Come On Up for the Rising!

Pastor Jeff Jaynes

April 12, 2009—Easter!
Southern Hills UMC, Tulsa, OK
Difficult Alternative
--I didn’t really want to preach this passage today
--I wanted to take the easy road out…the alternate passage for Easter (John 20:1-18)
--Mary in the garden with Jesus, big hugs, disciples telling the good news
--while Mark leaves us with the women stunned and afraid

Rough Ending
--hard to say why Mark ends this way
--and most scholars do believe this was likely the true end of the gospel
--think that others also didn’t like the way Mark stopped and filled in the gaps for him
--some added a short ending, others a longer ending (probably all aren’t original)
--others think the original manuscript must have been ripped, or missing another page
--consensus among scholars seems to be that this ending is the real one
--and not many know why it ended this way

Pearly Gates
--and, truth be told, most of us who preach on this passage would prefer an alternative
--we’d much rather talk to you about glorious good news, joyous celebrations
--just like the fact that we all like to talk about heaven: pearly gates, streets of gold
--but try to find someone who enjoys talking about the way we get there: death
--not a subject that really gets the crowds going, is it?

Funereal
--and yet, it is death that I can’t help but think about as I read this passage
--it reminds me of funerals, and families and friends in the midst of grief
--as a pastor, I have the occasion to be with people in that most difficult time
--as much as I’d almost always wish to prevent that pain, I rather enjoy doing funerals
--and, on that, I think I’m in the majority of pastors
--not that we are a macabre bunch, enjoy dealing with death
--it’s because a funeral gives us a chance to talk about the resurrection

Little Easters
--in a way, every Christian funeral should be like a little Easter
--families gather to remember the dead, those they loved, given huge parts of their lives
--and, at least in my case, a young man in white gets to tell them: “He is not here.”
--it is a chance to retell the story and the glory of resurrection, and Christ’s work in us
--move from grief into celebration, sorrow into joy

Not that Easy

--but, truth be told, that move is not that easy, is it?
--truth is that grieving is hard—it’s hard to just move on, or have peace
--you don’t want to move on even if that’s all others are trying to tell you to do
--truth is, you don’t know what you want to do…stunned, and scared
“Stunned”
--Eugene Peterson, great translator, uses “stunned” to describe women at tomb
--New Jerusalem Bible says they were “frightened out of their wits”
--I’ll bet if I polled those who have recently lost loved ones—or not so recently—
--they’d say a big “Amen” to that emotion
--I mean, can you imagine?
--these women had been with Jesus for a long time
--whether you believe Dan Brown’s fiction or not, Mary Magdalene close to Jesus
--Mary the mother of James may very well also have been the mother of Jesus
--and Salome—possibly Mary’s sister—Jesus’ aunt
--women for whom Jesus meant everything
--women, Mark tells us chap. 15, who saw him die on the cross and buried in the tomb
--of course they were stunned

Keep it together
--I’m sure part of the reason they even went to the tomb that day was for something to do
--get away from the other disciples, huddled in fear and sorrow
--at least preparing the body was something to do
--and it seemingly needed to be done too—Joseph of Arimathea seemingly buried quickly
--so they went…and when they got there, they knew something was amiss
--stone was already moved…already things not going according to plan
--somehow, this very large stone had already been rolled away
--and then they look into the tomb and see what they think is a young man in white robe
--and, not expecting to see anyone or anything except a body, they were alarmed
--on top of everything else, there was no body—and this kid was in its place
--maybe even more alarmed when he spoke to them, saying, “Don’t be alarmed”
--like saying “Don’t panic” in the midst of a situation that obviously brings panic
--they may or may not have even heard his message of good news
--“He has been raised; he is not here”
--“Look, there is the place they laid him”—not there anymore
--“Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you”
--“There you will see him, just as he told you.”
--you’ll see him again, by and by
--he is not here
--it seems to have gone in one ear and out another
--for they were still stunned by the whole experience

9/11 widows
--reminds me of how the 9/11 widows and widowers must have felt
--watching the planes crash into the buildings, over and over on the news
--knowing their loved ones were gone, or likely gone
--lives changed in an instant, forced by all around to constantly relive the pain
--stunned into silence, fear of what might happen next
--no body to bury, seemingly no warning this grief was coming
--walking through the world like living dead, their world forever changed in an instant
“The Rising”
--a year after 9/11, Bruce Springsteen, sang into this stunned silence
--the rock star from nearby New Jersey, released album aimed at touching broken hearts
--wrote songs about the lonesome days the survivors faced
--about waiting for the sunny days of hope to return
--and, toward the end of the album, a song of resurrection—he called it “The Rising”
--relived that painful day, of the darkness and tears, sadness and fears
--and yet it called the listener to a deeper truth, a dream of life, that was still possible
--new day of hope, even after the stunning reality of pain
--one writer called it “an Easter like anthem arising out of the darkness and despair of
September 11th, a national Good Friday if there ever was one.”1
--even mentions Mary in that garden of a thousand sighs as she walked to the tomb
Ahead of the game
--what Bruce sang into is the reality that Christian preachers proclaim every Sunday
--and at every funeral, if they do it right
--that in the midst of our sadness and despair
--in the midst of our pain and grief
--in our deepest valley and darkest days
--God comes to us and reminds us “He is not here.” He has raised just as he said
--the problem may just be what the young man told the women
--“he is going ahead of you”
--just takes us a while to catch up to the reality of the resurrection
--move from despair at death to disbelief at empty tomb to declaration of the good news
--took some time for them to get to Galilee
--to pick up their heads and see the Rising before their eyes

Our World Feels Like Friday

--to many in our world, life seems a lot more like Friday than Sunday morning
--feels full of despair, like our world is crashing down around us
--some have experienced the death of a loved one
--some have experienced the death of dreams—of future together, retirement
--some are still stunned in disbelief that this is really happening to them
--world feels as disjointed as this ending from Mark
--their world entombed with sadness, don’t even know the stone’s been rolled away

He Lives
--friends, the truth is that it is Sunday, that the stone has been rolled away, morning come
--Christ has risen indeed, just as he said, and he can move us through our fear and pain
--Christ still lives, goes on ahead of us, leads us into the good news of tomorrow
--because he lives we can get up and face the uncertain days of our future
--because he lives we have no need to be afraid, “out of our wits”
--because he lives, we too might live—and tell the good news to all who can hear
--Come on up, for the Rising—for Christ has risen. He has risen indeed.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
1
Symynkywicz, Jeffery The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen . (Westminster John Knox Press , 2008), 150