PROPERS: EASTER DAY, YEAR C
TEXT: JOHN 20:1-18
PREACHED AT ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL, MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, ON SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2022.
ONE SENTENCE: Jesus’ message was originally meant to be Good News for the “last and least”, and the Easter Story reenforces that truth.
Today is my 71st Easter. Half of those Easters I have celebrated as a priest.
It is a truth that many, if not most, priests struggle with preaching on this day, very similar to the struggle of preaching on Christmas Eve. After all, how do you say something new, something profound, something insightful on a day which is so familiar to all of us. It is like gilding the beautiful lilies with which we observe today. The birth of Jesus… the resurrection of Jesus – both are woven into our own lives.
I have struggled, too, but not to the same extent as a friend in Mississippi did. Confounded by the familiarity of the story or perhaps lacking time during a busy Holy Week, he chose a few words for his Easter sermon: “It’s all true.”
His three-word sermon was not well-received. People wanted to hear more Good News on this sacred day.
So, I believe I am returning to ancient kerygma – that is, proclamation – in interpreting John’s story of the resurrection today.
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Think of the story of Jesus – of key moments in his life.
Born in a stable – humble origins, for sure.
Reared in the small village of Nazareth in the rural backwater of Galilee.
He labored as a carpenter, likely a stone mason, until he was a young adult.
He certainly was not educated at the finest schools; more likely on the knees of his father and mother. And maybe some religious training. He may or may not have been literate.
He called a small group of fishermen and tradesmen as his disciples. They were likely an uneducated lot.
He was an itinerant preacher and teacher. He spoke to and fed thousands of those known as am ha’aretz – the common people of the land. He told them they were among the blessed.
He clashed with the upper crust… the powerful… the influential. He sat at table with the most despised of society, such as tax collectors and prostitutes.
And then, as if to finish it all, he died a criminal’s death.
What are we to say about all that?
Now, as if to punctuate the story, we have the ultimate Good News highlighting the overriding theme of the gospel: In every initial gospel account, the resurrection is discovered by women – the least powerful and influential caste in biblical-era Israel.
And, later, the Apostle Paul, recounts those people to whom the resurrected Jesus appears. But he does not include the women.
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The overarching story is this: Jesus came to the last and least of the world. He sought again and again to raise those people up… to show that they are the children of God. Not the wealthy and affluent, not the comfortable and powerful… but the lost sheep of Israel.
For too long we have lost that message. The emPHAsis has been on the wrong syLAbill. We have seen his ministry… his life… his death… his resurrection as something that is uniquely ours.
It IS for us when we are humble and contrite in heart. But it is for others of this world – those who have been left behind… those who do not bear the blessings of our culture. It is especially for the people on the side of paradise in the Parable of Dives and Lazarus.
So, when you see bejeweled images of Jesus… and fabulous temples to his life… and well-vested ministers (such as myself)… those do not reflect the kingdom of God. It is, instead, the naked, the hungry, the grieving, the lost, the imprisoned, and the persecuted – the very people to whom Jesus spoke in his Sermon on the Mount.
That is the good news of God’s kingdom.
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