Easter Sunday 2020: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
Our Jewish sisters and brothers, as they began their Passover observance the other night, asked this question “What makes this night different than all other nights?” Well, I think it is clear we know what makes this Easter Sunday different than all other Easter Sundays – or at least those we have come to know in our lives. The church pews of the nave are empty, not full of people in brightly colored Sunday best. There is no joyous baptism. There are not scores of children filling the Sunday School fidgeting in anticipation of the Easter Egg Hunt that follows the service. There are not tables laden with food waiting for us in a beautifully decorated parish hall. This is what we have come to expect on Easter Sunday.
I am reminded of a story about Easter expectations, and it just might resonate with a few of you who have been home schooling your children these past few weeks. It is about a mom who was struggling to teach her four year old daughter about the meaning of Easter.
“Mommy, will the Easter bunny bring me purple jelly beans?”
“I am sure he will bring you jelly beans, Elena. But, remember, Easter isn’t about the bunny. It’s about Jesus.
“But will they be purple?”
“Yes, honey, I am sure there will be some purple ones in there, but the important thing about Easter isn’t the bunny. Easter is about how much Jesus loves you and me and the whole world.”
“Mommy, HOW MANY purple jelly beans will the Easter Bunny bring me?”
“Elena, I think he will probably bring plenty of purple jellybeans. Do you know how much Jesus loves you?”
“Mommy…”
“Yes Elena?”
“Will he bring me tootsie rolls too?”
I had a similar experience with our Nursery School children a few years ago when, in the midst of the craziness of Holy Week preparations, the children were shouting out to me “Mother Diana….Mother Diana?”
“Yes?”
“Ummm, Easter’s coming!”
“It is? What does that mean?”
“The Easter Bunny will bring chocolate!”
“Okay.”
Now of course that really is okay. For young children, Easter will be a bit like Christmas – filled with dreams of games and good things to eat. It’s fun, and that’s fine for now. They know Jesus loves them, or will come to know that, and that is all they need to know.
Thankfully for adults, we have not yet managed to commercialize Easter beyond recognition in the same way as Christmas. We don’t spend beyond our means for Easter presents, and I don’t know of any Hallmark 25 days of Easter movies. Still, children aren’t the only ones with Easter expectations. We have our expectations too, which is why this Easter Sunday is different than all other Easter Sundays for us.
I suppose this year is a bit like the Grinch who stole Easter.
And maybe that’s not a bad thing too.
Because in no less a way than our green little friend who lived just North of Whoville, perhaps without all the trappings – we will see even more clearly the Easter that was always there – that is – and will always be – because we will live it a lot more like those who were experiencing it on that first morning in the garden outside the empty tomb.
Now, as I point out every year, the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John don’t agree across all four on a lot of things, but on this point they all make it clear – that it was only women who were the first to see Jesus, and the only woman in all four accounts is Mary, called Magdalene – she is the one chosen by Jesus to be the first to receive the good news of the resurrection – she is the apostle to the apostles.
The gospel of John’s telling of this moment, which we heard this morning, is my favorite of all the gospel accounts of the resurrection, and this year I think it is the one we most need to hear.
It starts out in an almost comical scene, because Mary, having gone to anoint Jesus and found the tomb empty told the other disciples about it, who were locked away in a house together out of fear. Not believing her, two of them – Peter and the quote “other disciple”– they leave their hideout to run to the tomb. The unnamed one outruns Peter and gets there, but doesn’t go in. Then Peter arrives and goes in, and not to be outdone, the other one goes in too. Seriously? Jesus does not show himself to them however, and they leave. It is said they believe, but it can’t be about the resurrection – and if we were unsure on that point, well…come back next Sunday.
Anyway, Mary stayed behind in the garden by the tomb. She is grieving, for she not only has lost her Rabbi, whom she loved, but she cannot even visit where his body is, or even anoint him for burial. She is broken in heart and spirit. But there, in the garden, Jesus comes to her. Mary at first thinks him to be the gardener, and speaks to him – asking where they have taken Jesus. Yet, as soon as he calls her by name, she recognizes him through her tears, and rejoices. She goes back to tell the others – “I have seen the Lord!”
