Sermon Easter 3B

Listen to the gospel reading and the sermon here.

Luke 24:36b-48

Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ³⁷They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he took it and ate in their presence. ⁴⁴Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, ⁴⁶and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.

There are various stories across all four gospel accounts of Jesus appearing to the disciples after the resurrection.  In the season of Easter we glimpse several of those stories. Last week was John’s version of the disciples behind closed doors and Jesus appearing to them and Thomas.  At another time we’ll hear the story of Jesus meeting disciples on the road to Emmaus. But today’s story is one of my favorites. 

In Luke’s story this morning, the disciples are gathered together following Jesus’ death and they’re having a discussion to figure out what happened and what comes next.  There are some reports circulating that Jesus is actually alive and the tomb is empty. And I imagine that would be hard news for some folks to believe since they just watched him die.   Either way they’re deliberating the “now what” question of faith and all of a sudden Jesus shows up.

Jesus appears in the room without warning or announcement.  He shows up unexpectedly, offers proof that he’s not a ghost by showing them his hands and feet and then he chows down on some broiled fish like it’s no big deal.   Every time I read this text I picture a Jesus leaning against the wall in the back of the room as the disciples frantically debate what’s next. Then someone notices him.  He steps forward and says “What’s up friends...got any food.” Now I know that society today has heavily influenced my view of Jesus in this scene, but there is this strange non-chalantness about the interaction.  And maybe it’s nota big deal for Jesus, after all he talked about God’s plan long before it happened. 

But for the disciples it really is a bit of a whiplash.   One minute they’re frantically discussing their fate, and the next their once dead Rabii appears in the room and say “peace be with you.”   Then Jesus says, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” Almost as thought Jesus is offended that they weren’t just waiting on baited breath for him to show up.  It seems a bit unfair to us that Jesus would expect the disciples to not be frightened, and having doubts about what they’re seeing. But I suppose in Jesus’ mind there is no reason for them to be startled or afraid because he clearly told them multiple times what was going to happen. 

But there he is, arms and feet extended, chomping on some broiled fish.  And after a moment he opens their minds to understand the scripture. In a single moment, the depth of God’s salvific plan for the world through Jesus Christ is made clear to them.  They Jesus enlightens them and sends them off. 

It’s a rather bizarre interaction, and rightfully so, but the disciples don’t really know how to react.  And then scripture offers this beautiful and freeing reminder: Scripture says, “Even while in their joy the disciple were disbelieving and still wondering. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering. 

There is no shortage of Easter season themes to preach on.  The climax of Easter has us proclaiming that Christ is risen and now we too have the privilege and responsibility of telling anyone and everyone. And I have certainly dedicated a lot of sermon time this Easter season to the task of going and telling.  

There is an unintentional preconception that in order to go and tell we must have perfect faith ourselves.  I think that we often shy away from speaking out about our faith because we don’t feel as though we haven’t mastered faith.  It’s scary to talk about Jesus and the joy of the resurrection because someone we meet might have doubts or questions that force us to question or doubt our own faith.  We’re not always comfortably balancing proclamation of faith with faithful questioning.

Today’s encounter with Jesus offers a reassurance of faith that we don’t often focus on during Easter.  Today we hear about the disciples gathered behind closed doors for various reasons, and as they least expect it, Jesus appears before them offering peace and wholeness.  Make no mistake; the disciples are ecstatic to see Jesus.  Maybe a bit puzzled, but they’re over joyed.  

Then text says, “Even while in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering.”Jesus’ closest followers, his most dedicated witnesses wrestle the balance of believing and doubting.  Of faithful joy yet still wondering.

If we’re honest with ourselves, I don’t suspect that there are many if any among us who just simply and wholly believe.  I doubt there are many who believe in Jesus without question, who confess faith without doubt or fear, and celebrate Easter in pure joy because it all makes perfect sense to them.

I fear that we too often ride one extreme or the other.  Maybe we’re on fire for the Spirit and God’s Love feels more present and tangible than we can express.  And in those moments it feels unfaithful to have doubts and fears.

