Sermon: Easter Sunday

Earlier this week I was walking down the hall outside my office when I overheard Rebecca say to Dody, “Ask Debbie… she will know if there is a ‘church’ reason why we hide eggs on Easter.” And even though I would like to think that I am an expert in all such matters of Christian trivia, I told Dody she would have to google it! Then I went to my office and googled it to see if there really is some interesting faith-based reason for hiding eggs on Easter.

Do you know that you can find out lots of interesting things when you google “why do we hide eggs on Easter?” For instance, the name “Easter” comes from the name Eostre, an ancient Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring. It seems probable that around the second century, Christian missionaries seeking to convert tribes in northern Europe noticed that the Christian holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus coincided with springtime celebrations of the goddess Eostre. The celebration of the resurrection of Jesus gradually became known as Easter and the symbols of springtime bursting forth became the symbols of the resurrection.

Easter eggs can be traced to medieval European practices when eating eggs was forbidden during the forty days of Lent. But their chickens didn’t observe Lent so they kept right on laying eggs and many of the eggs laid during that time were boiled or otherwise preserved. (I want you to imagine for a moment hiding pickled eggs!) With an abundance of eggs available on Easter, they were used both in cooking and as prized Easter gifts for children. In addition to this, eggs have been viewed as symbols of new life and fertility in many cultures and often used in during spring festivals. The coloring and painting of Easter eggs became an art and eggs were used in various holiday games. Parents would hide eggs for children to find and then children would roll eggs down hills.

In my google research, I also discovered the why of the Easter Bunny! Since the procreative expertise of rabbits has long been recognized, rabbits have also been symbols of fertility and the rebirth of spring. The inclusion of the rabbit into Easter customs originated in Germany, where stories were told of an “Easter hare” who laid eggs for children to find. German immigrants to America – particularly Pennsylvania – brought the tradition with them and the Easter bunny was born and multiplied rapidly!

When you google “why do we hide eggs on Easter,” you discover that Easter parades can be traced back to the early Christian practice of baptism when baptisms took place on Easter and the newly baptized wore white robes all through Easter week to indicate their new lives and those who had already been baptized wore new clothes to symbolize their sharing a new life with Christ. You also discover that the Easter lily is rumored to have grown in the Garden of Gethsemane and the blossoms are thought to embody joy, hope and life, serving as a reminder that Easter is a time of rejoicing and celebrating. Finally, when you google “why do we hide Easter eggs” you will learn that deep-fried chocolate Easter eggs are sold in Scottish fish and chips shops.

You can google “why do we hide eggs on Easter” but I want you to know that you can’t google the resurrection. Well actually you can, but Wikipedia isn’t the best source when it comes to finding the answers to our deepest questions of faith.

The truth is, I can explain many of the traditions and celebrations of Easter but I can’t explain the Resurrection. Borrowing another’s words, “Like his birth, Jesus’ resurrection is an event that is ultimately beyond the confines of our ability to understand or reason.” As theologian Frederick Buechner reminds us, when it comes to the Resurrection “you can’t make it into pageants and string it with lights. It doesn’t move people to give presents to each other and sing old songs…” but, “…that something unimaginable happened, there can be no doubt.” (From Whistling in the Dark)

This morning, we hear again story of the Resurrection from John’s Gospel and in the hearing we know that something unimaginable happened. Early on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb to be close to Jesus… other Gospel accounts speak of the women going to the tomb to prepare his body for burial. No matter what we think we know about Mary Magdalene, her devotion to Jesus is evident in this choice to brave any and all danger in order to be there at his tomb. But when she arrives she sees that the stone has been rolled away from the entrance to the tomb. According to John’s story, she runs back to tell the disciples what has happened. Simon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved then race back to the tomb only to discover that Mary is right – the stone has been rolled away. When they look inside, they discover that the tomb is empty… the linen burial cloths lie neatly folded… and the two return to their homes, unable to explain what they have witnessed.

