Easter Sunday, 24 April 2011
Matthew 28:1-10
This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. And a beautiful morning it is. New life blooms where hopes lie buried, in fact as well as figuratively. Those crocus bulbs we planted in the fall have bloomed and blown, and hyacinth are emerging, and daffodils and tulips soon to come. It is a festival of spring, new life emerging.
Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate the spring festival with his disciples-- the spring festival of Passover, which is also a festival of new life. We were once slaves in Egypt, and God brought us out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and led us across the Red Sea waters, and through the wilderness, and brought us across the flowing Jordan, to the promised land. The festival of Passover and the festival of the Resurrection, Easter, are both about the power of God to raise a people up, from death to life.
Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover, a celebration of freedom for a people who were, at the time, not so free as their oppressors would like them to imagine. Yes, they were in their promised land, the land that was given to their ancestors, but it wasn’t theirs anymore. It was an outpost of the Empire, and the people were, in a sense, exiles in their own land.
The good news of Jesus, according to Matthew, began with an angel’s announcement. “Do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid, Joseph, to take Mary as your wife, because the child she will bear will be Emmanuel, God-with-us.” Here we are in the final chapter of the gospel according to Matthew, and it ends as it began: Do not be afraid!
Do not be afraid, the angel said to the women at the tomb. Do not be afraid when the earth quakes. Do not be afraid when the tomb is empty. Do not be afraid, because God is doing what God always does, making a way out of no way, bringing freedom to the oppressed, and courage to people who seem to have the least reason to be courageous.
Look at the contrast between the women at the tomb, and the armed guards at the tomb. For fear of them, the guards shook and became like dead men. The angel’s message brought courage to women, and brought the brut squad to their knees. Beautiful!
And then Jesus appeared to the women with the same message, a command, “Do not be afraid!” Fear is for Herod, who was frightened, and all of Jerusalem with him, when he heard of Jesus birth. Fear is for religious authorities who would have arrested Jesus sooner, but for their fear of the crowds who followed him. Fear is for the mighty. You, who follow Jesus, do not fear!
Between the first and last chapters of Matthew’s gospel, between the beginning and the end of the story, Jesus said it over and over again. Do not be afraid for what you will eat or what you will wear. Do not be afraid when people mock you and slander you. Be not afraid!
Jesus was repeating the lessons he learned as a student of the Hebrew scriptures: Do not fear, is what the Israelites learned in the wilderness, when God provided bread from heaven. Do not fear, Joseph learned when he was sold into slavery in Egypt. Do not fear, is what God said to David when he was hiding from Saul and to Elijah when he was hiding from Ahab. Do not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day. Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name, you are mine. The message circles round through the scriptures.
Do not be afraid. Unless you are Herod. If you are a Herod, be afraid, be very afraid. Do not be afraid, unless you are Pharaoh. If you are a Pharaoh, be afraid, be very afraid, for God has promised to come with justice for the oppressed.
Though you may feel like a slave, though you may feel like you are trying to make bricks without any straw, do not be afraid.
Though you may feel like an exile in your own land, do not be afraid.
Though you may feel you have no strength, and no voice, do not be afraid.
In Jesus, God has come to us as a slave, and an exile. In Jesus, God seemed to have been silenced and beaten. The power of God and the mercy of God and the hope of God’s people seemed to have died on the cross with Jesus. End of story.
But that was not the end of the story.
On that Easter morning, our story begins again, as it first began, “Do not be afraid. God is with us.” Emmanuel—God is with us, even to the end of the age.
This is the resurrection experience: the courage to live without fear.
Say it with me, Christ is risen. CHRIST IS RISEN. Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen.