Or maybe you’re feeling abandoned and lonely.  God’s Love seems absent incredibly undesirable.  And in those moments faith seems trivial and ridiculous because there are so many questions I have for God.  There are too many doubts, fears, anxieties for me to ever experience faith and joyful.

We tend to hold these extremes in tension and the messiness of life sends us back and forth on an exhausting journey of faith.

The past few weeks I’ve been humbled by several conversations of faith.  Members and non-members have inquired about this tension. How to balance having faith while having doubts and questions. 

Even today, the youth and I are meeting for confirmation and Sunday school to talk about some difficult passages of scripture in Leviticus.  And the humbling part about these conversations is that it is faith in Jesus that has sparked these conversations.  

Our lives in faith are permeated and enhanced through our doubts and questions.  And perhaps the uncomfortable part for us is allowing faith and doubt to coexist in our hearts minds and souls.

Just because we’re baptized doesn’t mean we have a perfect understanding of faith and what God is up to.  Just because we’re confirmed doesn’t mean everything is clear.  Bible study, Sunday school, committee meetings, Diakonia classes, even Seminary doesn’t mean it all makes perfect sense. 

If anything, the more we talk about God and peel back the layers of love in scripture the more questions we have.  The more wondering we do.

And the Good News this day my friends is that just like the disciples Jesus’ resurrection empowers us to not only rejoice but to wonder as well. 

Our lives in faith are permeated and enhanced through our doubts and questions.  And perhaps the uncomfortable part for us is allowing faith and doubt to coexist in our hearts minds and souls.

So this Easter and always, when we talk about going and sharing faith, take comfort in knowing that none among us is perfect.  We are all believers and questioners.  Joyous children of God always wondering.  

And sometimes sharing your honest doubts and fears is the most faithful proclamation we can give for someone who doesn’t know Jesus. 

© Pastor Daniel Locke, preached April 15, 2018 @ St. Mark's Lutheran Church

Welcome & Welcome Back - Easter 2B Sermon

Listen to the sermon here.

John 20:19-31

¹⁹When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” ²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” ²⁶A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” ³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. ³¹But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.One week since

Well, fancy meeting all of you here!  But in the nicest way possible, may I ask, what are you doing here?  One week after the Easter story was proclaimed, what brings you back?  Last week the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty.  The angels proclaimed to Mary that that Jesus of Nazareth is not here, he is risen and he has gone ahead to Galilee to meet you there.  Remember? Alleluia, Jesus is Risen….he is risen indeed, alleluia!?

Now granted, not all of us were together in this space for worship last week, and if you weren’t here I hope that you were able to worship with a community of faith elsewhere for Easter.  But seriously, what are you doing here?

Christ is risen from the grave. God has fulfilled the promise of life over death.  

Sin and the devil are defeated. Jesus who was crucified has risen and gone ahead as promised. And we, along with Mary and the disciples were tasked with the responsibility and privilege of going and telling the world about Jesus!  Yet here we are.

Maybe your 1st week of Easter was packed with going and telling.  Perhaps you ran the streets like an ice cream truck singing the praises of God.  Shouting up Alleluia.  Serving anyone who was intrigued.

Maybe your 1st week of Easter was a moderate, more subtle week of proclaiming Christ is risen. Maybe you shared your Easter experience with someone in the office.   Called to check in on family and friends and catch up through conversations of faith.

Maybe you talked to a stranger about Jesus or even invited them to come and see for themselves. Maybe you helped a neighbor or someone in need...took intentional efforts to be a witness to the resurrection ...a light in the world.  

Maybe you were unmotivated, unchanged by the Easter proclamation. Maybe you were scared to talk about Jesus or afraid of what the Spirit might be up to.  Maybe you were sucked right back in to a routine that suppress the glory, joy, and energy of Easter morning.

Maybe some of you stood graveside with a loved one, experienced terror hatred.  Maybe some of us were reluctant to even care about Jesus at all because it feels as though Jesus has failed to care about us.  So why bother.

