Easter B + 3.31.24

 

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

(Acts 10:34–43; Ps. 118:1–2, 14–24; 1 Corinthians 15:1–11; Mark 16:1–8)

 

“So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to share the good news!

Pastor Alene and I have been catching up on the Mission: Impossible series these past few weeks and that is the phrase that came to mind to her as we meditated on this scripture this week.
Because here we see that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome go to the tomb, not to greet the living Christ, but to anoint his dead body. As others have said, the sabbath is over, and the work of the week has begun again. And they are just going to do a loving chore, that of preparing his body for long term burial. Due to the sabbath rules, they could not properly prepare him before so now those restrictions are over, it is the time to do the important practical work of grief. And … he is not there! At first this must have felt like shock and horror. What are we dealing with? A grave robbery? Some awful opponent of the good news who wishes to mock his followers? No, says the angel, but instead the best, the almost unimaginable has happened. He has returned to life! Dare we believe it? More to the point, dare they believe it?

At first, they just go away and don’t say anything. I mean, who can blame them? Talk about a weird thing to hear. Talk about a lot to process. Their heads must have been spinning! But somehow, they did eventually decide it was okay to talk. That it was okay to share the good news. Somehow, they began to believe enough to share the joyous news!
How do we know that they began to believe and share the good news? Because by the time Peter is speaking in Acts, he is boldly telling the story of Christ, witnessing so that others will believe. He, I should say, who we just heard denying Jesus. He reclaims his power in order to proclaim the Good News. And by the time of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, the testimony of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection had become the good news to share with the whole world. It has become a kind of canon and accepted narrative that endows the apostles and also him (as to one untimely born) with the authority to share God’s good news, God’s Word as it existed among us in Jesus.

What first gave the women the strength to share the good news? I wonder if a very important seed was planted in the angel’s words: “Do not be alarmed; 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.”

I was reminded this week that at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the old city of Jerusalem, the church that is home to a traditional site of Jesus’ tomb, there is a sign that says “He is not here, he is risen.” It is a good reminder that, though many thousands of pilgrims come through the holy site on a weekly (or sometimes daily) basis, that while the site is holy as a location of where Jesus’ body was, that he is not there but rather his Spirit is everywhere we go. And thus, we must continue to seek him, not just in holy sites, but everywhere we go.

Perhaps the women, hearing this, were eventually given the strength in hearing this news to know that, if Jesus had gone on ahead of them, they too could go and share the news. It was scary to share such news. Controversial perhaps. But that is what they were called to do, so that all could know that Jesus was raised, that we have salvation, that death has been conquered. That there is nothing on this earth that is more powerful than God’s saving love for us. They needed to share this news as it was life to them and to all those who were perishing. It was life to Peter, who was renewed in his leadership ministry. It is life to us now.

Today, there are many things that divide us in the world. And we are often afraid also. Afraid to tell what we feel to be the truth because we do not want to add to the division or cause controversy. But we must not be afraid. The angel comes to us too and says ‘Do not be alarmed! Do not be afraid. Share the good news without fear. Yes, some may not like it. But the good news is what will free others. It is what will bring life. It reminds us that nothing is too powerful to withstand God’s love.” This said, we must always share the truth of the good news in love and with compassion, but must not hold back. Because the truth will set us free.

This is true of Peter’s story. Even the one who denied Jesus is set free from the guilt of denial with this good news. He is empowered to share the news about Jesus and proclaim the saving power of his story. So let us not be afraid either. And let us be bold, no matter what has happened in our past. We too can be a voice for sharing the good news.
Let us share the good news with this hurting world. And let the aid flow into Gaza. Let our words flow for justice so there would be an end to senseless loss of life. May we boldly stand up for the immigrant, the transgender person, the person of color who is hearing racist words, and anyone else to whom this world would deal death. Let us help renew the face of the earth, assisting the work of the Spirit.

Not just so that we can show that we can do hard things. But because abundant life is available for all of us. Joy is our birthright. We are not captives to the powers of this world. That is the good news of Easter. We are free. Jesus runs ahead of us, flinging wide doors. Flinging open hearts that had been closed (think of the Sauls of this world). Nothing can stop us. It may seem impossible but the resurrection did too, until it happened!

Ask God today to give you what you need to open your heart. To release fear and to live into fullness of life and joy. As the Sufi poet Rumi is quoted as saying, “why do you stay in prison, when the door is so wide open?”

Amen.