April 20, 2014
Really?!
- John 20:1-18
- Dr. Teri Thomas
Hey Ruth, I think it must be Easter.
“Really? Will the Easter bunny bring me black jelly beans?”
I am sure you will get jelly beans, Ruth.
But, remember, Easter isn't about the bunny. It's about Jesus.
“But will they be black?”
Yes, there probably will be some black jelly beans.
But, the important thing about Easter isn't the bunny.
Easter is about how much Jesus loves you and me and the whole world.
“HOW MANY black jelly beans will the Easter Bunny bring me?”
Ruth, I think there will be plenty of black jellybeans.
Do you know how much Jesus loves you?
“Enough to bring me chocolate too?”
For lots of folks Easter bunnies and jelly beans
are just way more interesting than Jesus.
Maybe they simply do not understand this whole resurrection thing.
Can I tell you a secret?
I don’t understand it either.
I do not understand what happened in this morning’s reading.
Honestly, my scientific world view gets in the way of my faith on Easter.
I can’t explain the mechanics of the resurrection.
It goes against everything I know to be true.
I can’t imagine how it happened
I have never seen it happen and I really don’t understand.
At least I am in good company.
The disciples didn’t understand it either.
Mary arrived at the tomb early.
She saw the stone was rolled away and didn’t understand
so she went to get the others.
Peter and John ran to grave and saw that it was empty.
They didn’t understand.
Where was the body?
None of it was making any sense to them.
But the scripture says
when the beloved disciple followed Peter inside the tomb
and saw the grave clothes lying there, he believed.
He simply believed,
and without another word to each other,
he and Peter returned to their homes.
They saw nothing but emptiness and absence,
and still at least one of them believed,
even though neither of them understood.
Any way you look at it,
that is a mighty fragile beginning
for a religion that has lasted over 2000 years now.
It is also the reason people who do not believe
cite most frequently for their lack of faith.
They focus on the tomb, on that morning,
on what did or did not happen there.
And let’s face it,
resurrection does not square with anything else we know
about physical human life on earth.
If all I had was an empty tomb
I am not sure I could believe this story.
If Easter was ONLY about what happened to Jesus,
I am afraid I would be in trouble.
Because honestly, I do not understand what happened.
But for me, Easter is about what happened to the others in the story,
to Mary, Peter, John and later the rest of the disciples.
The story is really about what happened to them
when they saw the empty tomb.
Clarence Jordan said well,
"The proof that God raised Jesus from the dead
is not the empty tomb,
but the full hearts of his transformed disciples.
The crowning evidence that he lives is not a vacant grave,
but a spirit-filled fellowship.
Not a rolled-away stone, but a carried-away church."
What matters on Easter
is not what we think may or may not have happened
in a graveyard 2000 years ago.
What matters on Easter
is whether we are living as if resurrection happens.
Jesus doesn’t need us to understand.
He needs us to believe.
To believe…
that good can over come evil
that life is more powerful than death
that light will triumph over the darkness
and that no human brokenness is irreversible.
To believe that death and despair cannot, do not, will not,
have the last word.
To believe that God is about justice, love, and mercy,
and to believe
that sin, violence, and death can never be the end of the story.
Ultimately, that is the only evidence we have to offer
that resurrection does indeed happen.
A clergy friend of mine told me last week about a time she was having lunch at Bob Evans with her Dad.
He was in his 80’s, a retired college professor, very bright, very curious, very rationale.
The conversation moved to church and Easter.
Edgar looked at his daughter the minister
and offered some fatherly advice,
“You can’t really think too much about all that,
because if you do it doesn’t make any sense.”
(Edgar McCormick and Carol McDonald)
I think he was right.
Faith is not what we think or what we understand,
It is how we live.
I do not understand love, but I can embrace it.
I don’t understand power, but I have experienced it.
I cannot explain grace, but I have witnessed it changing lives.
I do not understand resurrection,
but I have been changed
and I have experienced new life,
and I know that to be true.
What happened on the first Easter is a sacred mystery.
It defies medicine, reason, logic and science;
it affects the whole history of the human race
in all times and in all places.
What happened on the first Easter changed the world
by changing the lives of believers.
World changing events usually start small.
Christian faith is about little actions,
like taking Easter flowers to a shut-in,
tutoring children at School 55,
visiting someone in the hospital or serving as a Stephen Minister,
teaching Sunday school,
going on a mission trip, or feeding the hungry.
Easter faith is about believing change is possible and living that way.
Being changed
and changing others.
None of these small acts
will solve the unspeakable problems that besiege our world.
But every dollar,
each kind word,
every deed and act of love
is part of the great cosmic drama
inspired by God's reaching out to us
when Jesus rose from the grave.
I believe in resurrection
because I have experienced Christ alive at work in me,
because I see Christ alive and at work in each of us,
because I see the risen Christ working through you
--the Body of Christ on earth.
Christ is risen.
Resurrection power is convincing!
It is the power to live beyond ourselves
and join the risen Christ in caring for those in need.
It is the power to live as though God is in charge,
to live as if love has power,
to live like grace is for everyone.
I do not understand it.
But I believe beyond a doubt that Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed.