Pulling out all the Stops - Easter 2010
Text: Luke 24:1-12
One of the things that strikes me about the Easter stories is how truly low-key they are. For us, as it should be, Easter has become a season of fanfare and majesty, of vibrant colours, ringing bells. You’ve heard the term pulling out all the stops? That’s a term for when an organist literally opens up every pipe available to the organ and literally shakes the building in a wall of sound. On Easter morning there really is no holding back, for we are truly celebrating the cornerstone of our faith.
But compare all the fanfare with what happens in the gospel... One could be forgiven in thinking that we somehow got the story wrong when we hold it up next to all the celebrating we do. From an outsider’s perspective, one could be forgiven for expecting something more from that first Easter story. One might think that when Jesus rose from the dead, that Jerusalem was bathed in a powerful light, angels choruses filled the sky, and Jesus was unmistakably seen by all people. Frankly, we expect something more along the lines of some of Christmas...
But that’s not how the first Easter story goes at all.
We have a handful of women coming to the tomb, there’s no great processionals, no fanfare, none of that. They have come with the sad task of doing some further preparation on the body of Jesus... some of the private funeral rites that were interrupted by the Sabbath day. They had spent much of the past thirty-six hours preparing themselves for this grim task... for they were expecting to see those horrible wounds again, further amplified by the natural decomposition that one would expect in those first hours. They likely came with some of those spices wiped under their nose to keep the rancid smell of decay at bay.
So they come, completely prepared for this heart-rending task... but what they experience is something that no amount of preparation could have readied them for.
“Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?”
When you think about it, what a silly question! They’re not looking for the living at all... they’re looking for the dead amongst the dead. After all, they are in a graveyard. Sure, according to Luke, the tomb was newly dug, and nobody had been laid there, but there were still all the other burial sites in the area. They’re expecting to find and do further preparations on a dead body, so that Jesus might have some dignity in being laid to rest in peace, rather than that truly awful way he died. They came to try and give him the respect and honour that they truly believe he deserved, but didn’t get.
So imagine their horror when they don’t find him there. Instead... there’s the question:
“Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?”
The question catches them so totally off guard, and it appears to be two complete strangers who ask it. As Luke tells the story, there is not one, but two mysterious figures at the tomb... and not surprisingly the women who come to the tomb are thoroughly confused... they ask that first question, but then they complete the thought:
“He is not here, but has risen.* 6Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”
Yet as powerful as a revelation as this is, I am still struck by how completely low-key this is. Think about it. This is the greatest event in human history, the news of which delivered by a pair of strangers to a group of grieving women. This would hardly register as a blip today on 24/7 news channels, because there’s nothing particularly spectacular to see. At best it might appear in the middle of a newscast, where they play up the angle of grave-robbers in Jerusalem, and that would be it. Instead, the news begins to spread by word of mouth, and by personal experience. Jesus is alive... death has not had the final say, and the work that he began in Galilee continues. Even more, it continues in a way that goes beyond the young man on the hillside... the cross didn’t even slow him down, and if anything it accelerates the message of God’s love for all... and now the Holy Spirit begins to breathe new life into people far beyond that city on the hill... but it happens in a very subtle way.
This is not an event to sit back and watch on some hillside like it is fireworks going off... this is about something far more personal. But maybe that’s what makes it so powerful is precisely because resurrection is personal. So the question that the two strangers ask to the women at the empty tomb is far more powerful and far more personal than I think we realize.
Why do we look for the living amongst the dead?
In our life, this question is just as important. Why do we look for the living amongst the dead? Sometimes we spend all of our time looking at past glories, as days gone by, with everything behind us... but Easter tells us that nothing could be further from the truth. It is not about looking to past glories, because in the same way that the two messengers told the women on that first day, he is not here, he is risen… don’t dwell on the past… but embrace the future with hope, optimism, and without fear. That’s what resurrection truly means… we no longer have to be crippled by lost opportunities, or longing for the good old days… Easter allows us to face even death itself with a kind of dignity and hope that at one time we never thought possible.
Our challenge is that we often talk about Resurrection in very abstract terms. We talk about an event in the past, but not so much how we experience resurrection now. So here’s one very real and practical way we can experience Resurrection. In funeral services that I have led, one of the themes that I often find myself working with is how much of the deceased still lives on those who knew them. The stories that are told are part of it, but it’s more than that. My father often tells me how much I remind him of his own Dad... my grandfather… who died when I was two... I have no living personal memory of George Crowdis, and yet my extended family tells me that I have mannerisms and certain ways of behaving that remind them of him. It’s not intentional, I assure you! It may not be in the same way as those women experienced on Easter morning, but it is a glimpse of resurrection… a small tangible way that we do experience Easter in our lives.
But there are other ways that we experience the miracle of Easter. This past week has been some of the warmest weather on record in April. It’s no coincidence that Easter itself falls in the opening month of Spring… when I went for lunch earlier this week, I happened to walk past a few gardens. Instead of seeing the muck, or the dead remains of the plants from last season, there are these small splashes of green. Tiny little shoots of tulips and daffodils are beginning to emerge from winter’s deathly grip… We have gotten so used to this as being routine, but when you think about it, it is very much new life springing forth. Every bit of green, every bird that has returned home, every little sign of spring can be a reminder of the greater hope of resurrection… that life does continue after death in ways that we can hardly begin to count.
So why do we look for the living amongst the dead? Maybe instead we really should be looking for those new signs of life, no matter where we are… this is truly the message and challenge of Easter… and it gives us good reason to pull out all the stops and really celebrate.
