One of the great joys of being a parent is watching your child grow up in a world where anything is possible. If Mary Katherine wants to be a princess then she runs to her room, picks out the appropriate princess dress, and declares it so. If she wants her stuffed dog to bark, then she will make him bark—it’s just that simple. For Mary Katherine, there is not much difference between her world of make believe and the real world.
Inevitably, as Jamie and I watch Mary Katherine grow up, we will watch her be less impressed with the land of make believe. She will grow up and experience the often harsh reality of life where dreams are crushed and hopes are dimmed. The stories she dreamed up in the land of make believe will seem more like idle tales.
When the women at the tomb tell the apostles that Jesus is risen from the dead, they do not believe them—their words seem like an idle tale. Can you blame them? People only come back from the dead in fairy tales but this is the real world. When people die, they die—there is no coming back from the dead. (Luke 24:1-12)
There is no doubt that the women at the tomb once thought this too. After all, they come back to the tomb not because they think they will meet their risen Lord. Rather, they come back with spices to observe the traditional Jewish customs at burial. True, they did not meet their risen Lord that morning at least not right away. They did see something peculiar though—an empty tomb.
Before they could process the empty tomb, two men in dazzling white clothes appear. The women are terrified and look to the ground. The messengers speak and say, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you the Son of Man will be killed and on the third day rise again.” And then scripture says, “they remembered his words and told they eleven what they had seen and heard.”
As you imagine those women who rose early to go to the empty tomb, ask yourself, why do I come back to church week after week? Maybe you are grieving a great loss like the women who show up at the empty tomb. Maybe like the women you come out of obligation and not necessarily because you expect to discover something unexpected or awe-inspiring.
Maybe you come because like the women at the tomb the church is where your friends go too. At the very least, you get to be with the one’s you love in a sacred place. Or maybe you are more like the apostles and come because someone told you that something special happens here. But you aren’t going to take their word for it—you are coming to see for yourself.
Whatever the reason you show up—God has drawn you here. You are intrigued enough to show up. There is something about this Jesus guy that you can’t quite get enough of.
One of the most wonderful images of St. Paul’s Church is the Resurrection Angel that appears above the altar. Above the mosaic are the words, “He is not here, for he is risen.” Every week, the people of St. Paul’s are reminded of the same words given to the women at the tomb. He is not here, for he is risen.
A part of me wonders, do these words still amaze us like they amazed the first apostles? Do these words still call us to our feet where we are compelled run through the church doors to see if it is true? Do we treat these words as an idle tale or as the eternal truth of God’s Word?
There is a great paradox in these words—He is not here, for he is risen. When the women come to the tomb they fully expect to find Jesus, a dead Jesus, but nonetheless Jesus. When we show up in church on Sunday we fully expect to find Jesus too but we are met with the words—He is not here, for he is risen.
The logical question asks, “If Jesus is not here, if Jesus is risen, where is he exactly?” In the movie Forrest Gump, Lt. Dan asks Forrest, “Have you found Jesus yet?” Forrest replies, “I didn’t know I was supposed to be looking for him.” Apparently, the women and the apostles don’t know they are supposed to be looking for Jesus either.
Luke does not say that the women go looking for Jesus. Instead, they hurry to find the apostles. Luke does not say that Peter organizes a search party to find Jesus. Instead, he goes home after he sees what happens. Luke does go on to say that Jesus appears to the apostles. Jesus, in fact, finds them even though they aren’t looking for him.
While it is true that we come to church to be renewed and nourished by the living presence of Christ in Word and Sacrament, it is also true that Jesus does not stay here. Jesus does not stay here because we do not stay here. We go out into the world carrying the body and blood of Jesus through his Word and Sacrament.
Through us, the people of God, Jesus is alive in the world outside the tomb, outside the church. Jesus is alive and searching for the lost and wounded. Jesus is alive and revealing to a broken world the truth of resurrection life, the truth that God makes all things new.
Like the women and Peter, our witness to the empty tomb, our witness to the risen Lord, does not leave us standing idle. Our witness to the immeasurable love of God in Christ does not leave us flat footed. The kind of love that God shows in Christ is the kind of love that makes it impossible for us to stand still.
So we go into the world with the knowledge that Jesus is risen from the dead and alive in our communities. We go into the world in the knowledge that Jesus endlessly pursues God’s beloved with a resurrection story. We go into the world proclaiming a story of hope and life even in the face of death and despair because we know that Christ is risen. We are witnesses to the risen Lord.
Witnesses of our risen Lord know that any story of death can be turned into a story of life. Witnesses of our risen Lord believe that compassion and mercy overcome estrangement and guilt. Witnesses of our risen Lord believe that God’s goodness brings a joy when the good things of this world leave us empty in the end.
Witnesses of our risen Lord believe that God’s great love opens our eyes to possibilities and joys that hate and anger will never let us see. Witnesses of our risen Lord live in the knowledge that all the people’s of the world are made of the same blood; witnesses are dead to a world that divides itself based on prejudice.
Witnesses of our risen Lord know that the first blooms of spring point to the truth that God’s story, our resurrection story in Christ is no idle tale. The story of Jesus’ death and resurrection is the story of truth.
At the end of the day, you are witnesses to the incredible love of God as revealed in the risen Lord. You are witnesses to a never-ending story, a story so filled with love that not even death can kill the hopes and dreams of God. And God’s hopes and dreams sees a world that is fueled by nothing but love.
God our Father delights in watching his children learn of and grow into a world where love wins every time. God our Father delights when his children are not intimidated by the same old story of death and despair. God our Father delights when his children stand up and say, God is making all things new through his perfect love as revealed in Christ.
This is the story that I hope Mary Katherine clings to, that our children cling to, that you cling to. This story takes us to a place beyond the land of make believe. The story of Jesus risen from the dead is the real world. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment