Easter
March 30, 1997
It has been slightly over a month since the news about cloning was made public. Fm not letting you in on anything new, when I say that it has caused quite a stir. (I’ve even had people ask if I would preach about it.) We’ve been told, “A line has been crossed and reproductive biology will never be the same for people, or for sheep.”
In an article on cloning in Time magazine, I read that “we have moved from the zone of safety into the zone of danger. It is downright frightening to open oneself to the thought of reproducing oneself.” And so it is. In a survey, people were asked, “If you had a chance, would you clone yourself?” In other words, would you allow a new you to come about? Ninety-one percent of the people surveyed said, “Definitely No!”
It is scary. A new you. A new future. Who wants it? Who can ever imagine it?
Well, we have come together this morning to announce that over 1900 years ago, a line was crossed, and the human race has never been the same. In the Resurrection of Jesus, we have been given some news from God. News that human nature can come back; that a new you is a possibility. I often wonder on an Easter day, how many people, if offered this possibility, would say, “Thank you very much, but definitely no!”
As long as we’re on the subject of wondering, I often wonder why we’re so anxious over subjects like cloning and not equally anxious over the Resurrection. I once heard a wise person say, “I can’t understand why people are frightened by new ideas. I’m frightened by the old ones.”
We heard in our Gospel reading that it was some women who first discovered the empty tomb. Could it be that women are more receptive to new ideas? (I don’t think I’d better touch that one today.) In Mark’s testimony, which incidentally is the oldest record, we read that some women who were dejected, defeated, and despairing came to the tomb to anoint the body. They were given this message: Jesus isn’t here. He has come back. And the one emotion that they all seem to feel at this announcement is Fear.
Mark tells the story of Jesus fairly well, but the narrative ends abruptly and awkwardly as compared to the other Gospel accounts. If you want the Resurrection done in Technicolor, including other disciples, ending on a triumphant note, don’t use Mark’s account. Mark just ends with three women who suddenly become fearful at the unexpected news.
It would be difficult to write an Easter hymn on the basis of Mark/s final words. You couldn’t inscribe those words over the door of a church or carve them on a tomb. It is also difficult to preach on these words. Most clergy use the words from Luke or Matthew. And yet, if the truth be told, most of us can identify more readily with those three women in Mark’s Gospel… when he tells us, “They were afraid.”
Do you realize, in Scripture, there is no account of the Resurrection? No explanation given of this momentous event? The only thing we are told is that three women discovered it to be so. And then we read that terror and amazement seized them. Somehow, in the deep recesses of their unconscious, they understood that a line had been crossed. It would never be the same. “And they were afraid.”
Sometimes fear is good for us. It keeps us from stepping off into madness. It keeps us from pushing the envelope too far. But it can also keep us from raising the difficult questions. Questions like: What does it mean? What does it say about our past and our futures?
Now let me stop preaching and start meddling. And let me ask you: if it were demonstrated that you could be a new you, would you want it? if God were to give you the gift of a new future, would you take it? Or would your response be, “Thank you, God, very much, but no thanks.”
The message from the tomb is that a new world has started. God says, “I will make you a new you.”
Good people, the Resurrection story is not about a Jewish Rabbi who was found AWOL from his tomb. The Resurrection is about you and the fact that you can have a new future. New life can come out of the old.
Could this message be true? is it really so? Do I matter that much to God? Would God allow me to begin again? You see, Easter is not about a return. Easter is about a dramatic step forward. A step forward into a new future.
Good people, fear doesn’t have to be the last word. Isn’t it time you accepted the gift of new life? Isn’t it time you said “Yes to the Future?” For Christ’s sake, say “Yes.”
Amen.