First Sunday of Easter - John

The ears were only for the children's message.
Really.

The tomb is empty. It's EMPTY.

         How shocking this must have been for the disciples, and for Mary. To come to the tomb, already feeling deflated and depressed and confused, and then to find the tomb empty.

         I'll guess we've all had days like that - those days when we think "what ELSE could go wrong?"

         And for the disciples, they are so overcome by it that they run away. And for Mary, she just sits and weeps.

         Again, I'll guess we've all been there, too.

         The tomb is empty. And angels appear - messengers from God Almigty - to ask her why she is crying. So she tells them plainly - she's looking for Jesus.

         ...as though speaking to one of the choirs of angels was a normal occurance. Now, I don't know about you, but that's not really a part of my daily routine.

         But Mary - she is so stuck between wanting to believe in everything that Jesus had told her, and the reality of the missing body - maybe a bit of denial thrown in the mix - well, she's not likely thinking too clearly about what it means that the angels have started a conversation with her.

         And when the third being arrives, and asks her the same question, she's still stuck in her own headspace that she doesn't even recognise Jesus for who he is.

         So I'll dare say it again - we've all been there, too.

         Stuck on the hurts of the past - caught in the grief, so trapped in the "what was" that the "what is" could not be recognised.

         And then. THEN! Jesus speaks. He says one word - her name. He calls her by name. Mary.     And everything changes.

         She sees. She sees with her eyes that Jesus is the one speaking to her. She sees with her heart that the man she loved has overcome death. She sees with her faith that the inconceivable has become reality.

         For this is not an illusion, this is the resurrection. And it's a big deal.

         Because - let's be honest - overcoming the power of death is shocking enough - but this meant to Mary that everything he had shared and taught before about him, and his role, and his life - was true. The unbelievable suddenly became believed; the impossible became possible. The grief became love, the sorrow became joy, the devastation became a celebration of heavenly proportions - literally.

         Mary's life has now changed. It has been renewed. It has a re-focused purpose: to tell others the truth of all that Jesus was, and is, and would be. All because the Tomb is empty.

         So Mary preaches: she preaches the best - and shortest - sermon of all time: "I have seen the Lord." What simple words, with such profound impact. In saying it this way, Mary was saying that she had seen, known, trusted in, believed in, and received the Lord. Her entire being was celebrating being known as a beloved child of God.

         And here is a great joy of Easter: we're invited to have days like that.

         We're invited to listen for God calling to us, to know us by name, and to communicate with us plainly.

         We're invited to respond with a love of Jesus that is so deep that we want to cling to him, to defy logic and convention in order to demonstrate our affection. This love would inspire us to go out into the world so infused with joy and share this love: especially those that have not yet received this type of life-changing all-encompassing unjudging love.

         We're invited to share the good news: in our prayers, in our words, and in our actions, letting the world know that the resurrection is not some historlcal event, but an eternal truth: meaning that Easter was when the tomb was first found empty, and Easter is this morning, and Easter will be some unnumbered day well into our future.

         We're invited to live as Easter people: in fact we're expected to live as Easter people. To seek new ways to celebrate renewed life, restored health, rejuvenated faith, reconciled relationships. To proclaim that the Lord is risen - and that while we can't explain HOW it happened, we can delight in the confidence THAT it happened.

         As Sebastian Moore said - "The original disciples were shocked into bliss by the Resurrection–– and they never recovered."

         Wouldn't it be great if we all lived there - in that constant bliss that can only come from God.

         Wouldn't it be great if our lives demonstrated that we've all been there- and are there - and will remain there.

         May God grace us all with enough shock at this glorious impossible - his resurrection - that we never recover, but live in the bliss of Easter every day of our lives.