Practicing Resurrection
Rev. Lee Ann Bryce
Community Christian Church
April 24, 2011
After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” This is my message for you.’ So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’ Matthew 28:1-12
I gotta tell you, I love it when the “Mary’s” run from the tomb and run smack dab into Jesus and he says, “Greetings!” Top o’ the morning’ to ya ladies!
In our earliest gospel account of the resurrection in Mark, the story has a completely different feeling to it. For one thing, it’s very brief, the entire Easter narrative in Mark only has 8 verses (over 20 verses in Matthew, and over 50 in Luke and John). Mark prefers the understated approach. In fact, nowhere in Mark does the risen Jesus ever appear, to anyone. After the women find the tomb empty, the angel says, he’s not here, he’ll meet you in Galilee, and then the gospel ends very abruptly with, “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” (Mark 16:8). Boom – the end, not just of the story but of the entire gospel of Mark.
Whichever gospel we read, one thing is clear: Easter is absolutely fundamental to Christianity, as evidenced by all of us here today, not to mention all Christians gathered in churches around the world on this day. (Preachers love it when the pews are filled!) Easter is so central to the story of Jesus that, without it, we would never have heard of him. If Jesus’ story had ended with his crucifixion, he most likely would have been forgotten – just another Jew crucified by the Roman Empire in a bloody century that witnessed thousands of such executions.
Resurrection is essential. We believe that Jesus was not defeated in death; that goodness was not defeated in death; that we are not limited by death; that we are not defeated by the powers of the world. Because of the resurrection we will always have hope. Always. Hope for the fullness of God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. These are the convictions of the faith that brings us all together. (Or I should say, these are the convictions we either believe or want to believe.)
But what are the specifics of that resurrection? What do we mean when we say that? On one level, the answer seems obvious: Resurrection means that God raised Jesus. Yes. But what does it mean to say this? Is resurrection about a spectacular miracle – the most spectacular miracle there’s ever been, and thus a testimony to the power of God? Is resurrection about God demonstrating that Jesus was indeed God’s son – that Jesus was who he said he was? Is resurrection about the promise of an afterlife – that death has been defeated? All of these? Something else entirely?
In order to explore this question, let’s start by looking back. What did the resurrection mean to those early followers of Jesus? Much of the detail is lost to us, of course. We are left with the stories in the gospels. As we discussed in the Lenten Sermon Series, the gospels are not historical accounts of this event, nor are they intended to be. The gospels preserve the memory and testimony of Jesus’ followers at the time. There are some conclusions we can draw as we consider the gospel accounts, however. For Jesus’ early followers, that first Easter morning was a transforming experience that convinced them that Jesus had defeated death. (And most people don’t realize that the ideaof resurrection as the resuscitation of Jesus’ body, that idea comes later in Christian tradition. It is not evidenced in the stories of Jesus’ followers. In any event, as a result of the resurrection, the disciples become different people. In the days before Sunday, the disciples are uncertain followers. After Sunday, they become heroic evangelists willing to die for their convictions. Whatever that Easter experience was, they could never again think of God without seeing Jesus as a part of that definition and they could never again think of Jesus without seeing God. We will never know the details of how the Jesus of their daily lives became the Christ presence of their future, but the gospel accounts are indisputable testimony to the power of the disciples’ transformation.
Trying to determine what the resurrection meant to Jesus’ followers can only take us so far. It’s an important question only to a point. Here’s something more important: so what? What does the resurrection mean for us? And by “us” I don’t mean Christians today or even all of us gathered here today. What does the resurrection mean to you?
While many understand the resurrection to be a miraculous event that happened to Jesus long ago and that will in some distant future be the fate of true believers, as well, for many faithful Christians, a literal interpretation of the resurrection has ceased to have meaning. What is it that we have in common?
Perhaps the resurrection can prompt all of us to consider the ways in which we are entombed today. There are many rocks that keep us blocked in our tombs, whatever they may be. We may be entombed by our attitudes, our circumstances, our life choices. Our lives are littered with metaphorical “rocks,” the rock of disappointment, of insecurity, of poverty, of guilt. We can be sealed in by the rocks of arrogance, confusion, addiction, or indifference. Our eyes adjust to the darkness of the tombs we choose. Almost anything that stands between a person and the transforming presence of the divine can be seen as a stone in need of being rolled away. And we must roll our stones away if we are to live the abundant life Jesus promised.
Steven Levine, a counselor who works with hospice patients, found that those who had been given a terminal diagnosis often transformed their lives. Their perspective on life changed, their priorities were re-ordered, and many of the circumstances and choices that had crippled them before their diagnosis evaporated into the new kind of life that came after. And so Levine set a date for his own death and vowed that he would live as if he would die on that day. His book, A Year to Live: How to live this year as if it were your last, is the record of this radical experiment to get a glimpse of that transformation for himself. In so doing, he gave himself permission to address his unfinished business and enter into a new and vibrant relationship with life. He gained a new appreciation of the need to live each moment mindfully, as if it were all that was left.
The message of the resurrection is not simply, “Don’t be afraid to die.” Surely it is that. And all of us, when we lose someone we love or on our own day of dying will need the comfort of the resurrection. But I believe the message of Easter is not simply “Don’t be afraid to die,” but “don’t be afraid to live.” (Dwayne Zimmerman).
Life is precious. It is to be shared with generosity. The resurrection isn’t just limited to the experience of Jesus or to however we understand a life after death. It’s about passing from death to life here and now. The message of resurrection and of Easter hope is that we can live fully in this life, giving of ourselves, and risking for love’s sake. We can help someone who’s hurting. Feed someone who’s hungry. Free a captive with the words we use. Heal a wound. Give the gift of ourselves – for the gift of who we are was given to us in order to be given away.
The secret to practicing resurrection is in giving who we are and what we have completely, wholly away to something greater than ourselves – in escaping from the circumstances and choices that entomb us and entering into new life here and now. In life and in death, Jesus modeled this generosity and transformation for followers then and now. Resurrection is a credible and meaningful principle for living every day. As we practice resurrection, we, like Jesus, may become more than anyone around us – or even we ourselves – could have imagined.
My friends, Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!
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