Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?
Text: Luke 24:1-12
“Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?”
It is a haunting and profound question… probably deeper than we’ve ever realized. Most of the time we take it as a passing line that leads into the more memorable phrase; “he is not here, he is risen.” It’s the good news at Easter! Christ is risen from the dead! Go and tell! Spread the news!
And yet, this is just not where those women were at on that first day of the week. The question seems so out of place. It leaves them confused, bewildered, afraid. It had taken a lot of personal preparation to be able to come to this place, to do what they had to do. Even so, in just being here, they would have to re-live the horrors of this past week. In anointing the body of Jesus with various oils, they would see up close all the wounds, still open. Every time they would close their eyes, the could still see him suffering. They had prepared themselves to be able to do this, and yet when they got there, instead of the body, they hear a question.
“Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?”
As Luke tells it, the women had come not to look for the living amongst the dead… they had come to look for the dead amongst the dead. They had come to do the last of the funeral rites, to ensure that the body of Jesus was properly laid to rest. This past week had been the darkest that they had ever experienced. Their teacher, their mentor, had been betrayed by one of their friends, abandoned by the rest, wrongly accused, condemned tortured and executed for no reason other than perhaps simply helping people see the world with God’s eyes. After all the humiliation that he went through over those agonizing last days, the very least they could do was give Jesus some dignity in death. They had carefully prepared for this one last ritual, where they could say their final goodbyes… maybe it would give them some closure, some conclusion to something that went so horribly wrong.
So imagine the shock of what they found… or rather, what they didn’t find.
The tomb was empty, the stone rolled away. The first thing that would come to mind would be grave robbers… it was a horrifying prospect. Their want and wish to give him a decent burial had been shattered. Not even in death would their mentor, teacher and friend find peace, it was like rubbing salt in the wound.
And then they showed up, and the nerve of them to ask that utterly inappropriate and almost morbid question…
“Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?”
They were just not ready for this. The messengers in white had to go so far as to spell it out for them… He is not here… he is risen. Remember what he said to you? They go on to describe in detail the whole plan. It’s like they’re bringing out all the details, diagrams, and charts in a PowerPoint presentation to connect the dots for them, and they still get confused looks.
But almost two thousand years later, we’re still getting confused looks. Their question has as much resonance today as it did then. When we really think about it, when it comes to the good news at Easter, most of the time we are looking for the dead amongst the dead.
Call it a culture of complaint. I’ve preached on this before. Some of you might remember me telling the story about a colleague of mine who once observed that North American and even Western culture is pathological; we are always concerned with what is wrong. What’s the problem? What needs fixing? Who can we hold responsible? We complain about those things that we don’t like, be it the government, the weather, the church… There is always something that’s wrong… there is always something to complain about.
Like those who came to the tomb on that first day, we don’t see or expect new life, because we’re not looking for it. Instead, we’re more like Crime Scene Investigators, sifting through debris, dusting for fingerprints, doing an autopsy on nearly everything around us. The idea is that we pick something apart, discover what’s wrong, and hopefully find someone else to blame. We are looking for the dead amongst the dead.
But this is Easter. This is something we don’t expect. It’s why that question is so haunting.
“Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?”
We’re fortunate that the story doesn’t end there. Ultimately those first women get it. They begin to understand what resurrection is. In spite of all the horrors and indignity that Jesus was subjected to throughout the week, even death itself would not have the final say.
Resurrection is about finding hope, seeing what’s right with the world when everyone else sees what’s wrong. It is an attitude, and orientation, an outlook that moves us past dwelling on what’s wrong with the world around us. Resurrection is about what’s right, what the new opportunities are… the avenues of hope and the open doors, when everyone else expects to see closed and boarded up buildings.
Yet for the women who come to the tomb that morning, they had no other frame of reference. This was so completely outside of their expectations, that it’s no wonder that they’re confused. Only at the point where they actually look back at what has happened, and with the revelation of the messengers, do they begin to get it. Remember what he told you… they say… but it would only make sense after the fact.
Resurrection is far more than the resuscitation of a corpse. Resurrection is new life where everyone else expects death. The miracle and wonder of Easter isn’t just what happened on that first Sunday morning, it brings with it a whole new orientation and understanding to life. It’s something that we had never seen before. In the time that Jesus preached, he was trying to get people to see the world the way God sees it. He used parables to challenge people, to take all of the common expectations and turn them on their ear. He would tell these stories with a surprise twist on them, to show the unexpected and wonderful grace of God… that God sees and loves all of creation that goes beyond any human standard that we might create.
Easter is like the ultimate parable. It is the ultimate twist, an ending that nobody ever expected. The tomb was empty… Jesus took everything that the world could throw at him… even his own mortality, and showed us that none of that, including death itself, can overcome God’s love for us. Maybe the challenge for us at Easter this year is to really hear that first question and take it seriously.
“Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?”
What on earth are we looking for, among the dead? Because Jesus is not in the tomb. He is here now, in the midst of all life, both yours and mind. Jesus is mixing things up and turning things upside down and making all things new and demanding that we do the same. The Good News is that Christ is Risen… and the power of that echoes across time and space in ways that we can hardly imagine. We won’t find the living amongst the dead. We won’t find new life by dwelling on past wrongs, or complaining. We find new life by living it. The message of Christ’s resurrection calls us to take opportunities that are life-giving. It’s about affirming ourselves and others in their gifts. Take action. If we want to make a difference in this world, we need to be the difference we want to make. Maybe what we need to do is to turn down our natural tendency to complain. To focus and celebrate on what is right in our lives. To take new opportunities that are life-giving, and to realize who we are and that what we do truly matters to God.
Happy Easter!
