An Easter Reflection

Matthew 28:1-10

“There is a widely told story about Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of Treasure Island, who suffered ill health as a child. One night the nurse found him up, out of bed, with his nosed pressed against the window. ‘Come here, child,’ she said to him, ‘you’ll catch your death of cold.’ But he wouldn’t budge. Instead he sat, mesmerized, watching a lamplighter slowly working his way through the black night, lighting each street light along his route. Pointing to him, Robert said, ‘See, look there; there’s a man poking holes in the darkness.’” (1)


We all love stories that poke holes in the darkness, as a matter of fact we hunger for them. For example In October of last year, we watched with baited breath 33 Chilean miners emerge from their 69 day entombment through a rescue capsule one by one. And now after the recent earthquake in Japan we marvel at each miracle story shared by the survivors, like the one about the four month old girl who was swept from her parents arms during the tsunami being pulled out of rubble three days later virtually unharmed. And the one about the young man, thought to be dead, pulled out of the rubble eight days after the earthquake. And even this week we are counting down to the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton as their love story begins to pokes holes in the darkness of the long line of loveless royal marriages.

Today we celebrate the story of God poking a hole in the darkness of the brokenness of the human condition through the resurrection of his son Jesus. Last week I did a dramatic reading of Jesus’ passion according to Matthew. In it was shared in the story of Jesus’ struggle. We remember that Jesus was betrayed by one of own, put to trial on trumped up charges, he was beaten, mocked and nailed to a cross. At the end of the story the men who were his disciples scattered and the women are standing in the shadow of the cross. When Jesus was buried, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary remain at the tomb sitting vigil.

It is these same two women who went to Jesus’ tomb on the first day of the week to anoint Jesus’ dead body with oil and spices for it was what women did for their loved ones when they died. And behold when they came to the tomb all these apocalyptic things started happening, the earth shook, an angel came down from heaven, rolled away the stone that sealed the tomb and sat on it. The soldiers guarding the tomb quaked in fear and fainted dead away. And the angel looked at the women and said, “Do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid, now I don’t know about you but whenever I hear that phrase I become very afraid. Anyone who has ever traveled by plane knows the sinking feeling your stomach gets when in-flight the pilot gets on the intercom and says “We are experiencing an unusual amount of turbulence on our flight today, but let us assure you that there is no reason for concern.”

And yet, in spite of the turbulence that is happening all around Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were able to hear the angel’s words as comfort because they knew that the angel was and agent of God and the words “Do not be afraid” was a prophesy. The angel told them that the one they are looking for Jesus who was crucified was not there, for he had risen from the dead and is going ahead to Galilee just as he promised his followers. The women left the tomb quickly dizzy with emotion, both joyful and fearful at the same time. And as they were made haste to the 12 disciples they suddenly see the risen Christ. Now Jesus could have made his first resurrection appearance to anyone he wanted and yet instead of appearing to those who killed him, those in power, or to those who ran from him, his 12 disciples, Jesus appeared to those who stood by him throughout the his trial and execution, the women. And it was the women who were first given the joyful commission of proclaiming Christ’s resurrection to the world! To tell all that the darkness of Jesus’ death on Good Friday has been poked through by the light of resurrection so that all who believe in him may not die but have life everlasting!

But what does that mean for us, especially those of us for whom the Good Friday darkness lingers large in our lives today: be it mourning the death of a loved one, an illness, family discord, the loss of economic security. We remember that when the two Mary(s) went to the tomb that first day of the week they were devastated and they were fearful. But what they encountered at the tomb went beyond their wildest imaginations. They met an angel, they ran into the risen Christ. In the midst death and destruction, indeed they saw that God has created a new thing, that God had poked a hole in the darkness of death with the promise of eternal life. “This empty tomb is about the fulfillment of God's purposes, the same God who long before spoke of ‘new heavens and a new earth.’ has given us Easter Sunday ‘the first day of God's new week, the moment of sunrise after the long night, the time of new meetings, new meals, of reconciliation and new commissioning. It was the beginning of the new creation. It was, therefore, the sign of hope for the future, not only for individuals but for the whole world….The personal hope for resurrection is located within the larger hope for the renewal of all creation" (2) Resurrection puts before us the possibility of hope even in the midst of trial. The hole that is poked in our darkness may feel like it is only a pinprick, but it is a speck of light nonetheless. It helps us to dream of a different kind of world than the one we actually live in, a world where God’s justice reigns and all live in right relationship.

If justice is what God really wants, the resurrection proves it. Jesus was killed by those who feared him only to have God raise him from the dead to show us the promise of God’s love and grace. The empty tomb shows us that God is in charge and that even the violence of death on a cross cannot contain God’s aim to defeat the power of death and set things right for all of God’s creation. Today we sing Alleluia; he is risen because we want to celebrate the assurance of the new beginnings that resurrection brings.

The message is as the choir sang this morning, “They buried my body and they thought I’d be gone, but I am the Dance and I still go on. They cut me down and I leapt up high; I am the life that’ll never, never die.” May it be so. Amen.


(1) Peter James Flamming, Poking Holes in the Darkness: 14 Other Sermons You Just Can’t Sleep Through (Richmond: Monument Avenue Press, 1992.), 1.


(2) Kathryn Huey “Sermon Seeds” http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/april-4-2010.html?print=t