Sermon 4/4/2021 - Easter Sunday
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Sermon Easter Sunday 2021
Theme: Community of Celebration
Scripture: John 20:1-18
John 20:1-18
The Resurrection of Jesus
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
“Through the centuries Christians have begun their journey of faith by running to the empty tomb.” (Feasting on the Word, v. A2, p. 372) - Martin Copenhaver
I’ve thought about that phrase all week and pondered what it could mean. Here is what I have come to. We greet Easter Sunday with the same urgent, searching questions that were on the hearts and minds of the disciples as they raced to the tomb while it was still dark. Questions that are at the heart of our faith - indeed our very lives.
To face the empty tomb - is to face both our worst fears and greatest hopes that reside in the deep stillness of our souls.
Could it be that we are all alone in the world? Disconnected, unknown and invisible to the world around us?
Could it be that God does not exist - or worse yet - that God exists but does not care what is happening to us?
Could it be that Jesus was just a charlatan and not who he said he was?
Could it be that the evil forces of this world: hatred, lies, selfish gain and violence are just too powerful that love and mercy don’t stand a chance?
OR . . .
Could it be that our wildest dream has come true?
That love really wins?
That death has been defeated?
That we are not abandoned and alone in the universe - but that we are loved beyond measure by the one who made us and will go to any lengths to be in loving relationship with us?
These are the questions posed to us by the empty tomb. Questions about our very existence. No one else can answer them for us. Just as Mary and Peter and the beloved disciple each took turns looking into the tomb, needing to see for themselves, so too must we go to that place of solitude and stillness deep within our spirits to search for the answers we long for.
But we do have help. We have the stories of Mary and the disciples whose journeys begin at the tomb - but do not end there.
Let us turn our attention first to Mary.Mary has learned that the body of her Lord is not in the tomb. She is weighed down by grief and despair. She is weeping at the entrance of the tomb when she turns around and sees a man in front of her. He asks why she is weeping and who she is looking for. She can’t even give him a straight answer, perhaps because she is afraid or perhaps she is simply so distraught she can’t think straight. All she can do is plead for him to take her to the body of Jesus. And then the man says her name, “Mary”.
And the sound of his voice speaking her name reaches to the innermost part of her being. It is personal, it is familiar. There is only one person who knows her and speaks her name just that way - it is Jesus. And, in the words of Serene Jones, “The world suddenly shifts into place and has meaning.” - (FOTW v. B2, p. 378)
It is Mary who reveals to us the heart of the Easter message - what we have really gathered to celebrate today. Easter isn’t about having all the answers - or understanding all the mysteries of the resurrection - it is about celebrating that we are part of a community of love. That we are seen and known and personally loved by the one who calls us by name. This is the good news we are called to share with others.
Jesus then gives Mary specific instructions:
go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
Did you catch the significance of Jesus' words in this important message?
Jesus calls the disciples “brothers” and talks about my Father and your Father, my God and your God. He knows the disciples are uneasy and uncertain about all that has taken place:
for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead
But he was eager to reassure them of their connection. His relationship with them and their mutual relationship with God. He uses the intimate terms of family (brother and Father) to indicate the intimate and personal nature of these relationships. What incredible joy must have filled the community of Jesus’ followers when they received word that their Teacher, Lord and Friend had not left them forever - but was alive. What cause for celebration! Their community has been reunited, relationships restored - never to separate again.
Perhaps this part of the Easter message is most powerful to me this year because of the year we have been through. If ever there was a year of feeling isolated, cut off, separated from community - it was this year. Never have we longed for connection and relationships the way we have this year.
It is why I find this Easter so joyful. In years past I have focused more on what the resurrection means for our personal relationship with God and Christ. But this year, I see more clearly that the Easter message is all about community. In fact, it is the culmination of the community God has desired from the beginning: (from the first community established in the Garden of Eden, to the covenant communities with Abraham, Moses and David) All along God has been saying to us, “I will be your God and you shall be my people.” When the communities turned away from God’s life giving ways and turned to selfish pursuits ignoring God and the needs of their neighbor, God sent the prophets to call them back into community. Until finally, God came to live among us to show us the way. In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has established the beloved community, breaking down the dividing walls and creating one body in Christ.
