This morning on my way to church, just as I had exited 94 onto Avocado -- it was about 5am, so it was dark -- this morning on my way to church in the dark, I saw this group of women running. I imagined they were up early exercising, maybe even training together for a marathon. But they looked like they were having fun. They had smiles on their faces, as if someone in the group had said something good.
To anyone else, they might have just looked like a group of women running early in the morning. On any other day, I would have probably thought nothing of it (except, “I should probably start running again”). But, sisters and brothers in Christ, today is the day!
And we see the world through the eyes of faith. Christians, people who gather at the table, at the cross, around the holy book, we see the world through a different lens.
When we see a picture of the universe we remember the story of God, swirling the cosmos into being at the beginning. When we see a rainbow, we think of Noah’s ark, and God’s promise to him, his family and all those animals. When read about slavery and emancipation in America, we remember the Israelites slavery in and freedom from Egypt. When we see a whale we think of Jonah; a lion, we think of Daniel; or a queen, we think of Esther. When we see or experience the choppy seas, we remember Jesus calming those waves. “Peace, be still.” When we see a telephone pole in the shape of a cross silhouetted by the setting sun we are reminded of Christ’s terrible crucifixion. And when we see a group of women running in the dark on Easter morning...we are plunged into the story of our resurrected Lord. “Christ is risen...and women are running!”
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| Easter morning at SVLC, 5:15am |
Jesus appears to the women and then sends them to go and tell. What’s up with that?! Say what the church has said down through the ages about the ordination of women -- but Jesus makes the women (in Matthew’s Gospel) the apostles to the apostles. They become the first to be commissioned, the first to be sent out to share the good news. One scholar suggests that maybe we missed the mark when men once sat around debating women’s ordination, maybe it should have been women debating men’s ordination...
The men in the story were like dead, the disciples had cut and run, but the women were up early, running.
But this is more than an interesting commentary on women’s ordination, can be understood a reversal of the sin of Eve, way back in Genesis. (Many have faulted Eve for the Fall.) It’s a reversal of Adam’s sin too -- they both did it. This is a reversal of sin, sisters and brothers in Christ. And for Jesus to choose women, at that time and place in history, was a signal that everything new was breaking in. The world as it was -- where women were on the margins and last in line -- is being turned on its head. Another way of saying this is that “there was a great earthquake,” and Christ appears to the women first, who were at the bottom rung of society.
“The last shall be first and the first shall be last.” Jesus said it already! “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Jesus said it already!
The whole Gospel of Matthew -- 28 chapters up to this point, it’s been there the whole time. The resurrection, is imbedded throughout! We can read about the resurrection throughout the Gospel of Matthew! In the birth of the Messiah, the visit of the Magi, the Sermon on the Mount, the healing of the sick, the Transfiguration, the calming of the sea, the entry into Jerusalem, the supper with his friends, the trial and the cross. The resurrection of Christ was there all along, but this is the culmination. Today is the day.
And it’s not just good news for the women who run early -- this for all of us, sisters and brothers, to receive and go and share like they did. Jesus is risen! Our eyes are made new. We see the world in a different way now: We see hope, even in suffering, joy even in pain, light even in darkness, and life even in death. Now we see the world through the eyes of faith, through the lens of Christ’s resurrection and conquering of death.
Today is the day. Because of today we give thanks to God and rest in the assurance of eternal life even at a funeral, even in the face of death. Because of today we stand up for peace in world of violence, even in the face of war, abuse, and terror. Jesus has conquered not only the devil and all his empty promises, but the warring empires of Rome and our world today too. Jesus counters and conquers violence with a simple greeting: “Do not be afraid.”
Because of today, we don’t have to be afraid ever again. We can stand up for peace -- deep, lasting, and abiding peace that can can calm not just territories of the world, but also the territories of our own hearts and minds. Fear bottlenecks peace. Peace gets jammed when we get afraid. But because of today, we can calm down too. We can rest even now in the assurance of eternal life, God’s unending love. Death is now the one that gets bottlenecked and jammed up, as if that heavy stone that goes a-rolling today is rolling over death.
Death has been crushed, and we see that with the eyes of faith. Christ is alive. So let’s all run...and live, and laugh, and revel, and build community, and make for peace. Christ is alive, and greets us today. And so we can sing. Let’s sing with our lives!
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