Message from the Rector
EASTER 2008
Matthew 28:1-10
Slowly
Methodically
Deliberately
One foot in front of the other. No need to hurry. After all:
Bodies in tombs arent going anywhere
. He was dead. They had been there.
Just three days ago
had it been only three days?
Yes: that awful Friday,
then the Sabbath, and now Sunday morning
just three days ago, they had seen it
for themselves
At Golgotha. That miserable place. On that hill outside the city walls
All the
rest of them - all the men! All of them! Even Peter and James and John! all of
them had fled in terror. Only the women were there at the end
Only the women
had stayed to see Jesus sagging body, limp in death, taken down from the cross
just another Jewish criminal, handled roughly by Pilates soldiers
Only the women had seen his mother step forward
her tears and pained
expression betraying the fact that she is the mother of this man. The soldiers,
men who had faced or contemplated their own deaths, in that quiet moment, must
have envisioned their own mothers pain upon someday receiving their battered
and bloody bodies. And so quietly, compassionately, they motioned for Mary to
sit
And lay Jesus cold body in his mothers arms.
Only the women saw Mary gently cradle his head against her breast with one hand,
the other holding his body against her lap. With a mothers instinct, she began
to rock her child slowly, deliberately, lovingly. Everyone - the entire world
it seemed was silent, watching as her fingers smoothed his matted hair, gently
closed his staring eyes, softly touched his blue-tinged lips.
Silence
No tears came; for the wailing sobs of the past three hours had left all of them
spent and dry. No tears. No words. Only a soft, barely audible, intimate humming
of a simple lullaby unsung for years
The lullaby that welcomed this
first-born child into the world, now bid him good-bye as he entered the grave.
After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and
the other Mary went to see the tomb.
Accept it. He was dead. They had been there; witnessed the horror themselves
Just three days ago
So, on this Sunday morning, there was no need for
urgency.
Slowly
Methodically
Deliberately
One foot in front of the other. No reason
to hurry. After all, the Marys were on their way to fulfill an exceedingly
sorrowful obligation; to attend to the body of their friend and the one whom
they had believed to be the Messiah. Oh, remember his triumphant entry into the
city? Just a week ago, the whole city had turned out to escort him
waving
palms, shouting Hosanna!
And then, just a few days later, they had turned on
him, betrayed him, denied him
And crucified him.
They had seen it. The women had been there. And now, at this early hour of
Sunday morning, while the world still slept, the two Marys walked slowly to see
what they most dreaded
Jesus, the one they were sure had been the
long-anticipated Messiah, crucified, dead and buried
their hopes and dreams
and faith buried with him
No need to hurry
But what was waiting for them as they entered that garden of death was hardly
expected!
An angel! His very presence, his very reality shocking! His
appearance frightening! His garments dazzling!
But there he was
Seated on a
stone; the same huge boulder that on Friday had sealed the tomb, now rolled off
to the side
The Marys pinched themselves, rubbed their eyes, laughed
nervously, stood frozen in their tracks
And then, the realization dawns that this is real. There, before their very
eyes, was a messenger of the Lord
right
right there in front of them!
lounging on the rock, feet dangling, waiting
just waiting
for the two of
them, the first citizens of Gods new Creation, the first witnesses to the new
reality of the Messiahs resurrection.
It must have been a sight; that holy encounter in the early mists of that first
Easter morning. The Marys, clinging to each other
edging forward in equal
parts wonder and terror
Dont just stand there
come on! says the angel. Come! Come see the place
where they laid him. And the dazed, amazed women, on tiptoe, steadying
themselves against the opening in the rock wall, peer around the corner, and
stare into the cool darkness of the tomb
hoping! hoping for what?
hoping now
NOT to see what they had been prepared to find, yet hardly believing anything
else could be possible.
The testimony of the angel: He has risen! Quickly followed by angelic
instruction: Go! Go quickly, and tell
And the Marys are off! Running!
Feet flying back along the path they had come just moments before! In great fear
and in great joy!
And, in a way even they would only come to understand
later, they are running for their life!!!
In the midst of that mad dash away from this terrifying messenger and the empty
tomb, suddenly Jesus meets them and says in what is surely one of the
most underplayed lines in all of the Gospels Greetings!
Crucified.
Three days dead. Risen to new life
Greetings!
I must admit: I am amazed at their composure. Without a doubt, my response would
not have been as calm and collected as these two faithful women.
But THEIR response!! How I envy their response!! For it is to be admired and
imitated!! A response of faith! And belief! And trust!
Upon meeting their
risen Lord, they come to him, take hold of his feet, and worship him.
Without hesitating, without questioning, they take hold of those scarred,
calloused, crucified, risen-from-the-dead feet
and immediately begin to
worship their Lord and Savior!
Beginning in that moment Starting with these two women the message spread Pilate had asked Jesus, What is truth? Now the whole Creation receives his answer Go! Go quickly, and tell tell the truth of Easter! Tell the truth of the risen Christ! The truth a despairing, sorrowful world longs to know
That amazing, unimaginable truth: WE TOO, like those two Marys, have journeyed far and waited anxiously to know that truth: Jesus. The Christ. Risen from the dead. Standing in glory. And greeting each of us as a friend WE TOO, evidenced by our presence here this morning, have come to take our place at Our Lords feet to join with these faithful women, and the countless others throughout the centuries, who worship there.
Like those two women on that first Easter morning, clinging to the feet of Jesus, this sacrament, this blessed meal, this Holy Eucharist provides each of us an opportunity to reach out and hold the Risen Christ. This Easter meal and every Eucharist is for each of us another resurrection reunion with our Risen Lord. On THIS Easter morning, WE TOO gather at the foot of the cross and, taking our place at the feet of Our Savior, worship the one who lived for and died for AND ROSE for us! Here, around this table, we celebrate his life and death - and NEW life. Here, we celebrate OUR PROMISED future life after our death. And here, receiving this bread and this wine, his Body and Blood, we find the strength to hold on in this life.
But we are not left on our knees. However grateful we may be, however humbled and awed we may be, we are not left kneeling at this altar. Reassuring them, Jesus speaks to the two disciples at his feet, Do not be afraid. And then, bending and offering each woman a helping hand, in the midst of their tears and their laughter and their relief, he gives them the same instruction as the angelic messenger: Go! Go quickly, and tell
We too are sent away from this Eucharist not only back on our feet, but back on our feet with a renewed purpose: to go and tell of what we have seen go and tell what we have experienced go and tell the holy message, the Easter truth we have been privileged to receive and are now entrusted to carry to others.
In the light of this new Easter day, let each of us be on our way slowly, methodically, deliberately And joyfully! With urgency! one foot confidently in front of the other.
For we have seen what we longed to see.
We have held the One we longed to hold.
We have died to sin and been resurrected to new life.
Let each of us go from this place go and tell tell the world:
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Keith Marsh