resurrection

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PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

In his thirty-eighth sermon, Meister Eckhart preaches, “If someone were to ask me: why do we pray, why do we fast, why do we all perform our devotions and good works, why are we baptized, why did God, the All-Highest, take on our flesh? then I would reply: in order that God may be born in the soul and the soul be born in God.

“Christ is risen and is rising up within us and all around us, give us eyes to see and ears to hear…and cultivate our hearts to receive life, abundant life.”                                                                                    

John 20:19-31

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin[a]), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe[b] that Jesus is the Messiah,[c] the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

I’m sure we have all heard the expression that something beautiful or scary or amazing to see can “take our breath away”.  We have probably also experienced moments in our lives when we’ve attempted something like riding a roller coaster at King’s Island, or jumping into a cold lake, or maybe experiencing the birth of a child where it “took our breath away”.

Perhaps we have also had moments in our lives filled with fear or anxiety, times where we feel like our breath has been taken away.

Or maybe we are like the writer of this song, Anna Nalick, “Breathe (2 AM)” that says:  

There’s a light at each end of this tunnel,
You shout ’cause you’re just as far in as you’ll ever be out
And these mistakes you’ve made, you’ll just make them again

Breathe, just breathe

We maybe feel trapped in situations that we feel like we can’t get out of on our own.  We feel caught and out of breath and in need of a “light at the end of a tunnel” or maybe out lives are like being underwater and we need to get to the surface for some air, to breathe.  We get caught in these moments and wonder “what’s next?”  And, can we handle what’s next?

Our text this morning has a lot to do with moments like this, moments in our lives when we need to breathe, breathing that brings life, and not just any life, but life as it was meant to be lived.

Right after Jesus’ death on a Roman cross and resurrection from the dead.  Jesus appears to his disciples.  I’m sure they were overwhelmed, in shock, and wondering what was going to happen next.  

They were locked in a room, afraid of the same folks who had just crucified Jesus and fearful that they would be after them as well.  They were wondering if there was a light at the end of the tunnel of fear that they were experiencing, the uncertainty was overwhelming, not sure what to think about what’s going to happen next.  The room was shut, and probably the lives of those disciples were in a state of being shut down from fear. There was probably a war of emotions going on within them.

Into this room, this state of anxiety, Jesus appears and has the greeting “Peace to you”.    The word “peace” in this context is a common word, but in this context, it meant the world to the disciples.  They needed peace.   

They had to be overwhelmed in seeing Jesus, but Jesus’ physical presence was also comforting.  Our passage this morning says that they rejoiced, and they were strengthened by having seen Jesus. 

Jesus gives a charge to those disciples, an imperative command.  Just as the Father had sent Jesus to the world, Jesus was now sending the disciples out from behind shut doors into a crazy world desperate for hope.  A world full of fear, full of conflict…a world desperately in need of peace.  

Then, something happens, Jesus breathed on them.  This word “breathe” in this passage is the same word used in Genesis 2:7 where God breathes life into humanity, giving us life.  Jesus is in effect saying that he is the Son of God, God in the flesh, giving life to the disciples.  Jesus was not only bringing peace to the disciples, but breathing life into them.  The verse goes on to say that Jesus gives another imperative, to receive the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was breathing the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, God’s presence on to the disciples.  The Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit, the unifying power of God would bring the disciples together, giving them confidence and power to be who God created them to be.  

In verse 24 of this passage, we see that one of the 12 disciples, Thomas, wasn’t around to see Jesus the first time he appeared in that room.  8 days later though, they are hanging out and Jesus appears.  It’s interesting to note that these same disciples who had just been blessed by Jesus showing up and breathing on them are scared and locked up in that room again!  Yet, Jesus breaks through the walls again…gives them a peace blessing and then addresses Thomas.  Thomas wants more tangible evidence, so Jesus gives it to them.  Jesus doesn’t want to shame Thomas, this passage isn’t here to give reference to Thomas’ unbelief, or lack of trust, but it’s here to give hope to those who haven’t seen.  The writer of this passage is giving a direct address to those reading in verse 31 that these things have been written for you…for us.

