Easter 2010

Police dramas have a medical examiner give the time of death of the body by various indicators. If a medical examiner came to the tomb of Jesus  at some point on Saturday, they could give the time of death that we usually place around 3PM on Good Friday. They would note the cold temperature, the rigor. I say this to remind us that Jesus was in the grave, not in a coma, not in suspended animation, but dead and gone, buried. So he was not merely brought back, not resuscitated, but resurrected, given new life in a new way. He is, quite literally, born again. Only God can bring life from death. Only God can make the tomb into a womb.

 

Why seek the living among the dead? In a way the women were the dead among the living, with their hopes shattered and acting out of brave duty. Now the dream was alive once more. God has done a new thing to have new life arise from the dead. An empty tomb is the womb of a new birth. The dream is no longer dead, interred, but alive and on the loose.

Easter stress the full rich possibilities of life here and now, not living bit by bit being chipped away but grabbing its precious gift. the past gets integrated in us,as a  living part of us, not thev dead hand of thepast.Lliving Easter life is a new full, surprising life. The words of Jesus acquired new life. They had forgotten the words about suffering and rising, but the words of the two men in dazzling clothes clicked the memory switch on. We live in Easter light when we see our lives in the light of Scripture.

 

In Easter we participate in God's new future, maybe better new advent. We can try to forecast the future but not the surprising ways of God. God moves toward us.Death does not win the war between life and death. Love reaches into the cold tomb and warms it with its massive heart. No wonder Luke has two witnesses at the empty tomb. Every year it looks as if the cold of winter takes over. Then, bit by bit, the earth comes to life again. Easter is a spring celebration, but it is the shock of the new, not expecting the predictable return of perennial flowers.

 

Isaiah imagines a new world, one beyond resurrection perhaps, where death will lose its hold on us. It imagines a world of delights and peace, certainly an easier life. People would live a long long time. We are starting to approach such a time, when we expect to live  as long as the biblical patriarchs. This is not a return to Eden, but a new Eden, with its vulnerability to evil and death banished.

 

Ministers often regard the Easter bunny as an intrusive story for children. I have some sympathy for the bunny. It imagines a sweeter world, shorn of the predator, and it points toward the sweetness of life itself. Easter candy emphasizes the sweetness of life. A while back, to emphasize that very point, we give out candy every week, not only on Easter to the children. God's love on Easter is seen in the dazzling light of new life.  We encounter, we engage, the love of God over even death itself in the risen Christ. God not only gives space and time for us in this world, but God has made space, made a place for us in his very presence in the world beyond death. It is our very selves, our very lives, that will persist and grow int eh light of heaven's love one day.