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The
Feast of the Resurrection The Disappointment of Easter Readings:
Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 118:14-24; Acts 10:34-43; Mark 16:1-8 A
person walking on a country lane sees a farmer standing in the middle of
his farm, doing nothing in particular. The person calls out, "What
are you doing in there?" The
farmer replies, "I'm trying to get a Nobel Prize!" The
person asks, "How can you get a Nobel Prize, doing nothing like
that?" The
farmer answers, "I hear they give out Nobel Prizes to people who
are out standing in their field." Your
laughter is good for two reasons. One
is that in the Eastern Orthodox tradition jokes are told on Easter
Sunday to imitate God’s last laugh on Satan, who thought he had won
with the death of Jesus. The
other is that the rest of this message is a serious one.
You see, I am going to speak out about something that no one ever
talks about, the disappointment of Easter.
The Easter story is a series of disappointed expectations.
Nothing in the story turned out the way it was expected.
That is especially apparent in Mark’s telling of the story.
When
the Sabbath was over the holy women made their way to the tomb.
They were in a state of shock.
They had seen their leader, the one in whom they had invested so
much hope, brutally executed. Just
a short time ago, they had followed his every move with excitement.
The crowds could not get enough of him.
They followed him everywhere, hoping for a miracle, looking for
healing, hanging on his every word.
Over the last three days, the mood had changed.
The same crowds had taken up that terrible chant, “Crucify
him!” And now he was
dead. They had laid him
hurriedly in the tomb. Now
they were carrying spices with them to prepare his body for burial.
They
knew that there was one formidable obstacle in the way.
A very large stone had been placed across the entrance to the
tomb. As they walked along
the road that morning, they were all wondering the same thing.
How would they ever move it away from the entrance?
And yet, they went to the tomb anyway.
And when they got there the stone had already been rolled away.
Not
that it made them feel any better! “What is going on?
What indignity has been done to him now?” they must have
wondered. But they entered
the tomb. They saw a young
man, dressed in a white robe, sitting there.
His words of reassurance did nothing to quell their fears.
They fled in confusion. It
is difficult for us to imagine their terror, but it was well founded.
Their allegiance to Christ put them in grave danger.
What fear, what confusion, what disappointment those women met on
that first Easter day! What
does it mean to be disappointed by Easter?
For many there is a deep disappointment that there is no proof of
the Resurrection. “How
can you believe such a story?” they say.
“You are simply deluding yourself.
It comes out of your own fear of death.
You’re simply trying to paint a rosy picture, because you
don’t want to face the fact that once life is over, that's
it." Death is always a
disappointment; it is an end to expectations.
It leaves behind incomplete plans. Then
there are the skeptics. They
express all the disappointments of life: "I'll believe if only
you'll give me proof positive that any of this happened."
And the simple truth is, neither I nor anyone else can provide
them with proof. For one
thing, there aren't a lot of facts.
And for another, when I look around at a world torn by war,
terrorism and civil strife, how can I presume to preach a message of the
risen Christ? In a world
where children die of hunger, how do I convey a message of hope for a
better existence? In a
world in which 'seeing is believing' how can I possibly convince people
to have faith in something so intangible?
In a world of fast fixes how do I convince people of the need to
commit themselves to a way of life that benefits them, not now but in
the afterlife? And
there it is, the disappointment for me! The resurrection is the
cornerstone of our faith. Yet
it is impossible to prove. The
“how” continues to defy us. It
cannot be proven in any conventional way.
There is no historical evidence or contemporary analysis that can
offer proof positive. But
there are signs of resurrected life.
I was moved reading James Loney’s account of being rescued from
what he described as “the tomb”, an existence that he lived daily
after being captured by terrorists.
He had options, he pointed out.
“I could have risked everything in an attempt to escape.
I could have stripped off my clothes, refused to eat, told them
“release me or kill me” – I will not co-operate.”
And now he is confronted by a great paradox.
The Christian pacifist was released by the Armed Forces, an
institution he believes is contrary to Christian teaching.
He goes on to say the following.
“My captivity and rescue have helped me to catch a glimpse of
how powerful the force of resurrection is.
Christ, that tomb-busting suffering servant Son of God, seeks us
wherever we are, reaches for us in whatever darkness we inhabit.
The tomb is not the final word.”
How
do we help people get over the disappointment of Easter?
The stone has been rolled away from the tomb.
How do we get them to go in and see for themselves the emptiness
of the tomb? When they have
seen how do we keep them from simply running away in fear?
How do we make certain that the tomb is not the final word?
The
Jesus who lived and walked and taught on earth is not in the tomb.
He is not to be sought in the far distant past.
His saving work is a present reality in the community of
believers. That is where we
encounter the risen Lord. It
is in you, the people of God, that others will see the risen Christ, and
seeing they will believe. The
world expected that the death of Christ would mean the end of
Christianity. But the once
defeated and disillusioned disciples became people alive with joy.
They became messengers ready to proclaim their faith.
So
let us put aside our disappointments.
Let God's Spirit move us to faith in the resurrection.
In doing so we will discover that Christ is alive in us, through
us, and forever. Then we
will proclaim: I have seen
the risen Lord. I have
experienced resurrection in my life.
God has rolled away the stone.
I have seen for myself the empty tomb.
I believe. Alleluia!
The Lord is risen.
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