Easter
2018 B RCL
Rev.
Dr. Adam T. Trambley
April 1,
2018, St. John’s Sharon
Knock, knock
Who’s there?
Jesus
Jesus who?
Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of
Lords, the Son of God who has all his enemies, including the last enemy of
death, under his feet.
This is what you get when Easter is on April
Fool’s Day.
Jesus playing the best joke in the universe in
his resurrection is a very old Christian theme, however. Here’s how it went down.
In a stable in Bethlehem some two thousand
years ago, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus went about healing the sick, casting
out demons, and proclaiming the good news.
Jesus, the Light of the world, shone into the darkness, but too many people
still loved the darkness. The leaders of
the people and others eager to hold onto their power and prestige plotted
against him. Satan put it into the heart
of one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, to betray him for thirty pieces of
silver. His rock, Simon Peter, denied
him three times. Others scattered.
Death and hell and the Devil saw the prospect
of success. This Son of God, the Holy
One of Israel, was now in their power.
They schemed with principalities and powers, with Roman pride and the pseudo-piety
of the professionally religious. Jesus
was placed in front of Pontius Pilate and condemned to crucifixion. A few hours later, Jesus was dead.
Death in those days can be pictured as darkness
and shadow. Hell was a place without
life or light, where the shades of those who were died were kept, perhaps
waiting for some salvation, or perhaps just stuck in eternal slumber. The Devil, who despised life and the living,
held sway, keeping the doors of death locked tightly, lest anyone escape. That hell is precisely where Jesus descended
into, taking with him every sin and curse that could be committed or come
against us. It all showed up on the
Devil’s door, and Satan was smug and satisfied. He thought he had won.
His victory, of course, was short-lived. He was an incompetent criminal kidnapping
Clark Kent. He was a birthday boy blowing
trick candles. He was the naïve mark who
honestly believed he could open the can of mixed nuts and get mixed nuts,
instead of those springy snakes that launch out everywhere once the lid is
opened. The Devil was not going to be
able to keep the Son of God in an eternal tomb.
Instead, Jesus, even with holes in his hands
and feet and side, let the Light shine.
Even the ultimate darkness of death could not overcome it. The disguise glasses came off and the cape
came on – and if you wonder, look on the cross on the reredos and Jesus is
wearing cape. (Technically, it’s called
a cope and it symbolizes that he is our great high priest.) Still, Jesus is wearing a cape. The fire of God’s power and love could not
be quenched by Satan’s putrid breath.
The joyful exuberance of the Son of God was popping out everywhere and
not even the despair of death could contain it. When Jesus said, “Knock,
knock,” hell did not expect the punchline that was coming.
And that punchline packed a real punch. The early iconography of the resurrection
depicts the devil splayed out under Jesus feet.
The doors of hell are broken in two – sometimes Jesus is standing on
them with the Satan stuck underneath.
The locks and chains that had barred the door are broken and lying on
the ground. Jesus goes through the doors
to the other side, ascending with Adam and Eve holding his hand and all those
who have died before following behind.
Jesus, no longer dead, is in the tomb when the angels roll away the
stone and Jesus appears to his disciples before ascending to his Father.
Brothers and sisters, that is the greatest
April Fool’s Day prank of all time, even if it wasn’t precisely on April Fool’s
Day that year, and even if April Fool’s Day hadn’t been invented yet. In that great joke, all of human life becomes
a comedy. Certainly, there are tragic
elements. Suffering can be real. Pain is all too common. We still follow Jesus through death before we
can come with him out the other side.
But the tragic elements do not have the last
word. Whatever sins we commit, however heinous,
can be forgiven with healing and restoration achieved. Whatever evils are done to us, even as
horrific as the crucifixion, can be transformed, in the end, to new life. Whatever diseases and decay, whatever evil
and wickedness, whatever addiction and oppression would seem to hold sway over
us for a time and a season, or even for a lifetime, we know that we will die
with Christ, be buried with Christ, and be resurrected with Christ. Death is never the last word.
So we rejoice.
Some days we rejoice with more abandon than others. Some days our rejoicing is more a matter of
faith than of feeling. But we always
rejoice in the love of God and the new life of the risen Christ. The joy of the resurrection renews the whole
world, and we are in on the joke.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen
indeed. Alleluia!
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