Nobody knows for certain what
happened after Jesus was executed for spreading his message of love and justice
and inclusivity for all people. There were no eye witnesses still around to
give their accounts. The earliest gospel, Mark, wasn’t written until 40 years
after Jesus died, and the latest, John, was 60 to 70 years after. And all the
gospel accounts are different. A lot of people think they know for certain what
happened. A lot of people think they know everything there is to know about
Jesus and about God. Others of us, who used to be certain, aren’t anymore. And
we are just fine not knowing, embracing the mystery.
However we read the Easter story, we
can find meaning in it. That from despair comes hope. From sadness, Joy. From
death, life. For me, the primary message in this story is that love survives,
no matter what. The fear and hate that led to Jesus’ death did not conquer the
love that he lived and taught. The opposite happened. In the gospel of John, after
Jesus gave the new commandment to ‘love one another as I love you, he
said,‘ They will know you by your love.’ The love of Jesus is in us. And it
multiplies with every act of compassion or sacrifice. We don’t have to look far
to see love and sacrifice in action in these past weeks, in this time of fear,
despair, and grief. There are so many regular folks making masks for our health
care workers. We have mask makers right here in our congregation. There’s a
group in Fernandina making masks for family members to visit their loved ones
in the hospital. High school students are using 3-D printers to make faces
shields. College students are building low cost-ventilators that can treat 2
patients at once with no cross-contamination. Whole communities near hospitals
go out onto their balconies and clap and cheer for the nurses during shift
change. Doctors and nurses and medics are coming out of retirement to help ease
the burden that this virus has placed on our health care system. Have you seen
the teacher parades? Teachers ride through the neighborhoods where their
students live and honk and wave, and the children stand on their porches
holding signs that say, “We miss you! We
love you!”
I read about a couple who are street
performers in Naples. They lived on tourist dollars and are now out of work, as
are most of the people they know. The city’s soup kitchens are closed. So this
couple revived an old custom, which some of you might know more about than I
do, of lowering food in baskets from their balcony to those below who need it. Inspired
by the work of Italian doctor and St. Guiseppe Moscati, they put cards on the
baskets that read, “Those who can, put something in. Those who can’t, help
yourself.” Others neighbors have starting pitching in, and, at least for now,
everyone has enough to eat. There are so many more examples. It would take me
more than a day just to tell you all the ones I’ve heard about. I saw a poem on
Facebook, attributed to the songwriter Paul Williams, although I don’t know if
he actually wrote it. It describes so well the kind of love and sacrifice that
Jesus lived and taught, the kind of love that survives in us and is now ours to
share:
“When you go out and
see the empty streets, the empty stadiums, the empty train platforms,
don't say to yourself, ‘It looks like the end of the world.’ What you're seeing
is love in action. What you're seeing, in that negative space, is how much we
do care for each other, for our grandparents, for our immuno-compromised
brothers and sisters, for people we will never meet. People will lose jobs over
this. Some will lose their businesses. And some will lose their lives. All the
more reason to take a moment, when you're out on your walk, or on your way to
the store, or just watching the news, to look into the emptiness and marvel at
all of that love. Let it fill and sustain you. It isn’t the end of the world. It is the most
remarkable act of global solidarity we may ever witness.”
May the love of Jesus continue to
fill us and sustain us. And may we keep that love alive through sharing it.
Take care. I’ll see you soon.
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Readings:
Our modern reading is from Almost Everything: Notes on Hope by Anne Lamott.
When we talk about goodness, an animating intelligence in the
universe and in our hearts, or a pervasive positive unity or presence, we are
not talking about an old beaded guy in the sky, Parvati, or a Jewish
Palestinian baby. We are talking about a higher power. A power that might be
called, ‘not me.’ A kindness, a
patience, a hope which is everywhere, even in our annoying, self-centered
fraudulent selves. The lower powers—greed, hatred, addiction, ignorance, are easy to connect with and describe. But a higher
power is not easily defined. It can’t be controlled, manipulated, or
appropriated. It opens up and heals us
and brings us together, and turns hearts of stone into human hearts.
Our gospel reading for this Easter Sunday is from John 20: 1—16.
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. She
ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple 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.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the
tomb. Simon Peter went into the tomb and saw the linen wrapping lying there,
and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head.
Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent
over to look into the tomb; 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. They said to her, “Why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They
have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When
she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did
not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “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.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in
Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).
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