For a great number of my friends this Easter morning, this
coronavirus seems to have been far more successful than the Grinch could ever
have imagined in his most diabolical of schemes. The Easter Bunny had to
file for unemployment this year. The Easter egg hunt that would have kids
decked out in their new Easter outfits has been cancelled. Family dinners
have been sidelined with, at best, arranging a Zoom or Facetime gathering.
All of those things pale in comparison to the tremendous suffering
of people who are ill; people who are exhausted as they try to care for those
who are sick, or are pressed into extreme overtime as an “essential service”
provider; people who have died; people who are grieving their losses and cannot
even gather to mourn; people who are losing their jobs; people who are
depressed, and anxious and filled with fear. It’s hard for us to say ‘Happy
Easter’ with the true joy we normally do on this day.
Easter happened while it was still dark. If you had been in
church this Easter morning, you would have heard me read John’s version of the
gospel where Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John all encounter the empty
tomb. They see the stone rolled back, they see the burial cloths rolled up
– but there’s no earthquakes, no angels, and not even the Risen
Jesus. Mary Magdalene saw the stone removed. Peter and John race to the
tomb at her news. John tells us that he saw and believed. But then quickly adds they did not yet understand.
Easter happened while it was still dark . . . the first of Jesus’
followers were grieving in sadness, reeling from the betrayals and failures on
their parts, overwhelmed with fear and anxiety. And encountering this
empty tomb has completely disoriented them. Sound a lot like we are
experiencing these past weeks
While it was still dark – the world completely changed.
While it was still dark – the promises that Jesus made were
fulfilled
While it was still dark – while it still looked as if death had
the last word, God’s word, His love, His life destroyed death.
There’s no shortage of people who feel they are in a dark time and
a dark place. Yet, Easter still comes . . . Despite the locked churches and
cancelled celebrations. Despite the social distance, the isolation that
we’re experiencing in unprecedented ways . . . do we welcome, do we sense, do
we believe in Easter?
For us today, the challenge is far greater than to just turn away
from the fear of this virus. It’s more challenging because the importance of
this day, Easter, for if Jesus hadn’t risen from the dead, we wouldn’t care
about Him or remember, let alone celebrate, His birth. But because
He has risen from the dead, that good news, that great news has to move
us. For Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John, Easter started in the dark, but
it didn’t remain there – and neither did they. They returned to share that
good news with their fellow disciples . . . and as they did, they encountered,
they experienced the Risen Christ for themselves. We need to believe it
and share it. We have to allow Christ’s
victory over all the forces of death and Covid-19 to work in us, here and
now.
Take a look at the smiling faces of our children from last Easter.
This is the challenge to share with our kids and grand-kids to see our faith and
hear our prayers that we believe in the Risen Christ. Let your children
experience the Risen Christ in your home. Blessed Easter!
