April 20, 2003
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Mindekirken April 20, 2003 Easter Jesus Lives John 20:1-18 Services are experienced quite differently by different people. Some find the liturgy an empty ritual which doesn’t say anything whatsoever. Others put all their soul into it, and experience that the liturgy gives them words to what’s in their hearts. For instance, Kyrie eleison, Lord be merciful, might really express a human’s desperate cry to the Lord. The liturgy of Holy Communion has words that give us a part in the fellowship with Jesus and our Christian brothers and sisters through all ages and places. Old liturgies are durable. They are hidden treasures. For more than 70 years, the Soviet Union tried to get rid of the faith in God. But throughout this period, people greeted "Good Easter" with the words: Christ is risen, and the answer to this would be: Yes, He is risen indeed. The liturgy was long lasting. It had become part of the daily language. And even if the words were spoken due to tradition, they were true. Jesus lives! That’s the old truth of Easter. But it’s also brand new for us today. Let’s stand and sing the Easter hymn NOS (Norwegian hymnal) # 178. Today we’ll take a close look at some liturgical explosives. Jesus died and rose from death while the Jews celebrated Passover. The words of the Jewish Passover commemorate what happened in the past: the exodus from Egypt and other great events of God’s salvation. But the Jewish Passover liturgies also give us glimpses of the future. The death and resurrection of Jesus fulfills the promises of the old liturgies. What happened after Jesus died on the cross? The women cried, the disciples withdrew, frightened, and the Roman soldiers carried on with their duties. The high council, which had pressed through the process against Jesus with enormous force, might have been shaky after what they had accomplished. Two of the 70 members of the high council chose to step forward and express their sympathy for Jesus openly. Josef of Arimatea and Nicodemus put their prestige and position at stake when they asked for permission to take Jesus down from the cross. With grief and love they anointed the dead and laid him in the tomb. It’s not mentioned explicitly, but they might have read the liturgy which all Jews would use at such an occasion – the Kaddish prayer, where it says: He will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces. Is. 25:8. Was this only a ritual which they mumbled as they rolled the stone into place in front of the tomb? No, funeral liturgies can be like balm for the soul. The words help one to live through the grief, they interpret life and death, and might give comfort and help to get along. But what neither Josef of Arimatea nor Nicodemus knew, was how explosive those words of the liturgy were. They prayed with words that said that the Lord would swallow up death forever. That’s really what happened on Easter Day. Today we read how it was for Peter and John to see what had happened. They came running to the grave and found it empty! Jesus was gone. Jesus had been anointed as the custom was, and the clothes of the dead were like a capsule around his body. There was only a small opening left for the face. Over the face they put a cloth. The text describes how the linen wrappings were lying there. Jesus had disappeared without destroying the capsule. The cloth that had been on Jesus’ head was rolled up in a place by itself. This is physically impossible. But the old liturgy had the promise that he would swallow up death, and that’s what had taken place. They saw and believed, it says. And yet, they did not understand the scripture; that he must rise from the dead. But now it was a reality. The tomb was empty. Jesus lives. Easter morning means that death is swallowed up and life prevails. Let’s go back in time one day, to Saturday of the Holy week. That was the Sabbath of the Jewish Passover. On that day, the liturgical reading was Ezekiel 37, where it is written about the dead bones in the valley. The prophet would speak the words of the Lord to them, and they would get sinew, meat and spirit. The Jews read the text every year, but this year, the words became reality right outside their door. The resurrection of Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise of new life. God creates all over again. We celebrate Easter when the trees are budding and the flowers are growing. The wonders of nature happen again every spring, and we enjoy the beauty of everything that’s woken up after the winter sleep. Israel is located in a warmer place than Minnesota. For the Jews, the Passover was connected to the celebration of harvest. The grain was about to be gathered into the barn. The priests would pick up three sheaves of corn, in the valley of Ashes, close to the garden of Gethsemane. At dawn, they would swing these sheaves of corn in a liturgical dance in the temple. That was for thanking God for the wonder of nature, the harvest of the fields. Paul exploits this point when he says that Christ is risen from the dead as the first fruit of those who have died. 1 Cor 15:20. Easter morning is the appetizer for the big harvest, the resurrection to life everlasting that all of God’s children will share. I’m living and you will also live, Jesus says. John 14:20. Just as Jesus got new life on Easter day, we one day will rise to eternal life. Mary Magdalene was the first who got to meet the risen one. It’s a wonderful story we read today. She had been released from seven evil spirits. Jesus had given her health and salvation. She grieved a lot when Jesus died. But on Easter day, she remained in the garden when the disciples left the empty grave. She wept. Suddenly she saw two angels in white where the body of Jesus had been lying. Woman, why are you weeping?, they asked. Weeping is a friend. Where words can’t express feelings, tears may. They may cleanse a wounded mind. Mary answered simply: They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. She had been faithful to Jesus when he lived, and she was faithful to him when he died. She couldn’t grasp the idea that Jesus lived. Her only thought was that someone had taken his body. But that was before she met Jesus himself. He came into the garden. At first, she didn’t recognize him. But then he said her name; Mary, and her grief was turned to wondering and joy. Was it really true? Rabbouni, Teacher!, she said and the tears disappeared into laughter. The old words of the funeral liturgy became hers, then and there: The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces… On Easter morning, Mary got to share the joyful message with others: I have seen the Lord! This tremendous truth is old now, but still new. Jesus lives. He’s here among us. And we will live with him. Glory be to God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. |
The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church · 924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 · (612)874-0716 |