A teacher assigned her class the topic, "What I'll be doing
during the Easter holiday." All the students began writing,
little Johnny in an especially animated and excited way. Soon,
he raised his hand. "Teacher, how do you spell 'gun'?"
Puzzled, the teacher said, "G-U-N."
Johnny continued to write even more furiously. Soon, he
raised his hand again. "Teacher, how do you spell 'die'?"
Alarmed, the teacher said, "D-I-E...Johnny, just what are
you intending to do this Easter?"
"Why, teacher, we gun die Easter eggs." (1)
Carol was the organist at her church. She was an
outstanding musician, but she did something no organist should
ever do. She overslept on Easter morning and missed the sunrise
service. She was so embarrassed. Of course, the minister and
the church forgave her. They teased her about it a little, but
it was done lovingly and in good fun.
However, the next Easter, her phone rang at 5:00 in the
morning. Jolted awake by the loud ringing, she scrambled to
answer it. It was the minister, and he said, "Carol, it's Easter
morning! The Lord is risen! . . . And I suggest you do the
same!"
Yes. It is Easter again. Time to revisit the old, familiar
story. The most familiar, of course, is John's version of the
resurrection. You will find it in chapter 20, and you can read
it this afternoon at home if you like, because I am going to work
with Matthew's version instead. No tender encounter in the
garden here, Matthew delivers an earthquake. He gives us a big
ol' angel - a buff, burly, Arnold Schwarzenegger angel. Strong
enough to muscle that hulking stone out of the way and sit on it,
without even breaking a sweat. Confronted with this fearsome
sight, "the guards shook and became like dead men." Interesting
irony. They are deader than the former occupant of the tomb is
right now. Matthew gives us power. God power.
As you noticed in our reading, we did not begin the story
where you might expect it to begin, not with dawn on Easter Day
"while the dew is still on the roses," but rather a little
earlier, in that strange, in-between time - the gray, nondescript
hours after the cross is empty, but before the tomb is.
The chief priests and the Pharisees come together before
Pilate, one last time. They remind the governor of something
Jesus once said: "After three days I will rise again."
"Better lock that tomb up tight," they suggest -- shaking
padlocks and lengths of chain out of the sleeves of their robes,
and dropping them in a great, clanking heap on Pilate's mosaic
floor. "We wouldn't want any miracles ruining our little plot
now, would we?" (Listen carefully for echoes of Snidely
Whiplash here: "Nyah, hah, hah!")
Pilate agrees. "Take a guard," Pilate instructs the chief
priests and Pharisees. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know
how."
"HA!" Matthew just loves the irony of those words. Unlike
his two-dimensional, ne'er-do-well villains, Matthew knows what
comes next. (And so do we: "You just wait, Pontius P. Your arms
are too short to box with God. It won't be long now.")
An aside here. We idolize many things in our culture, but
one idol (especially after September 11th) is security.
Politicians have made (or attempted to make) entire careers on
it. Our efforts at making ourselves secure are about as
ineffectual (and at times as comical) as Pilate's soldiers
rolling that huge stone in front of the tomb entrance, to prevent
the Son of God from strolling out.
In ancient China, the people wanted security against the
barbaric hordes to the north, so they built the Great Wall. It
was so high they believed no one could climb over it and so
thought nothing could break it down. They settled back to enjoy
their security. During the first hundred years of the wall's
existence, China was invaded three times. Not once did the
barbaric hordes break down the wall or climb over it. Each time,
they bribed a gatekeeper and then marched right through the
gates. The Chinese were so busy relying on walls of stone they
forgot to teach integrity to their children."
Integrity seems to have been in short supply back in
Jerusalem that day. More about that later.
Now we come to the story that is so familiar. Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary to finish their grisly task - the
embalming process begun on Friday had had to stop because of the
interruption of the Sabbath. They knew that it would be guarded
by legionnaires not renowned for compassion. Were they hoping
the guards would roll the stone away? Did it occur to them that
they might not be allowed in to complete their work? What were
they thinking? WERE they thinking? Probably not.
Meanwhile, Matthew gives us an explanatory sidebar. He
tells us about that earthquake, a seismos (in Greek) which is the
same root used a bit later when he says the guards "shook" - they
had their own inner earthquakes. A little pun on Matthew's part
perhaps? We have the appearance of the incredible white hulk of
an angel who takes care of the rolling stone problem as well as
the legionnaires, and he is now sitting on the stone like King of
the Mountain. The guards were lying on the ground, looking like
they had been mugged. What little light of dawn had begun to
break through the olive branches and shown into the tomb made it
apparent that the Lord's body was missing. And then they heard
the voice of this unusual-looking messenger breaking the
stillness of the early hour: "Do not be afraid." Right.
"Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for
Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as
he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly
and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going
ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.'"
The frightened visitors began to feel a bit more at ease.
Ever so cautiously they inched closer to the entrance of the tomb
following the invitation to look inside. Yep. Empty. No doubt
there were questions beginning to form in the ladies' minds, but
none had taken shape quite yet. In silence they turned to leave
and obey their instructions.
