Easter A 2005
Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2,14-24
Colossians 3:1-4
John 20:1-18
Have you been to the cross this year?
Have you been brought low by grief? Despair? Pain?
Have you been to the cross?
A number of Lord of Life folks have been to the cross with loss this past year. Mothers have died, grandparents have died, friends have died; bringing us to the cross with grief.
We have prayed for many grieving people in this place. The list includes the family of an 18 year
old service man (boy?) killed in
Have you been to the cross?
Have you been to the cross with despair?
Despair that the world will ever change?
That peace will come?
Despair over children or school or work?
I went to the cross in despair this week when I heard
another story about another lost youth, this one in
Have you been to the cross?
Have you been to the cross with your pain?
The pain of broken relationships?
The pain of a broken heart?
The pain of addiction?
The pain of knowing you are caught up in a web of bad decisions?
Have you been to the cross?
Have you wept?
Have you raged?
Have you sighed ever so deeply?
Have you been to the cross?
We have all been there, at one time or another. We have all been to the cross of broken hearts and shattered dreams and deep despair. This past Friday we gathered in darkness around this cross, and brought our pain, sorrow, anquish…
Have you been to the cross?
Mary Magdalene has been to the cross. She watched as her teacher, her Lord, her friend and savior died a slow brutal death at the hands of the state. Mary was there; with the anguish of fresh grief, with the despair of helplessness, with the pain of loss.
There he was, Jesus, dying alone. And with him died the hopes and dreams of the disciples, the hopes and dreams of all those he healed, the hopes and dreams of a new world order.
Yes, Mary has been to the cross, until the very end, the final breath, and a while longer.
Now, early in the morning, 3 days later when the dead are truly dead, Mary goes to the tomb.
She goes to the tomb and finds it disturbed, she calls some of the disciples and they confirm her fear. The tomb is indeed empty. The disciples go back home but Mary stays.
She stays, weeping anew, the fresh pain still raw to the touch. Now she has lost even the body. Not even a body is left to grieve over.
But then, the great story of the first post-resurrection appearance. A person, a gardener perhaps? asks about her tears. And she answers. And Jesus finally says her name: “Mary”. And there it is…the joyous moment when Mary becomes the first witness, the first to know that death is not the end.
The hopes and dreams are not broken after all! What looked like the end is now the beginning!!
“I have seen the Lord!” Imagine Mary, head covering askew, out of breath, face glowing, transformed from grief to joy!
Have you been to the tomb?
Has someone called you by name? Reached out with an embrace or a pat on the arm or a Kleenex? Has someone shown that they care? Has someone offered a word of forgiveness, proclaiming it loud and clear?
Have you been to the tomb? Have you seen the hope in a card, a smile, a welcome?
Have you been to the tomb? Have you dared to dream new dreams?
Because after we have been to the tomb, and Jesus has called us by name there is no going back.
Life for Mary after the resurrection is different than life before. Life for the disciples after the resurrection is different than life before. Life for us after the resurrection is different than life before.
After we have been to the tomb we don’t go back, we go forward. Different people in spite of ourselves. Changed for life.
How can we be the same knowing that there is something out there, in here, bigger than our reality, bigger than our minds can comprehend, bigger than ourselves?
How can we be the same knowing that life is stronger than death? Love is stronger than hate? The future is stronger than the past?
We have been to the cross, we have been to the tomb, and now we go to the water.
We go to the water with baby Keagan, as he is about to be baptized. Keagan will become a part of the family of God, a traveler with us on our journey. If you listen closely to the baptismal service you will hear it take us to the cross before taking us to the tomb. We drown to sin and rise to new life.
And we are promised the eternal presence of God in our lives, no matter our age or life experience.
And so it is Easter. Having been to the cross the joy of today is all the sweeter, the promise of life all the stronger, the Alleluias all the louder.
Let us all splash a little in the waters of our baptisms today, let us dream new dreams and hope new hopes.
For Jesus calls our names! And we rejoice!
Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!