The beloved community is here to share the good news that the power which unites us has overcome the forces of this world that try to divide us. It is a message our hurting and broken world desperately needs to hear. It is a message that gets told by what we say - but even more by how we live. How do we as a community live in a way that proclaims the resurrection power of love in the face of death?
There are communities out there trying to do it, but we don’t often hear their stories. Today I want to share with you the story of one such community.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/chambon-french-town-refugees-180969356/
Chambon-sur-Lignon
Le Chambon-sur-Lignon is a tiny Protestant farming village in the mountains of south-central France. Town was established by Huguenots, a small Protestant minority in France who had settled in the area to avoid persecution by the Catholic monarchy. It was their devout faith that led them to become a refuge for Jews fleeing the Nazi’s during WWII. Although there were brave individuals across Europe who risked their own lives to hide Jews in their homes or escort them safety, Le Chambon and the neighboring villages of that region were one of only two communities that defied the Nazis and provided a safe haven throughout the war for whoever knocked on their door.
The village and its outlying areas were quickly filled with hundreds of Jews. Some found permanent shelter in the hilly region of Le Chambon; others were given temporary asylum until they were able to escape across the border, mostly to Switzerland. Despite the danger, Jews were housed with local townspeople and farmers, in public institutions and at children’s homes. It is estimated that the small town of Chambon-sur-Lignon 5,000 helped save the lives of over 3,000 Jews
Most of the villagers were proud descendants of the Huguenots, first Protestants in Catholic France. They remembered their own history of persecution, and it mattered to them. They also read the Bible, and tried to heed the admonition to love your neighbor as yourself.
Their pastor, André Trocmé, had reminded them the day after France surrendered to Nazi Germany, “The responsibility of Christians is to resist the violence that will be brought to bear on their consciences through the weapons of the spirit.”
The tradition of opening their homes to displaced people continues today.
In the village of Le Mazet-Saint-Voy, Marianne Mermet-Bouvier looks after Ahmed, his wife, Ibtesam, and their two small boys. Her relatives hid Jews throughout the war and she says that there remains and unbroken line of tradition extending from that generation to her own. The family arrived here last winter and live for now in a small apartment owned by Mermet-Bouvier. They lost two other children during the bombing of Aleppo, and then spent three years in a Turkish camp. Ahmed and his wife, now six months pregnant, smile often, and the word that keeps coming up in Ahmed’s choppy French is “normal.” Despite the upheavals of culture and climate, Ahmed finds nothing strange about being here, which, after the hostility he and his children encountered in the Turkish camps, was a thrilling surprise. “Everybody here says bonjour to you,” Ahmed marvels.
There is also Michelle Bailot who welcomed a family from Kosovo. Motivated by his Christian faith Bertrand Cotte invited Muhammad, a Muslim refugee from West Africa to live with him for a year. The two cultivate crops and go on hunting expeditions together.The Protestant Church in Chambon sur Lignon has a sign out front welcoming refugees.
A documentary was made many years ago about this little French town and the townspeople were very reluctant to discuss what they had done during the war. Not because they were afraid or ashamed, but because they were humble people who did not believe they were doing anything extraordinary, they were simply abiding by the teachings of their faith - to love your neighbor as yourself.
As members of Christ’s beloved community we too are called to simply follow the ways of our teacher, redeemer and friend.
The best way we can celebrate and give praise to the Risen Christ is by taking the love that has been poured into our hearts and spreading compassion and joy each day to everyone we meet. We won’t always get it right, and some days will be more difficult than others - but together there is no more joyful task than to build God’s beloved community here on earth as it is in heaven. Thanks be to God.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!