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Come Back to Life - The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel
Sermon by the Rev. Jarrett Kerbel for Easter Day, the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord.
Today's readings are:
Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
John 20:1-18
Readings may be found on LectionaryPage.net
Transcript:
[Introductory music, played by brass instruments: Jesus Christ is Risen Today]
[The Rev. Barbara Ballenger] Alleluia, Christ is risen!
[Crowd] The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!
[The Rev. Barbara Ballenger] Alleluia, Christ is risen!
[Crowd] The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!
[The Rev. Barbara Ballenger] Alleluia, Christ is risen!
[Crowd] The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!
[The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel] Please join me in a spirit of prayer.
Gracious God, how can we thank you for this gorgeous Easter Day, under the sun, on a football field, worshiping you? Lord God, we thank you that your risen life fills our lives with goodness and that your love is undying and unbreakable and shines upon our hearts and invites us into an open-hearted life of grace and hope and courage. Following in the way of your Son, growing into his stature, living his life as a body in his name in your world. How can we thank you, Lord for the grace of this day where death is defeated and your life is affirmed. May we live each day in the light of your resurrection, open-hearted and living in response to your Risen One. Amen.
Please be seated.
(Struggling with a loose cloth mask, it flies off, another surgical mask is underneath) Okay, whatever.
Happy Easter, y'all! Christ is risen!
Here we are on the home field of the Devils.
Celebrating Easter.
So much for home field advantage.
There is no better place to celebrate Easter than on this field. We did consider using the scoreboard and I really wish where it says Home it said Devils because we could say Devils zero, Jesus one. Or in better respect to our gracious hosts, SCH (Springside Chestnut Hill) Academy we could say, Jesus one, Death zero. Let me give heartfelt thanks to the Blue Devils of SCH for helping us gather as the Risen Body of Christ this Easter morning, coming back to life. And, I promise, no more football jokes.
In our Easter Gospel we have a foot race. We have a laundry list. We have a lot of weeping and a case of mistaken identity. Through it all, the abundant Good News of risen life in Christ pours out to us as God's invitation, "Come back to life". In the one story, we have two contrasting sections: the first with Peter and the Beloved Disciple, and the second with Mary of Magdala and Jesus. Two ways of responding to God's abundant invitation.
Now I think of the Peter and the Beloved Disciple part as slapstick. Like boys do, and very much in character for Peter, the two disciples compete in a foot race to get to the tomb of Jesus after Mary Magdala, serving as the first apostle by the way, gives them the news of an empty grave. How many times had Jesus taught them "the first will be last and the last will be first"? Yet here they are, still caught up in a competitive spirit, sprinting to be the first man....[responding to a vocalization in the crowd] He gets it...The first man on the scene. Me first, me first, me first, me first, sprinting to outdo one another. And I find myself wondering, worrying even, identifying just a little bit, will their competition and haste cause them to miss what has been done for them? Indeed Peter, very much in character, walks away from the miracle of an empty tomb with a laundry list, a precise accounting of the linens that has been passed down to us through the Gospel. Perhaps a subtle warning by the Gospel writer for us to avoid crass literalism on Easter morning. Yet whatever their bumblings and whatever my bumblings and our bumblings, we walk away with our first gift of this Gospel story. The Gospel writer says the Beloved went into the empty tomb, saw and believed, for as yet they did not understand.
Not understanding and believing. Believing and not understanding. Two great tastes that go great together, side by side. This is the first gift for us today because I know many of us are in just that place or we remember that place on our journey into faith in Christ. What a gift we can believe and know that we don't know all. At the same time, for all who are on the edge of that journey into believing, this is a gentle, generous invitation: even a mustard seed of curiosity gets us started. And oh, my friends, the understanding will come. The understanding will come with abundant rejuvenating gifts which stretch our conventional imagination, our narrow intellect, our cramped souls, and our pinched hearts into the fullness of Christ's love. So my friends, if you're sitting with confusion know that it is a gift. Our thinking does not save us. God's coming back to life saves us.
So after the slapstick of the Beloved and Peter, Mary of Magdala is left in her weeping and her confusion outside the tomb.
She is the one who is first to meet the Risen Christ. First the angels ask her - and always know that angels are just the front line of God, so God is talking, they're the messengers - the angels say, "Woman why are you weeping?" and then Jesus asks, "Woman why are you weeping?" And we know it's hard to see with eyes brimming and swollen with tears, so maybe this is why Mary mistakes Jesus for the gardener. And a gardener is a giver of life, so she's close.
Woman, why are you weeping? Jesus asks. The question is asked twice. There must be something important in the weeping.
