Easter
Sunday
April
20, 2014
Matthew
28:1-10
If
you have ever seen the movie, Finding Nemo, you know that there are a couple of
scenes in the movie where Nemo’s dad, Marlin, attempts to tell a joke because,
you know, clown fish are supposed to be funny.
But in attempting to tell the joke, Marlin gets so caught up explaining
things away…like that mollusks and sea cucumbers can’t really talk, but for the
sake of the joke they can…that things stop being funny pretty quickly.
That’s
part of the danger with this Easter text from Matthew. We get so caught up in trying to explain away
the angel and the earthquake and the Mary’s being scared, as if we are trying
to sell something or become someone’s best friend using the text…that we end up
at the end of all of it missing the point of it all.
The
other end of the spectrum, also in the danger zone, is saying “Christ is risen,
Alleluia!...Amen” and then sitting down.
I’ve heard about preachers doing it and, sure, it keeps the preacher
from getting out of the way of the text and letting the writer of the Gospel do
all the work…but it usually doesn’t go over so well.
Of
the two, though, it would almost be better to go with “Christ is Risen,
Alleluia! Amen” and just be done with it.
I say it’s better to completely get out of the way and let the Gospel
writer do all of the work than for us to get in the way of Matthew’s
proclamation.
Now,
I’m an explainer. I like to dig deep
into a text, figure out what a Gospel writer was trying to tell us by exploring
the historical context and trying to translate how that relates to us today.
And I like to take people along with me on it.
There are some really amazing things we can learn about God and about
the history of God’s people by looking into historical context and literary
form, and all of the specifics.
But
to do so today really betrays Matthew’s purpose in his telling of the
resurrection of Christ. Matthew presents
us a simple telling of Christ’s resurrection.
The women come to the tomb on the first day of the week, they experience
an earthquake, hear from an angel, meet Jesus, and are given instructions on
what to do next. That’s it.
It’s
not frilly, there are no Easter lilies and special music and pancake breakfasts
and beautiful Easter dresses with white patent leather shoes.
Now,
don’t get me wrong. I love the pageantry
of Easter Sunday…the special music, the pancake breakfasts, the beautiful
Easter dresses with white patent leather shoes, and the flowers are great if I
take some allergy medicine. But they
just don’t fit into Matthew’s telling of the resurrection.
Matthew’s
resurrection story would have a literally earth shaking experience, a muscle
clad angel, an empty tomb, Jesus. If you
showed up late, you might miss it.
But
I think that is what makes Matthew’s telling of the resurrection so powerful.
The
angel is very matter a fact in his message to the women.
“Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking
for Jesus who was crucified. 6He is not here; for he has been raised, as he
said.”
And
here is the one thing that I do want to explain.
Matthew
makes it clear to us that he wants us to remember that the crucifixion and
resurrection of Jesus was not just some random occurrence. He tried to bring this message to the
disciples three times through the Gospel of Matthew…but they weren’t having
it. And now that death hasn’t had the
last word, the angel can throw a little bit of a “Jesus told you so,” in
there. Why? Because like the disciples
and the Mary’s at the tomb on that first Easter, we are so quick to look for
death instead of life promised for us through the witness of the
scriptures.
It’s
not surprising, because life deals us some pretty disastrous situations that we
have to deal with.
But
he was just little kid watching marathon runners cross the finish line.
They
were supposed to be on a safe, fun, class trip on that Ferry
But
she never smoked a day in her life, what do you mean she has lung cancer?
The
baby is due in a week…why isn’t he kicking?
She
died of measles? I thought that wasn’t around anymore
All
it takes is a weeks’ worth of news…heck, it really only takes an hour, to see
all the death and tragedy and horror that surround us. And the reality of our sinful reality is
that the fact that we are Christians or people of faith in general is not going
to protect us from all the bad things that happen in this world.
And
it is because of this that we often go looking for death when we have been
promised life.
But
if there is one thing you take with you today, I want it to be this (I hope you
take more, but you know). The Gospel is God’s good news for our bad
situation.
And
it is for those bad situations that God put on flesh and came into our world in
the person of Jesus Christ, wept, was hungry, was thirsty, and died. So that death didn’t and doesn’t and will
never have the last word, life does. God
does.
So
what do we do now?
We
have two options. We go back to life as
“normal” at the end of our Lenten and Easter journey.
Or,
we step feet first into the earth quaking, life changing experience of being in
the presence of the Risen Christ and we allow ourselves to be transformed and
sent out into the world to spread the word that Christ is Risen just as he
said. He is not here.
He
is at loose in the world.
We
have heeded the command to come and see…now it’s time to heed to command to go
quickly and tell. No need to linger and
sell. Just tell. Like the angel did.
But,
stop off and have a meal first…it will strengthen you for the journey.
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