Loading...Sermon April 16, 2017
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen, Newport, PA
So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Matthew 28:8
Please be seated.
This time of year is so beautiful to me. It’s full of nature surprises. I don’t always remember where I planted various flowers. As they pop out of the ground, I’m so happy. I love seeing them and smelling them.
I’ve been checking my yard a lot lately. I only have one daffodil that has survived, I think. The tulips are multiplying and about ready to bloom. The weeping cherry tree is beautiful this year. The hyacinths are gorgeous and smell good. The lily I planted last year has started to come up and it seems like there are a number of them. I was worried about the peony, but finally found a number of maroon shoots just peeking up from the ground. The Rose of Sharon bushes are also budding and soon will have leaves.
But the most surprising plant to me was the primrose. I bought it last year and I think the dry and hot summer wasn’t very good for it. I thought it didn’t survive. I even cut the grass a week ago Saturday and didn’t remember it was there. Early this week, I am inspecting my yard and there is the primrose full of blooms and beautiful as ever. I was surprised and delighted.
Other surprises are not as much fun, especially when someone dies and we weren’t expecting it. Some people hate to be surprised, too. They don’t want to ever have a surprise party planned for them.
Yet, Easter is really about surprise. Surprise is all a part of following Christ. And just like surprises in real life, some of the surprise is sheer delight, while some of the surprise is uncomfortable and unwelcome.
In our Gospel reading today, there are many points of surprise and a number of reactions. First of all, the angel comes, which causes an earthquake! The angel rolls away the heavy stone from the tomb. The angel is like a bolt of lightening. The guards at the tomb, put there so the followers of Jesus would not come to steal his body, responded with such fear that they shook and appeared to be dead!
Then this angel of God who caused an earthquake and looked like lightening spoke! The first words of the angel were, “Do not be afraid.” Isn’t that what we often hear when angels appear in the Bible? Actually seeing an angel must be so surprising and terrifying at first.
And usually angels of God bring surprising and unexpected news. This angel tells Mary Magdalene and the other Mary that Jesus has been raised. The angel invites them to look in the tomb where Jesus lay to see for themselves that Jesus is no longer in the tomb. The angel also gives a message to the two women that they need to bring to the disciples who have stayed hidden…that Jesus has been raised as he told them and they are all to go to Galilee where they will see him.
We hear that the two women left “quickly with fear and great joy.” They were going to deliver the message to the disciples.
Then there was yet another surprise as Jesus appears to the two women. Their response is to touch his feet and immediately worship Jesus. At the same time, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid,” so the whole experience must have been shocking and unexpected. Jesus reiterates the message the angel had already told the two women…that the followers of Jesus are to all go to Galilee, where they will see Jesus.
Now for many of us, we have heard this Easter story many times in our lives. The story isn’t as surprising to us after so many years. Nevertheless, imagine that first Easter when Jesus’ followers had watched or heard about his crucifixion…when Jesus had been declared an enemy of the religion and an enemy of the empire so much so, that he had to be killed. Even though Jesus had tried to tell the followers that he would be raised, what happened was still a great surprise to them. Resurrection was something hoped for, but not really ever seen nor witnessed. Even with Jesus assurance, the resurrection was still a surprise.
Surprise and how we react to surprise is an integral part of our following Jesus. For one thing, we must expect surprises as we follow Jesus Christ. From mundane things to major events in our lives, I’m sure we can all tell a story about a time when we were surprised by God. Maybe it was in receiving a call or visit when we most needed it or visiting or calling or contacting someone and finding out they really needed it.
Expecting surprise means we need to be flexible. Surprises are not under our control, are they? Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were at the tomb as Joseph of Arimathea laid Jesus in the tomb and then rolled a heavy stone to close the tomb. They saw Jesus’ body in that tomb. Three days later they went to see the tomb. I’m sure they expected it to look like it had when they left it on that Friday. I’m sure they didn’t expect to see an angel or see Jesus or get a message they were supposed to deliver to the believers. Their whole day was changed from what had been planned. They needed to be flexible.
Expecting surprise means we need to let go of our expectations of how our day might go or how our lives might go. Some surprises of daily living are not very welcome. When my daughter got sick, I had two full weeks of lots of activities. I had to let go of my plans and my expectations for what I could do those two weeks and focus on what was happening in my family. As the saying goes, “We plan and God laughs.”
Expecting surprise means we feel fear and joy all at the same time. Most of Jesus’ teaching and actions were a continual surprise to everyone around him. He upended many of the societal beliefs of the time. Talking to women, seeing all as equals, advocating for justice, uplifting people who lived in poverty and challenging those who were rich, almost intimating that the only way they got their wealth was by being dishonest and exploiting others.
What Jesus taught and how Jesus lived was so surprising that his followers often didn’t understand. They had no frame of reference for the new world…God’s kingdom world…that Jesus was urging them to create and to live into.
What Jesus taught and how Jesus lived was so uncomfortable to the people of his world that they plotted to have him killed in the most cruel way by the empire they despised. And they succeeded in having him crucified.
Surprise! Jesus was raised from the dead. Jesus’ teachings could not be killed and they have not gone away.
Expect surprise. Expect to be afraid and joyful. Expect to be uncomfortable. Expect to be confused at times. Be flexible. Be careful about holding on to expectations. Expect your world to be upended and transformed.
Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. ALLELUIA!