How does Mary answer Jesus here is how I hear her answering. I hear her in the full-throated voice of lament and mourning. I hear Mary of Magdala saying, "Why? Why? Because the one who loved me was murdered. Why? Because the one I loved with all my heart was tortured to death, buried, and then stolen away from me. Why? Because all that I cherished as good in the world has been crushed and destroyed. Why am I weeping? The one who loved me into freedom is gone. Because everything I hoped for, everything I believed in, all that I held as good has been lost!" Mary mourns and weeps and through her tears she is the first to see the Risen One. Through her tears the Risen One appears to her, comes into focus. Mary, the faithful mourner, who knows what was lost on the cross. Mary, the one who weeps, is the one who sees.
Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are those who are pure in heart for they shall see God.
Blessed are those who thirst for righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of God. Mary of Magdala is the first person to live the life of beatitude. The life of beatitude that Jesus taught us, that Jesus offers us, that Jesus lives in us.
Now, over the past few years we have collectively experienced the fragility of the good.
The fragility of the good, and the vulnerability of all that we cherish. We have experienced the danger to the goods we have in common. Years of mourning, loss, anger, and fear and I want to suggest that it is through our tears, through our sorrow, through our heartbreak at the loss of what is good, what is best, that we will see the Risen One come into focus in our lives. It's through that lens of mourning the good and aching for the good. It's through that that we will see Jesus rise again in our lives and bring us back to life. The goodness of God's creation, the goodness of God's community, the goodness of God's way in Jesus have overcome all that opposes it, and they are victorious. God's vulnerable goodness. God's gentle, loving goodness. God's fragile, breakable, embodied life. Affirming and human-crafting goodness. God's simple, aching desire to love us no matter what. All these are victorious in the Risen One and we are invited to live in that same open-hearted space with Christ.
Alleluia! The Risen life of Christ is stronger than death. Alleluia! Stronger than empire. Alleluia! Stronger than hate. Alleluia! Stronger than anything that would separate us from the love of God. Alleluia!
So my friends, I pray you and I will accept this invitation of new life in Christ, and together we will come back to life. Amen.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-701187. All rights reserved.
Photographs, video, and graphics by the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 8000 St. Martin's Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19118. 215.247.7466. https://www.stmartinec.org
Thanks to:
Producer/Audio: Daniel Cooper
Video: Jason Fifield
Live Tech: Elton Cannon, Cole Appelman
Full Service In-Video Editing/Captioning: Daniel Cooper
Editor: Natalee Hill
View all episodes
By St. Martin-in-the-FieldsSermon by the Rev. Jarrett Kerbel for Easter Day, the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord.
Today's readings are:
Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
John 20:1-18
Readings may be found on LectionaryPage.net
Transcript:
[Introductory music, played by brass instruments: Jesus Christ is Risen Today]
[The Rev. Barbara Ballenger] Alleluia, Christ is risen!
[Crowd] The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!
[The Rev. Barbara Ballenger] Alleluia, Christ is risen!
[Crowd] The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!
[The Rev. Barbara Ballenger] Alleluia, Christ is risen!
[Crowd] The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!
[The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel] Please join me in a spirit of prayer.
Gracious God, how can we thank you for this gorgeous Easter Day, under the sun, on a football field, worshiping you? Lord God, we thank you that your risen life fills our lives with goodness and that your love is undying and unbreakable and shines upon our hearts and invites us into an open-hearted life of grace and hope and courage. Following in the way of your Son, growing into his stature, living his life as a body in his name in your world. How can we thank you, Lord for the grace of this day where death is defeated and your life is affirmed. May we live each day in the light of your resurrection, open-hearted and living in response to your Risen One. Amen.
Please be seated.
(Struggling with a loose cloth mask, it flies off, another surgical mask is underneath) Okay, whatever.
Happy Easter, y'all! Christ is risen!
Here we are on the home field of the Devils.
Celebrating Easter.
So much for home field advantage.
There is no better place to celebrate Easter than on this field. We did consider using the scoreboard and I really wish where it says Home it said Devils because we could say Devils zero, Jesus one. Or in better respect to our gracious hosts, SCH (Springside Chestnut Hill) Academy we could say, Jesus one, Death zero. Let me give heartfelt thanks to the Blue Devils of SCH for helping us gather as the Risen Body of Christ this Easter morning, coming back to life. And, I promise, no more football jokes.
In our Easter Gospel we have a foot race. We have a laundry list. We have a lot of weeping and a case of mistaken identity. Through it all, the abundant Good News of risen life in Christ pours out to us as God's invitation, "Come back to life". In the one story, we have two contrasting sections: the first with Peter and the Beloved Disciple, and the second with Mary of Magdala and Jesus. Two ways of responding to God's abundant invitation.
