Resurrection Happens
Mark 16: 1-8
April 7, 1996
In the Gospel story we have just heard, three women were walking towards the tomb. These were three women whose lives were abruptly shattered on Friday. These were three women with heavy hearts, trudging through the darkness. The symbol of their despair was their inability to foresee future problems. No one had thought about how they might move the large stone covering the grave site.
Have you ever felt so discouraged, so disheartened, so downcast? Have you ever not been able to plan ahead? Have you ever felt that just going through the motions was about the best you could do? There’s a kind of weariness of the spirit that overtakes us when we’re in a position similar to the three women. It seems to drain our very souls and render us incapable of anticipating the future.
But moving back to the Gospel. There is one very positive action within this scene of desolation. The women were moving toward the burial site. Unlike the rest of the disciples, these three women were walking towards, not away from, where Jesus had been laid to rest. You may recall that after Friday, all the other friends of Jesus scattered, ran away, or moved to less hostile territory.
You and I tend to identify more readily with those who move away. Mostly, we don’t want to see or even talk about what we have buried – whether it be a person, or any other thing in life that is dead or dying. Mostly, I guess, it’s because we’re afraid to face things that are dead. That’s one of the reasons we quickly bury so many things. Isn’t it true that you and I rapidly bury that painful memory, that ugly encounter, those flawed relationships? Whatever has the smell of death, we quickly put into the ground and walk away from it as rapidly as possible.
And so, it’s easy to identify with the disciples who left in such a hurry. But we can learn a valuable lesson by walking in the shoes of the three women. It takes courage to move toward something that is buried. It’s an awesome task to dig up something that is dead. But this is what it takes to begin the Easter story.
The next thing that we might observe is that when the women arrived at the burial site, they discovered that Resurrection had already happened. The stone had already been removed and the corpse – that smelly dead thing – was no longer there. Wow! Picture that scene. Picture the look of astonishment. What had transpired? Where was the body?
Do you realize that in the Gospels, there is no account of the Resurrection? There are only some stories of people discovering an empty tomb. Nowhere are we told of how it took place, or even when it transpired. The three women arrive at the tomb. They are told, “Do not be amazed. He is not here.” All we learn from this incident is that Resurrection happens.
There are bumper stickers on some cars around town that always give me pause. They say in the vernacular that “something happens.” A few days ago, I even saw it written in Spanish. The purpose of these somewhat lovely words is to affirm that problems, failures, and even death happen.
Whenever I pass a car with that type of sticker, I have an urge to jump out and plaster another sticker over it. My sticker would say: “Resurrection Happens.”
I don’t understand it. I can’t tell you how it happens, or even when it happens, but this much I do know – Resurrection Happens. And if we watch closely, we can even catch glimpses of it in our own life or in the lives of others. Resurrection Happens. And if you remember nothing else from this sermon, I hope you will go home and if not plaster a sticker on your cars, write it across your hearts. Resurrection Happens.
The other great learning from this Gospel is that what we fear to approach may already be changed. Resurrection Happens. “Do not be amazed. He is not here.” These are the words from the grave – the grave that most of the disciples avoided. When we leave the pieces of our lives buried, either in silence or secrecy or darkness, they can be dangerous to the ecology of our souls. Harold Pintar, the playwright, reminds us that the unspoken, the buried things, are what sour human relationships. But when we take the courage to face those buried things when we move towards those unspoken things rather than moving away from them, we often discover, like the women in our Gospel, that Resurrection has happened.
Easter is about what God can do with what we bury. What God does is called Resurrection. Easter is not about bringing a dead corpse back to life. It is about discovering a whole new life. Easter is not about resuscitating the dead. It is about welcoming the new, beginning again. “Do not be amazed. He is not here.” Things which have been cast down have been raised up. Things which are old are being made new. Resurrection Happens. . . . . .
Alleluia!