Easter Sunday - April 16, 2006

     A man was blissfully driving along the highway, when he saw the Easter Bunny hopping across the middle of the road.  He swerved to avoid hitting the Bunny, but unfortunately the weight of all that candy and stuff made it impossible for the Bunny to move very fast, so he hit the Bunny and the basket went flying all over the place.  Colorful eggs, jelly beans, fake grass, and a whole lot of candy covered the highway and the hood of the man’s car. 

     Being a sensitive man and an animal lover, the driver stopped, pulled over to the side of the road, and got out to see what had happened to the Bunny.  Much to his dismay, the Bunny appeared dead.  The driver felt guilty and, being the sensitive type, began to cry.

     A woman driving down the same highway saw the man crying on the side of the road and pulled over.  She stepped out and asked the man what was wrong.

     “I feel terrible,” he said.  “I accidentally hit the Easter Bunny and I think he’s dead.  There may not be an Easter because of what I did.  What should I do?”

     The woman told the man not to worry.  She knew exactly what to do.  She went to the trunk of her car and pulled out a spray bottle and walked over to the limp Bunny and sprayed the entire contents onto the furry little animal.

     Miraculously the Easter Bunny sprang up, jumped up and down a few times, picked up the spilled eggs, jelly beans and candy, waved his paw at the two humans and hopped on down the road.  About 50 yards down the road the Easter Bunny stopped, turned around, and waved.  He hopped another 50 yards, stopped, turned, waved, and hopped another 50 yards and did the same thing.  He did that until he was out of sight.

     The man was astonished.  He said to the woman, “What in heaven’s name is in your spray can?  What was it you sprayed on the Easter Bunny?”

     The woman turned the can around so that the man could read the label.  It said: “Hair spray.   Restores life to dead or injured hair.  Adds permanent wave.”

      Well, thankfully, Easter does not depend on the health of a made-up rabbit that lays eggs.  Easter is about God’s great reversal.  God is in charge of this day.  We have dealt with rejection and death through the long season of preparation we call Lent.  Holy week, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday all revolve around the theme of rejection, betrayal, denial, torture, and death.  The events of Good Friday appeared to end the story of the Jesus Movement.  He had been tried on trumped-up charges, nailed to a cross, died an agonizing death, and been laid in a borrowed tomb.  The stone had been rolled securely over the opening.  That was the truth of the matter.

     Vickie Houk, rector of Christ Church, Pulaski, put an obituary in her newsletter that might have appeared in the Nazareth Gazette.  She said it might read like this:

     “Jesus of Nazareth was born in the year 6BC, son of Mary and Joseph, the carpenter.  He was preceded in death by his earthly father, Joseph, and is survived by his mother, Mary of Capernaum and brothers James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon, all of Capernaum, and several sisters.  As a child he taught in the temple.  Later he worked in his father’s carpentry shop and was baptized as an adult by his cousin, John.  During his lifetime he received some notoriety and publicity because of unusual occurrences wherever he went; the blind gained their sight, the deaf were able to hear again, and the lame walked without aid.  It was rumored that he radically changed people’s lives; including tax collectors and prostitutes, foreigners as well as the area’s rich and elite, even a church leader or two.  Last Sunday, in Jerusalem, large Passover crowds hailed him as King.  Shortly thereafter, the crowds turned against him.  On this past Friday, he was sentenced to death by the Roman Procurator, Pontius Pilate, who represented the Roman Empire in Jerusalem.  He died about 3:00 PM on a cross at Calvary, known popularly as Golgotha Hill, outside the walls of Jerusalem.  Burial was in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, who graciously provided a burial place for the family to save them to expense of transporting the body back to Nazareth or Capernaum.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests that all memorials be sent to the Crippled Children’s Fund in Bethlehem, where Jesus was born about thirty-three years ago.”  The obituary was in the Sunday paper, Section E, page seven, near the bottom of the page.

     Well, that obituary was wrong.  Good Friday did not end the story.  Easter is about life and today we get our “Alleluia!” back.  It is a testimony to how wrong that obituary was that by the millions, gathered in large churches and small, in the year 2006 we unite in one voice to shout “Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia!” 

     What does it mean to make that outrageous claim?  How do we know the truth of God’s great reversal?  I would suggest we know it because we have lived it.  In our personal lives and in the life of this parish, we know the truth of God’s story.

     Friday was awful.  Saturday was empty.  Sunday is glorious.  Friday to Saturday to Sunday is very often a reflection of life.  From agony to death to life is sometimes the pattern and design that life takes.  Jesus the Christ knew life that way.  You and I know life that way, as well.  From agony to death to life summarized the Christian experience.

     One of the great challenges facing the Christian church in this modern technological, instant-communication, virtual-reality, synthetic age is that so many people, many of whom are regular churchgoers, spend so much of their lives in Saturday.  Emptiness and loneliness of an in-between time characterizes the approach many take to life.  Existing between Good Friday and Easter, between agony and life, in a type of limbo-state that is somewhat analogous to being alone while surrounded by people is one way to describe modern living for many.  We have our TV’s, cell phones, iPods, Blackberries, lap and desktop computers, instant-messaging, tech-messaging, and wireless networks.  It is a sociological mystery why so many people continue to list isolation and loneliness as a major problem in our society.

     Easter day is God’s amazing, surprising gift to us to remind us that we do not have to live isolated, lonely lives in an in-between time.  Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, and Mary his mother and some other faithful women walked to a tomb in that in-between time that first Easter morning.  Their hearts were fixed in Saturday and suddenly Sunday dawned.  What did that central event in human history mean for those fear-filled women?  What does it mean for us?

     First, it means we have the continuing presence of Jesus the Christ in this real world where we live and move and have our being.  He is not separated from life.  When we stand beside a tomb on a Friday, when we share a meal together, when we walk along a beach or in the woods, or gather with friends in an upper room not knowing what to do next, Jesus stands among us.  When two or three congregate in his name he is there among them, as well. 

     Because of this day our death can have life, our graves can be overcome, our Saturdays can lead to high holy days, our valleys can be exalted, and our miseries relieved, our despair turned to hope, our wounds healed, and our scars can become symbols of love.

     Secondly, this day means we can now listen with ears of faith.  We do not know everything we need to know in order to serve as judge, jury, and executioner with respect to social issues.  There are yet many things, and a great deal of truth, to be revealed to us.  If we will listen with ears of faith and be quiet enough in this loud, boisterous world we may hear the words of our friend saying “Don’t be afraid.”  “Peace be with you.”  “Feed my sheep.”  “Go, tell all the others.”

     Thirdly, this day makes possible the raising of dead bodies and dead spirits.  It has to do with issuing an invitation.  We may, if we choose, meet Jesus the Christ in everyday routines, in the sacraments he has given us, in the faithful reading of scripture, in joining with others in regular worship, and in the surprises of life. 

     We make an absurd claim this day.  Jesus Christ is risen!  If that is true, we have nothing more to say.  If it is not true, it doesn’t matter what else we say.  For those who believe and for those who do not believe, life will never be the same.  For those who believe, death is not the final answer; life is!  That will never be found in a spray can.  Happy Easter.  Amen.