Whatever our experience of this first week of Easter, faith and the Holy Spirit have led us here; gathered together in this sacred and safe place.  Whether to have the flame of Easter fanned once more, confess a reluctance to embrace the call of going and telling.  Whether to ask hard questions about faith, seek clarification, or plea to God for a sign to help our unbelief...we are here again.  After the first week of Easter, Welcome to some. And Welcome back to others.  It is good to be together again.

The first week of Easter is precisely where we find the disciples this morning.  Mary returns from the tomb that first Easter morning proclaiming that she has seen the Lord.  

She went to the disciples as she was instructed by the angels.  Now either disciples believed her without question and were just waiting for Jesus to show up or her message feel on deaf ears.  Because Mary proclaims the Easter message and not a word was said in return to her.  

The disciples are hiding behind locked doors for fear of the Jews.  Their fear was amplified for various reasons, but mostly they were afraid that their proximity association with the supposed Messiah might land them in a similar situation.  And I suspect they were terrified because they had dropped everything to devote their lives to following Jesus hoping for him to be the Messiah and now that he’s dead they don’t know what comes next.  Their uncertainty leads to hiding.

And regardless of their fears, Jesus Does show up.  Alive. And Jesus offers them peace. Breathes on them the Holy Spirit and says, “as the father sent me, so now I send you.”  This is their Easter celebration.  The text says they rejoiced.  I imagine them shouting Alleluia and praising God.  Perhaps some high fives were thrown around. Friends leaning over to say “I told you so.”  Maybe they had an Easter brunch and enjoyed fellowship with one another.  Maybe some then took a nap.  But that was their Easter celebration.

And here is that crazy part. One week later they are still garrisoned inside this room, hiding behind a closed door.  For whatever reason, the Easter story was not met with a fervent and urgent response to tell the world what had happened.

So one week later, insert Thomas. Thomas gets a poor reputation for requesting proof. He’s faulted for his desire to see it for himself.  History labels him a doubter but the truth is he doesn’t necessarily doubt his best friends and their experience of Jesus. Thomas just wants his own experience with Jesus.  He wants the Easter moment to see and know that Jesus is alive.  

Thomas is simply a brother in the body of Christ eager to have his faith affirmed.  He’s willing and ready to believe, but he wanted be strong-armed or pressured into faith.  He won’t be argued or forced into believing. Thomas will not be shamed into believing. And too often history has mistaken his prudence for doubt.  

Our gut reaction is to appreciate Thomas because he validates our own hesitations of faith. Thomas embodies our own curiosities and desires to be met by Jesus. And while that’s true, perhaps Thomas’s story is more than just a validation of our own journey of faith.  

Perhaps Thomas is also a good representation of the world to which we are called to proclaim Jesus Christ.  Like Thomas, the world is desperate to meet and see Jesus.  They are aching for a sign or resurrection experience.  They’re willing to believe, but like Thomas, they won’t be strong-armed, bullied, or argued into faith. They simply want or need to experience Jesus for themselves.  This is what makes Thomas’s story so powerful.  

The reality is that we are called to proclaim Christ. To go and tell all the world.  And perhaps a greater reality is that people won’t always believe you. The world is not always so ready to believe and confess. The call is hard work, relentless work. After all, if 10 disciples couldn’t convince one of their own to believe after seven days of talking about their experience of the risen Christ, then how much more work is ahead of us.

A desire for clarification and understanding; a need for personal experience and encounter is a perfectly acceptable response to the resurrection story. And when our going and telling is met with what we perceive to be “doubting” it doesn’t mean we stop telling.  Just like Thomas’ 10 best friends kept on telling him, we too keep on telling the world.

Take heart that God is the one who confronts unbelief and hesitant faith.  God is the one who is appears behind the locked doors of our everyday lives. God is the one who gives a breath of promise when we’re grasping on to hope. We proclaim a God who doesn’t condemn what we perceive as doubt, but rather cultivates a faithful curiosity.  

