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Ray-Thomas Memorial Presbyterian Church, 4644 Sandy Plains Road, Marietta, GA 30066
Go and Tell
John 20
Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008
The Rev. Dr. Carrie Scott
Youth Ministry
Children's Nurture
Mission & Food Pantry
It would be all too easy in our contemporary world to let the story of Mary and the risen Jesus become simply an old, old story. Except that the risen Lord keeps meeting us, keeps appearing before us, keeps talking to us in ways we don’t always recognize at first. I want to tell you about two snapshot images from everyday life that I witnessed this week because in the curious way God speaks to us they illustrate what Jesus was trying to explain to Mary.
Here are the two snapshot moments. The first came while I was walking in my neighborhood. I overheard a boy, who was maybe eleven, talking with a group of other boys. The boy said, “Yeah, I was really sad when the guy got shot.” That got my attention! Then these boys started talking in blow by blow accounts of some shooting and went into all sorts of gory details about it and who deserved what. And they got more and more excited while they talked about it. They were like living examples of how profoundly appealing it is to think about the good guy getting even and how in our world there’s a lure to violence in even our children.
Ok, so we have the image of the boys. Next is a snapshot of a moment, a split second, with someone who’d come into our food pantry this week. She told me she had just moved into the area. She moved back because her daughter is battling some kind of mental illness and her daughter has a child so this grandmother had moved here from somewhere to try to help put the pieces of their family’s life back together in the midst of no insurance and a horrible economy. She was so grateful for the food and asked me if I knew of any other resources in the community where she might be able to go for help. I gave her our list and told her, “This is a list of the organizations we know about who are actually responsive.” In a split moment she looked at me in the way that people’s eyes say volumes. In that split moment, even before she said things to confirm what I already could tell by her look, I realized how many times this woman has been trying to work her way through bureaucracies and red tape while she tries to help her daughter and grandchild; how many times she’s felt like just a number; how many times she’s felt like nothing because she’s had to ask for help. We looked at each other like two people who know the truth about how hard life can be, how hard getting help can be, and yet nevertheless in that moment looked at each other like people who are actually related - like brothers and sisters - and in that moment, we were connected.
I bring you these snapshots because they illustrate what the Bible is telling us about that first Easter day.
There’s a part of the story that most of us don’t think about. That’s the violence part. Along with the miracle of resurrection, it was a miracle that Jesus’ death didn’t lead to more violence right then and there. Think about it! Even in Jerusalem today, a dead body can lead to more dead bodies. Dead bodies become inspirations for the next murder, for retaliation, for revenge.
Mary cried, “I don’t know where THEY have put him,” because she figured some Roman snuck the body away. Before violence could beget more violence, Jesus appeared to Mary.
Mary wanted to grab onto Jesus and hold onto him for dear life, and frankly, for the rest of time. There are moments in life we want to last forever, and for Mary, this was one of them. Sometimes we even think of heaven as if it is one wonderful moment frozen for all time. But Jesus told her she could not hold onto him. He wasn’t rebuffing her love; but he wanted her to understand he was ascending to be One with His Father. There was a new way that he was going to be with her, with them, with us, forever. Then he told her something that changed the world.
He told her, “I have not yet ascended to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” He could have simply said, “I haven’t yet ascended to God my Father.” But instead he said, “my Father and your Father… my God and your God.” If you and I share the same father, what’s that make us?
Brothers and sisters.
In a Roman world where people were in tribes and groups and each tribe or group hated and feared the other, where everyone wanted to get even, the risen Lord declared we are brothers and sisters.
And by the power of God, this news transformed the world. The disciples, who had hidden in fear, went out into the world and made disciples of Romans! The made disciples of the very people who’d oppressed the Jews and crucified Jesus. They reached out across every conceivable boundary because they understood the glorious truth - in Jesus Christ, we are brothers and sisters! Christ’s resurrection power turned those confused and terrified disciples into saints who preached love to a violent, vengeful world and preached unity to a world of division.
It is that transforming power - the power of compassion when we thought we had no more to give, the power of mercy and forgiveness when our hearts were bent on revenge, the power of love in a world of hatred - that the risen Lord unleashed into the world and into us.
The risen Lord sent Mary out not just to tell the others that Christ had risen. He sent her out to declare the truth about who Christ is and who we are. And so you and I too are sent out to share across every conceivable boundary. We are sent to the children of the world who need to know not about more violence but about Christ’s love. We are sent to those who think they are forgotten. We are sent to those who feel lost. We are sent so that like Mary, we can declare, Praise the Lord! Christ is risen! Praise the Lord. God is my Father and your Father, my God and your God. Thanks be to God! Amen.