Alleluia Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!!
A couple of days ago I took a photo of this.
I had been given
this plant a couple weeks ago and had brought it home. I had just opened the bag of Reese’s and
Hershey’s and dumped them into a basket and put it all on the table. I captioned the photo on Facebook this way: Holy Week:
a sweet blend of life and death and life.
I didn’t take the photo to be silly or
funny. I took the photo because what I
was seeing on our kitchen table was so profound to me, on this Holy Week.
Holy Week truly is a reminder of
life. And death. And life.
You see, all week long I was observing
how some of you here and some who are unable to be here, seemed to be walking
along on this precipice of Life and Death and Life. I was, too.
The precipice that stood between what
was and what will be. Because often, we
must experience some kind of figurative or even a literal death to be able to
move into what will be.
This was palpable, it was tangible,
all week while one of our own, Steve, teeters on the precipice between his life
and his death…and his life. Those around
him are teetering, too, because their lives are changing as his life is
ending. None of them, none of us, will
be the same.
But we have hope, even in uncertainty,
we have hope.
It is because of what happened at the
tomb that day that we can believe, we can hope, we can trust that our lives do
not simply end when we die. Jesus
promises us everlasting life to those who believe in him.
That doesn’t mean that those three
days between the crucifixion and the resurrection were easy. The disciples were on a precipice throughout
their time with Jesus on earth. He
taught them, was an example for them, loved them, and told them that he would
die, and they would have to do what he taught them to do after he died.
And while they knew that all living
things died, just like most of us, they, just like most of us, were not
prepared to lose this one whom they loved and who loved them.
So, this precipice—this shaky
precipice where they have lost their guide—this precipice leaves them wondering
‘what next?’
What next, indeed? For three years, Jesus had prepared them, and
yet, they never really understood that who they were and what they were
preparing for would have to go on without Jesus walking with them.
He prepared everyone for his death as
best as he could, so that they would be able to follow his teaching and then
teach others after he was gone. He tried
to show the people who got lost in the weeds of old laws and doctrines how to
treat the forgotten people—the widows, the immigrants, the orphans, the sick,
the friendless, the needy—with dignity and respect.
And yet, no one quite understood the depth of his
teaching—or their responsibility to practice what he preached—until they met
him again in the resurrection.
In a way, the disciples were like baby
birds in the nest, every need was taken care of, and then, in an instant, they
were booted out of the nest. They were
booted out of the nest, left to fend for themselves. Even though they had all the tools and
instincts to survive, they had relied on their parents to support and teach
them.
The disciples were like those
birds—they had all the tools. They
needed Jesus to die so that they would be required to use them.
And so, he did. Jesus died.
But he did something no one else can do.
He resurrected. He did not leave
them wondering, worrying about what it was they needed to do next. He came back to tell them, again.
The story we heard today of Jesus
coming back is the one I find the most compelling. And while there are many elements to this
story from John’s Gospel, I always seem to focus on Mary.
She came to the tomb, alone. Imagine her grief. Imagine her fear, a woman, walking alone at
the break of day. Imagine her
courage. She isn’t preparing for
anything, she just needs to be near Jesus body.
But his body isn’t there.
Think about that. She is
confused. She is shocked. She is afraid. She is brave.
And then she hears her name. “Mary.”
And she knows. She knows that
this is her Jesus, her teacher. And
while she wants to hold onto him, to embrace him so that he will never leave
her again, Jesus tells her she can’t. He
can’t because he hasn’t ascended.
It is Jesus who is
on the precipice, now. He is between
life…and death…and life. And he has only
50 days to help everyone understand what comes next. To help them know who they are and what they
are to do and be as Jesus Followers.
Life. And
death. And life.
That is the miracle of Easter. That is the miracle of the resurrection. But…it is not the end of the story.
These next 50 days are days of preparation—of deep
preparation to do what it was Jesus was sent here to teach us to do: To proclaim the glory of God to all
people. All people.
You see, resurrection is a new beginning. It is a new beginning of our service to
God. It is a new beginning of our life
in relationship with God.
Life and death and life.
That is the hope of the resurrection.
Alleluia! Christ is
risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!