April 11, 2004
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I heard a preacher say Thursday evening that it is sometimes
hard to know how special a moment will be when we are in the middle of it.
He went on to say, “did you know when you tied your children’s shoes
that you were doing it for the last time before they made it known that they
could do it all by themselves? If you had known that you were at such an
important rite of passage, would you have done anything differently? Did the
disciples know the Seder meal they shared in that upper room would be their last
supper with Jesus before he his crucifixion? The resurrection story is a moment
that grows in consequence as we consider the moments surrounding it.
Luke understands the moment so he begins his account of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ with a word that signals a shift in what has come
before. As we heard in Good Friday services, Jesus was beaten, mocked, unjustly
tried in corrupt courts, and given a cross he was too weak to carry by himself. He was hung up like a common criminal, confronted by two
thieves, one who challenged him and another who asked to be remembered by him.
With his last bit of energy, Jesus said as loudly as he could, “Father, into
your hands I commend my spirit” (22.26), and then he died. People left the scene in mourning; his stunned followers
stood away at some distance trying to take it all in and Joseph of Arimethea, a
council member who opposed the persecution of Jesus got permission to bury the
body in a never used tomb. The burial had to be done quickly so that everything
could be done before Sabbath began at sundown. They rested on the Sabbath. All of that has come before. “But on
the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the
spices they had prepared” (v.1) “But” is a conjunction that joins what is happening now
with what happened before. “I would have been here on time, but the phone rang
just as I was walking out the door and I went back to answer it.” “I hear
what you are saying, but…”. After a day of Sabbath rest, the women came to anoint the
body of Jesus with spices, it was what the custom of the day required,
but…things had changed more than they knew. But, they were at a kairos moment,
a moment in time that cannot be measured in minutes, or hour, or days, weeks,
months, or even years. A kairos moment is a God moment; it is a moment like no
other. They cannot imagine what might have happened when they
arrived at the burial place and discover that the stone that sealed the tomb has
been rolled away, the grave linens are in place, but there is no body in the
tomb. Overcome by grief, by exhaustion, by their disappointment, they don’t
know what to think. Sometimes when we are most confused, God brings a word of
hope to us. Over and over God invites us into the divine presence with the words
that tell us not to be afraid. Over and over in our lives God redeems moments of
panic, grief, and fear by bringing into our lives people who help us to find a
sense of calm again. When we are surrounded by confusion bad news, God will send
someone to remind us that good news is greater. So on this glorious morning the
figures in white, angels most likely are but bearers of God’s good news. Then they have a visitation, in scene that reminds us of the
Transfiguration when Jesus and the disciples when up on a mountain and Jesus two
figures, appearing in dazzling white, come to the women.
The women fall to the ground afraid to look at the figures.
The angelic figures have a question and a proclamation. “why
do you look for the living among the dead? (v5)” “The one you are looking for is not here. Take your
burial spices back home, you will not need them today. Jesus Christ, was
crucified, dead, and buried. That is true enough. However, nevertheless,
but…God has raised him up. That is the great good news of Easter.” The moment becomes clearer as the angels keep talking.
“Don’t you remember? He told the disciples, you and all the others that the
day would come when he would be handed over. He would be crucified and on the
third day, God would raise him up? This is the day! They do remember and their
grief becomes joy. The horrible fog lifts, they see clearly that what Jesus said
was true! Now the celebration of Easter begins. Now these followers of
Jesus, who had traveled with him and who had supported him from their own means (8.1f), can know in their hearts and in their spirits that Jesus
was a prophet and teacher like no other. Now they can begin the bold declaration
that has brought us from that first resurrection morning to this one. Jesus is
no longer among the dead, but by the mercies and miracles of God, he lives.
They run to tell the others. Notice that “the women are not commanded
to go and tell the disciples, as both Mark and Matthew have it. The women are
not errand runners for disciples; Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and
Joanna are disciples. They simply told the of their encounter at the tomb to the
gathered community in the same excited way that other resurrection witnesses
will tell it” (Interpretation
series. Luke. Fred Craddock. Louisville. John Knox Press 1990, 283). Except, however, but…when they left the tomb to go tell the
other disciples that Jesus has been raised from the dead, they were not met with
the expected enthusiasm, they were met with skepticism. Their excitement is
negated with that word again, “But these words seemed to them an idle tale –
it was no more than gossip. To them, the women were simply spreading rumors and
unverified facts and they did not believe them. Peter at least wants to see for himself. He makes his way
quickly to the tomb. He looks in, sees that what the women said was true and
goes back home amazed. Is he amazed because he believes the body has been
stolen? Is he upset that the messengers did not come to him first, or is the
source of his amazement the resurrection itself? Here is where we are tempted to judge the unbelief of the
disciples. And it is here that we do well to remember that we have the benefit
here. One writer puts it this way: “It is our anticipation that gives us a distinct advantage
over those early morning visitors to the tomb. We know what is going to happen,
or rather what has already happened. The revelation of the Risen Christ is not a
future event for us. But it was for them. Not only was it a future event for
them, but it was also unimaginable. Their hearts and minds were wrapped in
grief, in a depth of sorrow that even those who have experienced great loss or
clinical depression cannot fathom. For them, both the top and the bottom had
fallen out of their world. They were lost, confused, and frightened. “It is not as though Jesus had left them without the
