Happy Easter!!
My heart is so full, seeing all of you here this morning!
For those joining us via livestream, outside, it’s a beautiful grayish Seattle day of blooming bulbs and spring green, made so by lots of rain.
Inside, our sanctuary is awash with light and life: the glory of creation in flowers, joyful music that moves our hearts and bodies, and so many beautiful radiant faces.
After three years in the pandemic and its shadow, it finally feels like we are emerging into new life. We persevered through dark, suffocating days, and death. We labored to find strength to breathe and feel alive. We are not who we were before. We are emerging into a new world and understanding of our selves.
The fullness of this new life remains uncertain as we wonder about the future of our economy, our city, our jobs and health, the well-being of our children and our climate. We have come this far, surviving and learning new ways of thriving, because we have not abandoned hope.
In hope, we tell stories. Share our lives, our dreams, our regrets and our triumphs, small and large. During the pandemic, I discovered the Moth Radio Hour. First-person stories that are ‘true as recalled and shared by the storyteller.’ Moth stories engage my imagination, often bringing me to laughter and tears, leaving me wanting to hear more of the story. As I listen, I marvel at human resilience, resolve to pay more attention to small details and people around me, and am convicted again to live my deepest values.
Stories connect us with the golden thread of human experience that binds all our stories into one story. Since creation, humans have told stories of trial and triumph, family, encounters with the Holy, and their doubts and faith. Sharing the frailties and joys of our lives, hoping that others will draw strength for living.
In our gospel stories everyday human beings try their best to find friends and community. To nurture hope. To support one another and share the daily joys and sorrows of life. Their stories help us imagine God’s power to re-create and re-enliven our inevitable human frailties and indecision, betrayals and rejection.
In Matthew’s gospel today, we encounter two Marys. Women in scripture who were significant enough to be named! Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and John.
These two Marys, along with other women, supported Jesus’ ministry and were part of his traveling community. They were among the group of women who watched his execution, and they were the only two disciples who accompanied his body as it was removed from the cross and put in the tomb. They stayed and watched while the stone was rolled in front of the door on that Friday afternoon.
So why do the two Marys return to the tomb early on Sunday morning? They don’t bring anything with them, no spices or aloes to dress the body, which they know is in a sealed tomb. So why do they come? Is it possible that they come to keep vigil for the resurrection? No other disciples accompany them. Are they the only ones ‘foolish’ enough to believe Jesus’ resurrection promise?
As they arrive, the earth shakes, lightning flashes. My imagination adds a loud cosmic groaning, and a smell that is simultaneously earthy, sweet, and sharp - and not unpleasant. Clearly something out of the ordinary is happening.
A dazzling and superhumanly strong angel appears, rolls away the enormous stone that seals the tomb, sits on top of it, and says, “Be not afraid.”
The soldiers guarding the tomb are paralyzed with fear. Not the Marys. The women come closer, peer into the newly opened tomb.
Having seen for themselves that Jesus’ body isn’t there, they depart in haste. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and John are the first apostles, the first to go and tell the good news that Jesus is risen.
With fear and great joy, they set off running. Giddy. Slightly afraid. Amazed. Not completely sure what they have just seen and heard. Connecting the empty tomb with Jesus’ predicted resurrection. The impossible is possible.
Suddenly, as they are running, Jesus is there with them. In my imagination, they tumble over one another as they stop. No longer just possible, THIS IS REAL!
Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.” Afraid of what? Of him? Of proclaiming the resurrection? Of telling their truth, what they have seen and heard and felt?
The Marys have Moth-quality story to share: set in the rosy light of dawn, the cosmos shifting, the air electric with divine power, angels and ghosts, drama and suspense. And all the feelings: sorrow, hope, fear, joy, doubt, faith. Threads for every listener to tie into our own story.
Jesus’ invitation to return to Galilee reveals the depth and breadth of Easter joy. In full reconciliation, Jesus calls the disciples his brothers. The same men who broke relationship by abandoning, denying, and betraying him are forgiven, restored to wholeness, once again family.
The son of God spread his arms wide on the cross to gather in all humanity’s disappointments in an embrace of everlasting love. Loving his own on earth, he loves us to the end. He carries all the human brokenness, hate, and violence with him to the grave - and leaves it there with death. Returning to life to testify that God has the power to restore all people and relationships to wholeness and flourishing. This is the amazing message the Marys carry to the disciples.
Matthew brings the story full circle with that mountain top reunion in Galilee. It is the only time in Matthew the disciples, other than the two Marys, encounter the risen Jesus. Matthew does not include an ascension narrative because what happens next on earth is the most important part of the story.
The witness of the two Marys continues changing lives. The core story has survived 2000 years because we find hope in it. Because over and over again, humanity finds itself emerging from experiences of struggle, darkness, and death. Trying to make sense of what has happened, of our part in it, and how to go on living and thriving in a new world. We keep telling and retelling this story, adding new threads from every life and place and time.
We choose this story of new life and hope as our story because it is our kryptonite for all that is wrong with humanity. It reminds us, daily, of the healing power of love, grace, forgiveness, to overcome cruelty, ridicule, betrayal, even death. Believing in this story, sharing how it changes our lives, won’t make us invincible or make living with integrity easy. It will empower us to choose how we live into this new life.
Strength and power come from telling the truth of our experiences. We shape the future by the story we tell with our lives, inviting others to imagine themselves belonging, beloved, and empowered, we will change the world. We have a story of hope and joy and the possibilities of new life that our lonely broken world is dying to hear. Let’s go live the next chapter!
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