Happy Easter!
Christ is Risen!
He is risen indeed!
“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”(Luke 24:5)
‘Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”(John 20: 28-29)
Lost and Found
As we approached Jerusalem
the crowd stood at the gate
and cried in tear-choked voice”:
“We are lost
in his death.”
Upon the hill
the angels sang:
“We are found
in his rising.”
(Ann Weems)
Easter
Just when I though
there would be no more light
in the Jerusalem sky,
the Bright and Morning Star
appeared
and the darkness has not overcome it.
(Ann Weems)
My haiku for this morning:
‘Angels fill the hole
with resurrection splendour.
Paradoxical!’
We are Easter people! Sing your alleluias! Make a joyful noise! Dance, pray, smile, laugh.
Easter blessings and love,
Barbara
Easter Sunday, 2020. Rev Barbara Allen
[hymn suggestions: people can access some of these on-line, or read them in their hymn books. These suggestions are from Together in Song (TIS):
365: Christ the Lord is risen today
720: Halle, halle, halle, hallelujah!
392: At the dawning of salvation
362: Jesus Christ is risen today
382: Now the green blade rises from the buried grain
242: I danced in the morning
228: Crown him with many crowns
380: Yours be the glory, risen, conquering Son
390: Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord.
Call to Worship
With Mary, let us approach the tomb.
With Mary, let our surprise and grief-be turned to joy.
With Mary, we hear Christ call our names.
Let us give thanks to our risen Lord who has triumphed over death.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Amen
Prayer
O God, to you belong all praise and glory.
Easter is a glorious season, a time to remember your power-and your love.
The stone was rolled away, and our fears of death were rolled away as well.
You brought life out of death, and have promised that to us also.
God of wonder, that the tomb should be empty on that Easter morning is as unbelievable to us as it was to Mary; that one should die and be raised again for all, is beyond our comprehension.
Yet though our minds be stretched beyond their limit, by the gift of faith we do believe.
We praise the risen Jesus, alive and present in our midst.
Because Jesus stooped to comfort the least of your people, those on the margin, the overlooked, we too have hope that you can lift our spirits, when we despair.
When we face troubled times, you comfort us, strengthen us, and love us.
Fill us with hope as we behold Christ’s resurrection.
The miracle of Easter shows us that nothing is impossible for you-and that nothing in life or in death can separate us from your love.
Alleluia!
Amen.
Bible Reading: John 20: 1-18
Sermon
There is a picture of the empty tomb, with the stone rolled to the side. The caption reads: Missing, presumed dead.
-missing, presumed dead.
‘Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.’
Easter: the mood of the Easter Season is a rollercoaster of emotions: from grief and loss, to waiting-and patience-and finally it is Easter Sunday, the most important day in the church calendar. Christmas is essential-we need the Son of God to be born among us-we need the death on Good Friday-but Easter Sunday is the most important-because if there was no resurrection-no empty tomb-then the baby Jesus remains just a baby, and Good Friday just a day of death.
We as Christians know that if there was no resurrection, we have nothing to stand on.
We worship a risen Lord.
This year, we cannot attend a church gathering, but the ‘alleluias’ still abound in our hearts. We are still the church.
He has risen! Alleluia!
And yet, like the Christmas story, it is all too easy to rush through the Easter story.
After sombre Good Friday-we hurry through Easter Saturday-eager to get to the good part.
BUT stop!
Listen!
We know the quote ‘take time to smell the flower’
Slow down-or you’ll miss some jewels of the Easter story.
In John’s account, we hear that Mary came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.
The gospel accounts of the First Easter are, to a degree, so familiar that we tend to merge them together.
John does not say why Mary went to the tomb-but it was not in order to anoint the body (as in Mark and Luke). In John’s account, the preparation of the body -to mask the odours, and to show respect and devotion of family and friends-had already taken place-carried out by Nicodemus.
Mary goes to the tomb- in order to grieve
-away from others
-to weep in private.
