Matthew
28:1-10
After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and
the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great
earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled
back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his
clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead
men. But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; I know that you
are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been
raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and
tell his disciples, "He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is
going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.' This is my message for
you." So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to
tell his disciples.
Suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!"
And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus
said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee;
there they will see me."
Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go
and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me
·
Christ
is risen from the dead. By death, he conquered death and to those in the tombs,
he granted life.
·
The women at the tomb doing their
ordinary familial duty for a lost loved one. The women know the way to the tomb
and they know what to do once they’re there.
·
Yet when they arrive there, they
can’t do their duty; something has changed. No, strike that! Everything has
changed!
· We
know that with any change in life, everything around it changes. One simple
change effects the whole system, the whole thing, every part and how each part
interacts with the other parts.
· For
example: the loss of a spark plug or a certain hose or wire effects the entire
engine. Maybe it’ll run, maybe it won’t, but it sure won’t run the same as a
well-tuned machine.
· For
another example: In our body, a simple runny nose can ruin your whole day. A burned
finger can distract you from everything else you might want to do… and let’s
not even mention a toothache! Sadness or anger can colour our every perception
and thought and they both can change how we interact with people and how we see
ourselves.
· In
our Gospel reading, the women doing their ordinary thing, doing what would be
expected for their lost kin, encounter something extraordinary that creates a
“new ordinary.”
· Something
has happened that has changed everything and things cannot go back to what they
were before, even if the tasks, the chores, or whatever those women do is done
like it’s been done before. What is done might never change, and why it is done
might never change either. The world in which those things are done and the
person doing those things are changed forever, and things cannot go back to the
way they were.
· Think
back for a moment to the important milestones in our own lives. Consider how
those events changed us and the world we know. We all know those milestones – a
birth, a death, a sickness, a new home, a new country. Any of those events
changed and effected our lives in so many ways, maybe more than we can count.
· There’s
an “ordinary” we hardly ever think about and on this day after what we’ve all
been part of today - both the baptism and the celebration of resurrection, it bears thinking about.
· The
only ordinary we’ve ever experienced is the ordinary life of grace. As
Christians, we might not be able to imagine a world without the grace of God. We
are so steeped in grace and the very life of God that I don’t think we can
think outside of grace. I don’t think I want to. We don’t have to.
· With
the resurrection of Christ, all areas of our lives and the life of the world
have been touched by grace. Things may not appear to be changed, but remember
that where graced people are, grace is present and where God’s people are, they
will find God there ahead of them.
· Things
cannot be the same because they simply cannot be. Christ’s resurrection and our
participation it his death and resurrection through our baptism have seen to
that.
· So
today (and even if only today) we greet each other with the ancient salutation
and proclamation, the one that springs from faith and renews our faith as we
share it one to another.
· Like
our Saviour says to the women at the tomb “Do not be afraid!” Don’t be
afraid of it. Use whatever language you want. It tells of the event that gives
us life and give us hope. It proclaims the new creation and the new ordinary of
grace and the Kingdom of God that Christ’s death and resurrection have given us
· “Do
not be afraid!”
· Christ
is risen! He is risen indeed!
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