“What Kind of Easter Story Is This?”

By The Rev. Deacon Christine McCloud

Come Holy Spirit: Touch our minds and think with them; touch our lips and speak with them; touch our hearts and set them on fire with love for you. In the name of the risen Christ who brings us life from the tomb. Amen.

For me, there is nothing better than a good ending to a story. Since I don’t always have the time to read simply for pleasure, when I finally do have the chance, I want a story where all of the loose pieces come together, where all of the problems are resolved and where what finally happens at the end of the story is actually what I would hope would happen. I’ll tell ya, after reading Mark’s Gospel; I was left a little blank… even slightly annoyed. What kind of abrupt ending is this to the most significant event in our Christian history, the heart -- the very heart of our faith?!?!?! Can someone please tell me what this man was thinking?!?!

Unlike the other Gospel stories about the resurrection, Mark gives us no appearance of the risen Christ, no joy or wonder -- just the two Mary’s and Salome, told to “go tell” the good news running away in abject terror! Holy cow! If Mark’s Gospel was being produced for a production studio, there is no doubt in my mind that there would be an immediate demand for a re-write. Actually, there were at least two other re-writes of the ending of Mark’s Gospel -- you can find these re-writes bracketed in your bibles. I’ll be honest, they don’t necessarily help Mark’s story too much, because they’re so different from the actual writings of Mark; you can tell they were written to try to help this Gospel story conform to the later Gospel stories written about the resurrection. So, I guess, if you’re disappointed with this account, you’ll just have to come back tomorrow morning to hear the Gospel of John and his resurrection story! I know you’ll really like that one, but in the meantime… back to Mark.

Here we all are in our sanctuary, so beautifully adorned by our altar guild, our choir and musicians ready to lead us in joyous praise and what we get is Mark’s Hallelujah refrain: “…they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid.” Oh, come on now! What kind of Easter story is this? Where’s the Good News? What kind of Hallelujah refrain is that, huh? Thankfully, we know that the women did “go tell” – someone said something to someone otherwise we wouldn’t be here tonight celebrating.

The truth of the matter is that Mark’s Gospel is one of the earlier accounts written about the resurrection. He was sharing his account of the resurrection for the earliest of Christians just some forty years after the actual event. Mark was actually writing for those who were already living into the joy of the Resurrection life. They already knew that Jesus had been raised from the dead and because of that, they had already accepted and were living, radically transformed lives. But what were they doing about it? Did those who had discovered Jesus had risen realize just how important it was that they remember what Jesus had told them and go tell others?

I guess, when looking at it from this perspective, maybe this retelling of the story isn’t so strange or as disappointing as it might be at first glance. Mark was a man who didn’t like to waste time and he got right to the point: the stone had been rolled away, the women were terrified and the men, Jesus’ disciples were nowhere in sight. The women run off in fear. What was going to happen next?

The one element of mystery in this Gospel is the young man dressed in a white robe who tells the women, “But 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.” It’s a proclamation Mark fulfills in the writing of his gospel -- with or without a dynamic ending. If we take the time to read the whole of Mark’s Gospel, we find that Mark has said almost everything that he needed to say about ‘what Jesus told them’ right up to the resurrection. He tells us throughout his writings about how the disciples didn’t understand Jesus; that they didn’t really understand the discipleship to which Jesus had called them. So maybe we shouldn’t be too surprised that the women didn’t understand either. Jesus had told the disciples he was going to be put to death and be raised on the third day. It was one thing as an idea. It’s another thing as an experience.

Okay… wait a second. Maybe Mark knew exactly what he was doing when he wrote the story this way. It takes some time, but it gets a little clearer. Could it be that he is telling us that if we really seek to understand the meaning of Jesus, the meaning of the empty tomb, then we need to remember the beginning of the story –- back in Galilee where Jesus preached and taught and healed and announced the coming of God’s kingdom? “He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” Could it be that Mark is saying that in order for us to live the Resurrection life we have to be willing to follow Jesus who has gone on ahead… that we must follow… to the cross to the empty tomb and to understand what happened there we must be willing to remember what he has done for us and to go tell. The kingdom of God comes into our own lives first—often with fear and trembling.

There actually is a resurrection story here. We can’t stay at or in the tomb. But we have to start there. We have to throw off the old, tired, worn and heavy clothing of our pasts that deadens our hope, diminishes our faith and leaves us in a state of mourning. We can’t wait… we can’t afford to wait. To leave our tombs means to start again and to be born again in the spirit of endless love. It means that to those of us who are choked in anger or bitterness, sadness or grief; or those who might be burdened with illness or disease; or those who have been abused in mind, body and spirit; who are embarrassed and ashamed -- we move forward not on our own, but in and with the Resurrected Christ who gives each and everyone of us new life through a love unknown like any other.

This is the Resurrection story: that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead to take us all out of our darkened tombs and to transform us into a new life with Him. Sometimes, we just need to be reminded of this… sometimes, I need to be reminded of this.

I have a friend, a dear friend who constantly reminds me that I am loved… so loved. Who reminds me that I am not alone to face the darkness of my life… that there is a plan so defined by God for my life that all I need to do is to be willing to open myself completely to his infinite love. And so, I want to tell you, just as my friend tells me, just as God tells us… that you are loved… so loved.

On this holy night of nights, we came in from the darkness and into the light. We welcome Scarlett, our newest light of the faith. We remember what God has done for us and we reconfirm for ourselves that we too are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

The stone has been rolled away! We don’t have to do anything by ourselves, because Christ has done it all already through his dying and rising. The tomb is empty! Christ’s love for us removes our doubt, our pain, and sorrow, the shame and anything else that keeps us from new life. It’s gone. There is no power left in these things anymore. We are free! Free to move forward and into the light and love of life. We are free!

