An Easter Sermon

Fear and Joy

A Easter Message – 2014

I have been attempting this week to come to an Easter place – to let go of the gloom of Good Friday and embrace this new day – the new life of Easter morning.  It has been a struggle – for an Easter place is a place of joy, of hope of glory and hallelujah’s – Easter is energy and courage and freedom, it’s about fully embracing the wonderful possibility of life and all it has to offer – it is a pretty tall order with still so much snow on the ground this late in April and the chill in the wind and the ice in the harbour.  Our spring like conditions have been a bit scarce this year and winter’s hold is slow to let go.  And I bet I am not the only one.  – I bet that there are a few of us here today – who wish all the hoopla and celebrating would just pass us by – and today could be a day just like any other.  And we can wander back home like the disciples and pull the blankets up over our head – and ignore the calls for hallelujah and rejoicing.  

I also think that there are also some in our midst who are so far away from Easter rejoicing because life may be quite difficult in this time – some may be caught up in worrying about family members - or concerned about health issues – or struggling in their relationships or – grieving the loss of a beloved partner – or anxious with the end of rewarding career – or struggling financially - there are many reasons why we would like Easter to be put off until we are ready for it.  There are many of us who are not in the Easter mood.  And yet this day comes – this day comes every year, reminding us – ready or not – that God is doing a new thing – the tomb is empty, Jesus is alive – resurrection happened and new life begins.

And you know thank God that it does – because even if we are so far away from the Easter feeling – this story reminds us that it is out there and that Easter is possible and not only that – this story reminds us that it is in the midst of sorrow and grief and pain and confusion and despair that’s where Easter strikes us– it is in that blackness and bleakness, the entombment that the first Easter happened.  And really when we look at the characters in the story they too struggled in that moment to fully grasp what was goingon before they could move to that place of Easter joy.

It’s dark – still night almost – and the Sabbath, the day of rest, the day devoted to God as come and gone.  Dawn has yet to arrive – but the woman – the two Mary’s according to Matthew, have a task to complete.  When Jesus was buried, not all of the death rituals were finished as they needed to get him into the tomb and the stone rolled in front before the sundown on the Sabbath.  The Sabbath is a day of rest and even the task of preparing bodies for burials were not done on God’s day.  So there are still pieces in the preparation of the body that need to be accomplished and it has fallen on the Mary’s to complete it. 

When they arrived at the tomb – remarkable and scary things begin to happen – I can’t imagine what these woman went through – first they would have been consumed in grief as their beloved Jesus had just died.  They probably would have come in anxiety as they did not know how safe it was to be a Jesus follower after he had just been accused and executed for treason – what if they were painted with the same brush?  And it is dark and they are woman travelling without a male companion through the streets of Jerusalem, at a time when the city was full of strangers and visitors gathered to celebrate the Passover.  So, I imagine that these woman were already walking in fear

But, there is more – because Matthews account of the events of that day include not only an earthquake but also a sighting of an angel descending from heaven and rolling away the stone.  A sight so scary that the men – the soldiers who are guarding the tomb – froze and became rigid with fear.  

The woman on the other hand faced their fears, approached the angel listened to his message of hope and joy – that Jesus had been raised – that he was not a corpse inside the tomb – but instead had gone on ahead to Galilee – they hear the message – they see the evidence – the empty tomb and they go to share the good news….

But on the way – on the way back to tell the disciples about this amazing  event that they have just witnessed to – there on the way – when they least expect it – they run into Jesus himself – I think that the reason the woman end up on the ground grasping at Jesus feet – is that this morning has been so full of so many surprises and they are so full of the emotions of fear and joy that when they encounter the Christ – all they can do is fall at his feet – they do not have any other energy for anything else.  Have you ever had a moment like that – when you are so overwhelmed with emotion – that all you can do is collapse – it happens in extreme grief – when suddenly without any warning a beloved partner or parent or child or friend is taken –it happens in extreme fear, when our life is threatened, it also happens to in extreme joy when someone we thought was gone returns unexpectedly, like Jesus appearing on the road in front of the woman.  Fear and joy drop us to Jesus feet.

