In the Middle of It
Easter Sunday – Narrative Lectionary 4
April 20, 2014
Grace, Mankato, MN
John 20.1-18
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia!
What a joyous message that Easter proclamation is, especially after a long season of Lent as we walked with Jesus through his arrest, abandonment, trial, scourging and agonizing crucifixion. Though not on par with Jesus’ suffering, our enduring of winter has set the proper mood for us and we are ready for good news. Yet, even as we read the Easter story from John we realize, as Frederick Buechner notes, that it is not as major a production as we’d like to think, even with the minor attractions we create around it, such as Easter eggs, lilies, jelly beans, and the like. “It’s not much of a story when you come right down to it,” he says, for it’s hard to make something of nothing.
Buechner goes on to observe, “that is, of course, the power of it. It doesn’t have the ring of great drama. It has the ring of truth.” Even if you could dress it up, it wouldn’t make it more powerful. Just the opposite; it would make it less powerful. I would add that Easter message is not too good to be true; it’s too good not to be true. Even 2,000 years removed and with presumably ample time to reflect on its meaning, I don’t think we are much different from those first followers of Jesus who encounter the risen Christ. It the middle of the greatest news that humanity could ever hope to hear we don’t always see it.
Some of us come to this Easter celebration like Mary Magdalene, who in the midst of her grief has had an encounter with the risen Christ, and ultimately has had her sorrow transformed to joy and new life. In that renewed discovery of hope and promise she declares that Jesus does, indeed, live. We need people like you here, to witness to us that Jesus not only lives but he is present with us. We need you because some of us are still stuck in the middle of uncertainty, like Peter and the Beloved Disciple. Some of us believe like the Beloved Disciple, though we are not sure what it is we believe. Some are scratching our heads like Peter, knowing something is going on but not able to see it yet.
I was reminded this past week how many of us find ourselves right in the middle of that darkened garden. The stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty and we are hearing some crazy sounding things. I had a chance encounter with a young woman who lost her way-too-young son almost ten years ago and as a result has become disconnected from God and the faith she grew up with. She felt betrayed by that God. I knew that pious platitudes about “being with Jesus” and “seeing her son again” and “being in a better place,” although true were not what she needed to hear. She needed to hear that the risen, living Christ meets her in her grief, calls her by name and brings life where death has occurred.
Every one of us is here because someone or many some ones told us about their encounter with the living, risen Christ, and we come back week after week to hear it again and again. Because, in the middle of our lives we don’t always see the empty tombs, the signs of God’s presence, and when we do see them we don’t always know what to make of them. So, we need reminding. It’s not much of a story in and of itself, but shared with others it helps us see how God continues to be present with us, bringing life out of death, snatching hope from the jaws of despair. May you see God’s presence in your life, wherever that may be, knowing his transforming love. For Christ is risen, he is risen indeed, alleluia! Amen.
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