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Sermon - March 23rd, 2008
Love Made Real
Rev. Gwen Drake
Scripture: Matthew 28:1-10
Prayer of Preparation: We give thanks, O God of sacred stories, for the witness of holy scripture. Through it you nurture our imaginations, touch our feelings, increase our awareness, and challenge our assumptions. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
There are some people who are in my life that I do even want to imagine them dying, like my two daughters. There are other people who are so important to me, and to others, that well, they simply need to live forever, that’s all there is to it. I can’t imagine a world without them. I’ve known people in every church I’ve served like that.
Jesus was also the kind of person that it was hard to imagine life going on without him. He was that inspiring and honest and charismatic and wise and strong and—you fill in the blank. It didn’t matter to him if people were rich or poor, young or old, religious or pagan. He had a tender and tough heart and he wanted to make sure that no one was lost. It had to have been impossible for those who knew him best to imagine life without him.
Some of us could die tomorrow and there would be little notice of it. We poke and plod around in life and do what we can—which is not very much. Someone says, “Did you know so-and-so died?” Someone else responds, “Oh no, I didn’t notice.” Ouch. But in the case of Jesus, people noticed. In fact, some were really in denial about the death of Jesus. Stories were circulating early on. One of the stories went like this:
Remember when Jesus was carrying the cross up the hill, and he fell beneath the cross? The man from the crowd called Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry the cross. According to the rumor, when they reached the place of the crucifixion, the Roman soldiers didn’t know one Jew from the other, and they crucified Simon instead. So, Jesus didn’t die afterall.
Another popular story going around was called the Passover Plot. These stories just tell us that conspiracy theories have been around for a long, long time. The rumor was that the followers of Jesus put some strong potion in the sponge when the vinegar or sour wine was offered to him. Jesus took it and shortly thereafter his heart beat was reduced so much, that the Roman thought he was dead, took him from the cross, put him in the tomb, and then when the potion wore off, he came out of the tomb. He never died at all; it just appeared that he did.
Well, the truth is that Jesus died. You just had to ask his mother, the soldiers, the women who watched. Or ask his disciples who all bolted and ran for cover. Unbelievable. After all that time with him, and in this hour of crisis, they disappeared. Oh, they were all glad to be in the group0 when they were in Galilee. They were having a wonderful time when adoring crowds followed Jesus around. You could do the roll call and they all were there. Matthew? Here. Judas? Here. Peter? Yo! Simon? Here. James? Right here. John? I’m over here, master. Everyone. Perfect attendance. “We are friends of Jesus, you know. We follow Jesus. We are the Jesus people. They call us Nazarenes. We are with him.” Then when the Galilean spring is over and the Jerusalem winter sets in and it’s a whole different story. They are saying, “He’s gone, we will have to do it ourselves. We’re going to have to work harder, give more, serve more!” Matthew? He’s not here. He went back to collecting taxes. James and John? They aren’t here. They went back to fishing with their dad.
When they did return to preaching and teaching the good news, one little part of their sermon was missing and that was in response to the question, “Were you there when they crucified him?” No. Don’t ask them. Ask the women. The ones who followed him all the way from Galilee. They who had no power. They who couldn’t help or do anything. But they were there, watching. Jesus turned to them and said, “Women, don’t cry for me. Cry for yourselves. This is a terrible time. And if they do this while the wood is green, just think what they will do when it is dry. It’s going to be hard on you!” But they were there. They were faithful. Especially the two Mary’s in Matthew’s story—Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. There were several Mary’s in the New Testament. They were all named after that one grand woman from the Hebrew Scriptures: Miriam, the sister of Moses. It was a popular name. The two Mary’s came to the place he was buried. The cemetery. The Gospel of Luke says that they returned to anoint the body, but not Matthew. That has already been done. They returned, to just be there, alone.
And look what happened. They came up the hill and there were Roman soldiers guarding a tomb. Wouldn’t you have loved to have had a conversation with them. Something like this, “What are you doing here? Guarding a dead man? Boy, you guys must be Caesar’s war heroes, station here to guard a man already dead.”
And they may have replied, “Oh, be quiet. We didn’t ask for this duty.”
They had been order there because the powers that be were worried that Jesus’ body would be stolen and then his followers would be going up and down the street proclaiming, “He is risen! His is risen!” They weren’t going to let that happen.