necessary information for a seed of hope to exist. He had taught them and
encouraged them. Yet His absence, His apparently ‘permanent’ absence had
shattered them. Then, news began to come. Amazing news that challenged them to
believe what no one could hope to believe” (Fred
L. Teagle, Jr. “Believing the Unbelievable” Reflective Commentary. Luke 24.
1-12, March 24, 2004). It seemed like an idle tale to them, not worth very much, not
really worth believing. There are people in the world and one or two in the
church who believe the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a fantasy, it is too
irrational, too fantastic, it doesn’t hold up to science, it just can’t be. However, but, the message of the church is that in the shadow
of the now empty cross, and vacant tomb we will declare it anyway, not because
the resurrection is gossip, but because it is the truth on which the church
stands. I agree with the writer who says: “It is no exaggeration to claim that the discovery of the
empty tomb is the heart of the matter for the Christian faith. Paul’s words
echo somewhere on the edge of our consciousness: ‘if
Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your
faith has been in vain…we are of all people most to be pitied (I
Corinthians 15.14, 19). The New Testament never suggests that the death of Jesus
would have been adequate for salvation apart from the resurrection of Jesus. The
two are fused so that neither can be considered apart from the other. It is not
just that someone was raised from the dead but that God raised Jesus from the
dead, it is not just that someone was crucified but that the one who was
crucified had proclaimed the kingdom and that his death was redemptive. The
resurrection of Jesus is God’s response to Jesus’ death, God’s vindication
of Jesus, and God’s validation of Jesus’ preaching of the kingdom to the
poor, the outcast, and the penitent. In Luke, the matter is expressed not just
in twelve verses, but in these words: ‘He is not here;
he is risen.’ (New
Interpreter’s Bible, volume IX Luke-John. Nashville: Abingdon. 1995, p.
472). Those first disciples did remember what Jesus had said, and
what he had done and how he had taught and inspired them, and they continued to
tell the story. That is the news we celebrate and declare today. The tomb is
empty, Christ has been raised and because he is, we can be raised up too. So we
claim our resurrection declaration and we tell it whenever we go. We have some
examples of how to do it. We can with the angels say the tomb is empty because the
message of Jesus is true. We can say that if it seems like and idle tale,
acknowledge that it is an incredible story, if God would give Jesus the power to
raise from death a widow’s son (Luke
7.11-15), and a twelve year old girl (Matthew
9. 23-25; Mark 5. 35-43), and if God would give to Jesus the power to raise from
death to life his friend Lazarus (John
11), surely God would and could and did raise Jesus from his
burial place. Because the tomb is empty, new possibilities for life and
ministry have opened for us. We can go like the women, prepared to do what
we’ve always done and then find a new mission when we receive and believe the
news that Jesus Christ lives. We can stop looking for what is alive among the dead. Look
beyond despair to hope, let the risen Christ lead you from anger to
reconciliation, from what cannot be to what can and will be. If we are the
beginning of the new thing God wants to do here, today is a good day for us to
discard dead dreams, make the living ones come true. New life is possible, but
not in the cemetery. Life is found in the places where hearts beat and minds
think, and our deepest feelings are open and eager and waiting for what God will
do. The disciples remembered, we can remember too. We can remember all that Jesus said about love, about
accountability to God and each other. We can remember how he faced down
temptation, nurtured children, cared for adults, loved his enemies and prayed
for everyone, especially the church. We can remember his call to feed the
hungry, clothe the naked, give water to the thirsty, visit and do as he calls us
to do. We can remember that he fought despair in the garden of
Gethsemane, forgave his tormentors, and laid down his life for the sake of the
world. We can like Peter run to see for ourselves that the tomb is empty and get
past our amazement and to a place of ministry that helps others see the
resurrected Christ. It will happen on the Emmaus road and on the seaside beach
and in your life and in mine. Then if we must be amazed, let our amazement be this, that
the faith we inherited from whoever first told us about the empty tomb is now
the faith we own. What a great and glorious moment it is when we declare with
the voices of the faithful, “he is not here; he is
risen.” Alleluia. The Lord is risen, the Lord is risen indeed. To God
be the glory and may the living Christ be praised.
Amen. Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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