Friends, we may be living in fear, in anxiety.  We may have just witnessed Jesus’ very resurrection in our lives…we may even have lived our lives in expectation of God’s faithfulness to us.  Yet, here’s Jesus…appearing before us, walking through any barriers that we may be hiding behind.  Calling us out of the four walls we’ve enclosed ourselves in…giving us himself, breathing new life into us, and calling us towards the next thing…a full life with him!   Thomas and the rest of the disciples were living in fear, in disappointment.  They were tired.  Yet Jesus came to them and comes to us…he invites us to know his scars, to touch the pain that has been inflicted upon him…to know that God experiences with us all things…to believe that God has overcome all things, even death, and so can we as we remember that are Christ’s body…and, whatever is “next’ to just breathe and lean into it knowing that God is in us and all around us…our very breath is a witness to that Presence 

Inside-Out.

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A Gaelic Blessing                                                                                          

Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the gentle night to you.
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you.
Deep peace of Christ,
of Christ the light of the world to you.
Deep peace of Christ to you.  

Epistle Lesson

Colossians 3:1-4

The New Life in Christ

3 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Gospel Lesson

John 20:1-18

The Resurrection of Jesus

20 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. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Friends, here we are…Easter morning.  My morning started early!  It was dark…pitch dark.  Of course, it didn’t really start until I was able to get some coffee, breakfast, and a nice hot shower!  It’s fascinating to me that in that in-between time of waking, a threshold time of nighttime to morning, to daybreak is also a time when dreams come to us. These dreams are often very lucid dreams.  I recently had a dream where I was with two friends at the entrance of a cave.  I was kind of scared to look into the cave, it was dark and there was some kind of presence wanting to come out.  It made my hair stand on my arm…that tingling feeling.  Yet, as I do now in those dreams, I leaned into the dream and stayed with it.  I began to realize that the cave was the deepest part of me and I had to lean into this presence, which I realized in some point in this dream that it was a presence filled with wisdom and transformation…I was being confronted with something that has been born anew within me…yet, it was still disorientating and I was curious.  

Maybe we can relate…We’ve experienced being confronted with loss, disappointment, expectations dashed, or sensing something is changing within and around us in our lives and in the world.  It can be a bit scary!  When we get in touch with those moments of disorientation, we can have a notion, or an inkling, of what those early disciples were going through.  Often, we find that they are just as disoriented, just as lost, as those disciples. But, they are there for us.  Friends, in this world where church folks are leaving the church because of so many reasons…disillusionment, disappointment, and a wrongful transactional narrative of a pie-in-the-sky faith that isn’t really faith at all.  I believe it is more important than ever to remember that the church can be a great source of deep friendship and community, a gathering of people committed to leaning into the disorienting throes of life together…it’s more than what we do on a Sunday morning, or at any event.  It is a way of sharing life together. And, maybe the point of beginning Easter Sunday in the dark.  We have to go to the dark places and that can be scary and uncertain.

In our gospel lesson, Mary Magdalene was the most prominent disciple.  She had just seen their best friend, their rabbi, someone who’s words and actions drew them in, someone who they had projected their hopes and dreams on, humiliated and violently killed on a cross by a religious structure in bed with the state.  And, let’s be clear, Jesus did not go to the cross to appease a vengeful father. Jesus was nailed to a cross because he challenged a system that excluded many, while maintaining a status quo that kept some in places of servitude, while others seemingly prosper. Jesus came and demonstrated radical inclusiveness, radical friendship, and called us into lives filled with freedom, love, purpose, and deep Presence with others and with God. Jesus invited us, and still does, to deeper lives that are good for us and for others. Jesus models this life and calls us from the cross and the empty tomb to empty our lives of the things that keep us from truly loving everyone, including ourselves…and it is often the hardest to love ourselves.  

Jesus’ death was more than physical pain, that moment on the cross, Jesus was lost and disoriented as well I believe… on the cross, resurrection was probably not on his mind. He even cried out “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me”. Many of us today have been disoriented by so much happening in our culture with wars in Ukraine, Palestine, Yemen,  and other places…economic uncertainty, political partisanship, the collapsing of so many institutions, including the church, and then adding in our own personal issues. We have felt lost, wondering where God is in all of this, if God has forsaken us.  

