Today's Scripture Readings
Acts 10:34-43 (NRSV)
Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
Psalm 118 (BCP., p.760)
1 Corinthians 15:19-26 (NRSV)
If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
Blog Reflection
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.
Every time I read those famous words of the Angel: "He is not here, but has risen" I get chills. Good chills. Chills and tears. The kind of chills and tears after a long terrible period of depression and anxiety that have given way to joy and happiness.
I wonder what those first women felt when they first heard the news. They were eye witnesses to the horrible things that took place on Good Friday. They saw the man who had warmly received them, and loved them so much crucified with nails driven into his hands and feet. They heard his cries: "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?" And, "Into your hands, I commend my spirit." Now, here they stand in front of the tomb. An empty tomb with the stone turned over. Only the linen cloths that once wrapped the crucified body of Jesus were left there. An Angel said to them: "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." How could these words be true?
Perhaps the alternative Gospel Reading for Easter Day might give us some answers.
John 20:1-18 (NRSV)
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, `I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Now here is something most interesting. The men who had traveled with Jesus from Galilee all the way to Jerusalem, had no idea. Did not Jesus tell them several times that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day rise again? Yet, they still did not understand. Only Mary Magdalene had the courage of faith to stay at the tomb, to weep and question God in this moment of revelation. It is when she weeps for the missing body of Jesus that He comes to her and comforts her by seeing His resurrected body, and the news that He is alive. In that moment, Jesus reveals to her and to us, that His Father is our Father and God. Our Creator, Redeemer and Life-Giver.
Easter brings us the good news that Jesus is alive. He is not dead. Jesus has risen from the dead. If we do not take the time to pray with tears over our sins, and seek God's mercy in Jesus Christ, and by the Holy Spirit try to live a holy life by loving our neighbor as ourselves, and to strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human person; the story of the resurrection remains just a story. It is just something we celebrate year after year, but it doesn't actually change our lives.
The resurrection was more than just an event in Salvation History. The Paschal Mystery is to become transparent through us, so that we and the community around us may be transformed by the unconditional and all-inclusive love of God. A love that sees beyond someone's "lifestyle" and sees the person as first and foremost a redeemed child of God. To see that one's sexual orientation is not the whole of a person's life, but it is from there that they have been created to love other people. Whether in platonic, romantic or physical relationships. To consider the possibility, that gender is a vision of God's Being within all persons, and through it, can become the actual person that one was created to be To know that holiness is a matter of how someone lives out who they are, not a matter of a moral code of rules and laws. Love shared in a relationship of love, commitment and responsibility is what marriage is all about. Whether it conforms to a standard of raising children and producing the next generation is for God to decide, not us. To know that we are always being led into the way of all truth, none of us have actually arrived.
In the resurrection, violence, oppression, marginalization and poverty are absurd. New life in the Risen Christ, means new life for everyone. Regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, religion, political affiliation, job, physical/developmental/psychologically challenged, language, class, culture, etc., the Risen Christ is alive for all of us. To give us in this moment of time and space, a chance to claim our citizenship as people loved and accepted by God and others.
Easter Day means a new beginning from where we were before Lent began. In the Crucified and Risen Jesus, we have been redeemed and set free to live in the presence of God as holy people. Holy in the way of realizing that God is God and we are not. We don't have to compete to be the most respected, prestigious, wealthy or popular. All we have to do is love. In the Paschal Mystery, all God did through Christ, was love us all. So should we do the same. In the Risen Christ, loving is very possible.
Amen.
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia
Prayers
O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten
Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection
delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die
daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of
his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for Easter Day, Book of Common Prayer, p.222).
Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus
Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of
everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the
day of the Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death
of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for Easter Day, Book of Common Prayer, p.222).
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