The Feast of the Resurrection C March 31, 2013
Luther Memorial Lutheran Church Seattle, WA
The Rev. Julie G. Hutson
Isaiah 65: 17-25 + 1 Cor.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from our risen Lord, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
“When I was your age” my father used to say to me, when I would complain about having to walk to school “I had to walk THREE MILES to school….in snowstorms in winter, and rainstorms in springtime. On the way to school I milked the cows and on the way home I had a paper route. And both ways were uphill.”
This tale my father told was his way of reminding me that I didn’t have it quite as bad as I thought I did, even when I truly did walk to school in snow drifts up to my knees….you know, just in case my kids are listening.
Some stories are easier to believe than others and the one that has gathered us here today is perhaps the most unbelievable of all. Jesus, who everyone had seen beaten, and then nailed to a cross….Jesus, who had breathed his last and commended his spirit to God, there on the cross. Jesus, the one whose body Joseph of Arimathea had taken down from the cross and laid in a tomb. Jesus is no longer dead.
In our reading from Luke’s Gospel today, the women who had gone to the tomb on that first day of the week as dawn was just beginning to break….those woman had returned to the place where the disciples and other followers of Jesus were hanging out…or more precisely, hiding out. And they told them what they had found when they went to the tomb. Two men in dazzling white, telling them that Jesus had been raised from the dead, just as he had told them. And after hearing this and then remembering that, in fact, this is exactly what Jesus had said would happen….these women tell the disciples and others this exact story.
And what response do they get? Oh, we lose the real intensity of the response in the translation from Greek to English. They didn’t exactly say it was an “idle tale” as we read this morning. They said something far, far worse.
Something that my mama won’t let me repeat in church…or anywhere for that matter. Something that starts with a B and ends with a S. This is what they thought of this story. This idle tale. This….well, you know….
And let’s face it, this probably wasn’t the first idle tale they’d heard and it probably wasn’t going to be the last. The same is true for us. Think of all of the idle tales we are told. My teenage daughter still hasn’t forgiven me for introducing the idea of the jolly old guy who is said to come bearing gifts on December 24th. And then there are the idle tales we are told every day…. how if we just had a bigger house or a newer model car or the latest I Phone, I Pad, I Pod, we would finally, at long last be content. Or that if we were thinner, smarter, taller, or had a degree with more letters or a job that paid more numbers people would love us more. But none of that is true. Those are ALL idle tales.
So what do we do with this resurrection story? This fantastic, scientifically impossible, never since accomplished again story of one rising from the dead. Of course those who had gathered in fear didn’t believe the women. Of course they thought it was just so much….well, you know…
And why not? I mean, if the dead don’t stay dead, what can we count on in life? Where is the order? And how, exactly did this happen, and how does his rising from the dead exactly prove his point? Why didn’t he just get down off of the cross in the first place like the thief hanging next to him suggested?
There are lots of theological answers for these and other questions you may have. We don’t have time for them all this morning, although I wish we did. But if you DO want to go more deeply into this…come to our Bible Studies or call me and we’ll go have coffee and talk about it.
But for this Easter morning, here’s what I want us to remember about the story of the resurrection. It is the story of this day that draws us together into community….into the Body of Christ. Oh sure, for some of you what brought you here this morning was the desire to make your mama happy or to eat some of those fabulous secret recipe pancakes. But if mama didn’t care whether or not you were here and there were no pancakes….then what? Would this idle tale be enough to bring you to church? After all, aren’t these just outdated customs and irrelevant rituals? Can’t we just worship God in nature or say a prayer at noon so we can sleep in on Sundays? Sure, you can say a prayer when you sleep in and you can, and should worship God in the beauty of nature. But this story makes a difference precisely because it is so fantastic, so unbelievable, that it is best heard in community.
And here’s what else I want you to know. The truth is that if we are honest….every one of us here would say that we have ourselves wondered if this is an idle tale. We have. Maybe it’s just been when we’ve been thinking about the meaning of life or maybe it was when we were daydreaming. But it is much more likely that is was when something unexpected and very, very hard had happened in our lives. It is much more likely that we wondered if this was an idle tale during a dark night of the soul…in wee hours when the deep fears won’t stop talking.
Easter does not cancel out Good Friday. Good Friday happened in all of its starkness and darkness and confusion. Every year, to get to Easter, we walk through Good Friday.
What this idle tale means, though, is that in spite of the continuing presence of Good Friday and in the midst of our wonderings and doubts…we come together as the Body of Christ to offer communion, community, and consolation in the midst of struggle, isolation, and sadness. We know that the story is not an idle tale because it is what compels us to acts of justice, mercy, and kindness.
It is precisely because of the story of the resurrection that we gather on this day. It is in spite of our doubts and even in spite of ourselves. We gather because of what we are compelled to do in the face of this tale. We are compelled, not just to believe or disbelieve a death defying story. We are compelled to follow the one whose story is found there in that empty tomb. The one who called for a world where all people were equal. The one who called for a world where turning the other cheek trumps holding tightly to old grudges. The one who called out the church of his time as FILLED with hypocrisy and irrelevance and who loved it in spite of itself. The one who told us to care for the outcast and the poor. The one who ate with those no one else would even look at. The one whose feet Mary knelt down and washed with her hair and expensive perfume.
On some days it does seem like an idle tale…and it is on those Good Fridays in our lives that we count on the community of faith to gather us in and hold us in the story until we can see a bit of Easter again.
Maybe you haven’t been in this place since your last Easter pancake or maybe you are here every chance you get. Doesn’t matter…we all have those moments when we wonder if the story is only an idle tale. But the best news….the Easter news….is that Easter happens, Christ is risen, whether we believe it or not. It doesn’t take our full out belief…It doesn’t depend on us. The story happens in the terrible good Fridays of our lives and in the joyous Easters of our lives and in every in-between day. All we have to do is show up, just like the women at the tomb that day. Because just showing up is all it takes to witness a miracle.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
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