Easter Sunday

Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

There are many Jesus films out there. One that is a little different from most is the movie “Jesus of Montreal”, filmed in 1989. A group of actors has been charged by the diocese of Montreal to come up with a modern take on the passion story. On the grounds of the cathedral, they are to offer a passion play adapted to our times.

It’s interesting to see how the actors wrestle with the gospel and how that wrestling changes them.

One of the most moving scenes for me was the Easter morning scene. The group of disciples sits and stands at the entrance to a long culvert-like tunnel. They are sad and depressed. They are grieving their friend Jesus’ death. It is gloomy in the tunnel, a perfect reflection of the mood of the disciples.

Suddenly, at the far end of the tunnel, a woman comes running. She is shouting and running towards them. As she gets closer you can hear what she says. Both breathless and overjoyed, she tells the disciples that she has seen the Lord. Jesus is alive!

She had seen Jesus, and as soon as she had done that and grasped the amazing thing that had taken place that morning, she needs to tell the others. She is bursting with good news, bubbling over with joy that just has got to be shared; shared especially with her friends and fellow disciples who are in such great need of good news.

I had to think of that scene when I read Matthew’s account of the Easter story.

The two Marys come to the tomb early in the morning. They are still wrapped in grief and sadness at the death of their beloved Savior Jesus. He had died two days ago, and now they are coming to the tomb to honor him by anointing his body in the customary way.

As they approach the tomb, an angel removes the stone from the tomb entrance, causing a minor earthquake and making the guards faint in fear. The women, however, stay upright. Hurray for the women! They don’t seem to flinch when the angel starts talking to them.

The angel’s message has two parts.

Part one: Jesus is alive. He has been raised. Come and see where he had been. Look, the grave is empty; he really is alive!

Part two: Go quickly and tell the others that Jesus is alive and that he will show up in their lives.

Just like the woman in the movie, they first discover the truth of Jesus’ resurrection, and once they grasp that, they can’t help but feel the need to share the news. Just like in the movie, we read that the Marys run to tell the others. The Easter message is so powerful, so joyful, is just has to be shared.

This made me ponder times in my life when I had really good news to share. I remember running home to tell my parents about an A I had gotten on a test when I was in elementary school. I remember a day on vacation when my siblings and I had a great experience while my parents were on a hike; the moment we saw them coming up the path, and without saying a word to one another, we started running; we just had to tell my parents what we had just experienced.

Good news is like that, right? It wants to be shared.

I grew up in Germany; my whole family lives there. When I went into labor with my first baby, I called my parents in Germany and asked if they wanted to know when their first grandchild arrived no matter the time. “Of course!” they said. Zeke was born just after 6 pm. By the time we got into the room and had access to a phone (in those days prior to cell phones), it was 2 am in Germany.

My parents were delighted at the news and sat in bed and toasted with champaign. And then they wanted to tell people the good news. But it was the middle of the night. They couldn’t call any of their relatives or friends at such a time. And then they thought: Our American friends! And they called my husbands parents to congratulate them and share the joy, and friends in Chambersburg. They just had to tell someone, so they called across the Atlantic when it still cost $1 per minute.

As you were listening to my memories, what stories came into your mind? When did you have good news so wonderful that you just had to share them?

Please turn to the people around you and exchange stories.

Would anyone like to share a story?     

As I listen to all our stories, it strikes me how most of the good news you wanted to share had to do with something new, hopeful, lifegiving; something that brought a change for the better to your life or other people’s lives; something that brought joy and energy.

An engagement meant the joy of being loved and of looking towards life with the person we like best in the world.

A birth announcement filled us with hope for the future.

A new job presented us with possibilities to use our skills in a meaningful way and make a living.

The good news we can’t wait to share are stories of new life. In that, they are all Easter stories. They are all filled with the power, the energy, the joy, the new possibilities, the love of Easter.

We have come here today to be refilled with the good news of Easter. Here in worship, we hear God’s word and receive God’s sacrament, we are surrounded by fellow disciples and sing and pray our faith together; here we are recharged.

This being “recharged” contains the same two parts as the angel’s message:

We are recharged as in: refilled, replenished, reassured in our belief that Jesus is alive and will show up in our lives because he loves us.

And we are recharged as in: charged anew, commissioned anew, sent anew to go and tell the others.

Our world too often resembles the group of Jesus’ friends gathered in a dark, damp tunnel, full of grief and pain and hopelessness. A single newscast can remind us that war, violence, hunger, corruption, prejudices, illness, addiction, poverty, and more are draining life and energy out of our people. Too often, we live in a Good Friday world of sadness and fear.

We need to be uplifted by Easter joy; that’s why we are here.

And our world needs to be uplifted. That’s why we are sent. Our neighbors need us to run to them with good news. We all just shared how powerful it is to have good news to share. Well, we have good news to share! Jesus is alive! Our Savior overcame death and the grave! Jesus is active in our lives and blesses us with guidance and comfort and healing and hope and all those wonderful news we shared with each other today.

Let us be like the Marys on Easter morning: let us believe in the resurrection, let us listen to the angel’s message, let us be so filled with joy that we run and tell the others out there the good news of our risen Savior. Amen.