So, here we are. We have made the Lenten pilgrimage once more and have arrived at the Vigil to proclaim the resurrection. In talking to Clay about attendance at the Mass this last Wednesday, we talked about all the services and how it spreads attendance out a little. There are just lots of events at church, and the altar guild has frontals to change and brass to polish. Lisa had an astonishing number of bulletins to proof and print and fold.
As we think about the events of the first Holy Week and Easter, they were pretty busy too. We spent yesterday focused on Jesus and the Passion. There were reflections on the seven last words at noon. We heard the Passion read last night. Tonight I would like us to think about the followers of Jesus in the days following his crucifixion.
Things are complicated for them. They have been on a roller coaster. There is the triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. This is an exciting time when it must have felt pretty good to be a disciple. The home team is on a winning streak. Then Judas happens, and there is the crucifixion. In the middle of all this is Passover, and so it is a holiday and the stores are closed. There is the need to stay ritually clean for the religious celebration, and so they can’t properly attend to the body of Jesus. There is a lot going on for them. They are scared.
There are three women, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome who decide to go to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. There is a risk associated with this. Jesus was killed, and his followers are in danger of being arrested or persecuted themselves. It was brave for them to be doing this, and I will point out that Peter and the other men who had been following Jesus are in hiding, since they do not want to be the next people crucified. Love for Jesus and a desire to restore some dignity to him in death called these women to risk their lives.
Now, there is a problem. The door to the tomb is sealed with a large stone. There are different styles of these stones. Some are rectangular and some are round. The expensive ones are round. When Susan was in Israel, she took a picture of one like the one described in the Gospel. It is round like a mill stone, and it rolls to open or close a tomb that would be reused by a family. These stones are huge and very heavy. Who is going to move the stone for them so they can get into the tomb?
When the women arrived at the tomb, they discover the heavy stone already rolled away and there is a young man in a white robe sitting there. He tells them, “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, (see for yourselves) there is the place where they laid him. . . .”
Today’s story ends with the three women in complete shock, amazed and terrified, resolving to say nothing to anyone. Mark is the only one of the four canonical Gospels that contains no resurrection appearance. Many scholars believe that Mark’s actual gospel ends right here at verse 8, and that both the shorter ending and longer ending we find in our modern Bibles were added later.
Now, obviously, the women did finally tell someone. They must have or we wouldn’t be here to celebrate the Resurrection tonight. They couldn’t keep quiet. Their entire lives had been radically changed in an instant with the words “He has been raised; he is not here.”
How has your life been radically changed by that Good News that Jesus is risen, that his dead body no longer lies behind a large heavy stone in front of a garden tomb? Or, is the heavy stone still in place for you, separating you from the Risen Lord? Are you still afraid, like the three women, to proclaim the Good News that Jesus is risen?
This stone can take a lot of forms for us. There is the stone of unbelief. There are lots of very smart people on the wrong side of that stone. Some of these people are smart and successful. Some of them write books. Some of them seem happy.
But there is proof. There is eyewitness evidence. St. Peter – the same guy who denied knowing Jesus and ran away to hide after the Resurrection declares later that he is an witness not only to all Jesus did in Judea and Jerusalem, but that “God raised him from the dead on the third day and . . . that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Paul speaks of more than 500 who were also eyewitnesses and he speaks of his own encounter with the risen Lord and says:
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)
These eyewitnesses beg you: Believe, and receive God’s gift of eternal life. Let Jesus roll the stone of unbelief away.
How about the stone of ignorance? Have you committed yourself to the faithful reading and study of God’s Word? Do you ask God in prayer what he would have you do with what you have learned from his Word? We have opportunities here at St. Thomas to learn about God from Scripture and each other. If our stone is ignorance, we need to let Jesus to roll the stone of ignorance away.
Maybe there is the stone of blindness. We can be blind to the needs of people around us. We can become numb to the stories of injustice and persecution in the news. Even if you aren’t sure what you can do to help, at the very least you can pray and when you do that because you have noticed — because you are no longer blind, God will show you ways of more concrete help.
We cannot fix all the awful things that are wrong with our world — it’s a sinful and broken place, yet redeemed by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, let him roll stone of blindness away.
Finally, there is the stone of familiarity. We know the Easter story so well — we hear it every year and we dress up, host Easter egg hunts and admire the pretty flowers at the Altar. We celebrate the happy ending. Do we know it all so well that we take it for granted? Do we forget that the happy ending is really just the beginning?
If you are thinking, “Whoa, it is Easter and Fr. Tom is laying some heavy things out there,” think about that stone that needs to be rolled away. It is heavy, and it is part of the Easter message.
The women at the tomb responded to a call, and they found it rolled away for them. You are here tonight, and I want that stone to be rolled away for you as well.
“He is not here, he has been raised. See the place where they laid him.”
Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
I have said these words in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Sermon preached by Fr. Tom Haynes at St. Thomas, Plymouth
April 4, 2015; Easter Vigil
Romans 6:3-11
Psalm 114
Mark 16:1-8