Yet, if we believe that God and humanity are together in Jesus, then God through the cross, is telling us that God is in the struggle with us…all of the struggle, embracing all of our lives, and the lives of those around the world and knows what it’s like to feel alone and forsaken.

Mary Magdalene, a true disciple and friend of Jesus…she was in the struggle with Jesus in his moment of forsakedness…one of only two disciples that did not desert Jesus, goes and finds the tomb empty! She runs to tell the other disciples, they go to the tomb and find it as she said…and, John, who is at least credited with writing our gospel lesson this morning, makes it clear that he’s faster than Peter!  I love the gospel narrative of John…and this phrase in John: the “disciple that Jesus loved”.  Now, scholars say that could be referencing John, or another disciple who’s writing this text, or it could mean all of humanity, or a reference to both Judaism and Gentiles…those inside and those outside.  Either way, the disciples that morning are trying to react to news that they were not expecting.  Something new had happened.  

These disciples ran to the tomb in the dark.  Into this cave, this dark place, this crypt, probably also with the hairs on their body standing up!  And, again, they came to that morning, and we come to Easter morning in the dark.  Easter comes to us in the darkest of times often. 

Into these moments of being in the dark is when the impossible becomes possible, when, like Mary, we hear a voice that we don’t recognize at first call our names.  It may take a bit to hear deeply, but then we hear God calling us from deep inside and outside of us and we are awakened to a new reality, that God is with us as we look into the tombs, the dark caves, of our lives in the midst of the darkness to find a deeper illumination, a light, a love that connects us to our suffering and the suffering of the world, and also gives us the hope that resurrection, growth, promise, and, yes, new life, springing up within us.  

Mary, overcome by grief…stays, she is weeping, struggling, in the dark. Yet, she stays at the tomb, letting things unfold…when she finally hears, really hears, this gardener and sees that he is Jesus,  then, the joy of Easter possibility, Easter imagination, Easter reality rises up within her! 

Easter has so much to teach me…and us…it’s more than candy and easter bunnies (although those are great and also symbolize something), it is leaning into the darkness and finding new birth, new beginnings, new imagination and possibility rising up in all of us!

What happens next after this gospel lesson of that first morning? Well, the story gets out, the new reality sets in, people begin to see Jesus and to experience new things. Life as we know it is never the same, and it becomes filled with imagination, new possibilities, strength, confidence in the face of incredible odds. Something begins to form in these early believers that moves them from the “inside-out” to change the world, starting with their own awareness as image bearers of God, as the body of Christ.  If we want to change the world, start with changing our own lives…to embrace birth from deep inside the darkness of our lives that grows out in the light of a new day…an “inside-out” flow of love and deep wisdom and transformation.  

Friends, Jesus invites us to remember that we, today, are still the body of Christ, and that this Christ is all around us and in us and we too are rising out of the tomb, out of the darkness, and into new life!  Christ has risen! 

Welcome.

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Mark 9:30-37

30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” 32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

I’m a runner.  Most of you know that, and I struggled this week on whether I should use a running metaphor today, but this applies.  My image as a runner was important to me.  I still like to run fast…at least as best as I can at 56!  Sometimes, I still have this image of myself really training hard and winning my age division at the Boston Marathon or something similar.  I don’t want to settle for being a good runner, I wanted to be a great runner.

I also imagined the same thing for the cross country team I used to coach.  I wanted them to go all the way to State every year.  Never happened as a team, but we did some individual runners to state and our girls team made regionals in a magical year.  

Yet, here’s the thing, running is a sport where you can’t hide.  All runners experience something similar, we are constantly humbled.  Most runners imagine winning, coming in first…but, obviously, that doesn’t happen all the time! 

In that sport, the only way you get better is by running daily, running workouts that make you suffer and experience some pain…not to the point of injury, but pain nonetheless.  It’s hard.  Yet, something emerges within, you begin to appreciate others, you experience a shared deep connection with other runners as you put yourself out there.  

