Easter Day B, 2009
Mark 16: 1-8
A Liturgy is available here
LIFE INVITES US TO BE STARTLED BY EASTER, NOT SCARED BY IT
Two single autumn leaves are on an otherwise barren tree branch.
One leaf says to the other:
Say, why do we have to fall from the tree around Easter time in Canberra and die, anyway?
The other leaf begins to expound:
Well, the way I understand it, when autumn comes, changes begin to occur in the cells where our stem is attached to the branch…
and the vessels which supply us with nourishment become plugged with gums causing us to wither and fall from the tree.
The first leaf responds:
That isn’t going to happen to me. I exercise!
oo0oo
When it comes to celebrating Easter, we 21st century Australians do so in several ways.
• We celebrate it as a holiday.
• We usually celebrate it by ‘going away’.
• We always celebrate it by eating... ‘hot cross buns’, smoked cod and chocolate Easter eggs.
• And we, the minority that is, sometimes celebrate it by going to church.
Today is Easter Day 2009.
Tradition has it as the most important day in the life of the church.
For it is the day when we hear again
not just the stories of an ending
but the stories of new beginnings.
So what can be said on this day, Easter 2009,
that hasn’t already been said before?
Usually not much.
But maybe just enough so we are reminded
that out of evil can come good,
and that out of grief there can come new strength, new beginnings.
oo0oo
Much ink and blood, sweat and tears, have been spilt
over 'what is' and 'what is not' considered to be the real Easter story.
And of course, what is meant by 'resurrection'.
And that includes all the problematic stuff argued by a bloke we call Paul!
And the thousands of trees chopped down in the name of an ‘empty tomb’!
And whether or not the 'resurrection' was a 'resuscitated body'
or an event in the lives of the disciples!
All this, while also noting that all the biblical stories are different,
and none of the storytellers
provide an unambiguous,
totally convincing account!
Today’s gospel storyteller is a bloke we call Mark.
His take on things was an early comment. And theologically, he seems to be put off by
“postmortem appearance stories, and steered clear of them altogether…" (Patterson 2004:114).
But it is here I must step away in part from Stephen Patterson's comments, because,
when the printed Bibles have Mark mentioning the empty tomb, it comes
in a section which scholars now regard as not genuine Mark.
It has been added by a different storyteller.
So why would it have been added? My speculation is the empty tomb story,
and here I think Patterson's reasoning is correct, it would have
"appealed more widely to readers in the Jewish and Hellenistic world, who would have heard similar stories told of heroes who had been rescued from dire straits and translated directly to heaven to live safely with the gods” (Patterson 2004:114).
But genuine Mark did not believe in, or perhaps even know about, the empty tomb.
Indeed, if we only stay with the other biblical stories,
no one else really is convinced by the ‘empty tomb’. So why should we try to be?
"The empty tomb on Easter Sunday morning is a legend", writes Catholic German scholar Uta Ranke-Heinemann.
"... Paul, the most crucial preacher of Christ's resurrection, and the earliest New Testament writer besides, says nothing about it. As far as Paul is concerned, it doesn't exist. ... an empty tomb has no significance for the truth of the resurrection" (Ranke-Heinemann 1994:131).
Now I know some of you have heard most of this, and probably more, before.
From me. And from others.
Which, along with all the Christian art you have ever seen about the resurrection,
and by the way, needs to be excised from you imagination (Scott 2008: 1),
always makes sermons on Easter morning difficult to preach.
So perhaps at some risk let me offer a few of my thoughts.
Maybe they will gell with some of yours.
Maybe they will conflict with yours.
But they are mine, learned over time. And in the company of
others whom I trust and respect.
I invite you to listen (read) carefully.
oo0oo
Jesus died.
Those close to him, we would claim, were both surprised and shattered.
Stricken with fear and grief, they were in no mood
to be looking for that 'silver lining'
that supposedly comes with every cloud.