She comes to the tomb while it is still dark.
John is the only gospel to state that it was dark.
Matt and Luke say that it was dawn.
Mark-that the ‘sun had risen.’
John may be using the word ‘dark’ to convey to us that Mary has not grasped what has happened.
-she ‘saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb’
-all that the empty tomb means to Mary at this stage is that the body of Jesus has been stolen.
-she hasn’t grasped the deeper significance.
‘She saw.’
Seeing is believing
But not yet.
How well do we see? Ever driven home-and you can’t remember how you got home? You were so intent on what was going on in your mind, that you weren’t aware of what you were doing, or seeing?
How many of you have ever been on a familiar, maybe your daily, walk-and not noticed something that has been there for a long time?
We see…but not see.
Mary rushes back to tell the other disciples, Simon Peter and John.
‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb…’
Although we are not told whether she looked into the tomb-Mary has assumed, because of the removal of the stone-that the body has been taken.
Her concern was legitimate.
Emperor Claudius had issued a decree stating that anyone who removed a corpse or robbed a tomb was subject to capital punishment.
Would the disciples then be blamed for the empty tomb? For the removal of the body?
Her time of grief turns to shock; she rushes back to report to Peter and John.
Seeing is believing
Or
Seeing is not believing
Or
Seeing is not seeing!
The race between the disciples, Peter got there first-he didn’t go in but he peered in and saw the linen wrappings lying there.
John wants us to look more closely-not to rush past.
Peter sees the cloth, the linen shroud.
The other disciple becomes a little braver, or more curious…
‘Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in and he saw and believed.’
He looked
He saw.
He believed.
Believed what?
NOT that Jesus had risen from the dead. Nobody thought that.
The text goes on to explain that they did not as yet know anything about resurrection:
V 9: ‘for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.’
So, having seen, having believed that Jesus was dead BUT that Jesus’ body had been stolen from the tomb, these two disciples returned home.
They came
They saw
They went home.
Seeing is not seeing.
Seeing is believing one thing-but not another.
They return home-confused.
Confused-seeing the grave cloths still in their places where the body had been, suggests that the body had NOT been stolen.
Why would grave robbers strip the corpse, neatly fold the grave cloths in the tomb, and go off with a naked corpse?
They return home-confused.
Think back to a time when you were grieving-you may be in that state now-think back to the beginning of your time of mourning.
Often the most painful time is when you return home
-the funeral is over
-friends and family leave making sure you have enough food to keep you going (though you don’t feel like eating and can’t imagine you’ll ever enjoy a meal again).
-all is quiet.
-then you see it
-her favourite chair
-the unfinished book on the bedside table
-his work tools, not put away
-the clothes in the wardrobe
It’s painful.
-like the folded linen
A reminder of their presence.
-of their earthly life.
They returned home-confused
BUT
Mary stays.
Mary stays…to grieve.
V 11: ‘But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.’
She stayed-weeping at this final outrage
-Where have they taken the body of Jesus?
Where can she find the body of Jesus?
Because that’s a big part of our love.
We don’t love ‘humanity’- we love those eyes, that hand, that touch.
It hurts.
She wants the body, in order to grieve. Not to be plagued by thoughts of it having been stolen-and what the thieves might have done with it-have they treated the body of Jesus with respect? Or has it been tossed away somewhere?
The sight of the stone rolled away, the folded linen cloths, the absence of the corpse-did not move Mary to thoughts of resurrection.
She, like Peter-only knew of one possibility- that ‘they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him.’
DEAD BODIES DO NOT SIMPLY DISAPPEAR.
Someone has to move them.
Mary needs the body, to help her grieve.
We understand that. Often after a death, a loved family member needs to see the body…have a ‘viewing’ in order to believe, or see, that the person truly has died.
EVEN when she looks into the tomb and sees two angels in white
‘She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him”
Mary is so consumed with grief-she does not SEE.
