Sermon for Easter Vigil, April 11, 2020

The Day After the Sabbath

It was the day after the sabbath. The sabbath was when God took a rest. For six long days God worked. God made light out of nothingness. Then God made space and time. It was like a dome that held back chaos so that elegant order might unfold. Cosmic dust coalesced into planets and took their place among the heavenly bodies. Galaxies, black holes, quasars, comets, and solar systems populated the dome of creation. That was just four days. Finally life emerged from primordial soup. Random strings of molecules danced and jostled for millennia until the steps of the dance followed predictable steps. Soon both ocean and sky filled with swarms of living things. 

Finally life crawled out onto the land. Human beings become aware of themselves. They took up agriculture, formalized languages, and created civilizations. God loved this creation so much that God entered into the creation personally as a human being. His name was Jesus. Jesus taught and accomplished much. Then he died on a cross and was buried. He gave himself to save others. That was the end of six days for God. Billions of years for the creation. On the seventh day God rested. Finally. Jesus lay still and dead in a tomb hewn from the earth in a garden. It was a Saturday. A sabbath. God had been through quite a lot: betrayal, denial, and crucifixion. His body and spirit had tired out. Jesus was dead. 

A Series of Unusual Events

Mary Magdalene announces the Risen Christ - St Albans Psalter

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the grave. A series of unusual events transpired. There was a severe earthquake. That was scary and the women felt their stomachs turn. Then an angel of God appeared to them. It flashed like lightning. The women were knocked to the ground. The angel shone bright white and removed the stone to Jesus’ tomb and sat on it. That was an image the two women would never forget. The angel of God crossed its legs, folded in its wings, sat on that stone and looked just as natural as could be. The angel instructs Mary and Mary that Jesus has risen from the dead, and will be on his way to Galilee. They ought to go and spread the word and not be afraid. 

So Mary and Mary rush off feeling both scared and joyous. They have complicated emotions. Then, Jesus meets them on their way. They take hold of his feet and worship him. Finally they understand that this is God’s presence with them. He was there at the dawn of creation and now stood with them again, a new creation. Jesus tells them to go tell the other disciples that he will meet them in Galilee. What an unusual series of events!

Anything is Possible

There is so much that we do not know about the world. We are swimming in mystery. The nice thing about experiencing something new, different, or unusual is that it causes you to look at the world in a new way. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like everything about the world as it has been. There