You are also vulnerable after a race, extremely vulnerable.  After running the Boston Marathon in 2016 and being extremely humbled as I ran it injured and it only got worst.  When I crossed the line, I only wanted to call my daughter who I knew would understand as a runner…I cried when I started talking to her, and I don’t really cry that often.  

As a coach, I also had to remember that my words to my runners after a race have to be honest, authentic, and also encouraging.  Especially to my own kids ran for our team!

Many of those words after a race are themes that I’ve repeated often, yet so many times they are simply not heard, yet, after a race, after the suffering, they often are heard in a way that is much more meaningful and they are received in a way that is almost very innocent and pure.  Plus, honestly, I had some cred with these kids because they knew that I’m willing to suffer in races as well, they know that I know what they are experiencing, and that I was with them.

Running can be a great parallel to life, and to this morning’s gospel lesson.  

Jesus has been with his disciples, he wanted to simply teach his disciples something meaningful, so he went through Galilee in secret as it says.  He was teaching them that he would suffer, die, and be raised from the dead.  This was hard for them to hear and understand, but he kept on saying it, teaching it.  It was important to Jesus because he was called into this world as the representation of all humanity.  He was not only telling the disciples that he would suffer, die, and rise again, but that they would be participating in that suffering, death, and resurrection through him.  

The disciples were probably keenly interested in the new life part, the resurrection part, but in order to experience that resurrection, before we can truly understand what it means to live life as God intended, we have to experience suffering, we have to die.  This isn’t a cruel  joke on God’s part, it’s a reality that we, as created beings, don’t always see or experience life as beautiful as it was meant to be.  We have to go through experiences in life that push to ask some of the hard questions.

Yet, the disciples, like us, were not interested in the harder questions, they were asking the question:  which one of us is greater?  What is our image to God?  Where will we stand with God at the end of time?  What’s our status?

In the midst of those conversations, it seems like the disciples were focused on the resurrection part.  Which I get, don’t we all want to run to the ending of a story, we want to feel good and triumphant.  The passage even says that the disciples were afraid to ask Jesus what he meant.  Could that have been because they were afraid to confront the hard realities of suffering, of pain?  

So, they escape by arguing about who’s going to be greatest.  Or try to hide.  But, they are missing the mark and Jesus would not let them hide.  Jesus asked them what they were arguing about, they grew silent.  They knew that Jesus had caught them in a “sin”.  We don’t talk much about the word “sin”, but it is an archery term actually, it means missing the mark.  When you don’t hit the bullseye with an arrow.  

It in this context, sin is a relational term.  The disciples were missing the mark, they were focused on themselves, avoiding the hard questions, being distracted, rather than lifting each other up and loving well.

What does Jesus do?  Well, he doesn’t send down thunder on them, he doesn’t condemn them.  He does the opposite, he treats them with respect and simply calls them together, sits with them, and brings a child into their circle.  He encourages them to serve others, to be last, to put others before them.  

The example of a child is important to note.  Children in the first century were considered non-persons.  They were often slaves, they were of no value.  They were truly on the margins.  I tell my kids all of the time how amazing they are and how loved they are, but this wasn’t even close to the reality in Jesus’ time.

By doing this, by bringing in a child, Jesus is saying that children are the stand-in for himself, for the Son of God.  We should welcome children, those on the margins as we would God, the creator of the universe.  It’s not about becoming childish so we can enter the kingdom, it says much more about maturity, about being bigger than our selfishness or our protected self-image, our ego, and welcoming others in.

Friends, we are saved by God’s grace, all of us live in God’s love whether we recognize it or not.  In the PCUSA, we believe that God’s love, God’s salvation is freely given to us…no strings attached.  We can’t evoke God’s salvation, God gives it to us, all of us, even those who have felt left out.  

We are also called, as followers of Jesus, to live into this salvation with a sense of growth and maturity.  We are called to live resurrection lives and to live in the universal presence of Christ.  Maturity happens as we grow through experiences with ourselves and with others.  Oftentimes that growth happens when we enter into relationships with those who we may not normally associate with…God has so many friendships, so much growth, so much life, real life, waiting for each of us and for this church.  As we become welcoming in our lives personally and corporately as a church, we will experience growth and we will the experience the joy of our salvation.  