Christ has gone ahead of us! He has gone ahead to clear the path so that we can walk forward, tentatively or with assurance, into unknown territory and maybe even into an uncertain future, but always with his love enfolded around us as we make our way. There is an amazing life that God has for each and every one of us. A life not lived in fear and shame, but in and through his power and light.

The stone is gone. The tomb is empty. We are free. And a new life awaits each one of us. But above all else, we are loved… so loved. Go tell!

Alleluia! Christ is risen! Amen.

© 2009 The Rev. Deacon Christine McCloud

Easter Vigil

By The Rev. Deacon Christine McCloud

Come Holy Spirit: Touch our minds and think with them, touch our lips and speak with them and touch our hearts and set them on fire with love for you. In the name of the risen Christ who brings us life from the tomb. Amen.

"Why do you look for the living among the dead?" When the women left for the tomb on that first Easter Sunday morning they knew exactly what to expect -- or at least they thought they knew what to expect when they arrived at the tomb. Luke tells us in the Gospel that they carried spices with them that they had prepared. As was their custom, they were coming to carry out the task of anointing Jesus' body for final burial. At the end of their journey to the tomb, they fully expected to find the dead body of Jesus. We know of course what they will find -- but in their minds, they were going to the place of the dead. They were going to view Jesus in his death and not to rejoice in the glory of his Resurrection.

Sometimes, we gloss over details of the Resurrection story because we've already heard the story so many times. Let's be honest with one another, why waste time on the old news -- the unimportant details. Tom reminded us in his Good Friday sermon that there is a danger in skipping over the suffering of Jesus of the past three days and wanting to move right into the salvation part of the story. Oh, we're clear about Jesus' suffering, but we need to remember that those closest to him suffered too. Not the physically cruel suffering that Christ endured for our sakes, but nonetheless, a deep emotional suffering brought on by witnessing the crucifixion of the one that they loved deeply. But the Apostles and the women missed some important details that Jesus shared with them before he died. They were so busy living the life of salvation that Jesus offered them that they forgot that his suffering and death was going to be a BIG part of Jesus' message. They simply did not want to hear this part of the story -- these were the details they wanted to overlook and avoid.

"Why do you look for the living among the dead?" In our own ways, we too, look for the living among the dead. We don't look to the new life that is offered to us, but instead, we often look first to what is totally contrary to what God wants and wills for us. We know the story so well that we often miss the transformative power of the Resurrection that is ours to live into fully. I know, all too well for myself, how easy it can be to miss the message, to forget the essence of what the Resurrection can really mean for me on a deeply personal level. Why? Because I've heard the story; I know the ending and forget that I make a choice -- whether consciously or unconsciously -- to live into my fears, my anger, my own created sense of hopelessness instead of looking to the obvious -- the Risen Christ who is available to me, and you, every hour of everyday and not just during the Easter season.

When things go awry for us, most us run into our own tombs of fear, distrust and aloneness. Somehow, it feels safer to live into the darkness of our lives instead of living into the light of our lives. Again, I know all too well about personal tombs because I've been to my own personal tomb far too many times not to admit it. All of our tombs are built rather securely on the foundations of our fears and inadequacies, and it engulfs us and gives us a false sense of safety and a peculiar sense of comfort. But what do we really find in our tombs: utter emptiness. We spend endless hours and days looking for the living -- that would be US -- amid the emptiness and deadness of our lives.

Setting aside our reserved Episcopal nature for a moment, let's wrap our thoughts around this -- Jesus, my friends, LIVES! Now, I want you to say this with me, LOUDLY and with ASSURANCE. We seem to have such difficulty saying Jesus' name unless it's in the context of the liturgy. I want you to feel JESUS right now. JESUS LIVES! That's right. Jesus is alive, he is well and he is with us and he loves each and every one of us. He is here, right now at this moment in time, in this place, and at every other moment we invite him to be with us. Jesus comes to give us a new life, to pull us out of our personal tombs so that we can carry His light of life into the world. He calls us to be His Light in the world; to be the living among those who are the walking dead.

Our Risen Christ comes to take the deadness of our lives and transform them into new lives. It doesn't matter how bad or how good we think our lives are right now, Jesus is ready and willing to take our lives, resurrect them, and make them whole in the spirit of His love for us. St. Paul reminds us that we are invited to put our old self to death, the self that is enslaved by our fears, so that we might be raised with Christ into the fullness of God's eternal life. And our baptisms and the renewal of our baptismal covenant give us the opportunity to drown the oldness of our lives so that a newness of life can emerge in us.

And so, on this is the night we gathered in our collective darkness and waited for the light to emerge for us and in us. This is the night where we gathered with water to welcome Elissa, our newest member of the faith and to reclaim for ourselves our own baptismal covenant faith. This is the night of our own resurrections. We no longer need to fear our personal darkness or the darkness of the world. It is the night where all things are made new and where we are reminded that death did not have the final say after all.

As we leave this place tonight, let us remember that Easter is not just a single celebration or a season of 50 days. It is the starting point for us to always keep close in our hearts and minds that our God is the source of all life and liberation. That He is the one who leads us out of the land of darkness and chaos into a place of inner freedom and peace. That our God, who gives to us His son, Jesus Christ who redeems us through his glorious resurrection and makes us all new by giving us transformative life outside of our tombs.

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

© 2007 The Rev. Deacon Christine McCloud