Sermon Easter Sunday

Text: Matthew 28:1-10

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

My Mom has three main hobbies. She watercolor paints, she gardens, and she snoops on her kids. She's rather good at that last one. She seems to always know what's going on where we live better than me or my sister do. “Have you been to see this exhibition or display?” I don't even know what that is.

But, her real passion is gardening. She likes flowers best, perennial or annual. She spends a portion of winter each year making little maps of where she is going to move things around in spring. Detailed little drawings of plants moving here or there, where it will be expanded. What new plants she needs. She also starts plants by seed down in our basement under artificial light, that's probably been going for a while now. And in a few weeks when it's warmer and no more fear of frost, she will start to put all of the plants into the garden, moving them to where she wants them. And that's the end of flower season.

Nope, that's not the case. You don't enjoy the work until later when the flowers are in full bloom. To take all that prep and then stop paying attention to what comes from it, sort of wastes the point. It's like reading a story, but just quitting before the end. We don't see how it turns out.

Easter often gets that attention though. We spend all these weeks preparing for it, going through the season of Lent and we get to Easter and we celebrate. Jesus is risen! Alleluia! And then it's summer, and we think we have finished the story. It's done, let's move on to the next thing.

The text we read from Matthew is from the last chapter of the book. In it we see Mary of Magdala, or Mary Magdalene, representing the town she is from, and the other Mary, probably Mary of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. These two women, very close to Jesus, come to visit his grave. There is no mention of them expecting to find anything out of the ordinary. They are there to visit the tomb of the teacher they love, just as we visit the graves of our loved ones.

They arrive, and a great earthquake shakes as an angel appears, the stone is rolled away and the guards appear as dead men, stiff from fright. The angel says to the Mary's, “Do not be afraid, I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised.” The one crucified has been raised. Go and tell the disciples.

And they run off. Full of great joy and fear. And then as they travel, Jesus meets them. The Greek suggests that he travels with them while they talk. It is a flip, Jesus who they have been searching for, finds them. He tells them “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

I find it fascinating, and very telling that Jesus calls them brothers. In the story leading up to the crucifixion these are the ones who ran away when he was taken, and Peter who denied him. And here we find them reconciled with Jesus not through their actions, but through Christ.

That's the end of our text for today. After this to finish the book there is a small section about the chief priests trying to convince the guards to say they fell asleep and the disciples took Jesus' body. And then we get Jesus meeting the disciples and giving the great commission. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” And that's the end of the book.

And we so often think. The end of the story.

When we look at the Gospels there is so much lead up to the resurrection, but not much afterwards. In the lead up we have miracles, healings, preaching, and teaching. But, looking at the Gospels there is not much after the resurrection, Mark originally did not even have any appearance stories, just an empty tomb. Luke only has a few, John a handful, and in Matthew these two, appearing to the two Mary's and at the end in the commission.

Why?

Those are endings to the written books, but not to the story. In crafting it this way, all of the Gospel writers are saying that the books are done, but the story continues. The declare that both Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection are events that occurred, and still impact us to this day. On Easter we don't just celebrate that 2000 years ago Jesus died and was raised from the dead, we celebrate that we are a continuing part of that story.

When I was younger I would watch the PBS kids show Lamb Chop's Play Along, the closing song of it was “This is the song that never ends.” Which I'm sure my parents and many other parents were really glad they taught to small children who really would sing it never-ending, such as myself. I know I had it in my head for a solid 20 minutes while working on this.

But that song that never ends is our story. Our story never ends because Jesus' impact in his death and resurrection never ends.

We just have to see that never ending story. When Mary and Mary were looking for Jesus, they did not find him. When they ran excited to tell about Jesus, he found them. It is in the times when we are living in the story of Christ, filled with our baptismal calling, that Jesus will find us, and show us his presence in this world.

In their story Jesus tells the Mary's that the disciples will see him.

In our story we see him as well.

When we see the new blade of grass breaking through winter's death. There is Jesus.

When we see the poor, the naked, the hungry, the sick, those in prison, there is Jesus.

When we see the blessed, the poor in spirit, the fearful, the meek. There is Jesus.

When we see the mourning, the peacemakers, persecuted, the outcast. There is Jesus.

When we see the beauty of this world. There is Jesus.

When we see our loved ones, or our neighbors, or our enemies. There is Jesus.

When we simply allow our eyes to be opened. Our story continues and we see Jesus. The light of the world. The light which no darkness can over come. Because, on this glorious day, and on all glorious days the whole of time, Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

Amen.