So the two Marys went to the tomb for no particular purpose, according to Matthew, but to be next to Jesus whom they loved. And it was early in the morning, while they were there, when it happened. All four gospels tell about it in four different ways. Four different witnesses. How can you describe something that can’t be describes or explained. The Gospel of Matthew uses special effects—an earthquake, an angel descending from the heavens to roll the stone away. The angel’s appearance was like lightning with clothing as white as snow. In other words, it was an enormous, stunning moment of divine revelation and visitation. A special messenger appeared with a glorious message, “He is not here! Look in the grave! He’s gone. He is risen? It is just as he said it would be!”
And they looked in. He was not there! And the messenger said, “ Go and tell the disciples!” They ran from the tomb, and on the way, they meet Jesus, himself. They worshipped him. Jesus said to them, “Go and tell my disciples I will meet them in Galilee just as I told them. Go!” And they did.
Now, I want to point out a couple of things that Matthew tells us in his brief and dramatic account. Only a couple.
First, Matthew days that the first people who experienced the living, risen Christ were the ones who were there for the funeral. Think about that. The women were at the cross; the women witnessed the resurrection. That is the way it is in our lives. There is no resurrection without Good Friday. Maybe you don’t like that idea, but it’s true. In fact, it’s our hope in the midst of times when we feel as if we are experiencing death more than life—our hope is that Sunday is coming. New life happens after death. Resurrection comes after Good Friday. I would venture to say that everyone of you who are here today has experienced Good Friday or death in one way or another—and that, in my book, qualifies you for Easter and resurrection. That’s the first thing I want you to notice. Easter comes after Good Friday. Resurrection comes after death.
The second thing that is in the Matthew story that I want you to notice is this. It is when the women were on their way that they met the risen Christ and worshipped him and experienced him. Then Jesus said, “Go and tell.” When did they meet the living, risen Christ? When they were doing what the messenger told them to do. While they were on a mission. While they were doing God’s work, that’s when they had the experience. That is when their love was made real.
There are a lot of books in book stores these days about religion and faith and spirituality and you name it, there is a book about it. But if someone came up to me and asked, “Do you know a book that will help me have a little spiritual experience of Christ, or God, or something divine?” The best answer I could give them is this. I don’t have a book. But I have an assignment. Do something for somebody, and in the process of doing what Jesus did, carrying on what he did, you will have some amazing experiences. Talk to some of the people you know and admire, who are always out there doing something in the community and they will tell you that on the days that they are working at feeding the hungry, or helping someone learn English, or taking gifts to a family that has very little—it feels more like Sunday than Sunday. Or, talk to someone who helps build homes through Habitat for Humanity. You see, there is no book that’s going to do it for you. There is an assignment that’s going to do it. It was in the process of doing what the messenger wanted done that the women experienced the living, risen Christ. While making their love real, they saw Jesus.
Twice to the women it was said, “Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Go and tell.”
Remember just a few months ago, how this story started? We were reading the Christmas story. While the shepherds were watching their flocks at night, an angel appeared and said, “Do not be afraid. I have good news of great joy for everyone.” Remember those words? And remember when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and said, “Now Mary, do not be afraid. God has chosen you.” And there was Joseph. Remember him? In his dream, the voice said, “Do not be afraid, Joseph, take Mary as your wife. This is God’s doing.” They all started out fearful. Then the word came, “Do not be afraid. At the beginning and at the end, the message is, “Do not be afraid.”
You see, the opposite of faith is not doubt, it is fear. Not the fear that is a warning signal, that say, “pay attention, be alert, watch out.” But the fear that is anxiety-producing, paralyzing, the fear that stops us from living, like the soldiers guarding the tomb, “for fear of the angel, the guards shook and became like dead men.” That kind of fear is a kind of death itself.
“Why don’t you try out for the play?” “I’m afraid I won’t get a part.” “What about trying out for the baseball team.” “I’m afraid I won’t make it.” “What motivated you to cheat on that test?” “I was afraid I would fail.” Afraid. Afraid. Afraid. That’s the refain of what we are and do. However, the messenger says, “Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid of living, loving, and laughing. Do not be afraid to give and serve and care. Do not be afraid to speak and do. Be not afraid. Go out there and make love real. That’s the message of Easter. Don’t’ let fear stop you dead in your tracks. God and do and live and be. For Jesus said, “I’ll be with you. Always. Always. Even to the ends of the world.” That’s Easter. That’s resurrection. That’s love made real!
Amen.