Easter Day

March 23, 2008

Victor H. Nixon

AT THE TOMB: A MESSAGE OF HOPE

Matthew 28:1-10

The last stop on our forty-day Lenten Journey with Jesus is a cemetery outside the walls of Jerusalem. The Passover celebration has come and gone. The noisy crowd that shouted, "Crucify him!" has resumed daily life. Pontius Pilate, who washed his hands in a bogus display of justice, has returned to his seacoast villa, glad to leave the hotbed of Jewish unrest. Roman soldiers, who obeyed orders to torture Jesus before executing him on a cross, took some well-deserved R&R before leaving for the next assignment—except for the unlucky squad on guard duty in the graveyard. Joseph of Arimathea had laid Jesus’ body in his own tomb and had rolled a large stone over the entrance. After watching the soldiers seal the entry to prevent theft of his body, Joseph, Mary Magdalene and another woman named Mary left the cemetery. Jesus’ disciples were nowhere to be seen. Only military guards remained. The tomb is our last stop; it isn’t the end of the journey.

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At dawn on Sunday, Matthew tells us, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, "went to see the tomb."

Periodically, I visit Hickory Ridge Cemetery where many of my relatives are buried. It’s out in the country at the end of a one-lane road, several miles from town, surrounded by beautiful hills and farms, not a place you pass by along the way to another destination. Hickory Ridge Cemetery is literally where the road ends. And I never turn down that little lane without becoming a bit reflective, thinking that there is larger, symbolic truth here, namely, that every cemetery is the end of the road!

A number of my Nixon kinfolks are in Hickory Ridge Cemetery: My grandparents, Hubert Harrison and Ada Andrews Nixon in whose dogtrot house I was born; my Dad’s younger sister, whom I never knew, who died as a little child from severe burns before I was born; my Dad’s twin brother, Uncle Herman, who lived on an adjoining farm, whose tombstone lists his wife, Aunt Lucille, without a death date because she is still alive; and my baby brother, Larry Dean, who died shortly after birth, and left my family wondering why and what he might have become.

Unfinished business, I suppose, lingers in every graveyard—dashed hopes, unresolved grief, disappointment, broken promises, countless secrets buried with the dead.(1) I’ve noticed that sometimes visitors speak to the dead. They tearfully express their love and grief, or plead for forgiveness. But there is no response. Silence stands guard. The stone will never be rolled away.

Maybe that’s why the two Marys returned to Jesus’ tomb that morning; they had some unfinished business. After all, they had witnessed the horror of his crucifixion on Golgotha and, perhaps, needed to say something to him. Matthew says they went to see the tomb, which suggests more than merely looking or checking it out, much closer to studying or taking a mental photograph so as not to forget. How could they ever forget that place? The women couldn’t get close, however, because soldiers were guarding Jesus’ tomb lest anybody get in—or out. After all, fearful officials had ordered the guard because they feared disciples might steal the body and claim a phony resurrection.

How often have you stood before some tomb? Where your hopes and promises have died or been snuffed out, your life turned upside down, your reason for living questioned, and your future is uncertain? We’ve all been there in some form or fashion—or will be, because crises and disasters happen to us all sooner or later.

Like you, I’ve been reading news stories and watching news clips of flooding around the state from recent rains: homes and businesses inundated or washed away, whole communities flooded and isolated, lives lost, treasured possessions washed downriver. It is horrible! The sense of loss and grief is immense. What will they do? How can they go on? How will you in such times? How will you overcome personal or natural disaster? These are the questions that are addressed by the Easter story.

According to Matthew, as the two women observed the tomb, the earth began to shake. An angel, or messenger from God, came like a bolt of lightening, shoved aside the stone and sat on it. The soldiers froze with fright. Then the angel told them not to be afraid, that Jesus had been raised, and to go quickly and tell his disciples that they would see him in Galilee.

