A Sermon preached on April 12, 2020 Easter Day at
St. Augustine’s, WiesbadenActs 10:34-43,
Colossians 3:1-4, Matthew 28:1-10
I know you are all feeling a little disappointed about Easter this year,
both at church and at home. We can’t celebrate it in the style we are used to: a
full church, beautiful music, the flowering of the Cross, a festive Eucharist
and then after the service extended fellowship time and the happy, smiling
faces of our children as they hunt for and find Easter eggs. We can’t have all
of our family over, or visit them or our friends, for an Easter dinner. Well I
miss that too and I promise that we will have a proper “second Easter” of our
own when we are able to reopen the church building.
But you know, you’re in very good company. None of that happened at the
very first Easter. Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, and in one account Salome,
were not hunting for Easter eggs in that garden. Nor did they find what they
were looking for, the tomb was empty. And the disciples did not break out into
cries of Hallelujah and sing triumphant songs. When the women came to tell them
what they had found, and in Mary’s case who they had met, they just didn’t
believe them. For the disciples, what we
now call Easter was a confusing, frightening experience. Many of them were in
hiding for fear of their lives: locked away for their safety. Others were simply
still sad and depressed and unable to process what had happened. It took quite
a while before they realized what had come about. And of course, no one
witnessed the moment of the Resurrection! All the Biblical accounts are about
what happened the morning after. What they all have in common is an empty tomb,
the significant role of women, and as emotions, fear and amazement. The first
Gospel, Mark’s, actually ends with the words “So they went out and fled from
the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to
anyone, for they were afraid.” (Mark 16:8)
I don’t think the disciples started feeling really joyful until they
had met Jesus again: in a locked room in Jerusalem, later in their home region
of Galilee. And it probably wasn’t until Pentecost,
once they had recovered from the second shock of Jesus leaving them again at
the Ascension and then filled with the gift of God’s Spirit, that they were really able to celebrate and
have a party. I hope we don’t have to wait that long.
In fact, if we look at Matthew’s account of the Resurrection, the
dominant emotion is fear. Out of fear at the appearance of an angel the guards
shook and became like dead men. The women are told twice
“do not be afraid,” once by the angel and once by Jesus when he appears. When
the women leave the tomb, it is quickly
– hurried - and with very mixed emotions, with fear and great joy.
Why is this? For one thing, all that accompanies God’s mighty act in resurrecting
Jesus is quite frightening: we have an earthquake, we have an angel from the
Lord whose whole appearance was like lightning, and we have an empty tomb. The
women’s first worry is that someone has stolen Jesus’ body. That there will be
nothing for them to remember him by, and no place to go to remember him at.
The second reason for fear is when they actually meet Jesus. I know
that the angel has told them that Jesus has been raised from the dead. But
being told that, and then literally running into someone who you saw die cruelly
just two days ago, are two different things. I would be afraid. Their next reaction
is to fall to the ground, take hold of his feet, and worship him. At this
moment they begin to realize that Jesus is of God. And that is frightening too.
All through the Old Testament people got pretty frightened if God made a personal
appearance. The presence of God was considered to be fatal for mortals. That
has changed. The presence of God is not life-threatening, it is life-saving. And
so, Jesus tells them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to
Galilee; there they will see me.’ (Matthew 28:10)
And I think that is the final reason for fear at this time. Fear about what
is in store for them – all the disciples, male and female, named and anonymous.
Jesus has plans for them. Matthew’s Gospel ends with what we call the Great
Commission (Matthew 28:16-20), when Jesus tells the disciples to go and “make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded
you.” That is a pretty frightening task, when you had just seen your teacher
and friend executed for going around Israel and teaching
everyone to obey his commandments. And now they are supposed to go into the
whole world and do this – which for them meant a world full of the Romans who
had killed Jesus. Thankfully however, the last words of Matthew’s Gospel are
not a command, but a promise: “And remember, I am with you always, to the end
of the age.” That is the promise to take away their fear: I am with you now and
always, in this life and eternal life, in this place and in all places.
And what about us? We have genuine reasons to be afraid as well. The Corona
virus is dangerous and deadly for some. Being home alone is frightening. Phone
calls and the internet are not a full replacement for real human contact. People
are losing their jobs and their businesses and are fearful for their livelihood.
While on the one hand, this crisis has led to an explosion of solidarity and
active love, it has also further exacerbated some of the existing fault lines
in society and between societies; the selfishness, the abuse of this emergency
to maintain power, the neglect of those in great need in refugee camps. We were
not doing enough to help them anyway, and now the little we were doing is put
on hold. And at a time like this, we can’t even go into our churches to pray
and worship.
The message of the resurrection is of course that we don’t need to. I
know that’s a dangerous message, and yes, I do want to see you back here again,
and yes there is great value in worshipping and learning in community! But the
risen and ascended Jesus is always with us, to the end of the age. He can be
prayed to anywhere; he is always present and most of all when we are afraid. Jesus
has shown us a God who is not to be feared, but whose essence is love. And
following that example and teaching, we have proven to be a community that can
sustain and comfort and support one another even when apart.
The other big reason for being afraid for the disciples was, I said,
the task they were being given. On that first Easter Day, God started something
new, a new world was begun, and the disciples were commissioned to bring new
way of life to everyone. This is our task too, and it is a frightening one.
This crisis has made even clearer how much we need a new way of life and what
fault lines need to be healed. The world will not be a better place when this
is over, but we can make it one, by following the call to teach Jesus’ great
commandment to love God, and our neighbor as ourselves.
We celebrate Easter for what happened on this day. In conquering death,
God took away all real reasons for fear: “Do not be afraid,” the angel says, “for
he has been raised.” And then the angel says, “go and tell” and Jesus says “go
and tell” and I say to you go and tell everyone that Christ is risen and go and
live that risen, joyful, loving eternal life.
Amen. Alleluia.
