St. Paul Lutheran Church, Minden, Nebraska
Sunday Sermon – Easter Sunday – April 4, 2010
“A New Thing: Holding On To Easter!”
Text: John 20:16-18
There is an old, familiar two-part Easter greeting for pastor and congregation on Easter Sunday
I say: Christ is risen!
You say: He is risen indeed!
Hold on to that! Good News! Old news! Familiar news!
I say: Christ is risen!
You say: He is risen indeed!
Hang on! That’s also challenging news! Forward-looking news!\
When it comes to wonderful old things and challenging new things, it is good to hold on! Holding on can mean two things.
First, holding on can mean holding on to things special, cherished familiar, personal. Holding on to stories, pictures, letters, happy moments, precious memories; and this is good! This is healthy! Some-one has said, “Hold on! Live a good, honorable life . . then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.”
From one Easter to the next Easter holding on to Easter can mean holding on to religious beliefs & practices that are deeply ingrained, centered on the resurrection of Jesus: Easter worship, Easter Gospel, all 8 verses of “I Know That My Redeemer Lives,” Easter lilies, Easter dresses, Easter breakfast. For many believers holding on to Easter as they’ve always known it is a Sunday to go to church; a Sunday to feel included & joyful & renewed. Holding on to such wonderfully old things is not being old-fashioned, childish, or stubborn, but it is good, comforting, encouraging.
On the other hand, holding on can also mean hanging on for dear life; like when a first-time flyer is strapped into his/her seat on a large jet & feels such a tremendous burst of power when that jet barrels down the runway & lifts sharply off the ground. That is a moment for some first-time flyers to really hang on, or for wondering if flying was really better than driving.
Certainly, in today’s society holding on can mean living a fast-paced life, on the go, figuratively taking off, landing, flying high, flying low, stopping every now & then to give thanks for things accomplished but then moving on to new projects; pursuing things new & challenging.
There is definitely some of that kind of holding on going on in the Gospel for this Easter Sunday in John chapter 20.
According to John 20, a resurrected Jesus’ response to a weeping - surprised - joyful Mary is, “Do not cling to me, do not hold on to me,” as if to suggest that from now on, after Jesus’ glorious resurrect-ion, everything would be oriented, not toward what was old & familiar but toward taking off, moving on to a new thing about to happen.
What new thing is about to happen to Mary that would excite her and leave her holding on to Easter in a new and challenging way?
What happened to Mary is that her Easter went from standing out-side an empty tomb -- to looking into the tomb, hearing “a couple of angels ask her why she was weeping,” wondering what happened to Jesus’ body,
then hearing and speaking with a risen Jesus whom Mary did not recognize until Jesus called her by name.
When Mary heard the risen Jesus say her name, that’s when Mary knew it was Jesus and turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”, which was her really saying, “Oh, Teacher, Master, Lord!”
The risen Jesus’ response to Mary was to tell her that the relation-ship He had with her would no longer be the same, that she was not to cling to Him, hug Him, or hold on to Him because now he was “glorified and available, not just to her & His disciples, but to the world.
It was good Mary lingered, stayed behind, wondering where Jesus’ body was at. It was good Mary had a reassuring, personal encounter with the risen Lord.It was good that Mary, during the course of Jesus’ ministry, had become a follower of Jesus close enough & committed enough to knowing Jesus, listening to Him, learning from Him, that when the risen Jesus said her name she recognized Him & called Him what she had called Him before, teacher, master.
But for all the good; for all the joy & excitement of Mary having her eyes & ears & heart open to Jesus as her risen-again Savior & Lord, Jesus was not about to let Mary think that His victory over sin & death; all the guilt & shame He had suffered & endured & triumphed over on the cross; that, that was a done-deal and now it was good to sit around & be together again, like old times.
If it’s true about baseball & the opening of a new season, that baseball is not baseball if it’s not a whole team playing the game the best it can be played, then it’s true of Easter that Easter is not Easter if it’s not brothers & sisters in Christ like Mary, smiling, rejoicing, moving out, taking off, going to others, telling, announcing, holding on, holding out for, being a part of something new & different about to happen, a new season, a new song!
Important as it was for Mary to linger, to have a moving, faith-strengthening, personal encounter with the risen Lord Jesus, none-the-less, Mary was commissioned by Jesus “to go to Jesus brothers and tell them that Jesus was ascending to His father and her Father, to His God and her God.”
And that’s what Mary did. Mary Magdalene left that peaceful gar-den, left with her heart warmed & her faith renewed, left with the full assurance that Jesus was alive, that Jesus had suffered & died & rose again for her -- and Mary went and announced to others who believed in Jesus that she had seen the Lord and he had said these things to her.
Those of you who know me, know that sinner/saint that I am there is a part of me that loves holding on to old things; hanging back; staying with familiar routines; telling & retelling old stories while cherishing good relationships with all the members of our family as well as members of this congregation & others in our community.
But more importantly there’s a part of me and there’s a part of you that needs help holding on, moving forward, witnessing, sharing the Good News of Easter! As good & old & familiar as the Good News of Easter is, Easter is being faithful to our risen Lord Jesus in ways that keep on saying, not just “Wow!” but “What’s next?”
What’s next? The last time I looked: what’s next is hearing the Good News of Easter sung & spoken by a church-full of our children & grand-children in next Sunday’s Children’s Easter Musical, “Alive! Alive!”
What’s next is a new member Sunday at end of April. What’s next is another new member class! What’s next is a scheduled visit from volunteer-missionary/teacher Donna Meyer on Mother’s Day. What’s next is four young people reaffirming their baptismal vows on Confirmation Sunday! What’s the next is four days of Christ-centered, Vacation Bible School at the beginning of June. What’s next is me being challenged to come up with a good series of sermons for the summer. What’s next is you as brothers & sisters in Christ joining together to work on another project, new project to help feed & provide shelter for hungry & needy people in Haiti and everywhere help is needed.
Jesus says to us, “Go to my brothers & sisters and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’
This Sunday, we say “Wow” to that! We sing the great hymns of Easter; we hear again the Good News of Christ’s resurrection, we welcome the forgiveness of all our sins, we rejoice in the sure & solid hope of eternal life. It’s a Sunday to the beauty of Easter lilies, eat a good Easter breakfast, linger & talk & and be glad & thankful we’re all still here. Wow! What joy! But we dare not forget or take for granted or not take hold of what’s next!
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb while it was still dark, “but the darkness did not remain.” Mary wept but her weeping turned to joy.
Mary wanted to stay, to hold on to things the way they used to be, but Jesus said, “Go” and in Mary’s going she learned a new thing. She realized the real power of Easter is not for a day, not in holding on to the past. The real power of Easter is in the way believers are moved from death to life, from sitting tight to opening doors, from despair to hope, from old ways, old stories, old habits, putting off the Old Adam -- to new opportuneities, new stories, new challenges, putting on the new man in Christ.
Wow!
I say: Christ is risen!
You say: He is risen indeed!
Hold on to that! Good News! Old news! Familiar news!
What’s next?
I say: Christ is risen!
You say: He is risen indeed!
Hang on! This is also challenging news! Forward-looking news! Community building news! A new-thing-is-about-to happen news!
God graciously, greatly, abundantly grant it for Jesus’ sake.
Amen