Now, let’s just pause the action in Matthew’s Easter story for a moment for some biblical analysis because right here is where some folks get hung up on the believability of the resurrection with an angel, an empty tomb and a post-crucifixion appearance of Jesus—things that don’t usually happen in our experience. Furthermore, people have noticed that the gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—don’t agree on the details of the resurrection story. For some people, it makes no difference. If it’s in the Bible it must be true, that’s all there is to it. For others, it’s not scientifically verifiable and inconsistent so it must not be true. Still others are just confused and don’t know what to believe about the resurrection of Jesus. Let me suggest a perspective that may be helpful, at least, to some of you.

First, the Bible is book of faith, not a scientific document. New Testament writers did not know about, nor use, the scientific method to verify phenomena or the truth of assertions, no test tubes, microscopes or chemical formulae. There is no conflict between science and scripture because the writers were non-scientific people. Therefore, if you wish to understand the truth in scripture, you must momentarily suspend your scientific mindset.

Second, language is the primary means by which the Bible conveys truth in the form of stories, rules, poetry and letters, utilizing miracle and other unusual phenomena. If you’ve read Shakespeare, Mother Goose and Dr. Seuss, you know that fictional stories can convey truth. Biblical writers used stories to convey God’s truth. Jesus was a master storyteller who made up parables to illustrate faith, the nature of God or ethical behavior. Matthew is attempting to convey universal truths about God, Jesus and people of faith with the only tool at his disposal.

Third, the challenge for modern readers is to realize that the Bible is more than merely factual and to ask what an author is attempting to tell us in primitive language and concepts. The stories can then become vehicles for truth, even Word of God. So, get beyond the unexplainable, non-verifiable dimensions of the story and focus on the message Matthew wants us to hear. End of biblical analysis. Back to the story.

"Fear not," the angel said to the Magdalene and Mary. "You won’t find Jesus here. He has been raised. See for yourselves. Go, tell his disciples and hurry to Galilee. There you’ll see him."

Easter is promise. God’s message to the women—and to us—is that they need not be afraid because the hope and new life Jesus promised does not exist in that tomb and is not dead. That’s the good news of Easter! That’s the message God wants us to hear, namely, whatever disaster comes flooding into your life, paralyzing you with fear, you can be confident that new life is always possible. Easter is God’s promise.

Easter is a directive. Through the angel God told the women to go and tell his disciples that Jesus would meet them in Galilee. They quickly obeyed and ran with fear and great joy, Matthew says, to tell the others. Fear and great joy. That describes us, doesn’t it, that emotional mixture that comes with unbelievable good news. It’s like being told that you are loved. Fear, that you heard it wrong. Joy, that it’s wonderful. God asked them to share it with others who needed some good news, to become Easter people. Easter people are faithful; they do what God asks.

Easter is presence. As they ran filled with excitement to tell the others, "suddenly Jesus met and greeted them." In the process of being faithful, Easter people experience the presence of Christ. You are here today because you believe somehow that Christ is present and to hear the good news of Christ.

I do admit that I became curious about what the Risen Christ said to the two women. The translation (NRSV) we read earlier simply reads, "Greetings!" (with an exclamation point), somewhat formal between old friends. I looked at other translations and discovered that they are all over the place: "Hail!" says the RSV. "All Hail!" says KJV. "Peace be with you!" reads another (Today’s English Version) and sounds good. One (NEB) just says simply, "Jesus gave them his greeting."

Well, my curiosity was really aroused about what Jesus said to the women. So, I went to my Greek Bible and discovered that what he said was Chairete, a customary greeting. The verb means "rejoice" or "be glad." What’s the translation struggle here? Is that so hard to understand? The first word of the Risen Christ to friends is "Rejoice! Tell my friends to meet me."

Rejoice! The cemetery is not the end of the road.

Rejoice! God’s promise is true.

Rejoice! New life is possible.

Rejoice! Christ is risen!

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