On this Easter Day we remember that nearly 2000 year old story that Peter, Paul, and John tell us in our readings today about how Jesus was raised from the dead. We remember how Mary went down to the tomb on that very first Easter morning, while it was still dark, and there she met Him. John tells us that she did not recognize Him at first, but as soon as Jesus called out her name, she knew. I wonder if she remembered Jesus saying that the shepherd calls his sheep by name, and the sheep know the shepherd's voice. I wonder about this whenever I hear this story. John goes on to tell us she grabbed on to Jesus, but he wouldn't let her hold on because it wasn't time, yet. Now was the time for her to go and tell the others, to proclaim the Good News to the other disciples. In doing so, she became the first one to share the Good News. She became the apostle to the apostles because she was the one sent by God to them. She preached the very first Easter Sermon.
We remember that glorious day today, a day that transformed lives as Peter and Paul tell us in their recounting of the story in the other readings. Most of them literally had their lives upended by this event. As we look over history we know this is a story that has continued to transform lives. The resurrection of Jesus Christ brought not only Jesus to life, but countless others who have found the truth of the resurrection in their own lives as new life was brought out of death, the green blade rising from the buried grain.
This is not just a 2000 year old tale. It is breaking news, Good News. It is a living story. It is our story and it is happening right now in our midst. "Jesus Christ is risen today" we sang this morning. Not Jesus Christ was risen, Jesus Christ is risen, present tense. The truth of the resurrection is not only the truth about the past, or even primarily the truth about the past, it is the truth of today. The writer Frederick Buechner put it this way: in the last analysis what convinced the people that He had risen from the dead was not the absence of His corpse, but His living presence. And so it has been ever since.
I once heard it said that faith is the space between memory and hope. As we remember this story today may we also be encouraged by the hope that it is not over. Jesus Christ is alive. He is present with us. He has been present with us all year during this pandemic, during this moment that has upended all of our lives. He has been with us. He is with us when we are celebrating, and he is with us when we are grieving. He is with us, and he will keep coming to us, no matter what we face ahead. It is our hope that he will be there to bring about new life, resurrected life in whatever it is we face.
AMEN