May we welcome life as it comes to us:  all of it, beauty, suffering, death, resurrection, the full embodied experience…even as we welcome others in our communities who walk through these doors or that we meet in the neighborhood, welcoming them as we would welcome Jesus. 

Breathe.

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John 20:19-31

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believethat Jesus is the Messiah,the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

I’m sure we have all heard the expression that something beautiful or scary or amazing to see can “take our breath away”.  We have probably also experienced moments in our lives when we’ve attempted something like riding a roller coaster at King’s Island, or jumping into a cold lake, or maybe experiencing the birth of a child where it “took our breath away”.

Perhaps we have also had moments in our lives filled with fear or anxiety, times where we feel like our breath has been taken away.

Or maybe we are like the writer of this song, “Breathe (2 AM)” that says:  

There’s a light at each end of this tunnel,
You shout ’cause you’re just as far in as you’ll ever be out
And these mistakes you’ve made, you’ll just make them again

We maybe feel trapped in situations that we feel like we can’t get out of on our own.  We feel caught and out of breath and in need of a “light at the end of a tunnel” or maybe out lives are like being underwater and we need to get to the surface for some air, to breathe.  We get caught in these moments and wonder “what’s next?”  And, can we handle what’s next?  We need help, we want rescue, we need to breathe, we need to find life, true life.

Our text this morning has a lot to do with moments like this, moments in our lives when we need to breathe, breathing that brings life, and not just any life, but life as it was meant to be lived.

Right after Jesus’ death on a Roman cross and resurrection from the dead.  Jesus appears to his disciples.  As we mentioned last week, it’s not every day that you see someone raised from the dead, so I imagine they were a bit overwhelmed, in shock, and wondering what was going to happen next.  

The disciples are in a state of fear.  They were locked in a room, afraid of the same folks who had just crucified Jesus and fearful that they would be after them as well.  They were wondering if there was a light at the end of the tunnel of fear that they were experiencing, the uncertainty was overwhelming, not sure what to think about what’s going to happen next.  The room was shut, and probably the lives of those disciples were in a state of being shut down from fear. There was probably a war of emotions going on within them.

Into this room, this state of anxiety, Jesus appears and has the greeting “Peace to you”.    The word “peace” in this context is a common word, but in this context, it meant the world to the disciples.  They needed what Jesus was giving.  

They had to be overwhelmed in seeing Jesus, but Jesus’ physical presence was also comforting.  Our passage this morning says that they rejoiced and they were strengthened by having seen the Lord.  

Jesus gives a charge to those disciples, an imperative command.  Just as the Father had sent Jesus to the world, Jesus was now sending the disciples out from behind shut doors into a crazy world desperate for hope.

Then, something happens, Jesus breathed on them.  This word “breathe” in this passage is the same word used in Genesis 2:7 where God breathes life into humanity, giving us life.  Jesus is in effect saying that he is the Son of God, God in the flesh, giving life to the disciples.  Jesus was not only bringing peace to the disciples, but breathing life into them.  The verse goes on to say that Jesus gives another imperative, to receive the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was breathing the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, God’s presence on to the disciples.  The Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit, the unifying power of God would bring the disciples together, giving them confidence and power to overcome the world.  

The disciples needed to breathe in the breath of God.  The breath of God that brings life and the power to forgive sin.  Verse 23 in this passage can seem troublesome at first, does it mean that we can forgive others’ sins?  No, it is an affirmation that as we receive the Holy Spirit and abide in Christ as Christ abides in us as stated in John 15:4, then the work of the Holy Spirit which brings the forgiveness bought by Jesus Christ’s actions on the cross, is exhibited through us.  It is the power of God at work within us as we recognize God through Jesus Christ.  

In verse 24 of this passage, we see that one of the 12 disciples, Thomas, wasn’t around to see Jesus the first time he appeared in that room.  8 days later though, they are hanging out and Jesus appears.  It’s interesting to note that these same disciples who had just been blessed by Jesus showing up and breathing on them are scared and locked up in that room again!  Yet, Jesus breaks through the walls again…gives them a peace blessing and then addresses Thomas.  Thomas wants more tangible evidence, so Jesus gives it to them.  Jesus doesn’t want to shame Thomas, this passage isn’t here to give reference to Thomas’ unbelief, but it’s here to give hope to those who haven’t seen.  The writer of this passage is giving a direct address to those reading in verse 31 that these things have been written for you…for us.

