Happy Easter!
Resurrection, The Importance of Bodies, and Begotten Familes
Welcome my friends, to the most sacred day of the entire year. This is a Very. Big. Deal. and perhaps the biggest deal of them all. What we celebrate today is something that is not confined to the walls of any church. It is bigger than any individual or family. What is happening today is something that is takes place on a scale that is earth-shattering.
The Gospel of Mark begins its story with women who come to Jesus’ tomb. These are some of the same women who were with Jesus in his last moments, and they have come to say their final goodbyes. “It is finished,” Jesus said as one of his last words from the cross. My dear friends, what was happening on the cross might have been finished, but the Good News is that the story is not over … not by a long shot.
For when Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, and Salome arrive, they find the stone was rolled away and inside was not Jesus, dead for three days, but a young man wearing a white robe, whom I believe was an angel1. The actual tomb where Jesus lay was empty. All four Gospels have different versions of what happened on this day, but they all agree that the tomb was empty. The stone was not rolled away to let Jesus out, but to let the women, the rest of the disciples, and really all of us in to see what had happened the night before.
I have this image in my head of the angel coming along, rolling away the stone, climbing up on the stone and sitting on it looking rather pleased with themself, almost as if they were a kid who had climbed a tree for the first time, taking in the world from an entirely new perspective.
The angel says to the women, “Fear not! (and you know it’s angel because the first words out of their mouth is “fear not!”) He is not here but is risen, just as he said! And you know what else? I can tell you just where to find him!” So they literally drop everything and go to see this exciting new thing that has happened. After days in the depths of despair and brokenness, with this news, they know hope.
Imagine for moment, if the message of the angel had been, “Fear not! The Spirit of Jesus lives on. He lives on in the memories of his words and deeds, and you can now carry them with you wherever you go. Now, go and be like him.”
I imagine that if done with the right amount of care, that would have been some good grief counseling, and might even have been inspiring. But that doesn’t carry the same punch as “he is not here, but is risen” does it?
Easter is about many things, but it is also about bodies. If there is one thing that the past four years has taught us, it is that bodies matter. Being with other people … matter.
The internet is a powerful thing, and sometimes it can even be wonderful. We can talk and see people clear across the world as if they were on our television, we can have and host meetings, and we can even make friends. I know folks who have made friends, built community and also fallen in love on the internet. And yet … these images of closeness and conversation we have on the internet pale in comparison to what it means to be with someone in the flesh. How many of us have tried to meet someone over the internet and then, when we finally do meet them in person, it is like we are starting over?
Bodies matter. Earthly things matter. The matter so much, that God called them “good” and “very good” in the stories of the Creation. Just as God likes to work out God’s vision through people, God also like to show acts of grace through material things. We baptize using water. We partake of communion with the risen Christ through bread and wine. Our most sacred rituals involve touching one another and handling objects set aside for sacred use. Our bodies matter so much, that when God came to earth to show us most what God is like, God came not as disembodied spirit, but as a human being.
Bodies matter. Flesh and blood relationships matter. The women ran ahead to meet Jesus and found him in the flesh, still carrying the marks of his suffering, somehow different, but it was all Jesus, just as the angel said. And then Jesus sends them on to tell the others, and these women become the very first apostles. In another book of the Gospels, we hear a very similar story, but before they get to where they are going, Jesus meets them! They cannot believe it is really him, so they take a hold of him, embrace him, and fall down at his feet.
So Jesus tells them to go and tell not the disciples … no, disciples is a wordfor the angel to use … not the disciples! But his brothers that he will be waiting for them in the Galilee.
This moment is probably one of the most important things that happen because it shows that the Resurrection of Jesus changes everything.
Jesus calls the disciples his brothers, showing that they no longer have a teacher-student relationship, but one of close family. He says that they will meet him not in Jerusalem which at the best of times hold very complicated memories for everyone, but in the Galilee: a place that holds fond memories when they were first starting out, getting to know one another, moments of teaching, of miracles, of fellowship … memories of joy and peace and good times.
But because of the Resurrection, everything is different. Even in these troubled, uncertain times, we can know the singular hope and peace and love and trust that only comes from a God who sends their Son into the world to show that God will never abandon us and will always have our back.
Because of the Resurrection, the entire world will be saved and all of Creation redeemed. It is on a scale that is by some miracle individual, communal, and cosmic. Death, they say, is a part of life, but in the resurrection death is no longer in control. Because Jesus is raised from the dead, the possibilities of the future are now part and parcel of the eternal promises of God.
Peter realized something like this when we hear about how he met Cornelius (Acts 10). Peter realizes that what God has done in the resurrection of Jesus is something completely universal. It is a thing that is done to reclaim all people into a new shared existence, and sense of belonging that redefines all relationships. Peter and Cornelius have no reason to socialize or even be in the same room, but because of Jesus, they are now part of the same family. This miracle repeats itself every Sunday morning as we gather together from all sorts and conditions of backgrounds and walks of life and we come together as one people, one family of God.
The idea of what constitutes family has certainly changed in our lifetimes. We have families we are born into and the families that we choose to make on our own. The family that Jesus creates is neither inherited nor chosen … but it is something that is begotten by God. It is begotten because we, here, now, with those who have gone before and those who come after are all sisters, brothers, friends, siblings united to one another in Jesus.
There are many reasons why God chooses doubting prophets and scared disciples to be the bearers of this message …. And one of those reasons I think is that God simply likes to be with us and to help us out when we need it. God literally knows we cannot do any of this alone, and God does not want us to do any of it alone. This is why we end all of our promises in our baptismal covenant with, “I will … with God’s help.”
Where can we meet the risen Christ today in the 21st century? The first suggestion I have is, like the disciples, go to those places which bring you joy. Climb a tree, take walk in the park (go barefoot if you like!) play with your pets all day, go hang out downtown, maybe even have ice cream for dinner. I promise you, Jesus will be right there with you, sharing in those happy times.
We have all heard of Lenten disciplines, and now I want to propose we embark on a set for Easter. And our Easter discipline for especially this week and perhaps even through the entire 50 days of this season, is to do one thing that brings joy and peace. They can be the same thing, they can be all different, they can be a mix of the two … doesn’t matter. Just do it!
Happy Easter my friends. Go tell it on the mountain, shout it down the bayou, say with a mouthful of ice cream, because everything is different because of what happened today. Whether you’re new here and figuring everything out, or if you’ve been here a while, or been here for a long time …. I promise you … your place has been prepared and the table has been set just for you ever since the world began.
The Gospel of Mark says it was a young man, but the other accounts say there were angels present, so i think i’m on pretty solid ground here. :-)