Easter Sunday

Matthew 28:1-10

Grace and peace to you.

Have you ever wondered why the two women went to see the tomb early that morning? Maybe, like me, you have harmonized the different gospel stories and recall that Mark and Luke say they took spices in order to anoint Jesus, but neither Matthew nor John say that in their gospels.

So, it’s possible there were other reasons. Maybe they went for the same reasons we visit cemeteries and columbariums where our beloved rest, or that we visit monuments and public memorials as witnesses to those who died.

Perhaps they visited the tomb with eager and confident anticipation, fully expecting to meet the resurrected Christ, or maybe they vacillated between despair at the crucifixion and belief in the foretelling of his death that Jesus had made, and they went, cautiously hopeful, to the tomb.

Devotion, remembrance, witness. Despair, excitement and hope. All of these are part of the Easter story.

This Easter morning throughout the world Christians are celebrating Easter differently than we have in the past.

At Ascension, the flower cross that usually stands outside the church on Easter morning is waiting to make its appearance when we are no longer asked to stay home.

The organ is still, and no one is singing in the sanctuary.

The elements of bread and wine for Holy Communion are reserved for the day when we can gather in person again.

The kitchen is quiet and dark, without any biscuit or gravy, eggs, sausage or even coffee!

Maybe you’re thinking it doesn’t feel or sound or look like Easter.

Nearly eighty years ago when Dietrich Bonhoeffer was imprisoned in Germany, he wrote a letter to his parents, saying,

“I do want you to know that I am having a happy Easter in spite of everything. One of the advantages of Good Friday and Easter Day is that they take us out of ourselves, and make us think of other things, of life and its meaning, and its suffering and events. It gives us such a lot to hope for.”[i]

Especially today when I despair that we are not gathered together in person, I hear the angel tell Mary, “I know you are looking for Jesus… he is not here…he is going ahead of you.” (v. 5-7)

And I can let out the breath I didn’t even realize I have been holding, and be hopeful, because no matter where we are today, this is the day that the Lord has made, and Jesus has gone ahead of us.

While our sanctuary, our worship liturgies and rituals and our fellowship together are places where we find Jesus, especially on Easter morning, the angel’s words remind us there is no place that God’s love and presence does not reach and there is no death that Jesus does not conquer.

Thanks be to God. Alleluia. Alleluia.

[i] Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Letters and Papers from Prison, April 25, 1943.