Luke 24:1-12
“Re: action”
April 17, 2022 10:00 a.m. Easter Service
They had to do something.
Of course, tradition dictated that the body of the dead must be made ready.
And so, they went there thinking they would wash and perfume Jesus’ body just as they had the bodies of beloved family members as soon after death as was feasible.
They came ready with all the tools of funereal preparation.
There are so many tasks to be done when someone we love dies.
Most everyone here has lost someone they treasured.
These past few weeks and in the week to come seem awash with the goodbyes and the multitude of tasks that have accompanied beloved members of our community who have left us.
Here in the U.S. most of us will not be the ones who prepare the body for burial or cremation but there are a host of other actions to be taken.
Calls to be made, funeral or memorial service plans to put in place, decisions regarding the final resting place, obituaries to put together, possible receptions to coordinate and all of these actions are accompanied by a host of reactions – from family, friends, neighbors, colleagues – some of which can be a real respite from grief or it has the power to make grief feel like a heavy coat you keep wearing every day, regardless of what’s happening around you.
That is how we enter this story, bearing the grief of the women, who came to do what women in that culture had done for centuries except this time they didn’t.
And this was a death like no other.
This is a day in which we move beyond the sadness and grief of Holy Week.
Because this missing body tells us that death is not the end of the story.
We are a species of doers.
What can we do to make things better in the hard times?
But just as important what will we do to celebrate the joyous occasions?
How can we make that happiness stick?
What will it take for us to live into such absolute and undeniable good news?
And how will we spread it around?
It is the women, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, James’ mother Mary along with the unnamed other women, the original apostles, who go out spreading this good news even if they don’t fully understand.
This is because they finally remember Jesus’ own words.
They had not yet reached full understanding but they trusted the possibility of this amazing if frightening idea.
Resurrection – that is their good news.
That is our good news.
And guess what, this is only the beginning.
Easter is not a single day but a whole season.
Just like it may take these stunned women a while to fully wrap their heads around the idea that death isn’t the end but a new beginning and Jesus the teacher is continuing to teach the lesson that God will be the victor over the powers of death.
In a world filled with so much pain and sadness, we can all take heart by the knowledge that Jesus, too, experienced hate and violence, he was blamed by powers who were threatened by him and still he rose.
We will not be defined by the worst thing that we’ve ever done or experienced.
God has turned the pain of the cross into the freedom of the empty tomb.
We are witnesses to the power of sharing Good News.
We are here today as a testimony that two millennia later, we still may not fully understand but we can be amazed.
Then we must decide what our action will be.
We are called not just to be hearers of the Word but doers of it.
Just as our children today went out with an egg and shared the Good News, we each are called to figure out how we’ll do the same.
As doers, we get to take actions that will speak for us with love, kindness, and a generosity of spirit.
We will never be done being doers of God’s love.
Now that we know, just like the women and apostles, once we know we can’t unknow.
Such amazing good news is too good to keep to ourselves!
The Marys and Joanna taught us that.
The amazed Peter taught us that.
Jesus’ life, death and resurrection taught us that.
We are each a witness.
Jesus is not dead. He has risen.
Knowing what we’ve heard and seen and the mystery of it all on this first day of the Easter season, let us offer these words from a prayer titled, “Witness:”
God of Creation,
Creating anew,
The silence is broken.
With the women in the garden
We catch our breath,
Wipe our tears,
And try to articulate our
Experience with you.
What words can describe
Shadows fleeing from the tomb?
How can we tell of the morning
The world turned upside-down?
No mortal words will do.
Still, we must spread the news:
Christ is risen!
Our knees are weak from running;
Our voices tremble
On the edge of fearful joy.
Our eyes have seen the glory
Of the Lord loosed upon the world!
May every breath we take,
Every word we utter,
Everything we do,
Witness to the truth
Of Christ’s resurrection.
(“Witness” from Prayers and Litanies for the Christian Seasons
by Sharlande Sledge)
Alleluia and amen!