What Pastor Jon Preached on April 24, 2011

Resurrection of Our Lord: Easter Day
Acts 10:34-43 • Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 • Colossians 3:1-4 • Matthew 28:1-10

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.' This is my message for you." So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

Chris is risen! Alleluia!
Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Last Easter, I preached about hope amidst the 2010 Earthquake in Haiti. Sadly we are still dealing this Easter with yet another major earthquake, in Japan. Earquakes are a frequent occurrence in east Asia. Dana didn't expect this one to be that big. But it kept getting bigger. And bigger. Soon she started to hear things fall from the second floor of her home. She rushed to brace herself in a doorway on the first level of her house. Her home and her life which had once seemed so safe and secure were crumbling around her. Thankfully, she managed to escape catastrophe. But others were not as fortunate, as March 11 doled out death in Japan with aftershocks, a tsunami, and radiation. An enormous amount of buildings’ stone piled on top of thousands of the deceased—many of whom are still not accounted for. Dana is one of 22 missionaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America serving in Japan when the devastating March 11 earthquake hit. "This was truly horrible, and I pray that Japan can recover soon," Dana said. (http://www.livinglutheran.com/stories/holding-steady-in-japan.html)

The weight of those collapsed buildings on the deceased was the weight felt by Mary Magdalene and the other Mary as they went to Jesus' tomb. It was a weight of powerlessness and oppression, of dread and despair, and of loss and sadness. But suddenly...there was an earthquake--the same kind of eathquake that had just happened as Jesus breathed his last on the cross. (Mt. 27:51) Only this time, these women disciples were not witnesses to another tragic earthquake. In the midst of this shaking, rattling and quaking, these women now had their breath taken away because they were witnessing a teutonic, plate-shifting event that broke death down to pieces.

To the disciples, Jesus’ death had seemed so finite, so conclusive, so certain. Jesus' tomb had been made so secure after all, so no one would steal him. (Mt. 27:64) But God would not let that be the final word. God would not let the powers that be squelch the Godly love that Jesus lived with his life.

In looking at this story closely, we can even see the sarcasm in the Gospel writer Matthew's unique account of the resurrection. In the midst of this earthquake, he has an angel come and roll away the stone to Jesus' tomb...and that's not all. The angel sits on it. This rock, this physical barrier that was the key that kept those women disciples locked in fear...this rock, which had defined them as followers of a victim…this rock, which until then had kept them from God's presence…this rock, was no longer in control. And now, just to show how much God had turned Jesus' death on its head...God had the angel heralding the resurrection come...and sit on that very stone that had once seemed so final. God laughs in the face of Jesus’ death, and makes it into a throne—for the one who is the Lord of both life and death.

Not only did God do all this! God even brought those soldiers at the tomb to a literal stand-still. Matthew says: "For fear of [the angel] the guards shook and became like dead men." (Mt. 28:4) The resurrection earthquake even stilled death’s most rigorous enforcers.

It is the wonder of resurrection that god rolls away whatever weight causes us to believe…that our lives have as little significance as pieces of rock. God resurrects Jesus to shake us free into trusting that the things that what we did not think counted--faith, love and hope--does indeed count infinitely, in God's eyes.

What are the "stones" that are weighing down our dreams, hopes and embrace of God’s dreams and hopes for our world, our communities, and our lives? Grief about what loss? Estrangement from what relationship? Distraction from what that we truly value? Feeling lost from searching for what that can give our lives meaning? No matter what our answers are, the truth of this day, the absurd but trustworthy promise that is given in God's messenger angel, is that God sits and has the last laugh in the face of what weighs us down, so we can embrace God’s hope and dreams for us.

For one well-known celebrity, such a moment came in a stadium full of rock fans. Many years ago, Bono, the lead singer from the Irish band U2, was singing a concert in Arizona, and had received death threats from someone who didn't like that the band was publicly asking states to ratify bills that would create a national holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr. A death-threat letter said that if they sang their song "Pride (In the Name of Love)", a tribute song to Martin Luther King Jr.’s passion for social justice, the band would not make it out the concert alive. As the band was in the middle of singing that song, Bono writes that:

"I do remember...thinking, for a second: ‘Gosh! What if somebody...had a handgun?' I just closed my eyes and I sang this middle verse with my eyes closed, trying to concentrate and forget about this ugliness...I looked up...and Adam [the bass player] was standing in front of me. It was one of those moments where you know what it means to be in a band." (Scharen, One Step Closer)

Whatever kind of music God sings with our lives, whether it’s singing a song about social justice in front of thousands, or a Bach cello suite at the foot of the fallen Berlin Wall, as the great cellist Mistlav Rostropovich did in 1989…today Jesus’ resurrection makes harmony out of lives. Today God says a bigger yes to life than to death, and empties us of our despair, so we can once again trust…that forgiveness, not might, makes right…that compassion is superior to power…that hope is stronger than despair…that there is more to this world than what we can see, hold and buy…that the sacred is indeed present in ordinary things and ordinary people.

In the days following the Japan earthquake, Tim McKenzie, an American history teacher at a Lutheran seminary in Tokyo, attended a graduation worship service for one of his seminarians. In spite of the earthquake, worship was not canceled, and during the service this was spoken during the Prayers of Intercession for the seminary graduate: "O God, we thank you for giving us this joy today." Tim said, “For me this is a sign of hope that the Japanese Lutheran [congregations] see God incarnate in their midst, as they seek to respond to the needs of Japan at this time." (Livinglutheran.com)

As the women disciples saw the risen Christ in their midst and grabbed hold of him, as Lutherans of Japan embrace the risen Christ in their midst, we too can embrace new life…starting with the most seemingly insignificant rituals of worship today: praying for the world, sharing Jesus’ body and blood, making music and waving our Alleluia banners. We can sit on the stone that God has rolled away—a stone that would otherwise lock us in fear. From that perch, we can believe once again that even the smallest acts of compassion and justice do matter to God. As Easter-ed people, we join the throngs no longer sitting on the sidelines, but who are getting in the game, and doing something a courageous as joining that angel, and climbing to the top of the rock that has been rolled away from Jesus’ tomb. Amen.