Easter’s Now

Easter Day (Year A, RCL)
March 23, 2008

The Reverend Paul R. Abernathy, Rector

On Friday, Jesus had been crucified. His disciples, the men, at least, in fear, had fled. The women had remained steadfast, sorrowfully watching their friend die, witnessing the ignominious end of his dream. That evening, as his dead body was entombed, the women sat mournfully at the gravesite. Who knows what they did on Saturday, but they must have gone home to rest, no doubt, weeping over the death of their friend.

Now, it’s Sunday.^[1] They, “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary,” clearly the Tammy Wynettes of first century Palestine, return to the tomb determined to stand by their – even though he’s dead – man!

Yet, because this is so, they are the first to receive the angelic message, “He is not here! He has been raised!” They are the first to receive the call to “Go…tell,” thereby themselves becoming angels, messengers of the good news.

There is much that can be made of this story. There is much that can be made of Easter. I daresay that in many, if not most places today, the message will sound something like this: “Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, all who believe in him are given the promise, verily, the power of eternal life.”

If that is what you have come to hear, I offer my most heartfelt apology. I don’t want to talk about life eternal, particularly as it may be understood as life after death, life beyond the grave, life in some divine state of existence. I want to talk about life now. Life today. Life from a very human point of view.

To do that, I want to look through the eyes of these women, the Marys, who, on Friday, watched Jesus die and waited at the tomb, and then, on Sunday, walked back to that tomb. Why did they do that? What compelled them to stand by that man?

It wasn’t because of his death, but rather his life. It wasn’t because they were his worshipers, but rather his followers.

Here, then, for me, is the meaning of Easter. Following Jesus. What he said and what he did.

To do that, we must read not only this Easter story, but the whole of the Jesus story of his life and ministry, and not through our eyes, but through those of these women. What did they see in Jesus?

The outstretched arms of unconditional welcome, especially for those like them – the least and the last, the disenfranchised, the marginalized.

What did they see in Jesus?

That love and justice were to be extended to all. That everything, everyone was sacred. That the holiness of God could be found in every moment of every day. That in one’s conscious consecration of every moment of every day, there eternal life was found.

And if that was so, then, death was not an end. Life was always about risk and change. Death was but another change.

And if that was so, then, one was to live each day with a radical recklessness – facing each dawn with a faith that liberally, loudly says, “Yes” to life. All that it offered. Beauty and terror. Joy and pain. Looking not back, brooding over past failure and defeat. Nor forward, anxiously anticipating trial and trouble. But always fully present in that moment called “now.”

This is what I believe those women saw in Jesus. And this is what they came to believe: that to embrace, to be fully in that moment called “now” was to have eternal life.

Those who know this know what it is to experience Easter, know what it is to be daily raised from the dead, and therefore know how to cry with joy, “Alleluia! Christ is risen! We are risen, indeed! Alleluia!”

[1] The gospel passage appointed for the day is Matthew 28.1-10.