The Feast of the Resurrection Year C April 21, 2019
Luther Memorial Church Seattle, WA
The Rev. Julie Hutson
Acts 10: 34-43 + 1 Corinthians 15: 19-26 + Luke 24: 1-12
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
Earlier this week I was visiting with a family who have an eight year old in their household. While I was there, two of the neighborhood kids came over and the eight year old treated us to a magic show! She was the proud owner of a new, rather spiffy, magic kit and she’d practiced her tricks for awhile. I have to say, she wasn’t bad! Her friends were astonished by her prowess: things disappeared and moved and came back again and none of us could figure out how. But it wasn’t because we didn’t try! We wanted to touch her magician’s hat and check the boxes for false bottoms and see if she had anything up her sleeve. Our need to know how it worked threatened to overshadow the sheer magic of the moment.
Easter is a little bit like this. Although the resurrection isn’t magic and it isn’t a trick, we still want to understand how it could possibly be true. How it could possibly work. How does one rise from the dead? It seems too much to imagine, an idle tale, a nonsense story.
It’s helpful to remember that the disciples and those who had followed Jesus also wanted to understand it…also wanted to believe, but didn’t quite know how. And this was after Jesus had spent three years, give or take, telling them that this was what was going to happen. That he would die and rise. He told them directly and he used stories. He told them in metaphors and face to face. He told them time and time again. And yet….there they are, needing to be reminded of what he said while he was still with them in Galilee: That he must be delivered into the hands of his enemies, be crucified, and rise again on the third day.
The figures in dazzling garments who delivered this reminder offered it to the only ones who came to the tomb that morning. To the women. Mary of Magdala, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and other women. Traditionally Mary his mother. The women, it should be noted time and time again, did not leave Jesus. They stayed at the foot of the cross as he died. They watched his body as it was taken down off the cross and hastily buried in a borrowed tomb. That was how they knew where the tomb was located. That was how they knew where to bring the spices to anoint Jesus’ body….because they’d never left him.
When they hear this question from the dazzling figures in the tomb: “why do you search for the living one among the dead?” It must have taken them off guard. Sleepless, heartbroken…..coming to do the one task allowed of them by society….the holy task of anointing the dead….only….he’s not here. He’s living. How? How can this be?
Explain it. And they are reminded and they remember that Jesus said this was what must happen.
What follows is perhaps the first recorded account of women not being believed when they report news of this significance. The women tell the eleven, who decide the story is nonsense and they refuse to believe them. Except impulsive Peter who runs to the tomb to see for himself.
We can learn something from the women at the tomb that day. That our task isn’t to try to figure out how the resurrection happened. Our task is to believe it, to share it, and then to embody it in our lives.
Our work in the world, as God’s beloved people, is to walk in new life. To live in resurrection hope. To find signs and stories of resurrection and to go and tell others, even if they don’t believe us.
So, beloved children of God, where do you see resurrection in the world today? Where has the promise of new life overcome the shadow of death?
This week we watched as Notre Dame burned. Many of us watched in horror as the tall spire fell into the nave. We wondered aloud at the relics and the art and the windows. What become of them. We rejoiced at the stories of their safety. But let’s be honest, burning churches aren’t unknown to us even, and especially here in the United States where burning black churches or burning synagogues or mosques has become a way of expressing the shadow of death that is racism and bigotry. It seemed then, that no sooner was the news reporting the story out of Paris that we were all reminded that in Louisiana within the last month three black churches were burned – set on fire by a white supremacist. And then this happened: The Notre Dame fire somehow drew our attention, called us to remember, those congregations in St. Landry Parish. And as quickly as you can say “the tomb is empty” St. Mary Baptist Church, Greater Union Baptist Church, and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church had $2 million dollars in donations. Enough to rebuild. That is a sign of new life…of resurrection hope.
So, beloved people of God, where else have you seen resurrection lately? Where else has new life risen up?
In case you need the obvious example of new life rising up, well, let me share this letter I received on Friday. The letter is from Susan Boyd, who is now the CEO of Bellweather Housing. She was one of the first people we reached out to as we wondered what was possible on our parking lot.
“Pastor Julie and the Good People of Luther Memorial Church,
I was so delighted to be part of the celebration at Compass Broadview last week. What a beautiful thing you have done for our community and the families who will live in those homes!
I looked back at my calendar to see that the first time we met to discuss your dreams for that property was March 18, 2014, just over 5 years ago. I know that seems like a long time to many of you. From my perspective, this timeline was nothing less than, to borrow a word from Bishop Unti’s invocation, a miracle.
I have had the opportunity to talk with many faith communities about how they might use excess real estate to address our region’s housing affordability and homelessness crisis. When I met you all, I sensed something would be different about this conversation. I was right. I continue to be inspired by your congregation’s willingness – no, not willingness – absolute compulsion – to ask “what would Jesus do with this parking lot?” The unity and clarity with which you engaged this question made this project possible.
Thank you for creating an opportunity for 59 families to live stable, healthy, safe lives in a wonderful neighborhood. Thank you for being a spark for many other congregations around the region. Thank you for being an inspiration to me.
Happy Easter!
Very Sincerely,
Susan Boyd
Chief Executive Officer
Bellwether Housing
Beloved community, resurrection exists all around us. And in our case it exists literally right next door. And it is there because you believed in the words of the risen Christ, that we care for our neighbors even as God cares for us.
Our call as disciples of Jesus, is to tell the story of the One we follow, but more than that…it is to embody this story in the world. We have done that in a very real and visible way. And we continue to do it in big and small ways every day. Because death did not have the final word. Easter joy is ours. I don’t know the how, but I know that resurrection is real. And that is news worth sharing and news worth living.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Christ is risen, Indeed.
Amen.