WHAT’S EASTER?

A sermon by the Rev. Dr. Marie Sheldon

Harundale Presbyterian Church

Glen Burnie, Maryland

March 31, 2002

Text: “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.” (John 20:1)

Scripture Passage: John 20: 1-18

There are many stories told about Saint Peter and the Pearly Gates. Here’s one of them: An individual appeared at the entrance to heaven, asking to be allowed in. Saint Peter replied with, “OK – tell me, what’s Easter?” The individual answered, “Isn’t that the day America was discovered?” “No, that’s wrong,” stormed Saint Peter. “You can’t come in.” Another individual stood at heaven’s entrance, and Saint Peter asked the same question: “What’s Easter?” The second individual responded, “Oh, that’s when the fat man with a white beard brings gifts to children. He wears a red suit and travels with reindeer.” “No, Saint Peter said, “That has nothing to do with Easter. You can’t get into heaven either.” Saint Peter, quite exasperated by this time asks a third individual, “What’s Easter?” “Easter?” came the response. “Isn’t that about the man who died on a cross, was buried, and on the third day he rose from the dead, rolled the stone away from his grave, looked out and saw his shadow, and then went back inside for six more months of winter?”

What’s Easter? It’s not easy to answer that question. Even our own secular society comes up with illogical images. Have you ever thought how absurd the images of a male Easter Bunny carrying eggs laid by a female hen really is?

The biblical images, especially those presented in this morning’s lesson from the Gospel of John are also confusing. There’s an empty tomb, but no one sees Jesus arise from it. Peter and another disciple went to peek into that empty tomb, where they see Jesus’ burial clothing. But they go home without saying a word about resurrection. Mary Magdalene weeps in the garden near the tomb. She sees someone she thinks is the gardener, not realizing that it’s really her beloved Jesus. Why didn’t she recognize the teacher who had become so dear to her? When he calls her by name, and she rushes to embrace him, Jesus tells her not to because he hadn’t yet ascended to the Father. What Jesus wants Mary to do, she does – to tell others about her own experience with the risen Lord. And that’s exactly what she does. John tells us she made the following announcement: “I have seen the Lord,” and she told her own resurrection story.

What’s Easter? It’s Good News. It’s the news that you don’t have to have all the right answers to get into heaven like those people Saint Peter turned away. We can get our stories mixed up, and God will still love us, and want us to come home.

Easter is the Good News that we don’t have to be ashamed of who we are – that even though we’ve made mistakes, and done hurtful things, we are still made in the image of God – and because Jesus died and rose for us, our sins and mistakes are washed away – and our innate goodness shines through – and God will love us for who we are.

Easter is the Good News that we don’t have to sing that sad song sung by the late Peggy Lee – “Is that all there is?” Is life just a series of disappointments and illnesses and losses and problems – and then you die? No. Easter tells us that life goes on – that because Jesus rose from the dead, so will we – that because Jesus went back to the Father, so will we.

Easter isn’t simply a once-a-year day when we take out our spring finery to celebrate the end of winter in Maryland. Easter is an attitude that under girds the life of Christians every day of the year. Jesus suffered – he suffered a lot to win salvation for us. But in the end, Easter showed that the victory was his and ours as well. We suffer, too. Yes, there are disappointments and illnesses and losses and problems, but life does indeed go on. It goes on through all of the personal Calvary’s we’ve encountered in our own lives – Calvary’s that brought eventual healing and changes in us that became in their own way Easter resurrections. And life goes on beyond what we see here. Easter is a promise that life is a continuum – that even though we don’t understand everything here – even though we have lots of “why” questions about God and the Bible and about the things that happen to us, the Easter promise of life everlasting was made by God because of the saving acts of Jesus Christ. And God, by the way, keeps promises.

What’s Easter? It’s a time to come together as a community of faith – to share in the bounty of the Lord’s table – to celebrate the joy of the resurrection and all it means to us as God’s children. Happy Easter – to you – and to those you love. Amen. Alleluia! Thanks be to God!