
Grant us wisdom to know what we must do,
the will to want to do it,
the courage to undertake it,
the perseverance to continue to do it,
and the strength to complete it.
New Saint Joseph People's Prayer Book

Amen.