Results not Appearances
April 19, 1992
Most of the time we are not seen for who we really are. We may be grateful for that. Most of the time we are accepted or rejected, judged or acquitted, embraced or snubbed on appearances. The same may be said about Jesus. Most of the time, he is accepted or rejected on appearances.
This is why Easter is a confusing day for those who take the gospel accounts seriously. The gospel story you just read is at best puzzling. we encounter the risen Jesus not as a brilliant parade savior, not as a victoriously outfitted leader. Jesus won’t resemble a gardener. Mary who stands on the edge of the burial place as she wants to view, worship and make sure the dead body was safe. She finds an empty tomb and what appeared to be a stranger outside. She supposes him to be a gardener we read it says to him Where have you put him?
What a perplexing, bewildering incident. Jesus comes back from the dead, and Mary, one of his closest friends doesn’t even recognize him. Can this be? Why would the gospel writer say she thought him to be a gardener?
Supposing him to be a gardener, it sounds as if we had best go back to central casting. Surely, a risen savior would have dressed for success, looked more triumphant, have been instantly discernible. Appearances are deceptive. Just as you cannot tell a book by its cover I guess it’s true that you can’t tell a risen savior by appearances. During the week before Easter, I spent a great deal of time reading scriptures, studying commentaries, and meditating upon the resurrection.
My learning this year is that the early church spent a minimal amount of energy on the empty tomb experience. Except for the gospel of Thomas, which you will not find in your Bibles, it was never accepted. All the other accounts of Jesus mentioned the empty tomb experience as a minor event. A blip on the screen a small incident that is recorded but certainly not highlighted.
Now the crucifixion, the passion, that is written up in great detail. You can’t help but recognize Jesus on the cross; there is no mistaking the dying man on Calvary. Where on Sunday, little is written and the few lines that are shrouded in mystery. Supposing him to be a gardener. How could Mary have been so wrong? But not only marry, but Jesus has two friends on the road or Peter, who looked into the tomb and walked away wondering. What are we to make of these baffling short takes?
And the answer, nothing. The early church admitted the confusion, the inability to discern the risen Christ, even when he stood in front of them. But the early church was more interested in the results of Easter, not on the appearances of Easter the proof was not to be found on what was seen or not seen on Easter morning. The burden of proof was to be found on how lives were changed as a result of Easter.
And so it is today. We are not here to debate what a risen savior might look like. We are here to declare and give thanks for the results of the resurrection. How things that were cast down are raised up and the things that have grown old are made new how lives have been changed the historian might find little evidence to support the story of the empty tomb, but no historian will dispute the fact that after Easter the disciples were not the persons they were before, in fact, so great was the enthusiasm of the followers of Jesus. Incidentally, the word enthusiasm comes from the Greek word trios, meaning possessed by God.
So great was the enthusiasm that we can say Christianity began with Easter had there been no risen Christ, there would be no gospels, no epistles, no New Testament, no sacraments, no Christian Church. These are all the results of Easter. Mary might have supposed him to be a gardener yet if we read on, we see she becomes aware of a change period a change in her as well as in him. What is clear by the record is that instead of despair she found herself to be in a community of hope. Instead of fear she was filled with enthusiasm.
And so good people, the message of Easter is not about appearances. Nor is it to be about resuscitated corpses that we may not recognize. Insert is a message about change, and the results are becoming enthusiastic. As it is written in the preface to the Roman Catholic requiem life is changed not ended.
We may not recognize him, but we can become aware of the results all around us. Life is changed not ended. We celebrate not an appearance, not a memory
. We celebrate a result. He is risen and therefore we are changed
Alleluia