EasterA20 John 20:1-18
I want to begin by sharing an old, but true story that begins with this headline: “Texas Beer Joint Sues Church in Mt. Vernon, Texas!” Drummond's Bar began construction on expansion of their building to increase business. In response, the local Baptist church started a campaign to block the bar from expanding with petitions and prayers. Work progressed right up until the week before the grand reopening, when lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground!
After the bar was completely gutted by the fire, the church folks were rather smug, bragging about "the power of prayer", until the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that “the church was ultimately responsible for the demise of his building, either through direct or indirect actions or means." I’m not making this up!
In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building's demise. The judge read through the plaintiff's complaint and the defendant's reply, and at the opening hearing, he comments: "I don't know how I'm going to decide this, but it appears from the paperwork that we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that doesn’t."
During Holy Week this year, thousands of families have been ripped apart by the COVID-19 virus. One of our families lost their home in a fire. . During Holy Week, we’ve had days full of isolation instead of chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs. Even the Pope has preached to an empty plaza.
We aren’t sure what the essence of the world in which we live is going to be like after all of this is finally over. It only takes a cough to threaten a lifetime of hope and plunge any of us into world of chaos. You can’t find chocolate bunnies with extra-long ears in locked down hospital rooms, prison cells, and nursing homes this year. Even so, the meaning of Easter can be transformative when hope is almost impossible to see.
In the midst of all of uncertainty, we’re living right into the meaning Easter! Social distancing can’t stop us this morning as we log on to hear the same story and to remember the tomb that we’ve never seen! In one way or another, we need Easter more than ever. But no one needed it more than Mary.
As she made her way down the dark Galilean road alone, her heart was flooded by memories of happier days. The life that she had known had been torn apart by Roman authorities. Her hopes and dreams had been crucified with her friend and teacher. “My God, why did it have to be this way?” “What did I do to deserve this kind of pain?” “How do I pick up the pieces now?”
Every year, the story remains the same, but every year, we each bring something different to the empty tomb. We’re different. The changes we’ve seen in our lives, the experiences we’ve had, the good ones, the hard ones, all of those things, will always keep bringing us back to the story to see if the good news still works. Well, guess what. The tomb is still empty. And Christ is still alive!
Resurrection didn’t just happen to Jesus 2000 years ago; it happens every day. It really doesn’t matter if you think of the Resurrection as a literal, real time world event or as a visual picture of God’s power that you can wrap around your heart and believe without question. Either way, the reality behind the rolled away stone tells us that any power or circumstance that’s been trying to keep you frozen in your tracks and paralyzed by fear cannot, should not and will not have the last word!
We don’t need an archeological dig to pinpoint a burial site once and for all. Because nothing in any of our lives is ever once and for all! God’s presence and power can roll away the stones threatening to limit and define you, but if you keep trying to keep Jesus in a manageable, easily recognizable familiar form, it just won’t do! Mary had to let go of the past or she wouldn’t be able to grasp the new reality standing right in front of her face. The Savior has risen in the midst of her pain and broken dreams!
Y’all, I believe that resurrection means broken relationships have a chance to be restored! An addicted child can come home and find the support they need! People from all walks of life can band together and change the history of their isolated neighbors with love packed into grocery bags and homemade masks. Now we know that the people who used to be invisible to us are really heroes as they risk their lives just by going to work every day!
Victims of abuse can be empowered to walk away into a new beginning. Hearts torn by loss can learn how to beat again and discover God’s peace in the fullness of time. Resurrection comes to us in all kinds of packages if we learn to recognize new life from the inside out.
I want to leave you with a message from “Home By Another Way,” by Barbara Brown Taylor as she brings all of this into focus. “In the resurrection, God has planted a seed of life in us that cannot be killed, and if we can remember that, then there is nothing we cannot do: move mountains, banish fear, love our enemies, change the world.” He IS risen! “And he knows our names…” Thanks be to God! Happy Easter, y’all!
Amen!
Quotations taken from: Craig Barnes, p 16, “Savior at Large” Christian Century Magazine, March 13-20, 2002.
Barbara Brown Taylor, Home By Another Way, pp 111-112