Rev. Mark Schaefer
Kay Spiritual Life Center
April 3-4, 2010–Easter Vigil
Luke 24:1-12

Luke 24 :1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

I. BEGINNING

There are a lot of pointless stories you can pick up wandering around campus. You can sit for a while in the tavern, or in the dining hall, or in the nice weather, on the quad, and hear all manner of nonsense. Stories of college escapades, roommate fights, stories of bad decisions made the night before. All manner of tales. Idle tales, really. Stories that don’t really provide much edification beyond perhaps an assessment of the person telling it.

II. TEXT

And so I am struck by the fact that when the women return from the tomb and tell the disciples what had happened the story “seemed to them an idle tale” and they did not believe it. Only Peter responds and goes to the tomb, coming back “amazed.”

But it still remains fascinating that the disciples should have responded this way. The women find the stone rolled away, they do not find the body in the tomb, they encounter two men in dazzling clothes (read: angels) who tell them that Jesus has been raised from the dead as he had said. And the disciples respond: “Meh.”

III. IDLE TALES

On Easter Sunday, such a response seems downright impious and irreverent. At least Peter had the good taste to go see for himself.

But I wonder, are we really that different from the disciples that morning? What if this weren’t Easter Sunday, what would we think of their response then? What would our response be?

Rev. Mary Krauss, the former pastor at Dumbarton United Methodist, once famously proclaimed Christ risen from the dead and returned from the grave and then said, “Well good for him! “ Because, to be perfectly honest, sometimes the Easter story sounds like a fantastic tale: “The One About the Guy Who Was Dead but then Wasn’t Anymore.” A tall tale. An idle tale.

Perhaps, as Rev. Kraus suggested, we hear this story and we don’t understand just what it has to do with us. Perhaps that’s why we need to hear a few more tales.

IV. SALVATION AND HISTORY

Tonight, as part of this vigil we read stories from what is called the “salvation history”–the record of God’s saving deeds throughout the history of God’s people. Often, first-time visitors to an Easter vigil wonder why there’s all these lessons from the Old Testament. Isn’t this a Christian service? And an Easter one at that? So why are we starting with the other half of the Bible?

But there is exactly where we need to start. At the beginning. With God creating the world. God creates the heaven and the earth, separates the waters from the waters, brings forth the seas and the dry land, brings forth plants and vegetation, creates the sun, moon, and stars, the birds and fish, the animals, and humanity. And declares all of it good.

We read of God’s deliverance of Noah through the flood. Of a covenant promise never to destroy the world by flood again. Of a God who never fully abandons us.

We read of Abraham and Isaac, of the test of faith of a father and of God’s affirmation of a covenant promise to Abraham to make him the father of a great nation.

We read of God’s deliverance of the people of Israel from bondage in Egypt to liberation through the Red Sea into the wilderness to receive the Law and then on to the Promised Land.

We read of the prophets, calling the people toward righteousness and justice, and bringing them messages of comfort, hope and renewal.

We read of Paul’s writings concerning our share with Christ in being cleansed of our sin and forgiven.

In short, we read the entire narrative that is meant to help us understand the context in which we find ourselves: We are part of a good and beautiful creation. We are creatures who on account of our free will often sin–that sin can have disastrous consequences. But God bears with us even so. God promises to make of us a holy nation. God even covenants with us, promising fidelity to us as we promise to live out justice and righteousness. We receive messages of challenge and of hope. We are reminded of the brokenness of the world and our need for divine grace.

And then we read the story of Easter.

The story of one who came to us, proclaiming a message of God’s imminent reign on earth, who preached compassion for the marginalized and outcast, who feed the hungry, healed the sick, ate with sinners, and who was unjustly taken away, tried and executed by the most powerful Empire the world had ever known. It is a story that had it ended there, would have been a rebuttal to everything that the salvation history had told us. Had the story ended there, we might have said that people are not good, that there is no hope, there is no justice, there is only power and fear. The righteous suffer and die and the wicked live on to old age. Everything Jesus had talked about lay in ruins. The bad guys win in the end.

But that’s not how the story ends.

The Resurrection of Jesus affirms God’s story. It affirms God’s faithfulness. It affirms the triumph of love over fear, of justice over injustice, of faithfulness over betrayal, of hope over despair. If you had bought into the narrative of the world, you might react to the story of Jesus’ resurrection as “an idle tale”. But when we see Easter against the backdrop of God’s entire story, we understand that God’s story is our story.

V. END

This is no idle tale. This is our tale. It is a tale that changed the world. It is a tale that took eleven fearful men and a handful of fearful women and sent them far and abroad across the known world, proclaiming a message of hope and reconciliation to God. Their message would get them in trouble with religious leaders in their own community and with the political powers of Rome. Some would be stoned to death. Others crucified. So powerful was their experience of the Risen Christ that it would quite literally transform their lives. Peter, who had denied Jesus three times would live into his name and become the Rock of the early church. A persecutor of the church named Saul would become its greatest champion. They would travel throughout the Mediterranean world proclaiming the message of salvation.

Their disciples in turn would continue this proclamation for generations afterward. They would be a force that would change the world. They would convert the very Empire that had crucified Christ. They would go on to found great religious communities and orders. Engaging in charitable work that would restore communities. They would build universities, hospitals, and other centers of community. They would travel the entire world seeking to help others. They would oppose slavery, tyranny, and war. They would champion human dignity and civil and human rights. They would work for justice. They would build communities that were inclusive of all peoples regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, class, national origin, orientation, ability, or any other human distinction. The religion that the disciples of Jesus would leave the world would change it forever.

This is no idle tale. It is a tale of power. A tale of the world turned on end. A tale that has the power to transform our lives, transform our relationships, our communities, our world. It is a tale of the triumph of hope.

This is our story. A story we proclaim to a broken world, a world that needs to know of God’s love now as much as ever. A story that begins with tragedy and loss. But a story that ends with us standing and proclaiming: “Christ is Risen! Alleluia!”