Ya gotta have hope.
On that first day of the week after the crucifixion
I think it would be safe to say that the disciples and followers of Jesus were
hungover . . . hungover by their frustration, mourning, anger, and guilt . . .
they weren’t in their right minds as they struggled with the reality of what
all had taken place. Jesus was
gone. It was hard for them to wrap their
minds around it.
Thus, they were stunned when one of their
own, Mary Magdalene, came running to them proclaiming that someone had removed
the body of Jesus from the tomb. Running
to the tomb, Peter and two other disciples look for themselves and see that the
body was gone. This did nothing to ease
the pain of their hangover as they returned to tell the others.
Yet Mary stayed behind, weeping. Weeping for the death of Jesus. Weeping for the stolen body. Weeping at the hope that was dashed, the promise
that was unfulfilled . . . mourning for the one she loved. As she weeps in her sorrow and anguish, she encounters
two angels . . . and, then a stranger.
She asks where they have taken the body of Jesus. And, the stranger says her name, “Mary.”
In the way that the stranger says her
name, Mary recognizes Jesus. He’s
alive! With a message from Jesus, Mary
returns to where the disciples are gathered and tells them, “I have seen the
Lord!”
As we witnessed in the powerful events
from Palm Sunday to the crucifixion, we see a powerful and popular movement
being born and coming into its own.
There was hope, great hope . . . things were changing. Then there was that fateful night . . . from
celebration to betrayal . . . arrest and trial . . . beatings . . . nailed to a
cross . . . and, finally death. The
death of Jesus . . . the death of a movement . . . the death of hope.
And we see the disciples . . . the
followers of Jesus . . . run and hide.
As Mary shared her experience and Jesus’
message, I am not too sure that the disciples believed her. Easter is getting off to a great start. It ain’t looking too good.
I guess that’s what happens when two
ripples collide. There is a great
crashing of two strong forces, and one would assume that the greater of the two
wins and moves on. Yet, I am not so
certain because sometimes what happens is another ripple is created . . . a new
ripple depending on how each rebound from the initial collision. Rebound means “to spring back on or as if on
collision or impact with another body” or “to recover from setback or
frustration”. How the disciples and
followers of Jesus respond, and recover will determine the fate of the movement
. . . will restore or destroy the hope.
It is up to them and whether they have the resiliency to rebound.
Well, as I said, from what we heard this
morning, things are not looking too good.
The disciples and followers of Jesus do not jump up and down in great
joy and celebration at the news that Mary shares. From what we are told they did not run out
into the streets proclaiming that Jesus was alive . . . after all, they had
seen the empty tomb where Jesus’ body had been stolen, and Mary was Mary—a
female . . . what do women know? Easter
wasn’t getting off to a great start despite the good news from Mary.
Thankfully, Easter is more than just a
day in the life of the church year . . . it is a whole eight-week season! Because of this we are going to have the
opportunity to listen to, study, and witness how those early followers of Jesus
rebounded to embrace the promise and hope of Jesus’ message and witness. It starts out a little rough as we are seeing
this morning, but as we move forward, we see the promise beginning to be
fulfilled.
Rebounding is important in life . . .
how we respond to those situations and crisis in our lives that set us back is
important. Do we get up off the floor
when we have been knocked down or do we lie there in defeat? Once we get up are we going to run or stay
and fight? How we act in the face of a
setback or a frustration. Is it the end,
or the beginning?
I guess that is a choice we all have to
make. Sometimes we just need a little
encouragement . . . a slice of hope.
As my children grew up, I did what a lot
of parents do . . . I got into coaching.
Throughout my children’s years I coached soccer, basketball, track, and
cross country teams that they were on . . . I even did it for a couple of years
after they had all grown up. Coaching is
tough and humbling. Trust me, I had my
rear-end chewed out many times by parents over those years. Teaching and getting a bunch of kids to learn
the skills necessary to do a sport is not easy.
But that is the job of a coach to help kids learn the skills, learn the
game, and give them the confidence that they can compete and win. The coach’s job is to give the kids the
chance to win once the game gets started.
The coach can’t win the game . . . that is up to the kids. By the time the coach lines up his or her
team to play the game, those kids should know what they can do and how they
should do it. From that point on it is
the job of the coach to encourage his or her team . . . to help them to believe
. . . to believe that they can do it, that they can win.
It is amazing to see what a little
encouragement can do.
One year we were able to take a group of
kids, in a school that had never qualified a team to state, who had never won a
district championship, and have them finish in the top ten at the state cross
country meet. These were not stupendous
runners, but they were solid. As the
year went on, as we taught them and encouraged them, they continued to improve
until they were one of the best teams in the state. When they lined up at the starting line, they
believed . . . they believed in themselves and their teammates . . . and, they
did it. All it took as a little
encouragement.
Mary received that encouragement in her
encounter with the risen Jesus. From
that moment on, she believed. Nothing
was going to stop her . . . she believed whether or not anyone else believed. She becomes the ripple of the new movement .
. . the start of something big. She
embraces the promise, re-discovers the hope.
She believes and the story is just beginning.
Yes, as we celebrate this Easter day, we
are at the beginning of the story . . . the story of hope . . . of promise . .
. of getting off the floor when we have been knocked down and believing. Believing in what Jesus has taught us . . .
what Jesus has demonstrated to us . . . believing that we have been prepared,
that we are ready, and that we can go out into the world and share the love of
God through what we say and do.
That is the promise of Easter . . . that
we can rise up from our setbacks and frustrations . . . that we can make a
better day. Easter is God’s way of
encouraging us. Encouraging us that we
are capable of overcoming whatever barriers we might face.
Easter is a symbol of hope . . . of our
hope in God . . . of God’s hope in us.
In this time in our journeys as God’s children . . . in this time of
pandemic . . . there is hope. We have
come to the tomb . . . we have heard our name called by the Risen One . . .
there is hope! We can do it . . . we can
do it because, like Mary, we believe. We
have rebounded. That, my friends, is the
gift of Easter. Amen.
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