But Mary stays and she stands weeping outside the tomb. She can’t explain it either but in the presence of the Resurrection, she stays. “Yes, she is confused. Yes, she is fearful. No, she does not fully understand. Still, Mary stays, and because she stays, she is able to be met by the risen Christ.” She is approached by someone she thinks is the gardener and in the darkness “a light goes on in Mary’s mind. She hears a familiar voice. She hears her name called….” And in that moment she reaches out “…to embrace this one who has somehow come back from the dead.” (William Willimon’s words from Pulpit Resource)

Mary can’t explain the Resurrection. She cannot comprehend God’s power for life. We can’t comprehend it either. All we can do is join Mary, standing in awe of the Resurrection. It “…is an event that is ultimately beyond the confines of our ability to understand or reason. As mystery, the only way we can hope to ‘get’ the resurrection is to live it.” (From Michaela Bruzzese’s words in “He Has Risen!” found in Sojourner’s “preaching the Word”) Resurrection can’t be explained… it must be experienced.

Nora Gallagher, in her book Practicing Resurrection writes: “When I think about the resurrection now, I don’t only think about what happened to Jesus. I think about what happened to his disciples. Something happened to them, too. They went into hiding after the crucifixion but after the resurrection appearances, they walked back into the world. They became braver and stronger… it was not only what they saw when they saw Jesus, or how they saw it, but what was set free in them.” (page 206) She continues, “We spend so much time in the church ‘believing’ in the resurrection or ‘not believing’… that we may lose the point. What if resurrection is not about the appearances of Jesus alone but also about what those appearances pointed to, what they asked… we have to practice resurrection.” (page 207)

It would be easier to just google resurrection and then be done with it. But every year, when we gather on Easter, we are reminded that even though we may think that resurrection has everything to do with going to heaven after we die, the real story of Easter puts Jesus right smack dab in the middle of life now. Borrowing another’s words, “The gospels give the story of Easter an utterly this-world, present-age significance… Jesus is raised to reign now, not later… witnesses of the resurrection have a job to do….” (From a sermon titles “Preaching Easter in Alabama” in the Easter 2009 “Journal for Preachers”)

We stand this morning with Mary and as witnesses of the resurrection, we are invited to become braver and stronger as we practice resurrection. We are invited to live God’s promise of life. We are invited to give life to Christ’s unconditional love and amazing grace. We are invited to be transformed from ordinary, everyday people into followers of Christ who bear his name in the world.

And there is no doubt that our world desperately needs us to become the bearers of Christ’s name. There is no doubt that our world desperately needs us to become the hands and feet and heart of the Christ. As God’s natural world springs forth into incredible beauty, the “unnatural world” of hatred and judgment and division… of too much hunger and too many wars and too many my-way-or-the-highway ideologies … of a countless number of “isms” that threaten to undo us… this “unnatural world” continues to require a renewed willingness on our part to stay with Jesus and practice resurrection, embodying the love and grace of Christ in everything we do and everything we say. As witnesses of the resurrection, we have a job to do.

Since I didn’t start with a joke, I want to at least leave you with a funny story… again, something you can tell your favorite aunt at the family gathering this afternoon!

The story is told of two brothers, ages 8 and 10 who were excessively mischievous. They were always getting into trouble and their parents knew all about it. If any mischief occurred in their town, the two boys were thought to be involved. The boys’ mother heard that a new pastor had come to town and had some experience in working with trouble-making children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The pastor agreed, but he asked to see them individually. So the mother sent the 8 year-old in the morning with the older boy scheduled to see the pastor in the afternoon.

The pastor, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, “Son, do you know where God is?” The boy’s mouth dropped open, but he made no response. He just sat there wide-eyed. So the pastor repeated the question in an even sterner tone, “Where is God?” Again, the boy made no attempt to answer. The pastor raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy’s face… “Where is God?” The boy screamed and bolted from the room, ran directly home and hid in his closet, slamming the door behind him. When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, “What happened?” The younger brother, still gasping for breath, “We are in BIG trouble this time… God is missing, and they think we did it!”

The resurrection announces to the world again today that God is not missing. God is with us right here, right now. No matter what the powers of this world will say and do, God will never be missing. As Clarence Jordan has said, On the morning of the resurrection, God put life in the present tense, not in the future. God gave us not a promise but a presence. Not a hope for the future but power for the present.” (From The Substance of Faith by Clarence Jordan) So, let us be the evidence in the world that God is not missing. Let’s not just google the resurrection… let’s live the power of the resurrection… God will never be missing!