As one of my early theology mentors put it:
“[they] saw he could never carry to fulfillment the mission of the Jewish people as they conceived it… They had thought he would save the world by making supreme over human existence the good as seen in the perspective of Jewish culture. Now they saw he never could do anything of the sort… They reached that depth of despair which come when all that seems to give hope to human existence is seen to be an illusion” (Wieman 1946:43).
There was fear. There was guilt. There was confusion.
The rulers had once again
“prevailed over the ruled. The urban elites of Jerusalem had gained an even tighter control of temple and Torah” (Herzog 2000: 247).
But later, the disciples thought more about his death. It mattered to them.
But only because his life mattered more...
So they began to speak of his death in ways that affirmed his life.
And they came to see his life stood for something so important
he was willing to give his life for it (Patterson 2004).
And that something was the vision of life called the empire or realm of God.
Over time they too came to reaffirm their own commitment
to the values and vision stamped into his life
by his words and deeds.
They even believed that "in his words were God's words" (Patterson 2004:127).
And that his vision of a new empire,
cultivated by him among them long before he died,
no executioner or cross could kill.
Jesus was dead. But he was not dead to them.
His spirit was still coursing through their veins (Patterson 2004).
Again, as my theology mentor has said, such ‘spirit’ or ‘creativity’ can be explained as:
(i) the emerging of new perspectives;
(ii) the integrating of these new ones with previous ones;
(iii) the expanding of one’s appreciable world, and
(iv) the widening and deepening of community (Wieman 1946).
Likewise, when we believe in this vision of a possible new empire,
we too can reaffirm our commitment to the values and vision,
and a 'resurrection' invitation,
to live life deeply and with zeal.
To be embraced by life, not scared of it. In all its particularity.
Because life must be concretely practised.
It must be 'a way of life'.
Perhaps it could be practised, shaped by these thoughts:
• How do we care for each other interpersonally in ways which do not suffocate and oppress?
• How is the well-being of our neighbour pursued in the complex problem of global hunger and international war?
• How are communities developed positively around respect and care for each person rather than around a common enemy?
• How are the systemic causes of non-love eliminated? (Shea 1980)
To live with these particularities coursing in our veins,
is to live in the spirit of the sage we call Jesus.
Because resurrection is not just a collection of religious stories
about a so-called once-only event in the past.
“How many years was Easter Sunday?” asks Dom Crossan (Crossan 1994).
Resurrection can and does happen every day when we are:
“moved by sacred hope and convinced of the profound significance of each person as an infinitely precious being… [when] we dream and plan and implement positive change to enhance the well being of self, others, and the whole of creation… while also embracing and dealing with the reality of our imperfections and their impact on ourselves, others, and creation” (GVosper. Liturgy 2004. From the author).
oo0oo
So… on this Easter Day 2009, I invite you to consider, either for the first time, or yet again:
• Easter reminds us we are called into deeper community.
• Life invites us to be startled by Easter, not scared by it.
• Resurrection is not an escape from death, but an invitation to live life with zeal.
• We are not alone in this life of faith.
Life is renewable.
The human spirit is indomitable.
A loving, caring existence is stronger than death itself.
Notes:
Crossan, J. D. 1994. Jesus: A revolutionary biography. NY: New York. HarperCollins.
Herzog II, W. R. 2000. Jesus, justice, and the reign of God. A ministry of liberation. KN: Louisville. Westminster John Knox Press.
Patterson, S. J. 2004. Beyond the passion. Rethinking the death and life of Jesus. MN: Minneapolis. Fortress Press.
Ranke-Heinemann, U. 1994. Putting away childish things. How the myths behind the church's key doctrines distort Jesus' real message. NY: New York. HarperSanFrancisco.
Scott, B. B. 2008. “Introduction” in B. B. Scott (ed) The resurrection of Jesus. A sourcebook. Jesus Seminar Guides. CA: Santa Rosa. Polebridge Press.
Shea, J. 1980. Stories of faith. ILL: Chicago. The Thomas More Press.
Wieman, H. N. 1946. The source of human good. ILL: Carbondale. Southern Illinois University Press.