Claiming New Life
March 27, 2005 (The Sunday of the Resurrection: Easter Day)
By
The Very Rev. Terry White,
Dean
(From The Lectionary Page)
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Major League Baseball’s opening day is just around the corner. A few years ago, thanks to a good friend, Father George Councell, I was treated to great seats for opening day at Wrigley Field. It was a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. But it was also the first week of April in Chicago, with the wind blowing in off the Lake. I grew up in Iowa and don’t recall January sledding parties in my youth requiring as many clothes as an April day game at Wrigley Field.
The two of us were rather excited for Opening Day, arriving at the ballpark two hours before game time for all the festivities. George and I decided to toast our good fortune and we headed off to the concession stand for a hot dog and a cup of beer.
Now being Opening Day it was also the first day the new vendors were on duty, and being an April weekday, not a lot of young people were working. A kindly woman, young in spirit but perhaps old enough to have seen the Cubs last win the World Series, greeted us. George placed our order for two dogs and two cups of beer, and being the ever-generous soul, said that this first round was on him.
Remember, it was quite chilly, so we were bundled up. I was decked out in a hooded sweatshirt beneath a hooded windbreaker, and both hoods were up over my Cubs cap. The ensemble was completed with a scarf around my neck, and a pair of winter gloves. When the woman brought us our order, she handed Fr. Councell his beer, and then looked at me and said, "I need to see some identification." (Did I mention what a lovely soul this woman was?)
As I delighted in showing her my driver’s license, my companion was less than delighted that I alone had been asked to identify myself (after all he still has hair.) After proving that I was of legal drinking age, we left the concession stand. I thanked her very much, while George muttered something under his breath which sounded like, "I hope her upcoming cataract surgery is successful."
(And George is now the Bishop of New Jersey!)
That afternoon I took great delight in being mistaken for who I was. Today’s Gospel account tells us that on the day of resurrection, Jesus was at first mistaken for somebody else. So you and I do well this Easter Day to consider how possible it is for us to be mistaken about who Jesus is and what the Resurrection is about.
Peter Gomes writes: Life begins when you see life not simply as an unexpended bit of time, a balance remaining in your savings account with dangers, chances, and fate all taking their part. Life begins when you realize that by removing the fear of death, Christ has given you, for the first time, full possession of your own life. What you have always had, you now own. [And that’s a huge difference]: what you have always had, you now own. It is yours, free, full, and clear. (Peter Gomes, Sermons, pp.76-7.)
Throughout the Gospels, the Resurrection is described with stories that fall into one of two categories: accounts of the body being missing and one or more messengers proclaiming that Jesus is risen, and other stories which tell of encounters with the Risen Jesus, often including a meal. (Writings of the New Testament, Luke Timothy Johnson.) Today’s reading from St. John includes one of each.
Yet taken as whole, the Resurrection stories all speak of a specific mission: go and tell that Jesus is Risen. And while for the early church the task was most definitely to speak of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, for us today the task is just as often about speaking in actions rather than words; or if using words, to employ new tongues, new languages, to express the glorious truth of the Lord’s Resurrection. Again, the Scriptural witness comes back to the fact that there is a mission for everyone who learns that the Tomb is empty or encounters the risen Christ.
Here’s but one way our predecessors in this place responded to the call to proclaim new life. In 1922, this Cathedral congregation began a Baby Wellness clinic, and that was pioneering work in 1922. There was a great need in the community, and the people of God here responded, especially the women of the Cathedral.
Today there is a baby wellness clinic in Haiti, supported by the Episcopal Church there. Maternal and newborn mortality rates in Haiti are the highest in the Western Hemisphere and among the highest in the world. One out of every 10 pregnancies results in either the death of the mother or the newborn. Lifelong disabilities from birth complications are even more frequent.
But the odd are beginning to improve, thanks to the work of people like Dr. Stan Schaefer, an Episcopalian and doctor at St. Luke’s Hospital, who has worked with the Church in Haiti for 20 years. The House of Birth is the result of carrying people such as UMKC med and nursing students, Kansas City area hospitals, and Episcopal parishes and churches of other traditions. Now life is being brought out of death.
One example, in the region near the House of Birth, if a woman ready to deliver needed a c-section, just a few years ago, she would have been checked out of the hospital, given a list of supplies needed for the operation, been required to purchase the supplies for the delivery, and then travel up to 40 miles to where the operation could be performed. A group of Kansas City area med students who had spent time at the House of Birth, got together and ran in the Chicago Marathon last fall for pledges. They raised several thousands of dollars to provide dozens of kits of c-sections supplies so that, for now, no one needs to leave the hospital.