Friends, Westwood First, we may be living in fear, in anxiety.  We may have just witnessed Jesus’ very resurrection in our lives…we may even have lived our lives in expectation of God’s faithfulness to us.  Yet, here’s Jesus…appearing before us, walking through any barriers that we may be hiding behind.  Calling us out of the four walls we’ve enclosed ourselves in…giving us himself, breathing new life into us, and calling us towards a full life with him!   Thomas and the rest of the disciples were living in fear, in disappointment.  They were tired.  Yet Jesus came to them, and comes to us…he invites us to know his scars, to touch the pain that has been inflicted upon him…to believe that he is in God and God is here with us now.  Friends, as we see this Jesus, still with the scars, that can give us a deeper trust, a deeper sense of God’s “with us” and going through life with us.  

Jesus’ scars do not go away, neither do ours, yet, God is in the business of taking our scars, our wounds, and giving us a deeper life if we can slow down, breathe, and allow ourselves to heal and become the persons we’ve always wanted to be…image bearers of a God who is with us and in us in all of life’s throes.  That brings a deeper energy that moves us towards deeper places and into growth in more expansive ways!

May we live in Christ as Christ lives in us, remembering that we are one with all things and all people!  

Inside-Out.

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The Resurrection of Jesus

20 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. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Friends, here we are…Easter morning. My morning started early! It was dark…pitch dark. Of course, it didn’t really start until I was able to get some coffee and a nice hot shower! As a kid, I remember Easter morning always starting in the dark. I couldn’t wait for it, it was kind of like Christmas “lite”, but with bunnies and candy…so, I was up, in the dark…looking for my Easter basket…and, yes, I loved the chocolate bunnies!! 

Since then, life has happened. I’m 56. I’ve had some ups and downs. And, I’m sure we all have. We’ve experienced loss, disappointment, expectations dashed. When we get in touch with those moments of disorientation, we can have a notion, or an inkling, of what those early disciples were going through. And, maybe the point of beginning Easter Sun- day in the dark becomes clearer. We have to go to the dark places. When Jesus is asked earlier in his life what sign that this generation needs, he responded with the sign of Jo- nah. We have to be swallowed in the belly of the whale at times, in a dark place, not in control…and then spit up on the shore unexpectedly. 

The disciples may have felt like that…out of their control, not sure what happens next. Their lives had been filled with so much, they met Jesus, they fell in love with him. Even in this gospel narrative of John, we hear the phrase, the “disciple that Jesus loved”. Now, scholars say that could be referencing John, or another disciple who’s writing this text, or it could mean all of humanity, or a reference to Judaism and Gentiles…those inside and those outside. Either way, the disciples that morning, Mary Magdalene being the most prominent, had just seen their best friend, their rabbi, someone who’s words and actions drew them in, someone who they had projected their hopes and dreams on, humiliated and violently killed on a cross by a religious structure in bed with the state. All because of love that asked us to be better humans, to include everyone in community, in authentic friendship across social barriers. 

Jesus’ death was more than physical pain, that moment on the cross, Jesus was lost…resurrection was not on his mind. He cried out “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me”. Many of us today have been disoriented by so much happening in our culture with the war in Ukraine, the Middle East, the pandemic, political partisanship, the collapsing of so many institutions, including the church, and then adding in our own personal issues. We have felt lost, wondering where God is in all of this, if God has forsaken us. 


Yet, if we believe that God and humanity are together in Jesus, then God through the cross, is telling us that God, the Divine, is in the struggle with us…all of the struggle, em- bracing all of our lives, and the lives of those around the world. 

Here we are on Easter morning. What do we say to each other on this morning? What phrase? Christ has risen! Christ has risen indeed! Jesus’ love for us, Jesus’ promise of a full life filled with purpose and presence could not be kept in a grave. 

