This morning we gather to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We remember the story leading up to his rising from the dead. How he was betrayed by one of disciples and abandoned by the rest, how he was arrested like a common criminal and put to trial, first by the religious officials and then the Roman authorities. Then there was the long walk to Golgotha, the grisly death on the cross and Jesus being laid to rest in a borrowed tomb for three days. The story is quite believable as we hear of Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome walking to the tomb saying to each other “Who will roll away the stone for us from the tomb?” But what comes next is quite unbelievable, they find an empty tomb.
We are taught to believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, but it stretches the limits of our rational thoughts. How many of us really really believe that this was what really happened? How many of us have had that uncomfortable thought that the bodily resurrection is just too preposterous to believe in? Well to those who come here this morning with a bit of skepticism, who may be feeling a bit out of place sitting here in this sanctuary with these thoughts on Easter morning, I have these words for you today, “Welcome! You are in good company here.”
When I taught confirmation class last year, I played a game with my teenaged students called, “Questions in a bag.” Now I knew that these young people had big questions burning in their hearts, but I also knew how shy they to ask these questions in public. So in order to make them feel comfortable, I had them write their burning questions on a slip of paper and then put them in a bag of which I would draw them out of. I assured them that I would try to answer their questions to the best of my ability and that if I couldn’t answer it right away that I would research it and get back to them. The questions ranged from silly, “Is my younger brother an alien?” to which I answered “I will have to ask your mother and get back to you.” to serious “Is God meaner in the Old Testament than in the New Testament?” “Nope, God is forgiving and merciful in both..” Most of the questions were quite thoughtful and challenging. However, there was one question that stood out, “How do we know that Jesus really rose from the dead? I mean, he was nailed to a cross and all, but how do we know that he didn’t just lose consciousness and just woke up in the tomb.” Out of the mouths of babes I tell you.
The Gospel of Mark’s account of the resurrection story shows the same honesty and integrity of this student’s question. The resurrection stories of Matthew, Luke and John all have the women reacting with joy when they found out about Jesus’ resurrection, but Mark’s resurrection account is abrupt and awkward. Instead of feeling joy, the women feel terror and amazement. Instead of running to tell the disciples that Jesus was back from the dead, they ran away from the tomb and told no one of what they saw. The Gospel of Mark gives us the most realistic response to the resurrection which really is fear. The tension of Mark’s story thickens as he takes us with the women walking to the grave wondering who will roll away the stone, and we become perplexed as the women see that the stone rolled away. And we are right with the women alarmed as they hear the young man, dressed in a white robe telling that that Jesus was not dead, but waiting for them in Galilee just as he told them. But the question begs to be asked is this, were the women terrified because of the empty tomb and the angel or was the thing that really frightened them that Jesus said that he would rise, and guess what, HE DID! And what about everything else Jesus said, about the cost of discipleship and building the kingdom of God
In real life resurrections do happen, but when they happen they are down right scary. Why, because resurrection means that life will change as we know it, and change good or bad always causes anxiety. For example, many of us have had a loved one recover from an addiction from alcohol or drugs. While they are in the throes of their addiction we obsess about them worrying about the consequences of their chemical abuse. We worry about their reputation and subsequently ours, we worry about their safety and ours. We spend much time and energy trying to work around their addiction to have some semblance of a normal life in the midst of the craziness that addiction brings. And while we cry out “who will roll away the stone of this addiction that is entombing my husband, my wife, my child, my parent” we have strangely gotten used to living dysfunctionally with the addiction.
When our loved one does stop using and goes into a treatment program, we feel relieved at first, but eventually fear does rear its ugly head. When the addict gets out of treatment, the dysfunctional life as the family knows it will change dramatically. We are told that when the addict comes home, that a new normal begins to set in, where once family life once rotated around the addiction, it will now become all about recovery. Strangely, we may feel uncomfortable with the removal of the obstacle of the drugs and alcohol because now we have to deal directly with the issues that started the addiction in the first place. The newly recovered person almost becomes a stranger to us as they begin using new ways of communicating and processing feelings that they had previously masked with chemicals and alcohol. We may find ourselves frustrated at how some things have stayed the same, our loved one’s drinking buddies have been replaced by AA buddies, but they are still not home because now they are spending all their spare time at meetings. Then there is the all encompassing fear that wonders what if this isn’t for real. What if treatment doesn’t stick and my loved one starts using again. This anxiety seems even more overwhelming than any fear we may have had while our loved one was using.
For those of us staring into the empty tomb, wondering if this is all for real, if we can deal with the changes, we can take comfort in the real-ness of Mark’s story. Mark shows us that God reveals the good news precisely at the point where things seem to be at their worst. God hears our cries, “who will roll away the stone?” and gives us the courage to turn what looks like an ending into a new beginning and take what looks like a lack of faith into a new opportunity to believe.
Yes resurrection is a hard and scary thing to believe in, but my brothers and sisters in Christ, the resurrection is a very real and beautiful thing. Because within each resurrection lies our hope and dreams, so that no matter the amount of obstacles, no matter how dark it may get, no matter how difficult life can become, we know that in the end God will always roll away the stone and break us open so that new life can pour forth.
Alleluia—Christ is risen Indeed—Alleluia. Amen!
1 comment:
Love your illustration of we work our dysfunction into being "normal" and then when resurrection occurs...it seems so out-of-character.
Blessings as you preach this tomorrow.
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