On The Journey… Easter Sunday

This scene is from an ancient Sixth Century Riasc Monastery site on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. As Denise and I wandered about the site, I wondered to myself how many monks through all the years it was active had worshiped our risen Lord there. And I wonder now, as Easter morn approaches, how many monks had greeted the dawn of Easter morning with loud shouts of Hallelujah, Christ is Risen today! And it blew my mind that on that site I still could sense the spirit of my brothers in Christ from over 1,500 years ago.

As I stated on Holy Saturday evening, this Holy Week journey has been a remarkable journey for me. In ways that I hadn’t experienced before, the last week of Jesus’ life has come alive for me. I can’t really explain it fully… just know that I have felt the presence of the Lord in a way that is new to me and incredibly moving! And now, here we are, on the cusp of the new day. By the time the sun rises in the morning, I will have gathered with the pastors and worship community leaders from First United Methodist, St Agatha’s Episcopal, and First Baptist churches of DeFuniak Springs at the Lakeyard Amphitheater for our annual Easter Sunrise service.

Nothing can replicate, however, that first Easter morning when Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices to the tomb so that they might anoint Jesus and properly prepare his body for burial. (Mark 16:1-2) These three women went to the tomb not fully knowing how they were going to accomplish the task before them. Who was going to roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb? How will we be able to properly care for the battered and bloody corpse of our Lord? Yet instead of thinking the task overwhelming, they marched on in faith. Their faith was rewarded when they got to the tomb and the stone was rolled away! Looking into the tomb, they saw a young man in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. (16:4-5)

Okay, now what? His body is gone! And there is a strange man sitting in the tomb where they knew that Joseph of Arimathea had laid Jesus’ broken body to rest. And the man told them that they were looking in the wrong place for Jesus! “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.” (16:5-6)

There is NO way we can even begin to imagine how that must have felt to the women that first Easter morning! I am not surprised that they were terrified and amazed as they fled from the tomb, (16:8) They ran with a combination of fear and amazement in their hearts. The Sabbath spent in mourning and grief following his death and burial was concluded with this amazing realization. He is risen indeed! The women (and the disciples in other Gospel accounts) all went to the tomb to look for the body of their Lord. But when they got there, he wasn’t there! They were, in the words of the angels, looking for the living among the dead. (Luke 24:5)

So, dear reader, on this Easter morning, where do you seek the Lord? Yes, you know he is not among the dead in the graveyard. But again, where do you look for him? Where do you expect to find him? Is he within the walls of your church sanctuary? Is he in a neat little box where you keep him for special occasions? Or do you look for him among the living! And among which living creatures do you expect to find him? With people who look and act just like you? With those who dress just like you? Or do you look for him in the margins? And speaking of the living… do you look for him in the eyes of the homeless person on the street… in the face of the undocumented immigrant in your midst… in the eyes of the scared LGBTQ teen who has been kicked out of their home by their family for being who God has created them to be… Where do you find the Lord on this Easter morning? Where do you find the Lord each and every day?

My prayer for you… My prayer for me… is that we will seek the Lord in the face of the least of these… that we will see Christ in the eyes and the heart of all of our sisters and brothers… even in the eyes of our enemies… Amen, even so, Come Lord Jesus! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!