In the name of the Risen Lord. Amen.
“‘Welcome, happy morning!’ age to age shall say,” as one of the great Easter hymns puts it. Welcome, happy morning, indeed. What a joy and blessing it is to be gathered together today to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the dawning of the New Creation. We were not able to physically gather last year for Easter, and so this one is all the sweeter to see your lovely and holy faces. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 133, “How good and pleasant it is when the people of God gather in beloved community.” Indeed, it is wonderful to be gathered together, and all the more on this day of Easter when we shout, “Alleluia! Jesus Christ is risen today.”
Writing
nearly a millennium ago, the Archbishop of Canterbury, St. Anselm, said “I do
not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but rather, I believe in
order that I may understand.” This is usually shortened to “faith seeking
understanding.” Well, that’s what Easter is about: it begins with faith. Wherever
you are in faith, God welcomes you. Maybe this past year has caused you a lot
of turmoil. Perhaps you’re not sure how to interpret Resurrection in a world
still full of death. It could be that you have more doubts than you do
convictions. Wherever this Easter finds you – know that we are glad you are
here and that God welcomes you. As we heard St. Peter say in the reading from
Acts, “God shows no partiality.” So it is good for you to be here, along with
whatever doubts, concerns, or stress you bring with you. Easter is not about
understanding Resurrection, it is about seeing it.
St.
Mary Magdalene will be our guide for entering into the joyful faith of Easter.
It all began on the first day of the week in the dark when she came to the tomb
of Jesus. How many of our stories begin this way – in the dark? We can’t see
where we’re going and are robbed of our sense of sight – which is how we are
used to making our way in the world. I am speaking metaphorically here. We are
facing a tough decision and don’t know what to do. Or we’ve lost our way and
are trapped in grief, addiction, or anxiety. As one of the Psalms says, “Darkness
is not dark to God, the night is as light as the day.” So even in those moments
when we cannot yet see the first rays of the dawning light, know that Easter is
always on the horizon.
And
what brought Mary to the tomb that morning? It was her love and duty to her
friend. She came to mourn at his tomb, likely to anoint his corpse with burial
spices. I can’t imagine what Mary must have felt that morning – a mix of horror,
fear, sadness, anger. But she got up early, while it was still dark, and found
her way to the tomb. Imagine if she had said to herself, “He’s dead. I don’t
want to go down to the garden in the dark.” Certainly, Resurrection would have
still happened, but she might have missed it. I can’t promise any of you that
you’ll have an Easter encounter like this every time that you come to church,
serve the poor, or forgive someone who has wronged you. But this Easter story
shows us that God often meets us in those moments when we are just going
through the motions, just doing what needs to be done. Sometimes even when our
heart isn’t in it, just showing up is enough. Just as the Risen Jesus met Mary
at the tomb, Jesus will meet us as far as we can come.
Mary
then takes action based on what she has seen, and this is where she earns her
title of “Apostle to the Apostles.” She is the first to see the empty tomb and
the first to announce it. Peter and the beloved disciple, presumably John, come
to see for themselves and then they returned home. But Mary Magdalene lingered.
Oh, what blessings come in lingering. We live in such a fast-paced world. Even
if most of your meetings are still on Zoom instead of in-person, we still hurry
from one thing to next, even if all it is clicking from meeting link to meeting
link. Mary though lingers and gives herself the time to have emotions, to not
be okay, to lose it. This last year has had a way of breaking even the
strongest of us. Political rancor, racism, financial stress, personal issues of
all sorts, and a pandemic – it’s been a year that has hit us all hard. This isn’t
something to run from. Sit with those pains, those insecurities, those tears.
The
angels in the tomb ask her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” It’s obvious, right?
We can figure this one out, and we’re not angels. Her teacher and friend was
brutally executed and to add insult to injury, his body is missing. Even the
last shred of dignity in having a peaceful burial is taken from him. Why are we
crying? Over 500,000 dead from a pandemic that didn’t have to be this bad, but
was because public health became a partisan issue. Why are we crying? Because
as soon as things start returning to normal, we have twice in recent weeks been
reminded that gun violence is a normal part of our society. Why are we crying?
Because of the diagnosis that we received, because of the bully at school,
because the bank account has never been this low, because we’re not sure if
people are going to come back to church. We cry for so many reasons. Yes,
Easter is a joyous day. But we cannot forget the cries of horror of Friday.
Easter does not erase our pains, but it does let us see those pains in a new way
and this is where the story turns next.