Friends, I’m glad you’re back. Whether your first week of Easter was spent shouting Alleluia to anyone and everyone, or whether you lamented and despised anyone who was overly excited for Jesus. Welcome back. Whether it was a week of ceaseless praise, or uninspired prayer.  Welcome back. 

Because Here in this place, where some of us are wrestling with faith and all the curiosity, uncertainty, anxiety, and doubt that comes with it...and where some of us are telling our friends over and over our experience of Jesus.  God is surely present.  

The good news is that this is a safe and loving place for our moments of wrestling and our endless praising.  All are gathered and welcomed here because here in this place we are sure to meet Jesus.  In water and word, wine and bread.  Jesus and the breath of the Spirit graces us in worship as we are forgiven, nourished, and sent.  

And friends, as much as we love gathering together in this place, we are always reminded that Easter means we will always be sent.  Again and again. To go and tell.  To tell the story of Christ risen, from the perspective of doubt and uncertainty as well as a posture of confidence and assurance.   Either way the call to go and tell is the same.  And Jesus will surely be present.

© Preached by Pastor Daniel Locke on April 8, 2018 @ St. Mark's Lutheran, Jacksonville, FL

Go and Tell! - Easter Sunday B Sermon - 04.01.2018

Listen the gospel and sermon here.

Mark 16:1-8

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. ²And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. ³They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” ⁴When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. ⁵As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. ⁶But he said to them, “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. ⁷But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” ⁸So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Alleluia, Christ is risen! Christ is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!  Amen…

How sweet the sound of Jesus being raised from the dead.  The message that Christ is alive and has gone ahead of us the greatest story of our Christian faith. It’s the foundation for all we say and do. And I know full and well that anything I say after from here on out is secondary to the good news that Christ is risen.  

Christ, the Lord Jesus, God’s only son, has been raised from the dead.  God’s promise has been fulfilled.  And we gather this morning through the promise of baptism that we are buried in a death like his, and raised into new life like his.

Now the truth is, we are Easter people.  Every day is a witness to the celebration of the resurrection.  We live our daily lives as a gift from God because Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave. We have been given new life, A promise that God will always be with us.

But on this day, this liturgical Easter Sunday we recall that very first Easter morning. The empty tomb.  The stone rolled away.

The proclamation that “Jesus of Nazareth, the one who was crucified.  He is not here.  He has been raised.”  On this Sunday specifically we remember how we became Easter people in the first place.  

Today is a day of celebration and thanksgiving.  A day of new birth and new life, hope is restored. Thanks be to God, that we are no longer bound by the power of sin death and the devil.

Thanks be to God that the powers of the world are no match for God’s love and grace.

Thanks be to God that in the resurrection of Jesus Christ we are granted salvation, a promise of eternal life.  A promise that is not conditioned on our own ability, work, or effort. A promise that is blind to our own divisiveness…race, sex, creed, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, height, weight, or other.  God’s promise of eternal life is fulfilled on Easter morning for all who believe.

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!  Alleluia, Christ is risen!  Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia Amen…

…So now what?  What happens next?

Mark’s gospel account this morning is a bit open ended.  The text tells us that the women went to the tomb with spices to anoint the body, as was custom.   They arrived and found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty.  

The young man says “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified,  He has been raised; he is not here.” “But go,” the man says, “tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee there you will see him, just as he told you.”

And here’s where it ends: "So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

           

The women left for terror and amazement had seized them and said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Well if we take our cue from Mark then I suppose what’s next is the uncomfortable part. Perhaps the hardest part.  Go and Tell.  Shout and share!  Make disciples! Proclaim the Good News, Sing Thine is the Glory, and Jesus Christ has risen Today in the streets. Proclaim the empty tomb and the stone rolled away. Shout Alleluia! Not just in the church or in worship, but in all of life.  

I suppose what’s next is talking about Jesus. But you and I both know that when we’re honest...the call to go and tell about Jesus is easier said than done.  

