Rev. Jennifer Whipple
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)
Easter Sunday
April 24, 2011
Matthew 28:1-20
“Go from the Tomb to the World”
Prayer: May the words of my mouth
and the reflections of our minds and hearts gathered here this morning be
acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, you who are our Rock and our Redeemer.
Amen.
There is a great children’s book by author illustrator Eric Carle titled The
Very Hungry Caterpillar. Although
published in the late 1960s I don’t remember reading it when I was a child.
Someone was kind enough to purchase it for Ryan and I when we were
expecting our first child though, and it has become a staple in our household.
Part of the reason is because it is fun.
It helps little ones to learn about different foods and numbers and what
happens when you eat too much of stuff that’s not so good for you…a bad
stomachache in case you didn’t know. You
see, for those of you who have not had the pleasure of reading this masterpiece,
the book begins with a little egg laying on a leaf in the moonlight.
Out of the egg comes a tiny and VERY hungry caterpillar.
The caterpillar begins eating through things like apples, oranges,
strawberries. But one day he gets
even hungrier and eats through anything and everything – sausage, lollipops,
cherry pie, cupcakes, and so on and so on until he gets a stomachache. The next
day the caterpillar eats through a nice green leaf to cure himself and then
realizes not only that he is a BIG FAT caterpillar now but that it is time to
build himself a cocoon. As fun as
the story is up until that point it is nothing compared to the look on the face
of a child who has never read this story before when the caterpillar breaks out
of his cocoon and you turn to the last page on which, with immense colorful
fancy wings sprawled out, is a beautiful butterfly.
The true miracle of the book is the miracle of becoming something new, of
reaching one’s potential, of new life.
And so it is with us as we gather here on this Easter Sunday.
We come here having perhaps tried to be tempered and done things that
were healthier for ourselves during Lent. I
heard of plenty of people who had given up sweets, soda, or chocolate, for
instance. But there were always
those times of temptation…when we allowed anything and everything to come
between us and our Lenten resolutions. There
were the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday aches and pains, the stomachaches and
the heartaches knowing that we have turned away from God every now and again,
and we very well may have been in the shoes of those who hung Jesus on the cross
all those years ago. But now…now
we have arrived- perhaps feeling like we have run a marathon, at the last page
of the book – at the butterfly moment. The
exciting twist has taken place, and that is where we meet Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary this morning.
These two unassuming mourners, show up at the tomb where Jesus was laid,
a tomb guarded by soldiers, for fear that what Jesus said about himself – that
he would be seen again in 3 days time might actually come true by some stunt
that the disciples were preparing to pull. These
women came not to anoint his body – because the guards would never have
allowed it, but just to be with him in that place -
to feel him near again, to share their sorrow and pain, to try to search
together for the answer to the question, “What happens now?”
But instead what they got was a major commotion, two soldier guards
paralyzed with fear, an empty tomb, and the instructions to go and tell the
disciples that Jesus was no longer there but would meet them at
Galilee
. And this was their moment, the
Mary’s, it was their moment to decide whether or not they would believe
God’s messenger who told them not to be afraid – that there was nothing to
fear. Would they be like the guards
who could not move because they were so afraid of all that was happening?
Or would they allow their fear to be overcome with joy at the news they
had just heard and therefore motivate them to do what was asked of them – to
fulfill their potential as God’s messengers?
Well, it seems to have taken them no time to head out on the road to
share the Good News – to be the message bearers to the eleven who were locked
away somewhere paralyzed by their own fear.
But as soon as the disciples heard this message – one that gave them
hope – they were on their way quickly to
Galilee
to see if what the women said was true. And
what the disciples thought would perhaps be just a nice reunion with their
teacher and guide, became instead a moment when their own potential would be
challenged. “Go and make disciples
of all nations. Help people give
themselves over to the possession and protection of God.
Teach them all that I have taught you while I have been with you in this
life. And know that I will be with
you to encourage and support you – to guide you and give you hope –
forever.” This was the moment for
the disciples – the moment when they had to decide whether or not they would
step up to meet the challenge despite all of the roadblocks and potential
dangers they knew might lie ahead. Because
Jesus wasn’t just asking them to go out and tell a few stories about what it
was like to serve beside him, he was asking them to both speak and live their
faith in a way that would make people curious about their convictions, in a way
that would convince others to become true disciples too – people who would
wrestle and struggle with learning about and growing in faith, and then go out
and act upon their beliefs with a willingness to be held accountable for who
they said they were as Christ’s followers.
