Easter Sermon 2013 (Luke 24:1-12)

Jesus Christ is risen today!
Our triumphant Holy Day!
Ha-a-a-le-lu-hal-le-lu-ul-jah!

It’s nice to be triumphant every now and then, isn’t it?
So much of the time we walk around feeling defeated – defeated by the powers that be, overwhelmed by our workload, subjugated by our domineering spouse (I’m talking in general terms, of course).

Likewise, the church as a whole seems to be generally in a state of defeat or at least of ongoing decline. Our message and values are seen as being increasingly irrelevant, our Atheistic detractors seem ever-more robust in their logic, and any claim we might have thought we had to moral superiority collapses under the weight of the Royal Commission’s enquiry into the ecclesiastical sexual abuse!
But today, on this day at least, we regain the high ground! On this day – Easter Day – we celebrate. We are victorious, triumphant, and on the right side of history, or so it would seem. For the odd thing is that when we get to our Gospel reading – the proclamation around which our entire Easter celebration revolves – there is not a hint of joy or celebration or triumph or anything of the sort!

We read from Luke’s account of the resurrection today:
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. (Luke 12:1-3)
We’re told that the response of the female disciples who had made the trip to the tomb was that they were ‘perplexed’. We’re told though that their perplexity quickly gave way to terror as they noticed two rather spectacularly dressed men who had suddenly joined them in the tomb!

These characters seem to know something about the missing body of Jesus – “He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” (Luke 24:5b-7)
The women, we are told, then exit the tomb, but they do start to put the pieces together in their minds. When they tell the men though what they have seen and heard (or rather, what they have heard and what they have not seen) they are met only with cynicism. Peter though does rush to the tomb, looks in, sees Jesus’ clothing there but no body, and he, we are told, is amazed (or confused, depending on how you translate it). In other words, he was left with lots of questions and very few answers!

And so our resurrection narrative closes, against this backdrop of questioning, confusion, cynicism and fear …
Ha-a-a-le-lu-hal-le-lu-ul-jah!

It’s not what we might have expected of the official account of the resurrection. Indeed, apart from celebration and triumph, the only other thing missing in this resurrection account is an actual account of the resurrection!

That’s true of all the Gospel accounts of course. All four feature accounts of the resurrection that don’t include any actual account of the resurrection. Instead we get hints and second-hand information and our imagination is left to fill the void!

We could do our own psychological analysis at this point as to why the news of Jesus’ resurrection generated such an ambiguous response in His disciples, but let it suffice for now to say that genuine religious experience often leaves people feeling a little ambiguous.

“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”, says the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews (10:31), and this is true of much religious experience.

I can tell you that when people are reaching the end of their days in hospital, often the last person they want to see is a priest or chaplain!

Evidently it does take time for the penny to drop in some cases. And evidently in some cases the confusion never entirely dissipates. But that’s ok, I think. Indeed, I believe that’s the gospel model!

We stumble forward. We regularly have little idea as to what is really going on. We continue to struggle with feelings of defeat, cynicism, confusion and fear. Yet the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not quenched that light yet!

“He is not here. He is risen!” No, that doesn’t answer all our questions but it does change everything!
If Jesus is risen then the universe is not ultimately as hostile as we thought it was! If Jesus is risen then maybe the good guys do win in the end after all!

If Jesus is risen then even the torturous situation of modern-day Syria is not grounds for despair, as we know that death and lies and murder and violence in the name of religion are never the end of the story!

If Jesus is risen then everything is cast on to a broader canvas! Our own pain, and the death and suffering of those we cherish become a part of a larger story where Christ ultimately triumphs on our behalf and points us to a brighter day and a bigger world!

And we don’t have all the answers, and it still can be very confusing, but this is indeed our triumphant Holy day, and it’s good to be triumphant every now and then!
Ha-a-a-le-lu-hal-le-lu-ul-jah!

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