Amen.
“Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?”
It is a haunting and profound question… probably deeper than we’ve ever realized. Most of the time we take it as a passing line that leads into the more memorable phrase; “he is not here, he is risen.” It’s the good news at Easter! Christ is risen from the dead! Go and tell! Spread the news!
And yet, this is just not where those women were at on that first day of the week. The question seems so out of place. It leaves them confused, bewildered, afraid. It had taken a lot of personal preparation to be able to come to this place, to do what they had to do. Even so, in just being here, they would have to re-live the horrors of this past week. In anointing the body of Jesus with various oils, they would see up close all the wounds, still open. Every time they would close their eyes, the could still see him suffering. They had prepared themselves to be able to do this, and yet when they got there, instead of the body, they hear a question.
“Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?”
As Luke tells it, the women had come not to look for the living amongst the dead… they had come to look for the dead amongst the dead. They had come to do the last of the funeral rites, to ensure that the body of Jesus was properly laid to rest. This past week had been the darkest that they had ever experienced. Their teacher, their mentor, had been betrayed by one of their friends, abandoned by the rest, wrongly accused, condemned tortured and executed for no reason other than perhaps simply helping people see the world with God’s eyes. After all the humiliation that he went through over those agonizing last days, the very least they could do was give Jesus some dignity in death. They had carefully prepared for this one last ritual, where they could say their final goodbyes… maybe it would give them some closure, some conclusion to something that went so horribly wrong.
So imagine the shock of what they found… or rather, what they didn’t find.
The tomb was empty, the stone rolled away. The first thing that would come to mind would be grave robbers… it was a horrifying prospect. Their want and wish to give him a decent burial had been shattered. Not even in death would their mentor, teacher and friend find peace, it was like rubbing salt in the wound.
And then they showed up, and the nerve of them to ask that utterly inappropriate and almost morbid question…
“Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?”
They were just not ready for this. The messengers in white had to go so far as to spell it out for them… He is not here… he is risen. Remember what he said to you? They go on to describe in detail the whole plan. It’s like they’re bringing out all the details, diagrams, and charts in a PowerPoint presentation to connect the dots for them, and they still get confused looks.
But almost two thousand years later, we’re still getting confused looks. Their question has as much resonance today as it did then. When we really think about it, when it comes to the good news at Easter, most of the time we are looking for the dead amongst the dead.
Call it a culture of complaint. I’ve preached on this before. Some of you might remember me telling the story about a colleague of mine who once observed that North American and even Western culture is pathological; we are always concerned with what is wrong. What’s the problem? What needs fixing? Who can we hold responsible? We complain about those things that we don’t like, be it the government, the weather, the church… There is always something that’s wrong… there is always something to complain about.
Like those who came to the tomb on that first day, we don’t see or expect new life, because we’re not looking for it. Instead, we’re more like Crime Scene Investigators, sifting through debris, dusting for fingerprints, doing an autopsy on nearly everything around us. The idea is that we pick something apart, discover what’s wrong, and hopefully find someone else to blame. We are looking for the dead amongst the dead.
But this is Easter. This is something we don’t expect. It’s why that question is so haunting.
“Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?”
We’re fortunate that the story doesn’t end there. Ultimately those first women get it. They begin to understand what resurrection is. In spite of all the horrors and indignity that Jesus was subjected to throughout the week, even death itself would not have the final say.
Resurrection is about finding hope, seeing what’s right with the world when everyone else sees what’s wrong. It is an attitude, and orientation, an outlook that moves us past dwelling on what’s wrong with the world around us. Resurrection is about what’s right, what the new opportunities are… the avenues of hope and the open doors, when everyone else expects to see closed and boarded up buildings.
Yet for the women who come to the tomb that morning, they had no other frame of reference. This was so completely outside of their expectations, that it’s no wonder that they’re confused. Only at the point where they actually look back at what has happened, and with the revelation of the messengers, do they begin to get it. Remember what he told you… they say… but it would only make sense after the fact.
Resurrection is far more than the resuscitation of a corpse. Resurrection is new life where everyone else expects death. The miracle and wonder of Easter isn’t just what happened on that first Sunday morning, it brings with it a whole new orientation and understanding to life. It’s something that we had never seen before. In the time that Jesus preached, he was trying to get people to see the world the way God sees it. He used parables to challenge people, to take all of the common expectations and turn them on their ear. He would tell these stories with a surprise twist on them, to show the unexpected and wonderful grace of God… that God sees and loves all of creation that goes beyond any human standard that we might create.
Easter is like the ultimate parable. It is the ultimate twist, an ending that nobody ever expected. The tomb was empty… Jesus took everything that the world could throw at him… even his own mortality, and showed us that none of that, including death itself, can overcome God’s love for us. Maybe the challenge for us at Easter this year is to really hear that first question and take it seriously.
“Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?”
What on earth are we looking for, among the dead? Because Jesus is not in the tomb. He is here now, in the midst of all life, both yours and mind. Jesus is mixing things up and turning things upside down and making all things new and demanding that we do the same. The Good News is that Christ is Risen… and the power of that echoes across time and space in ways that we can hardly imagine. We won’t find the living amongst the dead. We won’t find new life by dwelling on past wrongs, or complaining. We find new life by living it. The message of Christ’s resurrection calls us to take opportunities that are life-giving. It’s about affirming ourselves and others in their gifts. Take action. If we want to make a difference in this world, we need to be the difference we want to make. Maybe what we need to do is to turn down our natural tendency to complain. To focus and celebrate on what is right in our lives. To take new opportunities that are life-giving, and to realize who we are and that what we do truly matters to God.
Happy Easter!
Amen.
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