This I Believe?

Easter Sermon 2019

John 20:1-18 

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

What is Easter? The resurrection is everything, but it is the opposite of all that our logic teaches us. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Nothing is sure but death and taxes”, right? In direct opposition to his wise words - the Easter story and resurrection that conquers death are fundamental to our faith. Have you ever tried to really completely define how this happened or exactly how we expect it to come about for us? Faith is believing, hoping without proof or full explanations. I find a similar conundrum in defining water. Some may say, come on Laura we know what water is, but we don’t have to look too far to see from our recent weather how little we can box in and define even water and how it acts, something so basic to our lives.

Life giving water is also abundant in our faith journey. In the beginning God separated the waters and gathered them into seas. Out of the garden of Eden, God made a stream rise up to nourish the earth. God added four rivers to flow out into the lands.

 In the time of Noah, God flooded the land with water. Moses floated down the Nile in a basket and later parted the red sea. Elijah ran from God through rain and storm yet was spoken to on the quiet whisper of the wind. John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the River Jordan where God proclaimed this is my son, the beloved with whom I am well pleased. Jesus in his ministry walked on water, calmed the storming seas, called fishermen from Galilee. The first miracle Jesus performed involved water – converting it to wine for a wedding reception. Today the water in our scripture is in the tears of Mary weeping. It is not until she is feeling lost and confused, crying tears – then Jesus appears.

This is our Jesus, a God who cares for us so much that He was so moved by the tears of a forlorn, confused, and lonely woman that He appeared when he wasn’t quite ready. Jesus says, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.” He could have waited until the situation was right, but Jesus is a messiah who could not bear to be missing and called out – ‘Mary’ to be noticed. Mary I am here! A God who loves us and gives all to be with us.

Jesus resurrected and risen welcomes us, calls out to us – trying to define who and what that is is like trying to hold onto water. The point isn’t how this is accomplished or what exact type of body we are talking about. Part of our faith is living in the mystery that is not ours to solve. The tighter we try to box it in or explain the faster it squirts between our fingers and escapes our fists, our framing. Both the risen Lord and water are essential to life.

What do you need to live? Up to 60% of the adult human body is water. According to the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. 

It is no coincidence that it is the Holy Water in which we are baptized. Waters surround us in the scriptures as in real life. We are taught from a young age that you should drink a certain amount of water each day – a) to survive and b) to be healthiest. Imagine the feeling after coming in from a hot day and getting a tall cool glass of H2O. You are sated, filled.

Imagine the lack of water, you feel parched, empty. Where do we turn in the empty times of our spiritual journeys? Where do we turn when that empty feeling hits? Look at the people in the gospel of John. How do they respond to the emptiness of the tomb? Is it with disbelief? Is it fear? How do we respond? Do you peak inside, do you run away, are you sure you know the explanation, or do you shed a tear and wait, unsure? With what do we fill our bodies – with what do we fill our souls? 

No matter how we respond, God meets us where we are. God meets us in the garden at the tomb, in an upper room, on a road.

God comes as the waters in the deluge of a storm, the flowing stream, dancing around us as a shower or the sprinklers playfully splashing around children. The waters of life surround us and will fill us. Get out of the way and let Jesus do his work. Ann LaMott said, "God can't clean the house of you with you in it."

We get dressed up today and celebrate, we worship with our families, dine and rejoice. And this is truly right. But the resurrection story is also about our response. How are our churches and our very bodies receptacles for God? Back to good old water imagery, water is constantly moving in a cycle from one state to another flowing around and through us – this is true of God as well. Jesus through the resurrection desires to move into this relationship with us in the world today. To have us be aware, to make room, to respond.

The Rev. Dr William L Self said, “This day it must be clear that all of us must realize that the identical divine energy, which at first took Christ out of the grave, is available still, not at the end of life, not at the hour of death, but available here and now to help us to live. Therein lies our hope.”

N. T. Wright, the British preacher, also reminds us of the message of Easter, that "the living God in principle dealt with evil once and for all, and is now at work, by His own Spirit, to do for us and the whole world what He did for Jesus on that first Easter Day."

Evil being conquered does not mean that all will be easy, ours is not a prosperity gospel. We are instead invited to take up our crosses and follow Him. 

We saw a tragedy in the world at the beginning of this Holy Week in Paris. How do we respond? Some have wondered why this matters on the opposite side of the world. This matters because it is not just a building but a symbol of a people, a work of the ages, many artists and individuals working together across the ages, all lending their gifts to glorify and honor of God. Each generation adding their layer to a work so that it takes on a life of its own, a tangible symbol of the body of Christ surviving revolutions, world wars and symbolically also a symbol of the body of Christ this holy week brought low by humans. As we attempted to improve, our best intentions went awry. Alone, we are not enough no matter how we try.

Often disasters of this caliber bring out the best and unfortunately the worst in people. Some responded in faith singing hymns while their world seems to be crumbling around them. A popular Youtube video shows the crowd gathered outside the burning cathedral singing Ave Maria. I’ve heard of the uber-wealthy who are committing money to rebuild Notre Dame; I have heard others express anger that a building generates more passion than the plights of people or who ask what about the churches burned recently in the US – the more positive outcome of this is it has been an impetus to reach out and help. Donations to rebuild the three churches burned in Louisiana have increased. My hope is that it is not a choice of helping people or restoring Notre Dame to its glory, but instead an impetus, a reminder to give, to reach out, a raised awareness of the many ways to help. No matter our response, the first imagery tells it all. In the clearing of the smoke when a robot was sent in to see if all fire was out, the image it captured is a powerful statement for us this holy week. A glowing golden cross was shining at us in the middle of our rubble and ruin, amidst the destruction. When we are reduced to tears, Christ is there. 

When our spirits are broken, Jesus rebuilds them. When our very lives seem to crumble around us, Jesus pulls us back together as his children. When it seems as if the only news is bad news, Jesus comforts. When the load is heavy and the walk long, Jesus carries us through. When the grief and power of death seem overwhelming, Jesus challenges even that to be with us, to fill us with new resurrection life.

Look carefully at the scripture, what do Luke and John tell us? What is missing? This story doesn’t tell us much about what happened – as Frederick Buechner says, the gospels whisper this sacred story as if almost afraid to say. At a first glance, this may appear as if the resurrection story is about our response. Instead of Jesus greeting them in the garden as they arrive, he appears only to Mary at the end of this encounter. The bulk of what is written explains the response to an empty tomb more than the how and why of resurrection. The thread to grab, however, is that regardless of our response or motivations, Jesus is not to be found in the tomb but is risen, now and forever with and in us. As Henri Nouwen says, “The question is not ‘How am I to find God?’ but ‘How am I to let myself be found by him?’”

This I believe? Why the question mark? Surely that is a typo – how in the world could that be the Easter sermon title. It is not a mistake– it is a question about us. Why are you in church on Easter Sunday? Are you here because it is important to someone you love? Are you here because in the messed up, week-to-week drudge Easter is big enough to make the effort? Are you here by force of a parent or other? Are you here out of guilt? Are you here because it is what you do every Sunday? Are you here because your heart is on fire with a passion to proclaim the risen Christ? No matter your doubts, questions, surety – lean into it. 

Embrace the hope Christ gives. In grief, sadness, joy or celebration. In the everyday. In all of life. Wherever we fall in the strength of our beliefs, whatever questions we have – Christ comes to us – no matter where we are. He is here with us – that is His Easter gift to all. He is Risen!