Sermon Archive
Readings for 8 April 2007
Easter Sunday
Year C, Gospel for Primary Service
Luke 24:1-10
Luke 24:1-10
On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.
The Rev. Susan B.P. Norris
Easter 2007
Matt/Luke
GraSP
"The women remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Jo-an’na and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.
." (Luke)On Easter morning – Mary of Magdala... or Magdalene and a friend…
or "The Marys" and several friends… went to weep at Jesus’ tomb,
and to anoint his body with spices for burial.
While there, they met Jesus himself, radiant in heavenly splendor,
Or they met an angel – or two angels,
Or (in John) Jesus, looking like the gardener.
We’re not quite sure which.
The message is clear enough, "Go. Tell the disciples,
‘Christ has been raised from the dead,
and will meet them in Galilee… or on the road to Emmaus… or in the upper room… or over by the lake shore.’ "
The story of Easter mornings is hard to talk about in plain speech.
You see, before today’s gospel was a holy story,
read by vested clergy out of engraved leather-bound books
in beautiful churches,
the "good news" was an intuition – a suspicion, a rumor, if you will,
a rumor running around the neighborhood of the human race,
a rumor about the presence and power, of God who cared
deeply for the human race.
The Hebrew people incarnated this rumor,
remembering that God had rescued them from Egypt
and led them into the Promised Land.
Many other peoples had their suspicions and memories
Somewhere on the continent of Africa, a human being raised her eyes
to the glory of the heavens and fruit of the earth,
and the story of the great earth mother who loves us all
was born, and passed on from generation to generation.
In the Orient, Confucius, and later, the Buddha
spoke of an all- encompassing One,
present to those who would pray and meditate,
as many of us did last Maundy Thursday evening.
Of course, people also invented and formed "gods" for themselves,
and Kings and emperors claimed descent and divinity from those human creations.
Jerusalem in the first century CE was a hotbed of
such thought and speculation, intuitions and rumors.
Likewise, Rome and Athens were filled with temples to various deities.
In those empires, followers of every imaginable belief
crowded the markets
the forums, the farms and the homes of ordinary people.
Into this world, came one man from Galilee and his friends.
The authorities saw him as a troublemaker and succeded
in imposing a death sentence to get rid of him.
And then a few irrelevant women, went along to the tomb,
to cry and to anoint his body.
And then –
confusion, exaltation, fear, joy, anger, belief, disbelief,
and more confusion.
"Jesus is risen –and he looked just fine."
"No, he looked ghostly and could walk through walls."
"No, he was just eating fish with all the rest of us."
"Look, nobody’s seen him but some silly women.
Not so, I heard he spoke to Peter."
Lacking telephones, and televisions, the small group of friends fell back on the oldest form of communication, "tell-a-human."
And in that way the story has come down to us.
What are we to make of this?
From the perspective of a writer,
We can see that if God really entered Normal HUMAN LIFE in the first century, a story of such astounding magnitude
spawned the midst of such great confusion and turmoil
will be garbled, uneven,
and will be shaped as much by the storyteller,
as by what really happened.
Why think about this today?
Because on this special day, we all come to church, hoping for a
spectacular and completely convincing "Hallelujah Chorus experience
power and presence of God."
We hope to be bowled over by the wonder of the story
And the beauty of the service,
(Naturally, I’ll vote for that. And so will all the other folks who worked and prayed this Holy Week and Easter celebration into being!)
We want to leave here firmly convinced that Jesus was God among us
We want to ‘REALLY BELIEVE in eternal life.’
We want to know for certain that Christian faith is "the truth."
We want all our doubts and confusion to vanish.
Problem is, Jesus’ resurrection didn’t happen like a
Cecil B. DeMille film with the Hallelujah Chorus in the background.
It happened on a quiet morning to some women who were
broken heartedly trying to finish up a terribly sad job . . .
Only . . . someone had stolen the body of their dead friend. . .
When they finally went to look for him,
1. The angels scared them.
2. Jesus told them to stop hugging him and to get going and tell the men.
3. The authorities said they were lying and had stolen the body,
4. And the disciples, when located, said they were nuts.
Yet, almost 2000 years later,
their story, confused and distorted as it is, is the reason we are all here.
Some of us believe it wholeheartedly,
Some believe because their family has always believed.
Some of us hope it is true.
Some of us are downright skeptical,
and a few are convinced that believing is slightly crazy
and wondering at themselves for even being here..
Yet, all of us are here because we have heard the rumor that Jesus
is alive, because God has raised him from the dead.
Someone, somewhere shared the news with you,
and something
perhaps as exalted as a vision of God,
or as simple as quiet desperation
gave you the confidence remember what you heard,
and to go looking for more information.
Our personal faith comes, not by certainty about the details of Easter morning –
but by hearing one person tell another about what happened to them
when they checked out the rumor that God is alive
Faith says, "I heard this, I checked it out and I think it is true!?!"
That is how the gospel was - and will be - spread.
One person has an intuition –
an understanding about how God has worked in her life.
She tells another person who tells yet someone else.
Belief spreads from story to story, from life to life, from home to home.
Perhaps later some Poets & Prophets,
Musicians & Priests will come along
polish the wording up,
and turn all the contradictions into coherent theological thought.
Utter certainty may or may not ever grace our lives.
But you don’t need certainty to investigate the rumor that
God has raised Jesus from the dead.
What matters is not our certainty, but our willingness to check
out the rumor with our lives.
What matters is our sharing our suspicion that Jesus is alive
and here among us,
What matters is that we remember and pass on, on the rumor that
God has conquered death and showed us the way to eternal life.
Why does all this matter?
Because it means that NONE, absolutely no one of us needs an 18-carat
Gold plated,
150-piece orchestra
Scientifically absolutely foolproof faith.
We don’t need to be St. Paul, or Pope John the 23
rd,Or even Katharine Jefferts-Schori.
The glorious news of the resurrection.
Has been "remembered" to us, not by a choir of angels singing Beethoven in the Sistine Chapel,
but by a few seriously confused but hopeful women
They told the disciples "We have seen the Lord."
That rumor – that gossip - changed the known world.
So glorious is the news of Jesus’ resurrection
that we have only to catch an occasional glimpse of its power
to recognize in that glimpse,
the presence of God, triumphant over the powers of death and evil.
So welcome all of us with our "small, even somewhat confused, or unbelieving faith.
Join today’s celebration.
Join us in worship and service .
Nurture your glimpses, however small, of the glory and power of God and of God’s love.
And take heart from one of the greatest preachers of all time,
These are the words of a 4
th Century Saint, John Chrysostom,to those who wondered whether they really
belonged at this feast of feasts:
If anyone has come at the third hour, with thanksgiving let him keep the feast! #9; If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let them have no misgivings for they shall suffer no loss. #9; If anyone has delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near without hesitation. #9;
If anyone has arrived even at the eleventh hour, let her not fear on account of her delay.
Enter all of you therefore into the joy of our Lord,
and whether first or last, receive your reward. #9;
O you ascetics and you negligent, celebrate the day! #9;
You that have fasted, and you that have disregarded the fast,
rejoice today! #9; The table is rich laden; feast royally, all of you!
Then rise up from the great feast and go out
To spread the rumor onward through the human community.
The true and faithful rumor that God has raised Jesus,
God’s servant, from the clutches of death,
and that, as God’s children, we will rise with him!
Alleluia, Christ is risen!!
For past week's readings and sermons, please visit the archive of sermons