March 23, 2008

Matthew 28:1–10

Resurrection of Our Lord, Year A

Trinity Church, Valparaiso, Indiana

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I could stay here forever. The music is wonderful. There is even an Easter bonnet or two to be seen. Even pastors are known to dress up a bit for Easter. If I could convince an Easter bunny to leave an Easter basket for me filled with black jellybeans and marshmallow peeps, my life would be complete.

I could stay here forever. Surrounded by your shouts of “Alleluia!” it is easier to believe that Jesus really did rise from his grave. Surrounded by your Easter Sunday faith, it is easier for me to believe in God at all. If every Sunday were Easter Sunday, perhaps the pastor would remind me that on Easter morning a living Jesus said to two women running away from death, “Do not be afraid.” On Easter Sunday, it is a little easier not to be afraid. If every Sunday felt like Easter Sunday, then I would not be so afraid to hear the results of my medical tests. If I were surrounded every Sunday with your Easter Sunday faith, then I would be less afraid to listen to the evening news.

I know it is Easter Sunday. I know you have things to do and things to eat. However, come with me on a little journey. It will only take a few minutes. It is only a walk of 150 feet, or so. Watch you step. The walk is uphill, and the way is rocky and dangerous. Within barely 150 feet of Jesus’ empty tomb, we find ourselves standing on the top of a small hill known as Golgotha, the place of the skull. This “place of the skull” is where Jesus was ridiculed, tortured, terrorized, and executed as a common criminal. The place where we stand is the place of Jesus’ cross. The Good News of Easter begins first from this place stained with the Jesus’ blood. To understand the wonder of Jesus’ empty tomb, first we must return to stand at the foot of Jesus’ cross.

Easter Sunday is more than a pep rally with Easter bonnets and bunnies and black jellybeans. Easter Sunday is more than loudly singing our Easter hymns and pretending that suffering and death do not really exist. We live our faith halfway between Jesus’ cross and his empty tomb. From Jesus’ empty tomb, you and I can dare to look back to his cross, and with an Easter faith, to confront the suffering and death of life. Not even death could destroy God’s love for us in Jesus.

Jesus met two women who had been to his empty tomb. Two women named Mary were the first to realize the Good News of Easter. “[The women] came to [Jesus], took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.” The feet of Jesus they held in their hands, however, still bore the wounds of his death upon the cross.” The living Jesus you and I worship again this Easter Sunday still bears the same wounds of his suffering and death.

The risen Jesus of Easter who says to you and me, “Do not be afraid,” is the same Jesus who first experienced our suffering and death. Without the empty tomb of Easter, the cross of our Savior is little more than an unfortunate end to a fleeting moment of hope. From the empty tomb of Jesus, however, we now see in the cross of Jesus living proof that God did not desert Jesus to face death alone. Our Easter Jesus, both crucified and risen, promises never to leave you to face life alone, and Jesus will never leave you to face death alone. We who have been baptized live each day as we shall one day die, marked with the cross of Christ. The water of Holy Baptism is a “super glue” that forever binds you and me to the victory of Jesus’ cross and the promise of Jesus’ empty tomb. If you have never received the Easter promise of Holy Baptism, talk with me. Do I have Good News for you! These Easter waters of Holy Baptism are for you.

Many in our world see in the cross of Jesus only defeat and death. Having looked into the empty tomb of Jesus, however, we see on the cross the love of God that not even death could destroy. That same undefeatable love is promised to you and me in Holy Baptism. Marked with the cross in Holy Baptism, we see in Easter’s empty tomb a baptismal promise: not even your suffering and mine, not even your death and mine can separate us from Jesus’ Easter promise of our own victory over death.

How different your faith and mine might be if every Sunday were Easter Sunday. Do I have Good News for you! Every Sunday is Easter Sunday. Living halfway between the cross and empty tomb of Jesus, we need not be afraid. In every celebration of Holy Communion, our risen Jesus offers you and me the forgiveness and strength of his body and blood. In every Holy Communion, our risen Jesus comes into our midst and blesses you and me with the faith to live, the faith to die, and an Easter faith to rise victorious over death itself.

Amen.

John Joseph Santoro +