Mary Magdalene was a true disciple and friend of Jesus…one of only two disciples that did not desert Jesus, goes and finds the tomb empty! She runs to tell the other disciples, they go to the tomb and find it as she said…and, I love this passage as a runner, John, who is at least credited with writing our gospel lesson this morning, makes it clear that he’s faster than Peter! 

These disciples ran to the tomb in the dark. And, again, we come to Easter morning in the dark. Easter comes to us in the dark, it does not come alive in triumphant statements from this pulpit, from the liturgy or music of the moment…we are first reminded that Easter comes when we are disoriented or lost. When we look at the casket of a loved one who has died. When we sit with a church member who’s just gone through surgery and doesn’t know what’s going to happen next. When we walk with a neighbor whose daughter is going through a destructive relationship or sit with a friend who’s thinking about ending their life. When we hear of someone on a ventilator, fighting for their lives. Or when we hear the voice of a loved one in the middle of a war zone wondering if they, or someone they know will make it through the day. 

In those moments, when we are lost, when we see the empty tomb and wonder where God is…those are the moments when Easter becomes real. Maybe like Mary, we run to friends, friends we’ve shared life with to look into our lives or situations in life to get a different perspective. Often, we find that they are just as disoriented, just as lost. But, they are there for us. Friends, in this world where church is declining in attendance across the world, I believe it is more important than ever to remember that the church can be a great source of deep friendship and community, a gathering of people committed to leaning into the throes of life together…it’s more than what we do on a Sunday morning, or at any event. It is a way of sharing life together. 

Oftentimes, being in the dark is when the impossible becomes possible.  Like Mary, we hear a voice that we don’t recognize at first call our names. It may take a bit to hear deeply, but then we hear God calling us from deep inside and outside of us and we are awakened to a new reality, that God is with us as we look into the tombs of our lives in the midst of the darkness to find a deeper illumination, a light, a love that connects us to our suffering and the suffering of the world, and also gives us the hope that resurrection, growth, promise, and, yes, new life, springing up within us. 

Jesus did not go to the cross to appease a vengeful father. Jesus was nailed to a cross be- cause he challenged a system that excluded many, while maintaining a status quo that kept some in places of servitude, while others seemingly prosper. Jesus came and demonstrated radical inclusiveness, radical friendship, and called us into lives filled with freedom, love, purpose, and deep presence with others and with God. Jesus invited us, and still does, to deeper lives that are good for us and for others. Jesus models this love and calls us from the cross and the empty tomb to truly love everyone, including our- selves…which is often the hardest person to love, ourselves. 

Mary, overcome by grief…stays, she is weeping, struggling, in the dark. Yet, she stays at the tomb, letting things unfold…when she finally hears, really hears, this gardener and sees that he is Jesus, then, the joy of Easter possibility, Easter imagination, Easter reality rises up within her! 

What happens next? Well, the story gets out, the new reality sets in, people begin to see Jesus and to experience new things. Life as we know it is never the same, and it becomes filled with imagination, new possibilities, strength, confidence in the face of incredible odds. Something begins to form in these early believers that moves them to engage the world in a new way, starting with their own awareness.  They moved out of their fear and began to dance and sing…and to come to moments when, after the darkness, the light shines forth and we want to proclaim with loud horns, loud voices, that Christ has risen out of the dark tomb and into the glory of resurrection!  

Friends, I said at the beginning this morning that growing up I thought of Easter as Christmas “lite”. As I grew and as life has come at me and as I’ve leaned into it, I have come to see Easter, as the early Jesus followers did, that Easter has so much to teach me…it’s more than candy and easter bunnies, it is leaning into the darkness and finding new birth, new beginnings…it is knowing that death is necessary, but not the final answer in my story, in God’s story, in your story. We are all in the process of being reborn and becoming the persons that we have always wanted to be…especially in times of loss…God is always doing a new thing with us and in us. Let us live towards that sense of awareness like Mary did. 

Oh friends, I am experiencing resurrection!  And, what makes this even more joyous this morning?  We, together, Westwood First Presbyterian Church, we are experiencing resurrection together in our own lives and in our congregation!!!!  My goodness!!!  There is a rising up with within us and around us!  He is alive, and, hallelujah, we are alive!  

Christ has risen!