The Reading: Acts 10:34-43
34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts those from every nation who fear God and do what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
THE GOSPEL: John 20:1-18
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman,[a] why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to God. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Holy Parent and your Holy Parent, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
God, Your presence is beauty to our spirits and we live in gratitude that through the grace of Jesus Christ, You have made our very lives beautiful. As we rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, may my words and our thoughts be pleasing unto You. In the name of the one who calls us to the resurrected life, Amen.
Happy Easter! I am a little disappointed in the small number of Easter bonnets here this morning. I guess the rumors of an Easter Parade after the service were highly exaggerated. Perhaps next year.
Our readings and music have led us to this time and place where we think upon the meaning of Easter for us here, today. Easter may have different meanings, different priorities at different times in our lives; but today, what seems to be most compelling in the resurrection story is the connection of beauty and bravery.
Perhaps you think that the bravery took place before the resurrection day—that bravery was manifested only in the hours leading up to the crucifixion of Christ; and, you would be right that we must not underestimate the bravery of Jesus as he faced the cruel and excruciating painful death on the cross. Or the bravery of Joseph of Arimathea when he approached Pilot and sought the release of Jesus’ body so that he could be buried properly. Or the bravery of all those disciples and women who stayed with Jesus until he died. We must not even forget the bravery of the women when early on that day, they made their way to the tomb.
Yet, there is more. We must not lose the bravery of the Resurrection Day itself—the bravery of all the Resurrection Days in our lives. If we stop our celebrations at “He Is Risen”! then we have cheated ourselves and each other out of the fullness of the Easter story. I drive past lawns, and see the “He is risen” sign in the yard, and have to restrain myself from going up to the door, knocking and saying, “And…” Think about it.
Jesus, who had all the power in heaven and on earth, could have chosen to end his career and his earthly life with a “goodbye” tour or clouds and lightning and all the makings of an epic movie. Instead, he chose to die, a death that was far from beautiful—hear the words of the prophet Isaiah—“You had no stately form or majesty to make us look at you, there was no beauty to attract us. You were rejected and despised by all; you know suffering intimately and you are acquainted with sickness. When we saw you, we turned our faces away; we despised you and did not value you. [And yet] …upon you lies a chastening that brings us wholeness, and through your wounds we are healed.” Easter Sunday morning rises out of the deep grief of the two days preceding it. Beauty dies to bravery in the willingness to die on a cross between two thieves. It is from the rubble of beauty and bravery, that we enter our Resurrection Day. And on this very Resurrection Day, we are called to discover in ourselves and in each other the unique beauty of the risen Christ in each of us—and bravely to grow spiritually, showing the glory of God as we live boldly in this beauty.
Nicole Nordeman, a young, contemporary Christian rock singer has a song that speaks to me every time I hear it. The title is “Brave”. The first verse goes like this:
The gate is wide
The road is paved in moderation
The crowd is kind and quick to pull you in
Welcome to the middle ground
You're safe and sound and
Until now it's where I've been
'Cause it's been fear that ties me down to everything
But it's been love, Your love, that cuts the strings
In the chorus, she continues:
So long status quo
I think I just let go
You make me want to be brave
The way it always was
Is no longer good enough
You make me want to be brave
Brave, brave
I want us to think of what it would mean if we gave ourselves permission to be brave today. In the midst of the beauty of the risen Christ, what if we found our deepest bravery yet. You are all brave in your own ways—why, for some, it took courage to come here today—perhaps you’re not sure about this God thing or this Jesus thing and, yet, on Easter Sunday, the one Sunday you can be certain the preacher is going to preach on Jesus, you came. There’s a certain kind of bravery that allows us to give ourselves permission, even in the midst of doubt, to be present to the very thing of which we are unsure. For some of you, you came knowing that Easter Sunday would bring you memories of other Easter Sundays when you were excluded from those granted abundant life in the grace of the one who died for us all—and you were brave—brave enough to say, “that was then” and “this is now”.
We are called by this Jesus to be thoroughly and honestly brave and beautiful. I am looking at a sea of faces that contains all the beauty in the world, each of you beautiful in your own ways, in the unique way that you reflect the love of God at work in your hearts and lives. This is a beautiful community—this community which, itself, reflects the uniqueness of this particular body of Christ. And, into this beautiful community, we are called to be brave—to bravely say what is in our hearts—to bravely love each other and this community enough to risk—no, to trust that what we say will be heard and what we feel will be understood. We are called to meld bravery and beauty in this community of faithful people. We are called to be unique, to live the Resurrected Life every moment of our days. And, we are called to bravely walk together in our journey of discovery—to honestly be present to the working of the spirit in our life and in the lives of our brothers and sisters who walk this way beside us. Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen and amen.
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