So here we sit 2000 + years later, listening to this story once again as
we do each year on Easter – with its own different twists depending on which
gospel writer we read from. The true
fact of the matter is that the resurrection is the only thing in Jesus’
ministry that is written about that no one was there to experience beside Jesus.
It is the only thing that took place solely between Jesus and God.
So we can spend a lot of time struggling with when it happened or how it
happened or even what really happened on that day so long ago?
But that’s not really what this is about.
Because as followers today, we have to figure out what it means to us –
what it means not to focus on the tomb but what it means to focus on the new
life that happens after the tomb is emptied – after the wings have been
stretched. Because unlike the story
of The Very Hungry Caterpillar that
comes to an end when the potential was met in the form of a butterfly, and the
words “the end” could be spoken – this story is still being written.
The story at the end of Matthew, even with the words that Jesus spoke
“I am with you always to the end of the age”, could have the big stamp “to
be continued” right there. And as
such, WE continue to write the story today.
Which means that there are a lot of questions that we need to answer for
ourselves.
Like…When God comes calling on us to do or be something more for our
world, to work to reach our potential, will we be paralyzed with fear like the
soldiers or will we allow the hope and joy of what good might come motivate us
away from our fear and toward something potentially amazing?
When God comes calling on us to do or be something more for our world
will we lock ourselves away somewhere or will we follow relying on God’s
strength and protection to help us make our way?
When God comes calling on us to do or be something more for our world
will we say that we have done enough or will we be willing to grow and work and
push a little harder to show that we are God’s followers even to the end of
the age? Because the possibility is
that we could get stuck in the tomb, wondering and asking ourselves what are we
going to do now – or we could go from the tomb to the world sharing the new
life that God offers to us, recognizing the places where we meet the risen
Christ each and every day if we are only willing to open up our eyes and see him
in the faces of friends and neighbors, in the faces of people who are willing to
struggle and risk things and work to bring about God’s kingdom in this world.
I read somewhere that God never runs out of Easters, and I know that to
be true because, you see, I am blessed to be able to have more of a bird’s eye
view on all of you who are sitting here this morning.
I get to see the amazing ways that you do accept God’s call to love and
serve others, to share the Good News of God’s amazing forgiveness, grace, and
promise of wholeness with others. I
have seen it during this Lenten Season as we have shared the journey together as
people have witnessed to their faith in worship and at Lenten Lunches.
I have seen honest and open communication that has healed relationships.
I have seen people offer food and basic necessities, even housing to
those in need. I have seen people
give up vacation time or pay to go and serve in Mexico, Rhode Island, South
Dakota, and even Danbury. I have
seen hugs, support, and care offered those who are mourning and hurting who need
to feel God’s presence in their lives.
Our heritage comes from those women who were brave enough to face
possible ridicule and abuse from the guards at the tomb that day and from the
disciples who were courageous enough to say yes to Jesus’ commission to go out
and make fellow disciples of all nations. We
are part of those nations that Jesus was talking about.
And so today we have a choice. Do
we choose the new life that God offers us in the here and now?
Do we choose to go through the motions of this life or do we choose to
REALLY live? Do we choose the new
life that brings with it some struggle and hard work but also immense love and
joy like none we have ever known before?
My prayer for us today is that we will choose that new life – with the
knowledge that the words of the angel to the women at the tomb are spoken to us
today. “Be not afraid.
There is nothing to fear.” And
with the understanding that Jesus’ commission to the disciples is OUR call
even unto the end of the age. God is
calling to us to be the ones who work to bring about fullness of life and
potential not just for ourselves but for all of God’s children here and around
the world. Today, my brothers and
sisters in Christ, because God first chose us, we choose.
Will our lives speak to others about who God is?
Will we spread our beautiful wings and fly from the tomb to the world?
For today we realize that the potential for new life is all around us –
beginning with the new life of the one who appeared beyond the tomb.
For Christ is Risen! Christ
is Risen indeed! Alleluia and Amen.
