Grace, mercy, and Peace to you
from God, our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: AMEN!
Scripture tells us that for Mary Magdalene and the other ladies there were going to the tomb to prepare the body for a proper burial. This was a body in which ALL life was gone; a sad but necessary act of respect, a defeated and mournful task that needed to be done.
For the disciples, they were locked in that upper room where we heard last week that nothing gets in or out of that room. They were afraid that someone would try to come and kill them. Confusion and loss was the feeling of the day. Where would they go and what would they do? What was the point? What was the purpose? What now? They were confident that this would turn out differently than it has. What went so wrong?
For these guys walking on the road to Emmaus, scripture tells us they were sad, feeling low, maybe depressed, discouraged, or even hopeless. There was nothing more to be done but to give in to the old system, the old beliefs, the old ways of oppression and pain, loss and fear. Same old, same old and existence would continue in the way its always been.
But every time there was a new encounter with the resurrected Jesus, fear and awe led the way as scripture tells us their “eyes were open.” See, even as they stood in front of the risen Christ, they still didn’t recognize him at first. These pilgrims, we read, tell Jesus the whole story. Jesus even answers back, “how foolish you are,” he says. But the hopelessness and despair continue with them until the breaking of the bread. Then we hear those powerful words that their eyes were opened and they recognize him. All of a sudden, there he was, right before their very selves…standing right in front of them! Everything for them changed at that moment! Hope was restored and everlasting life has triumphed! Love has won!
Something like this happened to my wife and I this week. My cousin and her husband and son came from Oklahoma to visit. I had not seen my cousin in, roughly, 30 years almost. My cousin and my uncle, her father, have done a lot of work on the genealogy of our family. I always asked my father who our ancestors were on his side of the family. He always responded that we were related to horse thieves and it would be left at that. I always wondered about it. I had heard some stories about my mother’s side of the family but never my father’s.
Well, I had one of those eye-opening moments. In our conversation about MY family history, I learned that while my father made a comment to put an end to the questions I had, two of my uncles were doing lots of work to find out who they were; and by association, I could find out who I was. We spoke of how these two uncles would spend countless hours verifying and re-verifying the proof to match family members together and put our family history together.
And that is when it happened…then came my eye-opening moment. Donna, my cousin, asked if I knew that I was related to a very prominent person. Some might call him a villain and some might call him a patriot…and no IT IS NOT Benedict Arnold. But it is someone, a few people actually, involved in Scotland’s struggle to be independent from long, long ago. I guess now when my step son asks again if I would wear a kilt when he gets married, I will say with pride…YES! But this moment changed what I thought about myself. It changed what I thought about my family. We were not a bunch of horse thieves as I was once told. I suddenly felt a sense of knowing, elation, and I looked at my entire family in a whole new way.
All this week I have been wondering if this is, basically, how Mary felt when she came to the tomb and encountered Jesus, the disciples as they saw Jesus appear, or these men on the Emmaus Road as they sat at the table and ate and drank with him.
I wonder if this was the same experience through the Holy Spirit that we feel when we share our struggles with one another, when we pray for help from God, when we pass the peace of God’s love with one another.
You know, sometimes Jesus does not just meet our expectations. I really wish that Jesus, the carpenter, would come and fix all the things that need fixing. I mean, we have a list; I wish Jesus would heal the people who I know are sick and hurting and lonely. I wish Jesus would swoop in and show his power; eliminating power struggles, bullying of our young people and show them all who’s boss. I am frustrated with people not caring about the lost, the poor who need help just so they can have a decent meal, and people who do not have a voice. I want fairness in the world and I want my God to charge in and lead the way…take no prisoners!
But that doesn’t seem to be the way God wants to work…and we ARE better for it; because you see that it is in the mystery of our faith that we see God clearly. God didn’t come to Mary only when she was happy, He met her in her vulnerability, in her fear and he comforted her. God met the disciples not in a palace, but he met them in the dark locked room where they were in fear for their lives; where they were broken and in need of Good News f God’s love. God, through Jesus Christ, met the men on the Emmaus Road when they were not just sad, not just disappointed or let down, but utterly and completely hopeless…where there was no hope, no future, no life.
It is difficult sometimes for us to wrap our heads around the mind of God. That is where our faith comes in. It is where we strive to do the will of God, even when the world tells us that we are going in the wrong direction; that we are the ones out of touch and in need of fixing. God comes to us where we need, in the secret, dark, lonely places of our lives. That’s where we see the risen Christ’s strength and power. It is when we move from the relative comfort of our lives as we know it, to touch the lives of others.
So what does this resurrection proclamation mean for us? It means EVERYTHING! See, Easter is not the end of the road, not the end of our journey, not the end of the story. Scripture doesn’t stop there…it continues on. Because each and every day we get up and proclaim resurrection, is a new beginning. It is a new chance for us to experience the risen Christ and the myriad of possibilities that God lays out for us.
It is through this mutual love that the Holy Spirit is unleashed. It is this burst of spiritual energy that we feel from the risen Christ It is so much more powerful that the feeling I had finding out who some of my relatives were; because, friends, it is the risen Christ that open new possibilities that we have only to dream.
I pray that we all see the risen Christ, proclaim God’s love and experience new hope made sure through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Don’t waste another minute! Search for yourselves; look in the places deepest in your heart. Feel God’s love poured out for you…take the risk. Do not fear, but believe!
So let us live
as the Holy Spirit wills of us for indeed we are Easter people…thanks be to
God: AMEN!
No comments:
Post a Comment