In the other gospels, the angels elicit fear or amazement from the women.
BUT HERE-we stand, looking on-with compassion at Mary’s grief-which is so strong that she does not see the miracle in front of her
-she does not see the angels, or the significance of the moment.
And then that amazing meeting, when Mary meets Christ, whom she thought was the gardener.
Before we judge her too harshly, haven’t we all, at some time in our lives, mistaken someone for someone else? Especially if we have been crying, or preoccupied, or the sun is in our eyes?
Jesus asks the same question that the angels asked: ‘Why are you weeping?”
For the third time, Mary repeats her concern about the theft of the body, still not recognising Jesus.
When she hears her name “Mary” the impossible, the incredible, breaks through.
Now she SEES.
The one who had died -now greets her, calls her by name.
Bringing the personal, her name-to this momentous event.
He knows our names!
The Divine knows each of our names!
Even when disasters abound around us, when we remain behind shut doors because of a virus we cannot see…He knows our individual names…because He loves us!
From the big picture-the universe-to the small-our own, individual name, our small lives…
Seeing is believing.
Mary’s need to pursue the body of her beloved Jesus does not have room for the miracle that has happened.
The voice of Jesus has called to her, from across the gaping hole of death.
Like the voice that shatters glass, the voice of Jesus has shattered Mary’s world, called her forward to new possibilities, a new future.
That same voice shatters our world…if we let it.
Mary is now able to obey, to tell the others, “I have seen the Lord.”
She has moved beyond her preoccupation with the corpse, with the body, to an encounter with Christ.
While the other two, Peter and the other disciple-were the first to enter the tomb and ‘see’
-it is Mary Magdalene who is the first witness to testify to the risen Lord, the first to testify to a new relationship.
In the gospel of John, the emphasis is upon the restoration of the personal relationship broken by the events of Friday, upon the way Mary Magdalene and later the disciples-are brought into a new and deeply intimate relationship with the risen Lord.
Seeing is believing.
Like Mary, when we encounter the resurrection-we see something- it might be the grave cloths, or we notice the stone that has been rolled from the tomb’s entrance-or angels. I think I would have noticed the angels!
-we hear something (footsteps, our name)
But nothing is explained to us.
The angels didn’t tell Mary how it happened.
Jesus, as the risen Lord-did not tell her either.
Really, who CAN explain the resurrection? Some things defy explanation.
We just have to believe.
We see and believe.
We follow in Mary’s footsteps- for we come here to find Jesus
BUT we don’t FIND Jesus.
No-instead-the good news of this Easter Day is
-Jesus calls your name, shatters the world, returns, intrudes.
WE are the ones who have been found,
We have been given ‘new life.’
We are the ones who are to listen, to hear our names.
The caption: Missing-presumed dead has been rewritten.
Now it reads: Found-Alive!
Jesus is not missing.
But there are some who miss Jesus, who do not see.
Jesus breaks into the world, returns, intrudes, calls your name,
and FINDS YOU.
Alleluia!
Amen.
Prayers of Intercession.
Risen Lord, we bring before you the aches of our hearts.
As we pray, we are mindful that in a lot of cases, prayer is all we can do at the moment. Remind us that this is important work, vital ministry.
We pray especially for those suffering from COVID 19, and for the doctors, nurses, health professionals, medical researchers, and others involved in caring for the sick, the dying, or searching for a cure.
We pray for politicians, we know they are trying the best they can, in a time of uncertainty.
We pray for those on welfare, those on our streets, those who are finding it tough during these extraordinary times.
Be with those near and dear to us,
In your name,
Amen.
Dismissal
Let us go out to live as Easter people,
joyful that love and life have overcome fear and death forever.
Alleluia!
Blessing
The grace of Christ attend you
The love of God surround you
The Holy Spirit keep you
This day and forever
Alleluia! Amen.
Easter Sunday, Leighmoor UC and Heatherton-Dingley UC
12.4.20
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