“I wonder,” supposes David Lose:  “if that isn’t also our reality. I mean, don’t we also live lives tinged by both fear and joy. Fear of what may happen to our children in a dangerous world; joy at the blessing they are to us and, we pray, they will be to the world. Fear of whether we will have a job in the year to come; joy at the colleagues that surround us. Fear about the fate of a loved one struggling with illness; joy in the gift that person has been to us. Fear about the future amid problems both national and global; joy in the present moment surrounded by those we love. Or to come a bit closer to home, fear about the future of our congregation and church; joy in our opportunity to gather as God’s people to celebrate on this Easter morning.

I think it’s striking that the announcement of resurrection doesn’t take away all their fear. Rather, it enables them to keep faith amid their fears, to do their duty and share their good news in spite of their anxiety. This is the very definition of courage. And, I would argue, courage is precisely what Easter is about. For while some preach that coming to faith in Christ should smooth all the rough places of life and still the tremors of this world, I believe that the gospel gives us the ability to keep our feet amid the tremors and enables us not just to persevere but even to flourish when life is difficult.

“Do not be afraid.” This charge -- repeated by Jesus when he encounters the women -- gives us insight into the very nature of our lives in this world. For there is, indeed, much to fear in our mortal lives. And yet the resurrection of Christ creates the possibility for joy and hope and courage and so much more. Why? Because it changes everything. In the resurrection, you see, we have God’s promise that life is stronger than death, that love is greater than hate, that mercy overcomes judgment, and that all the sufferings and difficulties of this life are transient -- real and palpable and sometimes painful, for sure, but they do not have the last word and do not represent the final reality.
Fear and joy, despair and hope, doubt and faith, these are the two sides of our lives in this world. But in the end we have heard the resurrection promise that joy, hope, and faith will ultimately prevail.”[1]

The good news of Christ’s resurrection does not take away our fear -- though sometimes we wish desperately that it would -- but it does offer us courage and hope by anchoring us in the sure promise that God will have the last word, and that that word is one of light and life and grace and mercy and love and peace.

Brian McLaren reminds us that:

“death is not the last word.
Violence is not the last word.
Hate is not the last word.
Money is not the last word.
Intimidation is not the last word.
Political power is not the last word.
Condemnation is not the last word.
Betrayal and failure are not the last word.
No: each of them are left like rags in a tomb,
And from that tomb,
Arises Christ,
Alive.”

This is Easter – in the midst of the joy and the fear – whether we are ready or not – Easter comes, the stone is rolled away – the tomb is empty – and God does the impossible.

This is Easter and it is about what God is doing in the world right here, right now!

 

Kay Heuy writes:  but all this isn't just about things that happened a long time ago and far away to people we'll never know and can't relate to, Isaiah and Mary Magdalene and Peter…no, this  happens all the time in our lives, too, right here and now. We know we all fall short of the hope that God has for our lives, we fail – a lot – and God loves us anyway. We face loss and death struggle with sorrow, loneliness, suffering   and God promises us new life, healing and wholeness anyway. Our relationships crash and burn, our kids worry us, there's never enough money, and God reassures us anyway, God offers us peace and wholeness and reconciliation. We turn away from God, and God offers us grace, anyway. 

Isn't this really why we're here this morning? Don't we come here from our problems and struggles in our fear and in hope to hear that God can overcome death, that God’s plan for us and the world is larger and more creative and more abundant than anything we can plan for ourselves.  Isn't it God that sustain us in hospital beds and waiting rooms alike, at gravesites and in the longest night of deep agony, doesn't this God, this resurrected Christ comfort us and challenge us, guide us and surprise and delight us and bring us joy? Aren't we then experiencing the new life of resurrection in the new age, the new creation begun on the first Easter Sunday morning? Every time we come to this table where all are welcome, every time we share this meal as a sign of our hope for that new creation in all its fullness, not just in the glimpses and promises we have so far, we encounter the living God, the personal God who loves us and remembers us and will not let us be lost in hopelessness, no matter how things appear right now.  This is Easter – the stone is rolled away and Jesus lives – Hallelujah and Amen.

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[1] David Lose:  Dear Working Preacher