Easter Sunday 2013
Acts 10:34-43; Ps 118; 1 Cor
15:19-26; Luke 24:1-12
Father Adam Trambley
March 31, 2013, St. John’s
Sharon
Why do you look for the living
one among the dead?
Alleluia!
Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
“Why do
you look for the living one among the dead?”
Ask the angels.
The
tomb is empty.
“He is not here, but has risen.”
The
women are too scared to reply,
but we
can guess what they are thinking:
“We didn’t know he was alive.”
“He seemed pretty dead when they put him in here.”
“If he’s alive, what are we going to do with all these
spices?”
“Remember,”
say the angels,
“He told you this would happen.”
“Remember”
All that he did –
The teaching,
the healing, the raising the dead—
Was he likely to end up in some stone-covered cave?
“Remember”
How he
loved
With a love and a power
That could only be from God.
Was God really leaving him here?
“Why do
you look for the living one among the dead?”
The
women run back to the living,
To tell
everyone with them what happened.
“He’s
not there! He’s alive! He told us he
would be!”
But the
rest don’t believe.
It seems an idle tale.
They don’t remember.
Except
for Peter.
Peter doesn’t know what to think.
He runs
to the tomb,
Still seeking the living one among
the dead.
Too laden with the denier’s guilt
To remember anything
else.
Do we
still seek the living one among the dead?
Probably.
Resurrection
is hard work.
Rolling stones away,
Bursting forth from burial cloths,
Garnering angelic guards to guide clueless guests.
So much
easier to find the body,
Use the spices,
Have a good cry,
Then go home feeling better,
knowing we did something
useful.
Another box checked off
the to-do list.
Isn’t
dead just dead anyway.
Why get
our hopes up to feel worse later?
Why?
Because
he’s not here!
Think
of all the dead places
Throughout our lives
Where we just bring our spices
And look for nothing to change.
Do we
really expect God to show up
In the relationships where we hold
onto grudges?
In the tedious tasks we moan
through?
In the plentiful places we put
ourselves before others?
He’s not here!
What
about the times
When we mock the misfortunes of
others?
When we revel in being the victim,
Manipulating others’ emotions
Rather than growing ourselves?
When we lash out
Because the universe isn’t
solely devoted
To our comfort and convenience?
Jesus isn’t there either!
How
about the all too frequent situations
Where we would just wrap ourselves
In the nard of
negativity
the balm of blame
And the myrrh of
“My
way is the right way,”
While perched at the edge of the
tomb
Bewailing all the bad things in the
world,
Without stopping to
remember
what he told us?
He has risen far above all that.
Why do
you look for the living one among the dead?
Remember
what he told you.
Do we
ever stop and remember?
What do we remember when we do?
What
refrains are playing through our head?
Is it “Jesus Christ is Risen Today”
Or “The Strife is Over,
the Battle Won”?
Is it “Jesus loves me this I know
for the Bible tells me so?”
Is it “Alleluia! The Lord is risen
indeed!”
Or is
it
“Do unto others before they do unto me?”
Or “I’m not getting hurt again?”
Or even “the whole thing is hopeless?”
Do we
define ourselves by
Past hurts
Past failures
And past betrayals.
Or do
we remember
That “everyone who believes in him
receives forgiveness of sins”
That “on this day the LORD has acted
and … we will be glad in it”
And that “all will be made alive in
Christ?”
What we
remember is our choice.
The
more we think something, the more real it becomes for us.
We can
do what the angels say:
Remember what he told you.
Or we
can go to the tomb with the women
Remembering only the suffering and
death of the crucifixion.
Both
are real,
But only one is the ultimate
reality.
Only one wins in the end.
Paul
tells us
“the last enemy to be destroyed is
death.”
Death
is dying.
Resurrection
is coming
He is
not here!
He is
risen!
We can
believe this,
Remember this
And see in every death
The
grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies
So that it yields a rich
harvest
Or we
can expect every budding flower
To be crushed under foot.
But
life is hard
And we get distracted.
We know
the resurrected Jesus is part of our life.
We know
that we have become part of his body.
We know
that he is here with us.
Still,
In all the daily deaths
And the ultimate death
we face
How do we remember what he told us?
Why do
you think the angels show up?
Angels
don’t just come in Biblical accounts.
Angels
The messengers of the heavenly
places,
Show
up when we need them.
They
help us remember what Jesus told us.
Just
turn on the divine cell phones
So we hear when the call comes.
Most of
the time
They don’t show up
As men standing beside us
In dazzling array.
Usually,
They come as
The ray of light in the
darkness
The glimmer of hope in
despair
The nagging discomfort
In the back
of our minds
Saying that
what we are doing
Is not good
for us or for others.
We can
close our eyes to them.
We can discount them.
We can ignore them.
But the
angels are there for us
Calling out
Why do you look for the
living one among the dead?
If we
listen.
If we
train ourselves to listen,
Little by little,
Day by day,
Looking toward the light when it
shines in,
Fanning the flames of hope as they
appear,
Seeking to eschew sin in all its
guises,
We will
remember!
Our
lives will go from
The maudlin mourning of death
To the life of one forgiven, saved
and healed.
The joy of Jesus Christ
Risen from the dead
Fills our lives
And we are free.
Free of
the fear that anything,
Including death,
Can ultimately harm us.
Free of
the hurt and shame of past wrongs
Done to us or by us.
Free of
the need to wail at the tomb
When there is resurrection to
rejoice over.
And rejoice we will.
He is
not here! He is risen!
When
the tombs of our lives are as empty
As the tomb overlooking calvary,
When
the grave clothes of our sinful guilt
Are as torn off and discarded
As the ones seen by Peter on the
floor,
When
the angels of God
Announce to us the amazing good news
Proclaimed that first Easter
morning,
When we
remember what he told us,
Then
the good news of God’s saving love
Will burst from us
Like it did from
Mary Magdalene, Joanna,
Mary
And the others.
We
won’t be able to shut up
About how God has changed our lives.
How our
lives have gone
From sinful guilt to forgiven
freedom
From self-centeredness to
self-giving service
From fearful brokenness to a
wondrous love
From our own deaths to eternal life
lived in God.
Some
will hear,
Run to their own tombs
And be bewildered.
Some
will scoff at seemingly idle tales.
And
some – some – some,
Will see angels.
Some will remember His words.
Some will fall on their faces in
fear
And glorify God.
They
will repent and believe,
And share the good news that
He is Risen!!
That’s
how the gospel spread
From a cave in Jerusalem
To Judea, Samaria and the ends of
the earth
Finally finding its way to the
Shenango Valley
Six thousand miles away.
And it isn’t done yet.
Not until the whole world knows that
things
Which were cast down are
being raised up,
Things which had grown
old are being made new
And that all things are
being brought to perfection
In Jesus
Christ our Lord.
Too
many
Family members, friends, co-workers
Tarry at tombs
Unaware of the angels
Unable to attract their
attention
Too
many
Of God’s beloved
Believe themselves beyond the reach
of his love.
Too
many
Of those whom Jesus died to forgive
Remain trapped in guilt of their
sins.
But
they don’t have to stay there.
My
brothers and sisters,
We have seen the empty tomb.
We have heard the angels.
We have remembered what He told us.
And we have been changed.
We need
no longer look for the living one among the dead.
Instead,
We can go to where the dead hang
out,
And bring the good news of the
living one to them.
He is not here! He has Risen!
And everyone who wants to follow him
is rising with him, too.
Alleluia!
Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
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| Liturgy of the Word during the Easter Vigil |
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| The decorated altar revealed after the resurrection is proclaimed and the curtain falls. |
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