As they hustle themselves out of the garden on their
informational errand, they meet Jesus. There is no indication in
Matthew's account that they fail to recognize Jesus (that comes
from the more familiar account in John), just a glad reunion.
"Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and
worshiped him.
An aside here. Last Easter I asked if you had ever wondered
what Jesus was wearing? After all, his grave clothes were there
in the tomb. Did he find an extra pair of coveralls in the
gardener's tool shed over by the rakes and the lawn tractor, or
what? Last year I told you to ponder it over your Easter dinner,
come up with an answer, and report back to me. None of you
did!!! So I give you the assignment again. Discuss it at
dinner, and let me know.
"Greetings," says Jesus. The Greek word is chairete which
literally means "rejoice" but functions here as ordinary language
comparable to "Hi there" or, in my native tongue, "Hey, y'all."
No big deal. Yeah, it has been a interesting couple of days, but
now it's time to get on with business. "Hey y'all." Wow. No
doubt the women wanted to stay and talk, but Jesus reiterated the
instructions of the angel: "Go and tell my brothers to go to
Galilee; there they will see me." So off they go.
Now we come to the part that normally gets dropped from
these Easter readings, this brief account of the Roman guards
going into the city with the story of the strange events in the
garden. In another piece of delicious literary irony, Matthew
says they "reported" to the priests what had happened, "reported"
being the same Greek word used in previous verses concerning the
good news of the resurrection.
OK, priests, we have a problem. How do we handle it? Cash,
"a large sum of money," says the text. Here it is, the unholy
alliance between the religious, the political, and the military
with lots of money thrown in to hatch a lie to further their own
purposes. Where, oh, where have we ever seen that before?
The priests tell the soldiers, "You are to say, 'His
disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were
asleep.' That's your story - stick to it." Are you kidding?
Isn't this precisely the story that setting the guard and sealing
the tomb were designed to prevent? So the soldiers went along
with the plan, which was pretty risky on their part. Even though
the priests said they would intervene on the guards' behalf with
Governor Pilate, falling asleep on duty was a capital offense, so
these fellows were literally putting their life on the line.
Isn't it amazing what a man will do for money?
The story concludes, "And this story has been widely
circulated among the Jews to this very day." But we know very
well that, as time went on, the story never really caught on.
Despite the incredible leap of faith that was required, that life
could actually come from death, people came to believe the story
told by the women, even people who are not particularly
religious. Gallup polls in America to this day show large
majorities, regardless of religious background, saying they
believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. How amazing is
that?
By the way, did you notice the context of the resurrection
story in Matthew's account? The preface is the arrangement with
Pilate to seal the tomb, and the post script is the arrangement
with the guards. Just as Christ's crucifixion was between two
unsavory criminals, his resurrection is between two unsavory
conspiracies. Perhaps that is Matthew's way of reminding us (if
we need a reminder) that even the most powerful and important
events in our lives are often surrounded by ugliness.
But the powerful story remains. Every year it comes to us
and people continue to flock to hear it. Why? Because the story
never changes and the result is that all these questions have the
same answer:
- What is it that gives a widow courage as she stands beside a
fresh grave?
- What is the ultimate hope of the cripple, the amputee, the
abused, the burn victim?
- How can the parents of brain-damaged or physically
handicapped children keep from living their entire lives
totally and completely depressed?
- Why would anyone who is blind or deaf or paralyzed be
encouraged when they think of the life beyond?
- How can we see past the martyrdom of some helpless hostage
or devoted missionary?
- Where do the thoughts of a young couple go when they finally
recover from the grief of losing their baby?
- When a family receives the tragic news that a little
daughter was found dead or their dad was killed in a plane
crash or a son overdosed on drugs, what single truth becomes
their whole focus?
- What is the final answer to pain, mourning, senility,
insanity, terminal diseases, sudden calamities, and fatal
accidents?
One word: Resurrection!
Easter is about power - God power. What makes this day so
incredible is not that we now know there is life after death. We
have known that. Most ancient cultures believed that. From the
Happy Hunting Grounds to King Tut's tomb to the tiny cemetery
attached to the small country church, the notion of the afterlife
has been embraced for thousands of years. What happened with
Easter is that now we have found the way. Jesus is the way, the
truth, and the life for all who believe.
Years ago, Winston Churchill planned his own funeral, and he
did so with the hope of the resurrection and eternal life, in
which he firmly believed. And he instructed after the
benediction that a bugler positioned high in the dome of St.
Paul's Cathedral would play "Taps" - the quiet notes that signal
the ending of day.
But then came the very dramatic moment that Churchill had
also instructed. Another bugler had been placed on the other
side of the massive dome - he played "Reveille." A new day has
dawned, and it is time to arise. Indeed.
What does Easter mean to you? Teacher, how do you spell
gun?
G-U-N.
Teacher, how do you spell live?
L-I-V-E.
Easter means we GUN LIVE. That's my story and I'm stickin'
to it.
Amen.
1. From Ralph Milton's RUMORS, a free Internet 'e-zine' for Christians with a sense of
humor, 3/16/08
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