It makes me wonder if the women that first Easter morning were overcome with terror and amazement because God had actually fulfilled what Jesus had talked about, or if they were afraid and seized because they realized that they were now entrusted with the privilege and responsibility of proclaiming the good news. Go and tell meant going and telling.

You and I both know that proclaiming Christ crucified and risen is an intimidating call.

And I don’t think we’re afraid of the Good News itself, But perhaps we’re seized by what the Good News is calling us to do. To be. Sometimes the hardest, scariest, most terrifying thing to do is to point to the empty tomb.  To proclaim the resurrected Christ.  

It is not an easy call to challenge a resistant world with a message of hope and love.  To proclaim victory over death to a not-so-receptive society.

So it is that we gather this morning, not necessarily for the sake of being change, but to remember that we are changed.  Like the women who at the tomb that first Easter morning, we gather today to remember and celebrate that we too are tasked with the privilege and responsibility of going and telling.

Today is not the initiation of a new call.  It is not simply the start of something new.  We gather this Easter morning not so much as a reenactment of that first resurrection dawn but rather as a renewal of faith.  A re-affirmation of God’s endless and eternal promise to be with us always.  And furthermore we reaffirm our call as Christians to go and tell.

Therefore it is not enough to sing Thine is the Glory, and Jesus Christ is risen today if only to return uninspired to daily living in a world that adamantly works to darken the light of Christ

It is not enough to shout alleluia Christ is risen…to sing praise and thanksgiving to God for what God has done, is doing, and continues to do if only to leave this place and return to our penitent Lenten lives.

           

It is not enough to sing Hosanna in the highest…to be fueled with the flame of eternal life if we only let Easter Sunday be a sigh of relief to an exhausting Lenten season. Make no mistake, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ the world is forever changed.  In God’s infinite love through Jesus Christ, from death to life,you and I were...are forever changed. Changed into Easter people.  Changed into Christians who live in the light of the resurrection.

God calls us to something new.  Something better. We are called to be disciples in an uncomfortable world. We are called to suffer, die, and rise.  To come and see. To point and to follow. To Go and to tell.  To shout Alleluia, Christ is risen!

And the Good News of Easter morning is not that Lent is over and we can finally eat sweets, watch TV again, or indulge again…It’s not just that the tomb was empty or that Jesus has risen.

But the Good News is that God promises to be ahead of us wherever we go to meet us there.

Through the crucifixion and resurrection God has promised to be present with us at all times and in all places.  God covets to never leave us orphaned.

In a world desperate for God’s love yet utterly resistant to the message of hope and love, we proclaim Christ risen in the full assurance of God accompaniment. Because if God can be present through death and the grave then how much more can God fulfill the promise of abiding presence to God’s people. 

And if God is with us, then Christian beware: because to go and tell means the power of the Gospel just might seize us in terror and amazement.

Not terror and amazement rooted in fear or anxiety, but rather in God’s presence we are seized by awe and wonder.
   Awe of a God who stomped satan down
   Awe of a God who resisted temptation, who challenged the systems of this world, even to death.

   Awe of God that laughs in the face of death and boasts life and life abundant.
   Awe and wonder of a God who claims us and chooses us to share in that abundant and eternal life.

It is this God that raised Jesus from the dead.

It is this God that commands us to go and tell.

It is God that abides by us in our walk of faith

Until all the world might be: 
   seized by the glory of God.
   seized by God’s love and goodness.
   seized by God’s faithfulness.

 And Until all the world might know his holy name…we go and we tell.

 Alleluia, Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia

© Pastor Daniel Locke, Preached April 1, 2018 at St. Mark's Lutheran Jax, FL

Called by Name - Easter Vigil Sermon - March 31, 2018

John 20:1-18

20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Sometimes I find myself screaming into the verses of this text, “He’s right there!”

Mary stands outside the tomb weeping, which in all fairness is a reasonable and acceptable to response to both Jesus’ death and and the absence of his body from the tomb.   But as she’s wrestling with her grief, doing her best to process the loss that she is feeling I want to shout into the text, “He’s right there!” 

