Easter Sunday 2009                                                     Christ Church , York

It begins in fear. It begins with a woman coming to prepare a body for burial. It begins in shock and pain and yet more anguish piled upon the pain and anguish of these last few days. It begins with what she believes is an ending, the death of all that for which she had hoped and prayed. I will be the first to admit that this sounds like a strange opening for an Easter sermon for this is that time of the year more associated with fun and frivolity, with egg hunts for the children, with decorated baskets and chocolate bunnies. Our world sees Easter as a time for fun, a time to celebrate after a long hard winter, a time to get outside, dress in lighter clothes and to enjoy the arrival of spring. And on this Easter Sunday we also don’t want to get too serious. For while we have come today to speak the ancient statements of our faith, sing the ancient hymns and hear again that ancient statement that Jesus has risen from the dead, we would prefer to not to have to deal with the complex theological issues which confront us this day and instead enjoy the day off with family and friends, smell the flowers and think that life couldn’t be better.

But it begins in a different way in our Gospel story this morning. Mary’s trip to the tomb was not a joyous event and there was nothing frivolous about what she had come to do - for she had come to prepare a body for burial. And not just any body, but the body of her beloved Master Jesus. And like many of those who had followed Jesus these last few years, Mary was still suffering from the shock of what had happened in these last few days, the rough seizure of Jesus, the public humiliation of His trial, the crucifixion itself and the painful, agonizing death which followed. Mary had been there, standing at the foot of the cross watching the one she had loved die. So this was not a joyous, fun-filled morning for Mary. This was not a time of celebration and renewal. This was not a day to rest and relax. Instead a painful, messy duty awaited her as she readied herself to prepare the body for proper burial.

So when Mary arrives at the tomb and sees that stone rolled back, a cold fear clutches at her heart. And in that fear she rushes back to the disciples and reports what she had seen. And that same fear drives Peter and John to literally run back the tomb – fear that the body had been stolen by the Romans, fear that the Jewish leaders had removed it to another place, fear that they would not now be able to give it the proper burial demanded by Jewish law. The very idea that Jesus had risen from the dead did not cross their minds, for, as the Scripture tells us this morning, “as yet they did not understand the scripture that He must rise from the dead.” It is fear not joy that drives Mary and the disciples that first Easter morning and fear which eventually drives those same disciples to go back and hide in their homes believing that it was now all over and done with.

Such fear is not surprising for whenever and wherever humans have encountered God and His actions, there is such fear. At the birth of Jesus the angles tell the shepherds to fear not. When the women see the angels at the tomb, they are told “do not be afraid.” And when Jesus appears to His disciples after the resurrection, the first thing He says to them is “do not be afraid.” Fear is the emotion that most humans experience whenever they encounter the Holy and the Divine and perhaps it is even such fear that might exist for us as we encounter this awesome divine event we call the resurrection. For there are two fears which present themselves to us today, the fear that this resurrection is not true and then the fear that it is true.    

First the fear that the resurrection is not true. The story tells us that the body is gone, that the grave clothes are still there and that there are witnesses to this resurrection. But what if these stories are not true? What if the real truth is that the soldiers did indeed take the body or even that the disciples took the body. Perhaps it was “an idle tale” or perhaps the fear is that Mary and the women were mistaken, that the Church was wrong in its teaching these last two thousand years, that in fact Christ is not risen and that it was all too good to be true.

What would it mean if this story were not true? Our whole faith, even the structure of our society, is based upon much of the ethical and moral teachings of this man we believe to be God. If He is not risen therefore our system of ethical and moral values might break down, the sense of values in our society would be lost and all the hopes and dreams of the people would be dashed upon the rock of despair. All of this because people, whether church going or not, have for centuries held to the belief that there is something beyond this life, something immortal. And that hope for immortality is based squarely upon the fact that Christ Himself has already risen from the dead. So if it is not true that Christ has risen, then what hope is there for us beyond the thought of simply rotting away in our graves? If Christ is not risen then our Easter faith is a horrible hoax and nothing makes much sense except to grab what we can in this life. And if that’s really all we can do, then that truly is a frightening way to live and even more frightening way to die. God help us all if this life is all we have. If Christ is not risen then this life is indeed a frightening thing.

But the second fear is equally terrifying in its own way, for this is the fear which says that the resurrection is indeed true. And this fear is grounded in what it might mean for us to believe that Christ is risen from the dead. For the Scriptures tells us that when those disciples saw the empty tomb, they “returned to their homes.” The last few days of their lives had been very frightening for them. They had seen a small army arrest Jesus in the Garden. The fear they felt had caused them to run away or, in Peter’s case, to deny Jesus. When the going got tough, they got going – back to the world, back to their predictable and manageable lives, back to the way things were before Jesus appeared on the scene. But if it’s true that Jesus has risen from the dead, perhaps they will now have to answer for their lack of faithfulness and for their cowardice or confront Jesus face to face, ashamed for what they had done. A Christ who lived would be totally unpredictable, turning up where and when He pleased, demanding of them who knows what, nudging them to see things God’s way and not their own and making demands upon their lives. That’s a pretty scary thought, for the disciples and perhaps even for us. For if we are honest with ourselves, the thought of following Jesus is a truly frightening proposition. Most of us are terrified at the thought of total obedience to the demands of the risen Christ. Most of us are frightened by the thought of total surrender to Christ, afraid even to live out our days in complete faith, to live, as Paul says, believing that nothing, neither death nor life, nor powers, nor principalities, nor persecutions, nor things present, nor things to come, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. The thought of living that way is truly frightening.

So there is indeed a fear bound up with this Easter resurrection and we are caught somewhere between believing that it’s really too good to be true or, if it is true, then it is too demanding. Perhaps that’s why so many would prefer to treat this as a day of lightheartedness and frivolity, a day of joy and festivity. After all, the implications of facing either fear are almost too much to contemplate on such a bright Spring day. But whatever your fears about the resurrection there remains an Easter joy that goes far beyond frivolity and festivity and even beyond our mortal fears. For there is a truth that goes beyond our understanding and comprehension, a truth which says that God is with us even in the midst of our fears, a truth which proclaims that Easter was not just for the pious few who profess the Creeds, not just for the well dressed and the well heeled and not just for the believers. Instead Easter is for those who could not yet bring themselves to believe and those who lived in fear; for those who made cruel jokes while Jesus suffered and for those who did not know what they were doing when they hung Him on a cross. Easter was for Pilate who washed his hands; for Judas who betrayed; for Peter who fell asleep; for the soldiers who did their duty as they put a man to death; and for the women who were terrified. Easter is for the simple-minded, the close minded, the literal minded, the feeble minded and the narrow minded. Easter is for all, for those who laugh lightly at this day, for those who ignore this day, for those who fear this day. Easter is for those who believe it, those who reject it and those who are confused by it. For the surprising Easter assertion is that the future God has in store for us defies all predictions, controls and accommodations. By rising from the dead, Jesus has thrown everything off balance. Nothing is as expected and, most importantly, God’s grace does not depend upon our ability to understand it. Instead grief turns to jubilation, despair turns into hope. The powerful are brought down. The lowly are lifted up. Spears are turned into pruning hooks. And it is not the righteous who are saved but sinners. There is indeed something frightening about all of that. But then this is holy fear we experience, Easter fear we share. What better way to celebrate this day then than by sharing not only our Easter joy and frivolity but also by sharing our Easter fears and trusting in the Lord and His promises. For Christ is Risen. He is Risen Indeed. Amen.