Mary
sees a man standing there. Supposing him to be the gardener, she asks him where
the body of her Lord has been taken. It’s easy to confuse Jesus with the gardener
because he is one. The first Creation that we read about in Genesis took place
over one week in a garden. But on the first day of this next week, Mary Magdalene
comes to a garden and is witness to nothing less than the New Creation that is
just as foundational as the first. Like a gardener who tends, seeds, prunes, cultivates,
and harvests plants so that they might bear much fruit, Jesus is the gardener
who seeks to bring the sweet fruits of the Resurrection into the world through
his grace working in us.
But
then this gardener says her name, “Mary” and she immediately recognizes him as
Jesus. And it’s not just Mary’s name that is called by the Risen Jesus, but all
of our names. Jesus calls to each of us – John, Rachel, David, Cathy, George,
Elizabeth. Yes, of course, Resurrection is about all of Creation being made
new. But it’s also about you. Sometimes Jesus will show up in a garden, sometimes
a classroom, sometimes a homeless shelter, sometimes a waiting room, sometimes
a time of prayer. Jesus knows you by name and is calling you into glory and joy
of Easter, not as a day to just come to church, but as a reality to enter into.
This
is the commission that Jesus gives to Mary. He tells her “Do not hold onto me;”
that is, “Don’t stay here and cling onto this moment because I have a job for
you – go and tell the other disciples.” And so Mary Magdalene goes and she preaches
the very first Easter sermon – “I have seen the Lord.” This is the essence of
the Christian faith and life – seeing the Lord.
Easter
is not about our opinion of what happened in a garden some 2,000 years ago. No,
Easter is not about what happened at all. Instead, Easter is about what is
happening all around us. Easter is about seeing the Risen Lord not only in the
pages of Scripture that witness to his Resurrection, but it’s also about seeing
the Risen Jesus in our lives. The Resurrection was the dawning of the New
Creation, the Creation in which Sin has been forgiven and Death has been overcome.
These are the two things that plague us – our propensity to act fearfully and
selfishly is at the root of sin, and our anxiety around death makes us miss out
on the gift of life we have been given. In the New Creation though, Jesus has
robbed Sin and Death of their claim on us and has made us citizens of his Resurrection
life. On Easter, we can see new possibilities of grace and redemption in all
things. Because Jesus is risen, just imagine all of the other things that we thought were impossible that now are in the realm of Resurrection possibilities.
This
reality is all around us, and if we can see it, it changes everything. With
Easter eyes, we see faith, hope, and love around us. Easter vision is about
knowing that death can do its worst, but God can do better than that. Easter
vision is about trusting that we are forgiven, that we are loved, and that we
are called by God to announce this Good News. Easter vision lets us see the
world both critically and compassionately. Easter vision is what gives us the
confidence that even in the midst of things that might cause us tears, that all
shall be well, that all shall be well, and that all manner of things shall be
well. Easter vision is about coming and seeing the difference that Christ makes
because there is a new creation in Christ. Now, does this mean that everything
will be easy and pleasant?
Of course not. But
Easter is about how we live and move throughout the world, knowing that even
when the stone is rolled up against the tomb, God still has another move as the
tomb becomes a womb. God is in the boulder moving business. And when these boulders
move, a new story comes into being. Suffering can be redeemed. Estrangement can
be reconciled. Division can turn into beloved community. Wrongs can be made
right. Love is put at the center of things.
Easter is about
this reality being announced to us – that is what “I have seen the Lord” means.
It’s a way of saying that I’ve experienced a peace that passes all
understanding, I’ve received a grace that I have not deserved, I am loved at
the core of my being. Helen Keller, a blind and deaf author and advocate of the
1900s, once remarked that most people treat their eyesight as a mere
convenience. Well, on Easter we know that vision is more than a convenience, it
is a gift and a necessity. Saying “I have seen the Lord” isn’t about whether you
have 20/20 vision or are legally blind – it’s about following the great example
of Mary Magdalene who, despite her fears and tears, came to the tomb in the darkness
of the first day of the week and had an encounter that changed everything.
Maybe you need to hear it today – that the Lord is risen! So I’ll tell you that I’ve seen the Lord. I’ve seen Jesus at the altar, I’ve seen him at Rowan Helping Ministries, I’ve seen him in beloved community conversations about race, I’ve seen him in your faces. So, if that’s what you need to hear today, I’ll tell you that just as surely as I’m standing here: I have seen the Lord. And our world needs to see and know this – so, like Mary, go out and tell people the Good News of Easter: we have seen the Lord.