Even for a brief moment, when Jesus asks her why she’s weeping she doesn’t realize she’s talking to Jesus.  She thinks it is the gardner.  And honestly, why would she think it’s Jesus.  She saw him die.  She came to worship his dead body.  The prospect of Jesus being present and in the conversation was never a consideration.  It would be unreasonable and proposturious to think for a second that Jesus would be present with her while she grieves.  The text even says that Mary just assumed this man was the gardner, because who else could it possibly be!?

Not always easy to see Jesus in pain

There’s a rawness about Mary and her grief at the tomb that I think we can appreciate.  Certainly many of us can sympathize with her pain.  The burden of grief and sorrow can be intense and crippling.  The weight of loss is powerful and it can seize in a way that’s contrary to our faith. 

Week-in and week-out we profess and confess the abiding presence of God.  We acknowledge both our dependence on God as well as God’s enduring and eternal faithfulness to those whom God has chosen.  Time and time again we commit our lives to the mission and ministry of God’s story of love for the world, and we do our best to live as witnesses and disciples.  We do our best to always point to Jesus.

And yet, in the fullness of grief…in the deepest moments of sorry...in the utter despair of loss...Jesus is often the last person we want or expect to see.  Like Mary this evening, we encounter difficult moments that challenge our faith.  Every confession we have ever heard and professed seems to hang in the balance.  

And even though our brothers and sisters may be shouting between the tears that “Jesus is right there” nothing seems to calm the storm of death.  It’s by no fault of our own, nor is it the fault of our siblings in Christ...but in the chaos of grief, Jesus is too often the last person we expect to see or hear.  We even find ourselves lamenting “I do not know where he is…”

That’s the rawness about Mary and her grief at the tomb that I think we can sympathize with and appreciate.  It’s that rawness and desperate search for Jesus that helps us understand the power of this Easter moment.

Jesus calls by name

Mary says, “Sir if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”  She is desperately looking for Jesus, and certainly we recognize the irony that Jesus is right there.  He’s right there!

Jesus said to her, “Mary!”  She turned and said to him in Hebrew “Rabbouni.”  She didn’t know it in the moment, but Jesus is right there.  While Mary is grieving her loss.  While Mary is frantically looking for Jesus.  While Mary is searching for understanding and guidance.  While Mary feels alone and lost.  Jesus is right there.  

And as much as we might want to shout through the page “He’s right there” it is by no coincidence that her eyes are open and her hoped is restored when Jesus calls her by name.  Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

That’s the power of the of the Easter morning message.  That through the crucifixion and resurrection God has promised to present with us at all times and in all places.  Sure that doesn’t mean we always see Jesus or feel his presence.  It doesn’t mean we always recognize God among us or that we’re always receptive and hospitable.  

And that is ok.  Because the truth of the Easter proclamation is not first and foremost about our faithfulness.  Rather it is chiefly about God’s faithfulness to the world.  God’s faithfulness to us.

On this day the stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty.  God conquered the grave so that death may no longer have a hold on our lives.  Grief and sorry, though very real and acceptable emotions may be overcome with hope and promise.  Loss and pain, challenged by life and love.

On this day God gave new life through the promise of resurrection.  

Baptism … called by name

In a moment we will celebrate power of God calling us by name.  In the waters of baptism God calls us by name, washes us of our sins, buries us in a death life Christ and raises us to new life.  God claims us and names us as children of God.

Tonight we not only give thanks for the gift of baptism but we gather as a community to celebrate the promise of God’s abiding presence as Kawaski Walton is washed in the water.  Together we will renounce all forces of evil, sin, and everything that defies God, and then well will witness the power of God calling us by name.

Like Jesus calling to Mary that Easter morning, God calls us by name.  God’s abiding presence in Jesus becomes part of our identity.  We are inextricably tied to God by name and the promise that Christ will never leave us.  

Precious child of God, he is forever and ever, right there.

Alleluia Christ is Risen,

Christ is risen indeed, alleluia!

© Pastor Daniel Locke, Preached 03.31.2018 @ St. Mark's Lutheran Jax, FL