Easter Sunday

By Rev. Heather J. Blais, Rector

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Alleluia! Christ is risen! 
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia! 

How did we get here? 

On Friday we remembered Jesus was crucified by the most powerful empire of his day, and then laid to rest in a tomb for his eventual burial. No burial preparations could happen on the Sabbath, so it was not until the following day that the tomb was found to be empty. The women, who had come to anoint Jesus' body for burial, found a divine figure who commissioned them to go and tell Peter and the disciples that Jesus had gone on ahead of them to Galilee. There they would see Jesus.

Yet instead of doing as they were asked, 

“...they went out and fled the tomb for terror and amazement had seized them; 
and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” 

Again, I can’t help but wonder, how did we get here? 
How was the Good News ever shared or heard?

In Mark’s gospel, the disciples' unfaithfulness is a recurring theme. It is especially prominent in Mark’s passion narrative. 

• Peter, James, and John are unable to keep awake with Jesus while he prays in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

 

• Judas betrays Jesus to the religious leaders that were working in collaboration with the Roman Empire. 

 

• When Jesus was arrested, one of his disciples broke their commitment to nonviolence by striking and maiming a member of the arresting party.

 

• As Jesus was taken away, “All of them deserted him and fled.” 

 

• Peter followed the arresting party, only to do what he never thought he was capable of -- denying Jesus three times. The truth caused him to break down and weep. 

In fact, we hear nothing else about any of Jesus’ followers until he has taken his final breath. Then, Mark tells us that several women were standing off in the distance. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, who had followed him and provided for him while he was in Galilee; along with many other women who did the same for him in Jerusalem. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James watched as Joseph of Arimethea took Jesus' body down and placed him in a tomb for burial. 

The morning after the Sabbath, these three women from Galilee bought the necessary spices so Jesus might be anointed for his final burial. They were worried about who would move such a heavy stone, and were shocked to find the stone moved, and the tomb empty. And just as they were given an important task, they too, fled. 

So how did we get here? If the disciples fled in fear? If the women who discovered the empty tomb fled in fear? How did we get here? 

Well, thanks be to God - the Jesus Movement, the dream of God is bigger than any of us.  Bigger than our fear. Bigger than our insecurities. Bigger than the unrealistic expectations that we put upon ourselves and others. Bigger than every mistake we have ever made or yet will make. Better yet, bigger than any nation or empire that has ever been or yet will be. 

The women found an empty tomb with a divine messenger, not because Jesus successfully died for our sins in some final act of atonement. The God of Love would never demand an innocent man’s death. As Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan write in The Last Week:

“God has vindicated Jesus. God has said ‘yes’ to Jesus and ‘no’ to the powers who executed him. Easter is not about an afterlife or about happy endings. Easter is God’s ‘yes’ to Jesus against the powers who killed him…Jesus is Lord. And if Jesus is Lord, the lords of this world are not. Easter affirms that the domination systems of this world are not of God and they do not have the final word.”* 

They go on to write, 

“The story of Holy Week as Mark and the other gospels tell it enables us to hear the passion of Jesus - what he was passionate about - that led to his execution. His passion was the kingdom of God, what life would be like on earth if God were king, and the rules, domination systems, and empires of this world were not. It is the world that the prophets dreamed of - a world of distributive justice in which everybody has enough and systems are fair. And it is not simply a political dream. It is God’s dream, a dream that can only be realized by being grounded ever more deeply in the reality of God, whose heart is justice. Jesus’ passion got him killed. But God has vindicated Jesus.”* 

How did we get here? God got us here. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has proclaimed then, now, and always: Jesus lives.** 

• Jesus lives to remind us of God’s dream. 

 

• Jesus lives to show us what is possible in the Kingdom of God. 

 

• Jesus lives to keep us striving for peace and divine justice. 

 

• Jesus lives so we might always hold onto hope. 

 

• Jesus lives and reminds us our work is never done.  

Mark’s resurrection account is the earliest story of Easter in the Christian Scriptures.* It is the only story that does not have an explicit resurrection appearance. Instead, the appearance is implied. The divine messenger tells the women, 

“...go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”

There have been times in my life where this ambiguity has made me uneasy. Typically, it has been when I have craved certainty, and when I have yearned for clear cut answers.  In a scary world, sometimes we want something straightforward to hold onto. Yet there is something absolutely fantastic about Marks’ gospel ending. 
It is unfinished. Just like us. Just like the Church. Just like the work of bringing about God’s dream for this world. 

It is all in process. We are all in process. And while the guarantee may be lost in the overall ambiguity of the ending, Mark’s gospel does offer certainty if we can be patient and look for it. The divine messenger tells the women: You will see him. 
Yet this message is not just for these three women. They were commissioned to tell Jesus' disciples and Peter.Or as the Common English Bible translates:

 “Go, tell his disciples, especially Peter, that he is going ahead of you into Galilee.”

Especially Peter. Especially the one who thought he could never deny Jesus, but did.
He especially needs to hear this message. Just as we do, when we lose our way. 
That is when we most need to be reminded that we, too, will see him. We will see him - and nothing can separate us from the Love of God.

• When we have lost our way - we will see him. 

 

• When we have forgotten how to love ourselves - we will see him. 

 

• When we have failed to love our neighbor - we will see him. 

 

• When we have lied, stolen, and cheated - we will see him. 

When we have aligned ourselves with the Kingdoms of the World instead of the Kingdom of God - we will see him. We will see him. And there is nothing we can ever do that will keep us from the Love of God. 

Jesus is all around us. Because Christ lives in each of us. 

• Jesus is in our little ones as they come forward to receive communion and all the Love God longs for them to experience.  

 

• Jesus is in our unhoused neighbors; who want more than any amount of spare change, for us to look them in the eye and to be treated with dignity and respect. 

 

• Jesus lives in the neighbor who gets on our nerves. 

 

• Jesus lives in our aunt who voted for Biden and in our uncle who voted for Trump.

 

• Jesus lives in the migrants turned away at our border; and the refugees trying to start a new life here. 

 

• Jesus lives in every square inch of creation. 

 

• Just as Jesus lives in the saints who have gone before us:

 

• from Julian of Norwich who preached of a divine love;

 

• to Martin Luther King, Jr who preached peace and equality amongst all God’s children; 

 

• to Trayvon Martin and Breonna Taylor and every person of color whose life has been cut short by systemic racism and violence;

 

• to Victoria Leigh Soto who died protecting her students at Sandy Hook, and to our own Meaghan Burns, who died trying to protect her friend from a violent domestic partner;

 

• to the countless innocents who have died in the wars ravaging our world, especially in the Holy Land, Russia, Ukraine, and Sudan;

 

• and to all the saints who have yet to be born.  

So how did we get here? By the life changing love of God, who is turning this world upside down and right side up again. Our call, our invitation, is to commit ourselves to the work of Love made known in God’s dream for this world. And when we flee the empty tomb, or deny seeing Jesus in the eyes of our neighbor, we must remember that God is bigger than our mistake and nothing can ever keep us from the Love of God. We will see him. We will know God’s love. 

As we prepare to make our way back into the world, I urge us each to not let this day go quietly by without asking ourselves: 

• Where do we see Jesus?

 

• Where have we possibly refused to see Jesus?

 

• How is God asking us to see Jesus differently this Easter?

 

• How does the story of Easter change us? 

Amen. 







* Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, The Last Week, p. 205-206, 212-213, 194. 
** Theme of Jesus Lives discussed by Borg & Crossan p. 204-205. 


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