Happy Easter!
Amen.
One of the things that strikes me about the Easter stories is how truly low-key they are. For us, as it should be, Easter has become a season of fanfare and majesty, of vibrant colours, ringing bells. You’ve heard the term pulling out all the stops? That’s a term for when an organist literally opens up every pipe available to the organ and literally shakes the building in a wall of sound. On Easter morning there really is no holding back, for we are truly celebrating the cornerstone of our faith.
But compare all the fanfare with what happens in the gospel... One could be forgiven in thinking that we somehow got the story wrong when we hold it up next to all the celebrating we do. From an outsider’s perspective, one could be forgiven for expecting something more from that first Easter story. One might think that when Jesus rose from the dead, that Jerusalem was bathed in a powerful light, angels choruses filled the sky, and Jesus was unmistakably seen by all people. Frankly, we expect something more along the lines of some of Christmas...
But that’s not how the first Easter story goes at all.
We have a handful of women coming to the tomb, there’s no great processionals, no fanfare, none of that. They have come with the sad task of doing some further preparation on the body of Jesus... some of the private funeral rites that were interrupted by the Sabbath day. They had spent much of the past thirty-six hours preparing themselves for this grim task... for they were expecting to see those horrible wounds again, further amplified by the natural decomposition that one would expect in those first hours. They likely came with some of those spices wiped under their nose to keep the rancid smell of decay at bay.
So they come, completely prepared for this heart-rending task... but what they experience is something that no amount of preparation could have readied them for.
“Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?”
When you think about it, what a silly question! They’re not looking for the living at all... they’re looking for the dead amongst the dead. After all, they are in a graveyard. Sure, according to Luke, the tomb was newly dug, and nobody had been laid there, but there were still all the other burial sites in the area. They’re expecting to find and do further preparations on a dead body, so that Jesus might have some dignity in being laid to rest in peace, rather than that truly awful way he died. They came to try and give him the respect and honour that they truly believe he deserved, but didn’t get.
So imagine their horror when they don’t find him there. Instead... there’s the question:
“Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?”
The question catches them so totally off guard, and it appears to be two complete strangers who ask it. As Luke tells the story, there is not one, but two mysterious figures at the tomb... and not surprisingly the women who come to the tomb are thoroughly confused... they ask that first question, but then they complete the thought:
“He is not here, but has risen.* 6Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”
Yet as powerful as a revelation as this is, I am still struck by how completely low-key this is. Think about it. This is the greatest event in human history, the news of which delivered by a pair of strangers to a group of grieving women. This would hardly register as a blip today on 24/7 news channels, because there’s nothing particularly spectacular to see. At best it might appear in the middle of a newscast, where they play up the angle of grave-robbers in Jerusalem, and that would be it. Instead, the news begins to spread by word of mouth, and by personal experience. Jesus is alive... death has not had the final say, and the work that he began in Galilee continues. Even more, it continues in a way that goes beyond the young man on the hillside... the cross didn’t even slow him down, and if anything it accelerates the message of God’s love for all... and now the Holy Spirit begins to breathe new life into people far beyond that city on the hill... but it happens in a very subtle way.
This is not an event to sit back and watch on some hillside like it is fireworks going off... this is about something far more personal. But maybe that’s what makes it so powerful is precisely because resurrection is personal. So the question that the two strangers ask to the women at the empty tomb is far more powerful and far more personal than I think we realize.
Why do we look for the living amongst the dead?
In our life, this question is just as important. Why do we look for the living amongst the dead? Sometimes we spend all of our time looking at past glories, as days gone by, with everything behind us... but Easter tells us that nothing could be further from the truth. It is not about looking to past glories, because in the same way that the two messengers told the women on that first day, he is not here, he is risen… don’t dwell on the past… but embrace the future with hope, optimism, and without fear. That’s what resurrection truly means… we no longer have to be crippled by lost opportunities, or longing for the good old days… Easter allows us to face even death itself with a kind of dignity and hope that at one time we never thought possible.
Our challenge is that we often talk about Resurrection in very abstract terms. We talk about an event in the past, but not so much how we experience resurrection now. So here’s one very real and practical way we can experience Resurrection. In funeral services that I have led, one of the themes that I often find myself working with is how much of the deceased still lives on those who knew them. The stories that are told are part of it, but it’s more than that. My father often tells me how much I remind him of his own Dad... my grandfather… who died when I was two... I have no living personal memory of George Crowdis, and yet my extended family tells me that I have mannerisms and certain ways of behaving that remind them of him. It’s not intentional, I assure you! It may not be in the same way as those women experienced on Easter morning, but it is a glimpse of resurrection… a small tangible way that we do experience Easter in our lives.
But there are other ways that we experience the miracle of Easter. This past week has been some of the warmest weather on record in April. It’s no coincidence that Easter itself falls in the opening month of Spring… when I went for lunch earlier this week, I happened to walk past a few gardens. Instead of seeing the muck, or the dead remains of the plants from last season, there are these small splashes of green. Tiny little shoots of tulips and daffodils are beginning to emerge from winter’s deathly grip… We have gotten so used to this as being routine, but when you think about it, it is very much new life springing forth. Every bit of green, every bird that has returned home, every little sign of spring can be a reminder of the greater hope of resurrection… that life does continue after death in ways that we can hardly begin to count.
So why do we look for the living amongst the dead? Maybe instead we really should be looking for those new signs of life, no matter where we are… this is truly the message and challenge of Easter… and it gives us good reason to pull out all the stops and really celebrate.
Happy Easter!
Amen.
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