Video of this service can be watched at this link -
https://vimeo.com/406924122?fbclid=IwAR1CJmv-mZCIWOEg6YFGaG1WCIjsKnpugRTWGOKSKEsvivC1UTe18AJs1dY
Who would have thought, just a month ago, that it would not be possible for us to come to church to worship together? When we canceled services for March 15th, I assumed we would absolutely be back by Easter. Although we are growing accustomed to the circumstances in which we find ourselves, I think we all have those moments when we feel as though we are in the middle of a bad dream. Driving back and forth to the church, with the scarcity of cars on the roads and so many businesses shuttered, I find it to be an almost apocalyptic scene. How do we celebrate Easter in such circumstances? How do we find joy when life has become so difficult?
To ask such questions is to take us into the minds of the disciples of Jesus, in the hours just before Easter. Their world had come to a screeching halt, with the horror of the crucifixion. They were hidden away, hoping they would not be the next ones nailed to a cross. Could life ever be the same? Were they experiencing their “new normal”?
However different Easter is this year, it is still Easter. And while some of the elements of Easter are different, there is absolutely nothing about the core message of Easter that has changed. The same hope is with us today, on this very different Easter, as has been with us on every other Easter. The same promise of resurrection is with us today, on this very different Easter, as has been with us on every other Easter.
Today’s Scripture text comes from John 20:1-18 –
1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.
2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.
4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.
6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,
7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.
8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.
9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb
12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
This morning, I want to focus on the first verse of this passage – in that verse, John says that Mary Magdalene came to the tombwhile it was still dark. I want to use that phrase as a metaphor, a metaphor in regard to our present circumstances, and as something that passes with the coming of the light.
1. While it was still dark, we have struggled to understand.
Hindsight, it is often said, is 20/20. Already, in just a short span of weeks, we can look back and see much more clearly what should have been done four, five, or six weeks ago.
Also because of hindsight, looking back across the span of church history, we know the outcome of the Easter story. We know that Good Friday can be called Good because we know the resurrection took place. The disciples, however, only hours away from the first Easter, did not have the benefit of such hindsight. They would eventually understand, as Luke tells us in 24:45 – then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. Even though Jesus had told his disciples he would be resurrected, they could neither understand nor comprehend the idea, at least not at the time. John tells us, Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days.” The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken(John 2:19-22). To grasp what was such an amazing idea could only fully be understood in hindsight, when the resurrection reshaped the thinking of the disciples of Jesus and of the many millions of followers who would come in the two millennia to follow.
It is easy to wonder how the disciples could be so slow to understand what is so obvious to us. The truth is, however, that we have the benefit of two millennia of hindsight. To be in the midst of a radically shifting paradigm of thinking and understanding, as were the disciples, is to struggle with what Jesus told them.
While we look upon the lack of understanding of the disciples, and wonder how this could be so, we confront our own lack of understanding. How could this be happening to us? How could our world change so much in such a short period of time? How did we not see this coming? What will life be like when this is over? When will it be over?
But one day it will be over. It will interesting, next year, as we talk about the events of this time. We will say to one another, remember when we were at home, and wondering when we could go back out without any hesitation? Remember all those Sundays watching church online? Remember how we gradually canceled more and more services and activities – worship services, the fellowship meals, the meetings, choir, praise team, Stephen Ministry, and how we wondered how far out we would have to cancel? How we wondered about VBS, and church camp, and the mission trip? How we could not visit in hospitals and nursing homes, or our friends, or even, in some cases, our family members? Remember how it felt to lose so much in our daily lives that we took for granted? Remember how we promised ourselves we would never again take for granted even the small gifts of life?
2. While it was still dark, we realized we are vulnerable.
It’s hard not to feel frightened in these days, isn’t it?
While it was still dark, John said. It’s still dark, at least in terms of the situation in which we are living. And I will admit that I find the darkness to be unsettling.
We assume there are guarantees in life. We know there is vulnerability to life, but we go on as though we really don’t believe that vulnerability really exists. We assume we will have a job that will pay our bills, keep us fed, pay for our vehicles, our house, our food, and educate our children. And then the darkness comes, and jobs disappear, and finances become uncertain, and we realize just how vulnerable we really are. And it is frightening, and unsettling, and a harsh reminder of our vulnerability.
And what is there that can overcome that vulnerability? Science will eventually find a vaccine for the coronavirus, but not until a tremendous amount of damage and loss has first crashed into so many lives. The scientific accomplishment of conquering the disease will comfort those of us who make it through relatively unscathed, but not those who have lost so much, and find then that unease has become their companion in life. Money can provide medical care and help us ride out the economic slump that comes with this crisis, but it cannot save someone whose body cannot overcome the ravages of the virus. I’m not trying to be discouraging and depressing, certainly not on Easter, but vulnerability is scary to us, and we don’t like to admit to it and talk about it, but it is a reality that lives with us.
Sometimes, when I awaken in the night from a disturbing dream, or when I have been awake in the middle of the night with worry, I get up, go to another room in the house, and turn on a light. The light brings comfort. It washes away the unsettledness of the darkness. In the morning, when the sun rises and I walk outside into that beautiful sunshine, I wonder why I was so worried and so afraid in the dark. The light gives me peace and comfort. Even when I know the darkness will return, I know the light will return as well, and I take great comfort in that truth.
3. While it was still dark, we have held to hope that the light is coming.
Just as Mary Magdalene and the other followers of Jesus could not understand that he had been resurrected, neither can we understand all that we will eventually learn from our present moment. We are still, metaphorically speaking, in the dark about what will one day seem obvious to us.
In the final verse of today’s Scripture text, Mary Magdalene tells the disciples I have seen the Lord! Truth and understanding had come to her, just as it will one day come to us. It is often said that it is darkest before the dawn. It is a dark moment in which we now live, but our hope is that the dawn is just around the corner. But it’s not just a hope, it is a promise; the promise that Easter brings to us.
I do not profess to know the timeline of the first Easter morning. We know that Mary arrived at the tomb while it was still dark, but I like to think that when Jesus sent Mary to the disciples, when she turned to go, that the sunrise was shining upon her. I like to think of it that way because it fits so well with the light of the resurrection.
What can overcome the darkness? In John 8:12 Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
This is one of the central truths of Easter – the light dispels the darkness. Yes, there are many realities in our world – harsh realities – that prey upon us but they cannot ultimately bring defeat – not even in death. Our lives are disrupted now, but we will overcome. And even if we fall to the ravages of this disease, the light of resurrection still has the final word, because it always does. Always.
Somewhere down the road, hopefully in the very near future, we will look back, as the disciples looked back, and see and understand more clearly about what has taken place during this time. For all the questions we have asked, we will also remember the answers when they came – remember how God did see us through? Remember how the darkness passed away and the light came? Remember how we stepped out of our isolation and into fellowship? Remember when we turned off our computers and walked into the church that first Sunday? Remember what a joy and what a gift that was? Remember the sense of resurrection we felt?
We are ready for the light. We are more than ready for the light. The light has come. There just happens to be some momentary darkness that has crept back into life, but the light of the risen Jesus will soon dispel that darkness.
While it was still dark, the light was being prepared.
While it was still dark, resurrection was stirring.
Then Easter came, and the light overcame the darkness!
Happy Easter! The light has come! He is risen! He is risen indeed!
No comments:
Post a Comment