Now I think of the Peter and the Beloved Disciple part as slapstick. Like boys do, and very much in character for Peter, the two disciples compete in a foot race to get to the tomb of Jesus after Mary Magdala, serving as the first apostle by the way, gives them the news of an empty grave. How many times had Jesus taught them "the first will be last and the last will be first"? Yet here they are, still caught up in a competitive spirit, sprinting to be the first man....[responding to a vocalization in the crowd] He gets it...The first man on the scene. Me first, me first, me first, me first, sprinting to outdo one another. And I find myself wondering, worrying even, identifying just a little bit, will their competition and haste cause them to miss what has been done for them? Indeed Peter, very much in character, walks away from the miracle of an empty tomb with a laundry list, a precise accounting of the linens that has been passed down to us through the Gospel. Perhaps a subtle warning by the Gospel writer for us to avoid crass literalism on Easter morning. Yet whatever their bumblings and whatever my bumblings and our bumblings, we walk away with our first gift of this Gospel story. The Gospel writer says the Beloved went into the empty tomb, saw and believed, for as yet they did not understand.
Not understanding and believing. Believing and not understanding. Two great tastes that go great together, side by side. This is the first gift for us today because I know many of us are in just that place or we remember that place on our journey into faith in Christ. What a gift we can believe and know that we don't know all. At the same time, for all who are on the edge of that journey into believing, this is a gentle, generous invitation: even a mustard seed of curiosity gets us started. And oh, my friends, the understanding will come. The understanding will come with abundant rejuvenating gifts which stretch our conventional imagination, our narrow intellect, our cramped souls, and our pinched hearts into the fullness of Christ's love. So my friends, if you're sitting with confusion know that it is a gift. Our thinking does not save us. God's coming back to life saves us.
So after the slapstick of the Beloved and Peter, Mary of Magdala is left in her weeping and her confusion outside the tomb.
She is the one who is first to meet the Risen Christ. First the angels ask her - and always know that angels are just the front line of God, so God is talking, they're the messengers - the angels say, "Woman why are you weeping?" and then Jesus asks, "Woman why are you weeping?" And we know it's hard to see with eyes brimming and swollen with tears, so maybe this is why Mary mistakes Jesus for the gardener. And a gardener is a giver of life, so she's close.
Woman, why are you weeping? Jesus asks. The question is asked twice. There must be something important in the weeping.
How does Mary answer Jesus here is how I hear her answering. I hear her in the full-throated voice of lament and mourning. I hear Mary of Magdala saying, "Why? Why? Because the one who loved me was murdered. Why? Because the one I loved with all my heart was tortured to death, buried, and then stolen away from me. Why? Because all that I cherished as good in the world has been crushed and destroyed. Why am I weeping? The one who loved me into freedom is gone. Because everything I hoped for, everything I believed in, all that I held as good has been lost!" Mary mourns and weeps and through her tears she is the first to see the Risen One. Through her tears the Risen One appears to her, comes into focus. Mary, the faithful mourner, who knows what was lost on the cross. Mary, the one who weeps, is the one who sees.
Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are those who are pure in heart for they shall see God.
Blessed are those who thirst for righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of God. Mary of Magdala is the first person to live the life of beatitude. The life of beatitude that Jesus taught us, that Jesus offers us, that Jesus lives in us.
Now, over the past few years we have collectively experienced the fragility of the good.
The fragility of the good, and the vulnerability of all that we cherish. We have experienced the danger to the goods we have in common. Years of mourning, loss, anger, and fear and I want to suggest that it is through our tears, through our sorrow, through our heartbreak at the loss of what is good, what is best, that we will see the Risen One come into focus in our lives. It's through that lens of mourning the good and aching for the good. It's through that that we will see Jesus rise again in our lives and bring us back to life. The goodness of God's creation, the goodness of God's community, the goodness of God's way in Jesus have overcome all that opposes it, and they are victorious. God's vulnerable goodness. God's gentle, loving goodness. God's fragile, breakable, embodied life. Affirming and human-crafting goodness. God's simple, aching desire to love us no matter what. All these are victorious in the Risen One and we are invited to live in that same open-hearted space with Christ.
Alleluia! The Risen life of Christ is stronger than death. Alleluia! Stronger than empire. Alleluia! Stronger than hate. Alleluia! Stronger than anything that would separate us from the love of God. Alleluia!
So my friends, I pray you and I will accept this invitation of new life in Christ, and together we will come back to life. Amen.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-701187. All rights reserved.
Photographs, video, and graphics by the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 8000 St. Martin's Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19118. 215.247.7466. https://www.stmartinec.org
Thanks to:
Producer/Audio: Daniel Cooper
Video: Jason Fifield
Live Tech: Elton Cannon, Cole Appelman
Full Service In-Video Editing/Captioning: Daniel Cooper
Editor: Natalee Hill