Sermon for April 5 (Easter)

Easter 2015

Isaiah 25:6-9

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines. And the Lord will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.  It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand,  through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you--unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.  For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them--though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

Mark 16:1-8

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.  As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.  But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.  But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you."  So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.

The message

 

Last week, I experienced Easter. I was at a coffee shop in Woodside and I had my worries and doubts interrupted by the good news that Christ is risen from the dead.  That is really what Easter is about. A moment when God's love breaks into the world and interferes with our fears.   It is a time for joy and responsibility.    

I was at the coffee shop to meet someone and talk about a few new projects in the neighborhood. He was dealing with an emergency situation and running late. While waiting, I was anxious about all the different things that needed to be done to prepare for Holy Week and Easter.  I figured I would use the extra time to work on my Easter sermon. I had three and a half Easter sermons started at home, none of which I really liked. It just didn’t feel as though any of them really captured what Easter was about in any clear or meaningful way.  Easter is the most important day of our faith but honestly it can be very difficult to talk about and prepare for. I had no idea where any of those three and a half Easter sermons were going and that was starting to bother me a lot. 

That morning in the coffee shop, I decided to start fresh and make a list of everything  that came to my mind when I thought about Easter. I had some religious things on the list like the cross, a full church, the empty tomb, and Jesus. I also wrote down some not so religious things like Bunny, candy, vacation, and eggs. All of a sudden, I heard “Christ is Risen from the dead” coming through the speakers at the coffee shop. At first, I thought that I misheard, but then it was repeated again and again: “Christ is Risen from the dead”.  It turns out that the owner of the coffee shop had just put on a Christian music station and most of the words in this particular song were “Christ is Risen from the dead.”

Now when a pastor goes to a coffee shop, learns that the person he is supposed to meet will be delayed, continues to struggle with an Easter message and out of nowhere hears the words “Christ is Risen from the Dead” that is too much of a coincidence to ignore. All I could think was that this is Easter, this is God actually working in the world, announcing God’s presence and love through Jesus death and resurrection.  I felt better right away.  I was no longer anxious or worried. I knew that I wanted to talk about this experience on Easter.  It was a moment of joy and responsibility. I suddenly took notice of God’s love happening around me and remembered that I needed to tell people about it.  

I saw a neighbor trying to help someone dealing with a crisis.   

I noticed a person in the café offering a free drink and snack to the always ignored man digging in the trash outside 

I realized the group walking together in suits were consoling each other after a funeral at the church down the street. I paused to say a prayer for them in their time of grief.

I realized that the coffee shop was not selling fair trade coffee and local, sustainable foods to make more money, they were doing it because of their faith and care for the world around them

Things looked and felt different because Christ was Risen from the dead.  My Easter experience that morning reminded that today is about joy and responsibility.  That theme comes up again and again in readings.

Our Joy that comes from trusting the prophet Isaiah’s words, “the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces” 

Our responsibility to speak those words to the unbelieving, anxious and scared.                                           

Our joy of knowing what was revealed through scripture, that Christ died for our sins and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day.                         

  

Our responsibility to study, know, struggle with, look to and share those scriptures.                 

Our joy in Paul’s declaration “But by the grace of God I am what I am”, of knowing that God works through all of us in different ways.                  

 Our responsibility to actually celebrate those differences in creative, innovative, and faithful ways.    

 Our joy of hearing “Christ is not here, He is Risen from the dead.” when we really need to            

 Our responsibility to show and tell people “Christ is Risen from the Dead”, when they really need to hear it.    

Now of the two, of joy and responsibility, Joy is the more important. That is the one that God and only God can give us. The joy of knowing that Christ is risen for the forgiveness of our sins allows us to fulfill our responsibilities. That is the lesson of the Easter story in Mark’s Gospel.  The women walk to the tomb to anoint Jesus body in accordance with their religious traditions.  It is dangerous and even a little foolish. Dangerous because Jesus was killed as a political and religious rebel. If the women passed anyone on the road who knew what they were up to, they could be harassed, attacked, arrested, put on trial and end up on a cross just like Jesus.  It was  foolish because a large, very heavy rock they could not possibly move was placed in front of the tomb.  There would be no way for them to do their planned anointing. For these brave and faithful women, the dangerous and impossible cannot stop them. What does stop them is the good news, the joy of the angel’s words “He is not here, He has been raised”.  That is when they are seized by terror and amazement.  The Joy that they encounter at the empty tomb sends them running away shy, quiet and scared. 

In many ways, we are just like the women in this story, we often do okay with the responsibility part: we sort of keep the rules, do what we need to do, and try to help. However, the joy makes us shy, quiet and scared.   

Finally, I invite you to be ready for Easter experiences, to let your pain, sadness and anxiety be interrupted by the news, Christ is Risen from the dead.  I invite all of you to sit with the joy of Easter and let it change and direct you. Like Mark’s Gospel,  I end with our greatest joy:  “Christ is Risen from the dead” and our greatest responsibility “Go and Tell the others”.