But just who is this story about? Well, of course it is about the one who was laid in the tomb and did not remain in the tomb. The Mary's come to the tomb for Jesus. The angels descend for Jesus. And the mystery of the story moves along until the end when Jesus appears before Mary, speaks, tells her to look ahead.
And so this story is about an empty tomb, a risen Christ, and God doing something completely new, breaking through old patterns of death, breaking through everything that seems inevitable - how power and force can lead to endings and how movements are stopped when leaders are brought down. And to all of that God says, "No." I will make a new way. I will break old rules that even seemed of my own making - rules about death and endings and finitude and limits. I will do a new thing, so that after this all the books will have to be rewritten, all the assumptions will have to be rethought, and the most basic of truths will need to be reexamined
A big story is unfolding. How big? The Apostle Paul would call it a "New Creation." That's how big. And it is all centered upon Jesus. He is the one through whom this New Creation begins. He reveals the living power of God. The big story is about Jesus.
But you could also argue that this story is about the Mary's - that they are the first recipients of this new news, that they are one's whose lives are changed, that they are the first to witness the newness and so they are the first to, in a way, be made new themselves. It's inside of them that the big news takes hold. Their lives are changed in particular.
And so it is that Easter is about a big story that remains just a big story out there, unless we begin to notice the ripples. Without the Mary's it's a theoretical, cosmological, metaphysical hypothesis. But inside the Mary's it's a life-changing truth for them.
And the Easter story is still that way. Part of it's about Jesus. After all, there wouldn't be an Easter without Jesus. But part of it's about us and the Easter within us, and the way that we become a part of this New Creation that is unfolding.
And in this way it's not unlike other stories...of what I like to think of as stories.
On the news was the story of an early spring snow storm. On the first full day of Spring it was predicted. That night and on and off through the day it came. The radar showed the coverage, the predictions about inches coming in swaths.
But the story for me was actually about something beautiful outside my window. I know, that's my crazy story. But it's the way the big story became my story. Yes, it meant finding the galoshes again, but so what? I found joy in going around humming "It's beginning to look a like Christmas," just to see what reactions I would get. And then later that day, coming home, I found my neighbor with their walk and driveway already completed, now working on mine. They knew I had a busy weekend, they said. I grabbed the shovel and pitched in. We talked and worked while dogs played and ran, a chance to catch up. It was heavy snow. You needed to rest and talk in between. The big story was the snow of northern Illinois. It was in all the papers. But my story of it is mine.
Or take the Vietnam War. You can understand the big history, and domino theories. But read Tim O'Brien's account called The Things They Carried and you see it up close. They carried guns, of course, and helmets that weighed 5 pounds with a compress bandage on the inside. A flak jacket weighed 6.7 pounds. Then there were can openers, C-rations, pocket knives, 2 or 3 canteens of water. O'Brien says because Dobbins was big and could carry more weight and because he liked canned peaches over pound cake, he carried that. Because Jensen practiced field hygiene, he carried a toothbrush and dental floss. And Jimmy carried letters from a girl named Martha.
But the book is really about the other things they carried too...the fear and the hope, the memories of other days and far away places, and all the range of feelings. O'Brien writes, "...In the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do..." (p. 85) Big stories have power in the particular stories.
But sometimes it works the other way too. Sometimes it becomes apparent in the particular stories that there's a need to change something in a big way. That's what I believe about Easter. I believe that God cared so much about our particular stories - each one of us - beginning with the Mary's and the disciples, but on down through the ages, to Bethel Church and you, here, on Easter morning. I believe God cares so much about us that God created a big story that couldn't be separated from our story - where we are, what we think and feel, how we live, the shape of our lives.
Yes, the story is about Jesus. But it's also about the Mary's...and us.
And the story is still being written. That's the odd thing about a Gospel that ends with a resurrection. It's not really an ending. It's a beginning. The story is still unfolding, right here, right now, in hundreds of ways....if you see it, if you can claim it for yourself.
It's not a basketball game, I know, but I do feel a little bit like a cheerleader for us all in this....
I say, "Christ is risen," and you say, "He is risen indeed."
Christ is risen...
Let us pray,
God of love, do not let this day pass without touching our spirits with its meaning....open our eyes to light, open our minds to truth, open our hearts to love. Let the Good News of Jesus Christ be our news, our joy, our peace. Amen.
Children: This toy that looks like it has two propellers, when you turn
it on, shines with a readable phrase as it spins: "Happy Easter!" I
don't know how it works. I can't explain resurrection either. It is
wonder and miracle and mystery...and God's doing.