"Answering Why" Easter April 5, 2015

John 20:1-18 Part of me there is, that loves Easter! Gathering with family and friends at sunrise in the Gazebo. A full Sanctuary not only makes the organ sound better, it makes the preacher preach better. Trumpets and singing “Jesus Christ is Risen Today!” Lilies, little girls in dresses, Chocolate and Jelly beans. Easter is a day of absolute unbridled joy, beyond reason, without understanding, Joy! Part of me there is, that does not, because Easter is really all about answering: After Death. And if we are honest, Easter is not about coming back, or beating Cancer; the Resurrection is not a consolation for having died. Easter is a new and different reality! And Easter happens again and again as we have to let go of what we have been hanging onto, in order to live life differently with God! Death may be sudden and horrific. A train that hits an SUV. A plane that crashes into a mountain. Death is working at a job for 40 years and suddenly being told there have to be cut backs. Death is discovering that working all your life to pay down a mortgage, discovering your property has been losing value. Death is finding a note with a pile of legal papers saying Marriage to you has become too hard. Death is a family intervention, where your blood relatives abandon you. Death is being told, we can try a lot of things to control pain, but there are no options. Death is a black hole, in which everything you thought you knew, is now different. Hopeless. We are a culture that avoids Death. I phoned a company the other day, asking to speak with the manager I had worked with for years, and the person I was speaking with said “They passed.” I thought they had gotten a promotion, or graduated with a degree, until it sunk in “passed” meant Death. We get out of bed at 5 in the morning to exercise, we avoid all the things that give us pleasure, take enough vitamins and medications to make us rattle when we walk, all in hope of postponing Death. There are circumstances and relationships that are beyond our control. When we are born and to whom. When we die. We cannot discriminate. We cannot make religion mean what we want it to mean. It is poignant that 70 years ago this week, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was put to death, because as a minister he stood up against the Nazi State saying you cannot claim religion as the reason for persecution, for hate. When someone we know is dead, we ask for an autopsy, which names what, when and how, not Why. In all the Bible, we are following the 5 questions of Journalism: Who, What, When, Where, How. There is no reason Why God created the Heavens and the Earth. No reason Why Abel's offering was accepted and not Cain's offering. There is no answer for Why God chose Abram, or why Abraham was to be Kosher and Circumcised. There is no answer for Why Moses. There is no answer why the people sinned, turning away from God. It is not logical, not a matter of reason, that after exiling the Nation, Why God brings them home. There is no reason Why Mary and Joseph were chosen. No explanation for Why lepers were cleansed. The first clue we have, concerning Why, comes in relation to Lazarus who died... Jesus loved him. There is no identification who The Beloved Disciple was, throughout John, I wonder if it was Lazarus? Easter in John is different from the other Gospels. In Matthew, the Marys get to the tomb, and there is Lightning and Thunder, the ground shakes and the Guards are paralyzed like dead men. Suddenly, Jesus appears and in one of the few places the Bible includes an Exclamation Point Jesus says “Hail!” Like jumping out and saying “Surprise!” or “Boo!” In Mark's Gospel, the women went away terrified and told No One what they had heard or seen, in Luke they thought it an idle tale. John is different. John is told with sensitivity, as if understanding that Death is hard to confront, hard to answer. John is dealing with Answering Why. We may question whether God created the Universe, or if it was an accident of fate. We may question and theorize much about life. But the facts as presented in the Gospel of John are that Jesus was Dead, they took his body down from the cross, Nicodemus who had visited Jesus at Night speaking of being Born Again, and God so loved the world God gave God's only begotten Son, Nicodemus paid for an elaborate burial which would have included washing the body and spices and perfumes and flowers, they laid his dead body in in the tomb, wrapped his body and covered his face with a handkerchief. Then the guards sealed the tomb forever. Mary Magdalene is alone in dealing with death. She goes to the Garden while it is dark inside her and out. In Genesis, there was a Garden where there had never been death, we call it Eden, Paradise. In John, Death is the context, for what comes after. There are no pyrotechnics, when she comes to the tomb all is silent and empty, violated and open. Fearing someone did something to Jesus' dead body, Mary runs to find the disciples. Hearing her, say “They have taken his body” the disciples run toward the tomb. The Beloved Disciple gets there first but does not go in. Again, I have to believe Lazarus would have reason to be reticent to enter a tomb. Simon Peter looks in. The Beloved Disciple physically goes into the tomb. And now they see he is gone and they believe in the empty tomb. They go away wondering. For some of us, that is as far as we get in faith, is wondering, and that is okay. Mary stayed. Mary looked in and saw two angels. There is no shock, no surprise. They ask “Why she weeps?” She sees someone, her mind will not allow her to recognize who he is. The grammar here is wonderfully non-descript as if to say, “Mister, if you have taken the man, tell me where.” She does not name the stranger, or Jesus whom she wants, Mary makes the assumption the stranger is the Gardener. Which given what we said about the Garden of Eden is quite cute. He calls her by name, and she responds with a pet-name, an intimate relational identity, “Teacher!” Everything about Death is a denial of Life. Denial of relationship. Denial of intimacy. Denial of Hope. Denial of God! The most natural thing when we experience the death of someone we love, is that we feel Numb. We feel Nothing. Because Death is that Void, that Waste, that Chaos, named in Genesis before God began God's Work. Yet, when Jesus speaks to Mary in relationship, calling her by name, it is like Calling Life into being. While she knows and is certain of his death, this Call transforms her to believing Easter, believing Jesus is alive again. There is irony here. Whenever people cry in Church they try to apologize for their tears, they try to hide them and explain them away. There is NOTHING more natural or expected in an intimate personal place dealing with the joys and sorrows of life and death, weddings, love, birth, loss, than tears. However, the natural response of Mary to finding Jesus alive, would have been to fling herself into his arms, her arms wrapped tightly round his neck; and instead Jesus says “Do not hold onto me.” Something tells me, this is not about physical contact, so much as we cannot “hold onto” Easter, the living cannot hold onto the resurrection, life is always moving, always growing, and as much as we face death and believe we have it all answered, facing a different death we struggle all over again. Easter is not about going back, denying death, or doing whatever we can to postpone death. Easter is Answering Death with a new Identity and relationships. Jesus Death on the Cross atoned for all the sins of the world.Christ's Resurrection was the Death of Death, the answer to Fears and Doubts and Shame. In Genesis, humanity was exiled, forced out of the Garden in shame... In John, Jesus sends Mary out on a mission, she is the first Apostle telling others “He was dead and now He is risen!” This morning, being Easter, I came to the church early, while it was still dark, to prepare for the Sunrise Worship service. As I went to unlock the doors, I found a man's body lying in front of the doors. On Easter morning, when you meet a stranger with long brown hair and a beard, like Jesus, you do not question, I invited him in where it was warm to rest. He came in, describing he was from Seattle and had been visiting his daughters for the first time in Maine, and was returning home. I made coffee found some cereal and bagels, and allowed him to rest while I went to the Sunrise Worship. When I returned, he had gone. Easter is not about doubting or questioning, but living life differently, trusting God and one another.