A new baby wellness center is opening in Haiti, and they are in need of a sponsor. In 1922 the people of Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral started one clinic – maybe this Easter season it’s time for number 2? This would be one way to proclaim the Resurrection; that we are raised with Christ and devoted to new life.
Today’s Gospel lesson is in part about how mistaken identity was overcome and led to belief and mission. Mary Magdalene was mistaken, but Jesus helped her to see him, and then gave her work to do.
One of my favorite stories about mistaken identity begins with Mrs. Jane Nau, a devout Sunday School teacher, with over 30 years of experience. She loved teaching, especially first graders, but in this particular year she felt that she had met her match. Every week it seemed liked none of the students could remember what had been covered the week before. And as Easter approached, Mrs. Nau was determined to have the children remember three things: what happened on Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter Day. For all five weeks of Lent, and then on Palm Sunday, she repeated the lessons. So worked very hard, and found new and creative ways to get her message across. And as she carried out her work, Jane came to make a deal with herself: if she could not get the kids to understand those three holy days, then maybe it was time for her to step down from teaching.
On Easter Day, all the children came to class. After greeting everyone and hearing about Easter baskets, Mrs. Nau said, “We have been studying the last days of Jesus life for many weeks.” She pulled out a 5-inch tall chocolate bunny and asked, “Can anyone tell me what happened on Palm Sunday? I have this treat for whoever can tell me.” Emily wasted no time in raising her hand, and told about Jesus coming into Jerusalem as people waved palm branches. Mrs. Nau was very happy, and gave Emily the candy.
Now she had everyone’s attention. She offered another chocolate rabbit, a bit taller, and asked, “What happened on Good Friday?” and this time Alex gave the correct answer, and of course got the candy.
Then Mrs. Nau pulled out a 10-inch tall rabbit (now to be honest it was hollow, but the size was still very impressive.) Mrs. Nau asked if anyone could tell her what happened on Easter Day. And the room went completely quiet.
Jane’s hopes fell. Oh no! she thought. Nobody remembers what happened. She asked again, “Who can tell me what happened on Easter Day?”
Just when Mrs. Nau was ready to throw in the towel, a little boy at the end of the table raised his hand and said, “On Easter Day, Jesus came out of the tomb!”
Jane was ecstatic! “Yes!” she proclaimed, and danced her way down to the end of the table to award the prize, all the while thinking, “I am the greatest Sunday school teacher of all time. I have done a remarkable thing, there is no greater teacher,” and as she was congratulating herself the little boy continued:
“On Easter Day Jesus comes out of the tomb…but if he sees his shadow he goes back in for six more weeks.”
But there’s a happy ending to this story: despite the incorrect answer I got to eat the hollow bunny anyway.
Mary Magdalene was mistaken and did not recognize the risen Christ at first. There is another mistake we must guard against, the mistake of living as if Easter Day means that nothing is different, for that is just like putting Jesus back in the grave.
Again, according to Peter Gomes, the Resurrection is about taking full possession of our own life. Many of us here this morning don’t feel that our life is our own. Some are living with pain, injury, or hurt, finding it impossible to forgive someone, or impossible to forgive ourselves. We may be consumed by jealousy or revenge. Perhaps we are afraid, or just tired. Maybe we find there isn’t much hope left.
But…still we have come, to see if the tomb is still empty. This gospel account promises that even when we are mistaken, even when we don’t see the Risen Lord at first, even if we want to put him back in the grave: his love and life overtakes us and makes us whole. Jesus called Mary by name, and then she truly saw him. In Baptism, the Risen Lord has called us each by name. In this Holy Meal, the Risen Lord again calls each of us by name to the Feast, that we may see him and his glory. He rose from the grave so that we might learn how to forgive, heal, and serve others.
By defeating death, he has freed us to live radically new lives:
• To tear down walls of prejudice and oppression,
• to create justice and peace the likes of which the world has
forgotten about.
Just as once-mistaken Mary Magdalene was sent to tell the others, so we are sent to proclaim resurrection, the claiming of new life.
This cathedral is also sent, sent to this city to share Christ’s
life and hope,
• to be guardians of those pushed to the margins and beyond,
• to be advocates for the weak and voiceless,
• to embody the highest calling which is servanthood, for Jesus
commanded us to love one another.
And because of Easter Day, we will not forsake this calling.
My sisters and brothers, let us not be mistaken. The Lord is Risen! Let us not put Jesus back in the grave. We are saved, we are called, and we are sent. This is a great time to be the Church. Let us glory in our new life, let us be excited about the opportunities before us, and let us be creative and generous in our response to the Lord’s call to proclaim his life and love.
A blessed and holy Great 50 Days of Easter to you and those you love.