Year A

Matthew 28:1-10

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

The Final Word

Have you heard the good news? Jesus who died on Friday is alive. Christ who was crucified is risen from the dead. The tomb is empty. God has made known God’s power over sin and death. The impossible Dawn is possible! Shouts of gladness, triumph, praise and joy resound on this glorious day as we experience the good news of resurrection and new life. If we listen carefully to the great hymns of Easter, we will hear words of abundant life and triumph over death. Easter is a great and joyous celebration of God’s victory, a victory we are able to share in through faith. What a blessing this is for you and me. A blessing that is only possible because of the great love God has for all God’s people. 

In the past few weeks, we have heard a lot about blessings. We heard how thirst can be a blessing if it leads us to drink of Jesus the living water. Blindness can be a blessing when it leads to eyes being opened to the love and forgiveness of God. And we heard that the cross is the ultimate blessing in disguise. This blessing cannot be separated from the blessing of Easter. For without the cross, there is no Easter. Without Easter, the cross remains a symbol of defeat and failure rather than a symbol of resurrection and new life. There is no greater blessing than this! Our faith in God through our belief in Christ has the power to transform our life here and now. We have the blessing of resurrection in this life and new life forever with God.

Yet, this blessing could not have been known to the two grieving Mary’s as they made their way to the tomb, as the first day of the week was dawning to perform “a necessary chore.” The gospels of Mark and Luke tell us that the women went to the tomb carrying spices. They went to prepare Jesus’ body for burial, a process that would include cleaning, anointing, and wrapping the corpse. A process they had not had time to even begin on Friday afternoon. Jesus was entombed in great haste on Good Friday. They had to get his body off the cross and into the grave quickly, before the sun went down and the Sabbath began. For the prohibition against working on the Sabbath was very strong, especially against handling anything so unclean as a dead body.

Though it was a painful duty, they loved Jesus. There was no doubt in their minds that it had to be done. And so off they go to the tomb. When they arrive at the tomb, Matthew tells us Jesus had already risen! And all heaven appears to break loose. An angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, comes and rolls back the stone so the women and later the disciples could see in. The guards faint and the women are so afraid that they could hardly wait for the angel to finish speaking, before they start to run away from the tomb. Even though the angel said, do not be afraid, they were shaking with fear, and yet somehow filled with great relief and joy. Jesus, the one they loved had risen from the dead!

Suddenly Jesus himself appeared and said, “Greetings!” which taken literally, the word means “rejoice!” The Mary’s are face-to-face with the unthinkable. Jesus alive? Christ with us? And the only thing they could do was fall down at his feet and worship him but not for long because he repeats what the angel had told the women, “Do not be afraid,” and “Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, there they will see me.” This first Easter is exploding with excitement, joy and urgent energy. The women run to take the message to the disciples that Jesus is alive and going ahead to Galilee to where they will see him also. What a powerful and deeply meaningful story that establishes the blessing of eternal life for you and me. Jesus’ resurrection is God’s victory over death.

Throughout the centuries, Christians have understood that the victory of Jesus’ resurrection is one in which we share. Paul understood our experience as one of dying and being raised with Christ through our baptism. This new life we have in Christ is even more precious than the gift of life because it is a gift that can never be taken away. Not even death can end this gift; it is a blessing given for all eternity. Paul describes this new life in Christ as one that is set on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. This process of becoming a new self is not easy, it doesn’t happen in a moment but in time as we set our minds more and more on the “things that are above,’ we become a new creation.

This was Peter’s and the other disciple’s story. During the years following the death and resurrection of Jesus, Peter emerged as the central leader of the church. He came to see, and proclaim, that Jesus’ resurrection casts a new light on all that they, the disciples had come to know about God. Easter proclaims that death is not a final ending but is a new beginning for all people because God raised Jesus for all people. Easter is a story of love. The resurrection shows us that God’s love is the most powerful force in the world and will ultimately triumph over death.

We have come to the end of our Lenten journey that began with Jesus being tested in the wilderness and has ended with him being raised to new life. Along the way we have discovered many blessings in disguise: trials, risk-taking, thirst, blindness, death, and the cross. But this journey does not end with the cross. It ends with Easter: the ultimate blessing in disguise. I invite you today to accept the risen Christ into your life anew, and to get to know him a little better. You may just experience again the kind of joy that will make you want to run right into the loving and living arms of God. And a kind of joy that just makes you, want to shout out to the world that Jesus is Alive! Christ is risen!  Alleluia!  Alleluia! Alleluia!