Easter Terror?

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
April 5, 2015

Easter Day

When I was a child, Easter joy happened the moment my eyes popped open on Easter morning.  My sister and I had not been waiting for this moment just since Lent began on Ash Wednesday.  I don't think we had ever heard of Ash Wednesday or Lent, quite frankly. We had been waiting for this moment ever since the previous Easter, and that was a long wait for little girls.  The top priority on Easter morning was to get downstairs before our little brother did.  Otherwise the Easter eggs might be history.  There were eggs to find, chocolate to eat, new dresses to wear, and family coming for Easter dinner.  That is a lot of Easter joy and the sooner we got started, the better.

But Easter joy does not come quite so easily or so quickly to Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome this morning.  In fact, there is no Easter joy to be found anywhere in our gospel reading this morning.  When the two Marys and Salome wake up on Easter morning, they have a difficult task ahead of them as they walk toward the tomb to anoint the dead body of Jesus for burial. They had watched as Jesus' body had been placed in the tomb, and the large stone had sealed the entrance.  Now, as they walked toward the tomb, they wondered how they could move the stone to do the work they had been given to do.  Had they been thinking clearly, they might have realized that going to the tomb was futile, since there was no way they could move the stone.  Common sense would tell them to stay home until they found someone who could help them.  But rarely do we think clearly in the midst of grief, so the women walked along, trusting that somehow they would be able to move the stone and attend to their sad work.

When the women arrive, they are greeted by a young man inside the empty tomb.  When we arrive at Easter morning, we expect the tomb to be empty.  We expect to hear the joyful words "He is risen, he is not here!"  We expect trumpets, balloons, and alleluias.  But when the women see that the stone has been rolled back, they think only one thing.  The body of their dear friend and teacher, the one in whom they had placed so much hope, has been stolen.  They are devastated.  From the women's point of view, the situation has gone from bad to worse.

Then we finally hear the good news-the great Easter proclamation "You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has been raised.  He is not here.  Look.  There is the place they laid him.  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."  Finally, we hear the good news we have been waiting for.  Finally, we hear that Jesus has been raised from the dead.  Bring out the trumpets and the alleluias!

But what do the women do?  They flee from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.  What kind of response is that to Easter joy???

These three faithful women have taken a lot of criticism over the years for their apparent lack of faith as they fled the tomb and the Easter message.  However, this is my favorite of all the Easter stories.  This story is my favorite because I think these women actually understood the enormity of what has happened in the resurrection.  If the women really understand that Jesus has been raised from the dead, that the powers of death have been overcome, then they understand that the world has been turned upside down and nothing, nothing will ever be the same again.  Now they live in a world where anything is possible and death no longer has the final say.  All of the rules have changed. How do we live in a world like that?  Terror and amazement seem like a perfectly appropriate response to this brand new reality.  I think Mary, Mary, and Salome are the ones who actually understand the impact of the Easter message.

But the Easter message is not just that Jesus has risen from the dead.  The other part of the Easter message is that Jesus has gone ahead of his followers to Galilee and he will meet them there.  Galilee is both the place where much of Jesus' ministry occurred and Galilee is the place of every day life.  The Easter proclamation is that Jesus will meet us in the healing of the sick, the proclamation of the faith, the feeding of the hungry, and the breaking of the bread.  Jesus will meet us in our every day lives as we go about doing our versions of fishing and mending nets.  Jesus will meet us in baptism as we are joined with Jesus in both his death and his resurrection as Aliviya will be later this morning/in a few minutes. The Easter proclamation is not only that, because Jesus has been raised from the dead, we will also one day be raised.  The great Easter proclamation is also that where ever we go, whatever places of joy or sorrow, fulfillment or hardship, our brightest dreams or worst nightmares, Jesus will have arrived there first and will be there to meet us when we arrive.  The great Easter proclamation is that there is no stone, either in life or in death, that we must move alone.  Jesus has already arrived to meet us there.

Amen.