"The Easter Experience "

Dr. James Mayfield
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

April 20, 2003

Text: I John 1:1-5

In the four gospels, the details of what happened that first Easter morning to do not match up. Who were the women who went to the tomb? Each of the lists is different. Was there an earthquake or not? Was it an angel or a young man dressed in white or was it two men who delivered the news of resurrection, or as John tells it, were there neither men nor angels there but only an empty tomb leaving the women to assume someone had stolen Jesus' body? Did the women run to tell the disciples, or as Mark tells it, were they so afraid they said nothing to anyone? In some stories Jesus is physically touched and even eats a meal. In other stories he is something other than physical, suddenly appearing behind locked doors. In some stories he is immediately recognized, but in the Emmaus story he is not recognized until bread is broken.

So, what happened? What would the cameras of CNN have recorded if they had been there? Something happened that convinced the disciples the crucified Christ had been raised from the dead.

The facts of exactly what happened that first Easter morning are lost -- as lost as the sand spilled from a first century hour glass and scattered by the winds of 2000 years of human history. We simply cannot recover the bare facts of what happened that first Easter Sunday. But even if we could, it would not be enough to convey the reality of what Easter is and what Easter means because the Truth of Easter is more than facts about a miracle that happened a long time ago.

The Truth of Easter is more profound than human language can adequately express. Even the best and most faithful poet is finally unable to capture in words this turning point of history we call Easter. The Truth of Easter is eternal Truth, and eternal Truth is beyond what can be said in our time bound, geography bound human languages such as Hebrew or Greek or French or Arabic or whatever. Certainly it is beyond my Texas-twang English.

Easter is more than a mere pronouncement; it is the personal revelation that enables us to see beyond injustice and all that is wrong in life, so that we believe, really believe, evil will not win -- regardless of the way it looks now. Easter is more than a declaration; it is the personal revelation received through faith that sets us free from our fear of death. Easter is more than polite words of forgiveness spoken when we have made a mess; Easter is the revelation that regardless of how terrible our sin may be, God embraces us in the marvelous mystery of his mercy, making new life a real possibility. The Truth of Easter, is the reality of God's grace transforming us -- converting us from self-centered persons moving through life like walking dead to become persons centered in Christ, living the abundant life revealed in Jesus. All this and much, much more is what the resurrection of Jesus is really all about.

The reality of Easter, the truth of Easter, is as impossible to capture in human language as what Christmas celebrates. On Christmas Eve, the mystery of the incarnation so evades our ability to say it in human words, we celebrate the Word having become flesh bringing light into our human darkness by lighting little candles in a darkened room. But we light no candles on Easter. What human made candle can be an adequate symbol for the declaration that sin and death have been defeated? On Easter we light no little candles in the dark. Instead, we gather just before dawn and in the rising of the sun, we use God's gift of light that enables life to be as the symbol of the resurrection, the symbol of the light our human darkness could not and cannot quench. This light, the light our frail little candles celebrate on Christmas Eve, the light only the rising of the sun can symbolize on Easter, this light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

It is the light of God's grace, the glow of God's love that will not, cannot be overcome by even the worst we humans do. This shines even when because of our fear all we can focus on is the dread filled darkness. And what is the dread filled darkness? It is what we have to deal with because those who have gone before us have failed to live as God intends.

This darkness is what we have to deal with because those around us live out of harmony with God. This darkness is what we have helped create with our own self-centeredness that set loose our selfishness, our envy, our resentments and our fears. This darkness is everything at work in life that harms people's minds and bodies and souls. Darkness is the result of evil; and this darkness is what gives birth to evil. Easter declares this darkness cannot overcome the light revealed in Christ. This light shines in the darkness; it even shines through people who are unaware of reflecting the light of Christ. For example, a child created in the image of God offers his teddy bear to comfort an adult who is obviously in grief. The light shines in the darkness.

This light of God's grace, that is at the heart of what the resurrection is finally all about, shines through the hugs and casseroles that come to us when someone we love more than life has died. This light that shines in the darkness cannot be overcome. It shines even in the terrible and terrifying darkness such as that experienced by the missionary couple we read and heard about some months ago, the ones held by terrorists in the Philippines. When their rescue was only a partial success and he was killed, his wife came home telling how God was good to them in the midst of their ordeal and how her husband died a good death. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

This light of God's grace cannot and will not remain sealed in the darkness of some tomb after being crucified. It rises to shine in the words and deeds of any and all who speak out against injustice or who take action that blocks what is evil and who do what is good. Even when the words bring conflict, and the deeds battling injustice set loose some sort of contemporary crucifixion, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. So, what is Easter? Easter is more than a holiday celebrating a super miracle that happened 2,000 years ago. In Easter we celebrate because the sin and evil that caused the crucifixion and set loose the terrifying darkness of Good Friday and all the agonies of grief and hopelessness endured on that awful Saturday do not mark the end of the story then, and do not mark the end of the story now. In Easter we celebrate this light the darkness cannot overcome.

We, who are aware of seeing the grace of God at work in the midst of this sinful world, we are aware of the Truth of Easter. What we have to share is not merely a story about an Easter event that happened a long time ago. What we have to share is our Easter experience in the here and now -- the life-giving, hope-giving Truth, revealed in Easter. We join the writer of the First Letter John in saying: We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life ... we have seen it and testify to it, ... . The light that has come into the world in Jesus shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. The Lord is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Thanks be to God. Amen and amen.

Pastoral prayer:

Let us thank God for our blessings.

God, thank you for not giving up on us. Too often we give up. We see the mess and do not think there is any hope, and so, we try to protect ourselves with practical selfishness and expedient cynicism. Thank you for not giving up on us, even when we give up on ourselves.

Thank you for the gift of Easter, for the hope revealed in and through the resurrection of Christ. Thank you for showing us in Easter that even when we humans have done our worst, it is not enough to defeat you. Thank you for showing us in Easter that even when we have betrayed you, denied you, and run away from being the persons you have created us to be, your undefeated love still reaches out to us - not only offering forgiveness for the past but offering us a new future. Thank you for the Easter proclamation that sin and evil do not ultimately win. In gratitude we pray the prayer Jesus taught us: "Our Father ...."