The first Easter came to those who were isolated and fearful – huddled together in a home, and before all others to one who was grieving deeply for the loved one she lost and could not even bury properly.
Stripped of all the things we usually hold dear on this Easter Sunday, we come as close as perhaps we have ever been for a long time to the experience of that first Easter morning. For we are fearful, we are isolated, we are grieving, and we cannot be with loved ones who are ill, dying, or bury them in the way we would like when they have gone. We cannot even gather in churches to grieve what has been lost to us.
But there is a gift in this very different Easter Sunday too.
Yes, I think we have a better understanding of how this may have felt for those very first witnesses to the resurrection. But also too, that without all the things we have come to expect on this Easter morning, we will rediscover something that may have faded out of view for many of us – that God’s promise in the resurrection was never about churches packed to the brim, or beautiful clothes, or delicious food, or gorgeous hymns sung to the rafters… the promise was that life is stronger than death, light overcomes darkness, and love, God’s love, will always defeat hate.
I think something I saw on TV sums up this point well. In the weeks prior to today, there was one poignant public service announcement– it was on MSNBC, and it featured a beautiful cathedral – empty of anyone. Nothing was said, only the music of “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” softly rising to a glorious “Alleluia!” No one was there to hear it, but it was sung all the same. And that, my friends, is what it is all about.
Or to quote another Christmas classic, that is what Easter is all about Charlie Brown.
Because despite what some people apparently thought, Easter isn’t canceled, postponed due to quarantine, or ruined for this year. Nobody stops Jesus – not the Romans, not the Sanhedrin, and certainly not COVID-19 and an empty church. The alleluias will be heard, because the good news of that first Easter, has not changed for us now – but is as it has always been, and will always be – that Jesus Christ is risen! And because of that we know that death has no dominion over us.
This virus will be history to us all one day, this pandemic story will be over eventually. But we who are part of the Jesus Movement know that the truth that is ours at Easter will always be – nothing can take that away – it never fades through time. And that’s because – it is isn’t the end of the story, but only the beginning!
Jesus lives!
Jesus lives…and he isn’t done yet. Not by a long shot.
The rest of the story – his story and ours – has continued through the centuries, and more of it is yet to be told!
The Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor once put it this way when talking about those first resurrection appearances we heard today and will hear in the weeks to come. She wrote: “Those appearances cinch the resurrection for me, not what happened in the tomb. What happened in the tomb was entirely between Jesus and God. For the rest of us, Easter began the moment the gardener said, “Mary!” and she knew who he was. That is where the miracle happened and goes on happening — not in the tomb but in the encounter with the living Lord. In the end, that is the only evidence we have to offer those who ask us how we can possibly believe. Because we live, that is why. Because we have found, to our surprise, that we are not alone. Because we never know where he will turn up next. Here is one thing that helps: never get so focused on the empty tomb that you forget to speak to the gardener.”
“Never get so focused on the empty tomb that you forget to speak to the gardener.”
Or to put it another way, never get too focused on the ceremony of Easter, that we forget to see the Easter happening right in front of us.
Because the plain truth of it all is that Jesus was, and is, and is to come! That is the good news we celebrate at Easter. And that means that he is here now on this Easter as much as he was at that first one.
So, in the midst of your grief and fear, don’t forget to look through the tears to see the gardener and speak to him. Because he lives – and he is standing with you, most especially when you are weak with fear and grief, broken and alone.
Look for him too in the eyes of the afflicted, in the weariness of the hospital worker, in the despair of the unemployed – for he is there too. Look for him when the world seems to be topsy-turvy, and nothing seems to make any sense. Look for him and hear his voice calling you by name.
See him, hear him, and then tell the world!
“I have seen the Lord!”
This may not look like the Easter you have come to expect, but that doesn’t change what it means for you, for me, and for the world – that in his resurrection we are assured that death and despair, empire and hate – will never, ever, have the last word in God’s kingdom. And like Mary, Jesus is calling us now to continue the never ending story of God’s great love for us – to share the good news of Easter that was, and is, and always will be.
The Lord is Risen!
He is risen indeed!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
For the audio from the 10:30am service, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here:
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
April 12, 2020
Easter Sunday – In A Time of Separation
1st Reading – Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
2nd Reading – Colossians 3:1-4
Gospel – Matthew 28:1-10
