Easter - Looking for Life in All the Right Places.lwp - Page 1 of 3
Luke 24:1-12
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices
that they had prepared. ²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³but when they went in, they
did not find the body.
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While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes
stood beside them.
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The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to
them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.
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Remember how
he told you, while he was still in Galilee,
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that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be
crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ 8Then they remembered his words,
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and returning from the
tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.
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Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary
the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.
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But these words
seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
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But Peter got up and ran to the tomb;
stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had
happened.
Frederick Buechner said that when the preacher gets into the pulpit, the question people most
want answered is this: Is it really true? - and that this is never more true than on Easter Sunday.
However, I can’t recall ever hearing a sermon that really convinced me.
First of all, there is no one story about Easter. So you may be asking questions about the facts -
how many angels were there (or are any there in the first place)? - how many women? - was the stone
there when they arrived or was it already rolled away? - who got there first? - did they see Jesus? -
who saw Jesus? - and many other questions like that.
So one thing we need to know is the Bible has different resurrection stories about one true thing,
resurrection, which is at the center of our faith. It’s really big, it’s really important. As the Apostle Paul
wrote, “If Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in
vain. . . .we of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:14).
This morning we’re going to look at just one of many New Testament accounts of the
resurrection - and one of three in Luke’s gospel. As Luke tells it, things were pretty much business as
usual that Sunday morning that was the first Easter.
The disciples were probably trying to figure out how to get back to fishing or whatever their first
career had been since being a disciple hadn’t worked out.
The religious establishment thought it was safe now to go on with religion as usual: worship
services (traditional of course), sacrifices and sacraments, scholarly debates, and, yes, send something
over to the poor. But no more Jesus. And no more kingdom of God, this kingdom they couldn’t control
as far as who was in and who was out, this kingdom where there was room for everyone, this kingdom
where everything was upside down. And the religious debates wouldn’t have to be about this prophet
who ate with outsiders like tax collectors and prostitutes and sinners and rebuked them for giving fine
dinners for people who were like them. Now they could argue about important things like what color to
paint the Temple.
The government - King Herod and the Romans who occupied the land - could go on with
government as usual. They wouldn’t have to worry about this preacher who kept getting people all fired
up about some other kingdom and wanting something better for themselves. Everyone could just accept
the system the way it was and hunker down and maybe that something good would trickle down.
And the women of Galilee were still serving Jesus the best way they knew.
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