A
Reflection for the Feast of the Resurrection
All Saints Episcopal,
Southern Shores, NC
April 16, 2017
Thomas E Wilson, Rector
Easter
2017
Today
I want to start off by focusing in one word in the Gospel passage for
Easter. From Matthew’s Gospel: “Suddenly Jesus met them and
said, "Greetings!"
“Greetings”?
Come on now; if I had been in charge of writing this Gospel, I would
have written a snappier opening line than “Greetings”; maybe
something like, “TA-DA!!!!!” Or “Surprise, Surprise!!” Or
maybe a variation of the way we do it on Easter morning; “Alleluia,
I am Risen! I am risen indeed, Alleluia!”
But
“Greetings”? I remember more than a half century ago in 1964,
during Christmas vacation from my first semester of college, I was
just turning 18, and the day I got home, there waiting for me was an
official letter from my friends and neighbors at my local draft
board which started off “Greetings”. It told me to sign up for
the military draft. What kind of greeting did I expect? “Merry
Christmas, we really want you to enjoy your present!” or “OH joy
and Rapture; Congratulations you have been selected to receive a
special prize!” or “We regret to inform you, etc. . . .” They
wanted to make the greeting as commonplace as you could get: “No
big deal, this is business as usual.”
On
Easter morning we usually go whole hog and crank up the organ, except
the organ is in Missouri being upgraded so we have to rely on loud
voices and the concert grand piano. It is the day we put on the best
vestments, we all dress pretty, flowers are all over the place, we
have Easter Egg hunts for the children, big Easter meals, and where
I have to sweat to churn out a humdinger of a sermon to impress,
literally, “the hell out of you”, so you will be tempted to come
back next week.
But
“Greetings”? The Greek word is “Xaipete”
(hair-e-teh) which is sort of like “Good morning”, a standard
kind thing you say every day to friends and family in ordinary life.
In this story, both the angel and Jesus follow it up with the
standard thing that is said to someone who is having their mind blown
- “May
phobiesthe”,
“Don’t be afraid”. That particular phrase, or a variation of
it, happens a lot in the Bible. I haven’t counted them, but
somebody else has and says that it is repeated in Greek or Hebrew 365
times, or on an average of once for each day.
The
Bible knows that we spend all of our lives in fear. We are afraid of
things we cannot understand, we are afraid of losing control, we are
afraid of dying, we are afraid of living, we are afraid of loving,
and yet in the middle of it all comes the quiet, gentle refrain,
“Greetings, don’t be afraid.”
In
this Gospel story, the women, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, are
afraid for things don’t make sense There was this earthquake, the
huge stone has been rolled away by this massive glowing angel who is
sitting on it, the guards have all passed out in fear on the ground,
and the Angel tells them that Jesus has been raised, inviting them to
enter the cave to see what has happened and to tell the disciples.
This increases their fear - and notice that they don’t go into the
cave, but run away. Joseph Campbell writes that the cave in stories,
myths, and dreams is a symbol of facing fear: “The cave you fear
to enter contains the treasure you seek.” They run away from what
they seek and Jesus comes to them in their fear. Jesus appears to
them as they are running away with a matter-of-fact “Greetings”
– “business as usual, don’t be afraid.”
John’s
Gospel starts off by saying:
In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. He
was in the beginning with God. All
things came into being through him, and without him not one thing
came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the
life was the light of all people. The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
. . And the Word became flesh and lived among us,
In
the beginning was the creative spirit of God, and those people who
followed Jesus experienced the creative spirit of God in the life of
the man Jesus and after his death, they continued to experience that
spirit in the everyday life. The life of the Spirit was business as
usual in this life and the next. The creative spirit before the
beginning of time is still continuing, creating and living among us
in everyday life. That story tells us that the Creative Spirit does
not die; much as we try to kill it by starving it to death, it lives
in us in this world and the next.
Frederick
Buechner in his “Magnificent
Defeat
refers to this kind of behavior as “In the Midst”:
Jesus
is apt to come, into the very midst of life at its most real and
inescapable. Not in a blaze of unearthly light, not in the midst of a
sermon, not in the throes of some kind of religious daydream, but . .
. at supper time, or walking along a road. This is the element that
all the stories about Christ's return to life have in common: Mary
waiting at the empty tomb and suddenly turning around to see somebody
standing there—someone she thought at first was the gardener; all
the disciples except Thomas hiding out in a locked house, and then
his coming and standing in the midst; and later, when Thomas was
there, his coming again and standing in the midst; Peter taking his
boat back after a night at sea, and there on the shore, near a little
fire of coals, a familiar figure asking, "Children, have you any
fish?"; the two men at Emmaus who knew him in the breaking of
the bread. He never approached from on high, but always in the midst,
in the midst of people, in the midst of real life and the questions
that real life asks.
Don’t
get me wrong; I am real glad you showed up here today on Easter, the
Feast of the Resurrection, but the real feast of the resurrection is
every
day; every day the creative spirit encounters us to create, to
forgive, to walk with each other in peace, to be present to give
thanks, to dream and work for justice and mercy, to be kind to
strangers, to respect the dignity of every human being, to live each
day fully in this life and the next, and to not be afraid when things
are just outside of our control or understanding.
“Xaipete”
“Greetings.”, “May
phobiesthe”;
“Don’t be afraid” for Alleluia, Christ is Risen. The Lord is
Risen indeed.
Easters
2017
When
I was young, only four,
baskets
came out to gather eggs
to
grab as much while outdoor
fast
as I can run with short legs.
When
I was closer to the ten
A
new basket was brought out
for
my little brother, but the yen
stayed
with me hid by a pout
because
at one level I did learn
that
Easter was about new life
but
it seemed like a way to earn
approval
from Mom, Dad’s wife,
as
we dressed up in new glad rags
marching
off to church to mumble
formula
while tearing off price tags
and
being warned not to grumble.
When
I was home after being eighteen
breaking
from college so much wiser
sneering
at this superstition at the scene
doling
out sufferance like a mean miser.
The
Jesus story wasn’t really heard by me
thinking
ages earlier come up with
a
hoax, but dead is dead as far as I did see
for I was too smart to believe a myth.
When
I was a father at twenty and three
I
held my daughter and turned to pray
for
this miracle, holding her so close to me,
here
was full life; not mere child’s play
as
love isn’t swapped but rather shared
as
life fully given out of that deep love
so
that each new day won’t be spared
so
many moments of awe found thereof.
Now
I am passing seventy of full life
I
know much less now but do love in myth
that
new reality being risen to afterlife
leaving
shackles of reason dispensed with
for
each day is a new creation savored
of
something much greater will not end
by
tasting heaven on earth full flavored
for
existence doesn’t end but transcend.
.
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