Easter Failure

 Resurrection.         What in the world do we mean by Resurrection?

And, in a practical sense and more to the point, 

how can I sum up Resurrection 

in the space of a few minutes of a sermon?

Easter is the time to celebrate 

         the best good news of the Gospel message,

         how the death of our Savior 

                           provided for the biggest surprise of all,

         how in that death, which could not hold Jesus in the grave,

                  we have incredibly been brought into life,             

New Life,

         life in its fullness, life as it was always been meant to be,

         life without the taste of death

         life that is timeless and endless

         and most of all, the possibility for us to live fully in that Life right now.

 

A new life and a new creation in resurrection:

         if we have the eyes to see that.

It’s new only to us, this new life and new creation.

It’s what has always been in the heart of the Creator

         who has yearned to open our eyes to the wonder of it all.

That is why God became incarnate, 

         why the Divine creative Word came among us,

                                    to open our eyes.

That is what Jesus was doing then on that first Easter day

         and at Pentecost pouring out his Resurrection Spirit

and is doing ever since right up until today, this particular Easter Day.

 

Fine words,          but think for a moment about what it was like 

         for those disciples and followers of Jesus 

                           that first Easter morning.

That first Easter Day was not totally as full of joy and excitement

                  as one might think.

Just the week before 

         there had been this grand procession into Jerusalem

         that had all the trappings of the Messianic King,

                  a new King David

         who would restore the nation to its former glory, 

                  they thought,

         in which there would be no Roman occupation 

                           grinding down the people under military rule, 

                  no crushing taxes draining the country’s wealth

                           in tribute money pouring into Rome’s coffers.

Was all that with the idea 

         that God was only interested in their political success?

 

But the Kingdom of God does not happen in that way.

Instead Jesus appeared to intentionally 

         poke in the eye the priests at the Temple,

         and cause such provocations 

                  as to drive it all to the crisis point.

But there were no legions of angel warriors 

         descending from the heavens

                  to bring a quick victory.

Instead there were those strange things Jesus had said 

                           at that last supper with them,

         the audacity and scandal of telling them 

                  that in partaking of the bread and wine

                           they were consuming his Body and Blood.

Then his arrest in the garden

                                             when they had all fled.

A couple of them had endangered themselves 

                           to witness some of the trial,

and a few, mainly the women, 

                           had gathered at the scene of the execution.

The rest were in hiding 

         knowing that they too could be rounded up, arrested and killed,

                  because the Romans would be quick to suppress 

                  any hint of revolt.

It was all over, the mission, the hopes and dreams, died with Jesus.

The disciples were taking a chance even meeting together,

                                                               even behind locked doors.

 

And the Resurrection story from the Gospel of Mark 

                           that we just heard 

         is not one of ecstatic joy.

The women going to the tomb 

         are going there mourning and grieving

         and for the purpose of properly anointing the body for burial.

They are worried about being able 

         to complete this act of devotion

         because of the stone sealing the entrance to the tomb.

So when they find the tomb open and the body missing,

         and this stranger dressed in white 

                           telling them something incredulous,

they were greatly astonished, they were terrified.

That’s a far cry from joy.

         Can you imagine it?  

They were perplexed and dismayed and hindered in completing          their loving devotion to the body of Jesus.

Who could understand what this young man was telling them?

         who reminded them that Jesus had been crucified,

         but now he had gotten up and was gone, no longer there,

                  and that they could see him in Galilee?

         How did Jesus get there so fast?  It doesn’t compute.

They fled trembling, bewildered, beside themselves in fear.

 

Have you ever had the experience of being told some good news,

         but were afraid to believe it?

Have you ever come up to something in your life 

                           that was a turning point

         in which, if you took this turn, life might be so much better –

                  and you were afraid to risk it?

 

Today’s Gospel reading ends with the words,

         “they were afraid.”

But that definitely was not the end of the story.

         The joy, the ecstatic joy would come.

         And with that a whole new way of being.

Their lives would be changed in a way they could not foresee.

         They would all know the joy, catch the vision,

                  get what Jesus was all about,

                  and become Apostles, ones sent.

                  and spread that joy and hope and love and life

throughout the whole world.

Please notice this:

         Failure was a big part of that first Easter Day – 

         Jesus looked like a failure 

                  (they didn’t understand him or the purpose of his death).

         The disciples were a failure,

                  and they probably felt it profoundly.

         And the women at the tomb were so bewildered

                  that they failed to understand 

                           what that strange young man in white was saying.

But that failure was short lived.

In Paul’s first letter to the Church in Corinth 

he relates how widely the witness of the Resurrection was spreading:

         the appearance to Cephas aka Peter, then the twelve,

         then to more than 500 brothers and sisters at once,

         to James, the Lord’s brother, all the apostles,

         and even to Paul, who considered himself unfit to be an apostle,

                           a failure who had persecuted the Church.

“But,” Paul says, “by the grace of God I am what I am.”

That grace is the Resurrection Spirit of Jesus at work in us.

There is where our true inheritance and identity rests.

By the grace of God I am what I am,

         because of the Presence of Resurrection

         because the Spirit of Jesus is at work in me,

                  is at work in you,

                  is at work in every heart 

                                             open to hope, to faith, to love and to joy.

So let us enter with joy into this Easter celebration.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!