Preacher: Rev. Jenn Geddes
This morning is a five sense morning, and that’s s-e-n-s-e not c-e-n-t-s. Our five senses come alive when we hear this familiar story and go through the familiar motions. We have the smells of spring, sweet smelling flowers and dew on the grass, the sights of familiar symbols, the empty cross and tomb, the rock rolled away, the messenger sitting beside it. We hear the message, the words “Do not be afraid for He is risen”. We taste the hot crossed buns, donuts, and remember Easter dinners. And we feel. We feel the joy, the confusion, the relief and the possibilities. This is Easter morning. This is the Easter story.
What a morning it must have been that very first morning. Certainly the women we hear about in Matthew’s version had a five senses morning. To start off emotionally they would have been heartbroken, grieving and hurt. The morning did not start off as we often start it, with joy and tribulation, but instead with pain filled emotion. The one whom they followed, the one who changed their lives, the one who promised a change in the world was now lying in a tomb. They were feeling sadness and despair.
We hear that they have come to see the tomb. The original Greek word was theorasai, which means to watch, to observe or to hold a vigil. The women were coming with incense and spices to lay around the body, the smell of oil wafted from the jar as they walked. They were coming to sit and watch, to see their Lord, their rabbi wrapped in a burial cloth. They were coming to hold vigil to pray, and hear the prayers of each other. They were tasting the bitter flavour of loneliness that comes from losing someone they love. These senses are not the ones we associate with Easter but they were the ones the women had anticipated.
Things changed in one single sudden moment. The word “suddenly” is repeated in our passage. Sometimes this is what our life with God is like, sudden changes amidst the norm. Sudden moments of revelation. Suddenly God is made visible through acts of grace, or forgiveness, or joy even sorrow. As the women approached the tomb they suddenly felt a great earthquake. They felt the message of Easter before the heard or saw a thing. Isn’t that true for us too sometimes- we often will feel something, particularly feel emotion before anything else. God often works in our lives in the same manner. Providing us with a feeling before all else, sometimes shaking our very foundations in new and awesome ways. Some times we cannot meet Jesus without being shaken. They women feel the message- a great seismos that shakes their foundations. How true that is- the very thoughts they have about this morning, the very plans they have for how it will turn out are going to be turned upside down.
Suddenly, they see a message. To them the angel looks like lightning-something that is bright, blinding, and frighteningly powerful. The angel is strong enough to roll back the stone and certainly frightening enough to scare the soldiers- they are literally scared stiff, unable to move, unable to run, unable to shout out. What a sight it would have been, two women expecting one thing and suddenly experiencing something that causes the strong guards to tremble.
Then they hear the message, “Do not be afraid. Jesus is not here. He has been raised, just as he said.” The angel invites these women to see for themselves that no body is there. What a message to hear. What the angel says is not a command, do not be afraid, but rather a comforting assurance. There is nothing to fear, you need not fear. This calming voice comes from an authority who speaks with power that is beyond this world- and that can be frightening- but with no need to fear, we have an opportunity to serve. It is now that the messenger gives a command, “Go quickly, and tell his disciples.” The women are likely still afraid, courage is not about throwing caution to the wind, but rather action despite danger. Their fear though, now also contains joy. The good news of Jesus’ resurrection has been announced. The command now,is given to go and spread the word. The women obviously fulfilled this command. Matthew’s version is about the first announcement in what was to become a continuous chain of announcements, with one messenger repeating the message to the next, down through the ages that, “He is not in the tomb. He has been raised.” Upon hearing these words, I imagine the women dropped their spices and jars of oil and ran. The smell of this unused oil released out into the air.
If you were able to attend our Sonrise service, you know that taste is part of this story too. That Jesus offered food soon after his resurrection. We know from other gospel accounts that sometimes it took Jesus breaking bread with the disciples for them to even recognize him. Taste and see that the Lord, our God, is good, is risen, is alive in every moment we commune over a meal. Although the sense of taste is not so much a part of the womens’ experience, it is a part of the story.
It is hard for any of us to imagine how the women felt. Even the gospel writers struggle. The Gospel of John ends by saying that all the books in the world could not fully describe all the signs that Jesus did. In a similar vein, our Gospel this morning, simply announces. He has been raised. The resurrection of Jesus is announced, not explained. I think, in many ways this is due to the fact that words are not enough to explain it. For these faithful women, the significance of the angel’s message is emotional and they come to a major realization, Jesus, the one whom they’ve followed these last three years is indeed the Messiah. The resurrection of Jesus is the heart of the Christian gospel. Everything changes with the announcement that “he is not here.” Words can not describe how those women must have felt.
Upon witnessing, feeling, seeing and hearing the angel and the angel’s message the women leave quickly with fear and great joy, those are the mixed emotions I’ve been talking about and while they are running with all these senses pulsing through their body they run into Jesus. The first words out of his mouth are, “Greetings!”
At that moment whatever fear and joy, and whatever other emotions the women were feeling, however fast they were running, whatever senses they were experiencing, everything stops. In elation they fall to their knees, grab hold of Jesus’ feet and worship. The women display exactly what all of us in a post-resurrection moment need to do. To stop, whatever is racing through our minds, to stop are usual motions of daily activities, to stop and come together in worship. Their reaction is the response we should have all have . Which brings me to the sixth sense, and I’m not talking about some ethereal sense- some supernatural or prophetic sense but the sense of faith.
Donald Juel says of the Easter story, “None of the Gospels can really end the story of Jesus. The whole point is that it continues- and its significance continues….Jesus is full of surprises. The world’s uneasiness in the presence of Jesus is fully justified. He will not be found by tradition that defines human life; even death has no final power over him. The end only marks a new beginning- a beginning of the good news that Jesus becomes our source of life.”
Jesus is not bound by the end of the chapters in the Gospels. There is no “the end” that finishes this Easter experience. Instead our sense of faith, continues with Jesus into the future. A future that God has in store for creation, for us. We walk by faith not by sight, touch, sound, smell or taste. We have faith in God, that we are included in this story. We can only trust that God will one day finish this story with hope, promise and joy.
Amen